CANUTT, Yakima

(1895–1986)

   Born Enos Edward Canutt in Washington, Canutt earned his nickname from his rodeo-days billing—the Man from Yakima. In many ways, Yakima Canutt developed the role of stuntman into an integral part of the early motion picture business. In film after film, sometimes credited, often not, Canutt performs some incredible work with runaway horses, stagecoaches missing the turn high on a cliff, and other such stunts, all original feats at the time. Perhaps his most famous stunt is from The Devil Horse (1926) when Canutt, in a lengthy scene, hangs underneath a furiously bucking horse, desperately holding on to its neck. Canutt especially thrived from a long association with John Wayne and appears in many of Wayne’s early films.