Friday, August 23, 2024
In a display hanging in the Coryell County Courthouse Annex is a photo of a man seated on a horse in front of the Cotton Belt Railroad Depot. The photo is identified as being of Yakima Canutt. It is unknown why and when Canutt visited Gatesville… but just who was Yakima Canutt?
Canutt became very well-known in California as a rodeo rider, actor, stuntman, and movie director.
He was born in 1895 in Colifax, Washington under the original name of Enos Edward Canutt. He began breaking wild broncos at the age of eleven and eventually gained a reputation as a bronc rider, bulldogger, and all-around cowboy.
It was at the Pendleton Round-Up that he got the name of “Yakima,” when a newspaper caption misidentified him stating, “Yakima Canutt may be the most famous person NOT from Yakima, Washington.”
Canutt was once quoted as saying, “I started in major rodeos in 1914 and went through 1923. There was quite a crop of us travelling together, and we would have special railroad cars and cars for the horses. We’d play anywhere from three, six, to eight, ten-day shows – Bronc riding, bulldogging, and roping.”
He won his first world championship at the Olympics of the West in 1917 and won more championships. In between rodeos, he broke horses for the French during World War I. In 1918, he went to Spokane to enlist in the United States Navy and was stationed in Brementon.
Following his time in the military, he travelled to Los Angeles for a rodeo and decided to “winter” in Hollywood where he met many screen personalities.
Legendary western screen actor Tom Mix, who himself had started in rodeos, invited Canutt to be in two of his movie pictures. Mix added to his flashy wardrobe by borrowing two of Canutt’s two-tone shirts and having his tailor make 40 copies of the shirts. Canutt got his first taste of stunt work in a fight scene on a serial called “Lightning Bryce” and soon afterward left Hollywood to compete in the 1920 rodeo circuit.
Movie actor Douglas Fairbanks would use some of Canutt’s stunts in his films, and the two became fast friends. Canutt would later take small parts in films to get experience.
Prior to 1928, movies were silent films – no sound, only captions below. After 1928, the “talkies” were coming out, and although he had been in 48 silent films, he knew his career was in trouble since his voice had been damaged from the flu while he was in the Navy. At that point, Canutt began taking on bit parts and stunts, realizing that he could do more with action films.
When rodeo riders invaded Hollywood, they brought a massive amount of rodeo techniques that Canutt would expand on and improve, including horse falls and wagon wrecks.
He first met John Wayne while doubling for him in 1932. Wayne greatly admired Canutt’s agility and fearlessness, and Canutt respected Wayne’s willingness to learn and attempt his own stunts. He taught Wayne how to fall off a horse. The two worked together to create a technique that made on-screen fight scenes seem more realistic. The duo pioneered stunt and screen fighting techniques that are still in use today.
In 1940, Republic Studios offered him the chance to direct the action sequences in the film “Dark Command,” starring John Wayne.
Later, in 1943, while doing a film with Roy Rogers, Canutt broke both of his legs after falling off a wagon. He would eventually recover from his injuries and continue to write stunts and supervise the action scenes for many other films.
In 1959, Canutt staged a chariot race with nine teams of four horses in the film “Ben Hur” starring Charlton Heston – teaching Heston to do his own charioteering.
Canutt also worked on other notable classics such as “Westward Ho,” “The Swiss Family Robinson,” and “Old Yeller.”
In 1985, Yakima Canutt appeared as himself in “Yak’s Best Ride,” directed by John Crawford. His final screen credit was as a consultant for the stunts in “Equus.”
On May 24, 1986, Yakima Canutt died of cardiac arrest at the age of 90 in North Hollywood. His ashes were scattered in California’s Garden of Remembrance at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.
The mysterious photo of Yakima hanging in the Coryell County Courthouse Annex may never be explained, but it is known that he did tour in the rodeo circuit in Texas where he won three years in a row at the Fort Worth Rodeo – which became known as “Yak’s Show.”
