Gary Jensen, a stunt coordinator who collaborated with Bryan Singer on The Usual Suspects and the first two X-Men films and with Kevin Smith on Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and four other movies, has died. He was 74.
Jensen recently spent two months in the hospital for back surgery and died April 11 at his home in Acton, California, his daughter-in-law Laura Jensen told The Hollywood Reporter.
He did stunts on films including Tron (1982), The Beastmaster (1982), Independence Day (1983), Hoosiers (1986), Peacemaker (1990), The Rookie (1990), In the Line of Fire (1993) and Due Date (2010).
Jensen also worked with Singer on Apt Pupil (1998) and with Smith on Dogma (1999), Clerks II (2006), Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) and Red State (2011), and he was a coordinator on 14 Perry Mason telefilms at NBC from 1989-94.
Born in San Francisco on Dec. 11, 1950, Gary Peter Jensen graduated from Chico High School in 1969, where his 100-yard dash record still stands, and moved to Tarzana in 1972.
In 1978, he was the stunt coordinator on the film FM and began a three-year stint doing stunts on B.J. and the Bear. (He also served as a second-unit director on the NBC series.)
Jensen’s résumé as a coordinator included the films The Return of the Living Dead (1985), Evil Dead II (1987), Miracle Mile (1988), The Grifters (1990), Tremors (1990), Barton Fink (1991), McHale’s Navy (1997) and Mr. Woodcock (2007) and the TV series United States of Tara and Franklin & Bash.
He loved to ride horses in the backcountry of Colorado and in the deserts of Southern California and often said that if he couldn’t get on his horse, then it was time to retire. He did so after working on South Dakota (2017).
He is survived by his children, Ben (a stunt performer turned safety coordinator at Paramount), Ethan (also a former stunt performer), Molly, Jessi and Chloe; his siblings, Keith, Lynn and Ellen; and nine grandchildren.
A “Final Production Meeting” for Jensen is scheduled for June 8 in the Los Angeles area, with the venue to be announced.
