Above: Gil Perkins in a minor role as a policeman with (left) Tyler McVey [1912-2003] and (right) Chuck Courtney [1930-2000] in Teenage Thunder 1957. Author’s Collection.
The Five Second version
Gil (Gilbert) Perkins must have been amongst the busiest Australians working in Hollywood’s golden era, even if the nature of his work – usually as a stuntman – meant he was less well known than his contemporaries. Interviewed late in life by Tom Weaver, he claimed that he may have worked on 1500 features and in several thousand television episodes.[1]Weaver (1996) p210 The more realistic estimates from the IMDB – 220 acting roles and over 150 appearances as a stuntman – are still impressive.[2]In Nicolas Barker’s 1999 obituary for Gil, he was named “the Stuntman’s stuntman”- able to do anything
Perkins was born in inner-city Melbourne in 1907.[3]and not in “Northern Australia” or Queensland as is often claimed By 1928 he had followed his dream to act in movies, and without any significant Australian acting experience, he had gone to California to try his luck. At the end of a long career, he died there in 1999. Apart from the volume of his work, he stands out as a unique figure for other reasons. He returned to Australia at least six times for extended visits to see his family – possibly a record for an Australian working in Hollywood at the time. He became active in the Screen Actor’s Guild and the smaller Hollywood Stuntmen’s Association – industry associations designed to protect and advance conditions for workers in the film industry.[4]Perhaps coincidentally, two other expat Australian actors Snub Pollard [1889-1962] and William H O’Brien [1891-1981], were active in the Screen Extras Guild at this time, later absorbed into SAG
Perkins is also notable for his willingness to provide commentary on what it was like working in film in Hollywood’s “golden era”. He was interviewed numerous times later in life, and spoke with a candour often missing from popular actor biographies of the era.
The photo at left shows Gil in about 1962 [5]and wearing a toupee. Daily Mirror(London) 24 Nov 1962, p9
Born at the family home in Fergie Street in the inner Melbourne suburb of North Fitzroy in August 1907, Gilbert Vincent Perkins was the second son of Frederick and Emily nee Buck. Frederick Perkins worked for the shipping agency Mullaly & Byrne at the time.[8]Victoria, Birth Certificate: Gilbert Vincent Perkins 26646/1907 Within a few years the family moved to one of Melbourne’s seaside suburbs, settling down at 101 Park Street, Saint Kilda West, only one street from the beach.[9]Australian Electoral roll, 1921
Right: the Perkins family home at 101 Park St, near West Saint Kilda beach. (the slate roofed home on the left). [Click to enlarge][10]Author’s collection
Although famous for giving frank interviews about the movie business in later life, Gil Perkins was noticeably vague about his own childhood – where he lived and went to school. There is, for example, no evidence that he ever lived in “northern Australia” as he once claimed. There has also never been a “Malvern Technical School”- a school that he said he attended – instead it is more likely he completed his schooling at South Melbourne Technical School, not far from Park Street, quite possibly in some aspect of engineering. He acknowledged his father did not approve of his emerging interest in the theatrical business, and had hopes he would work in the motor business or be an engineer.[11]Barker, 1999
Much has been made of Gil Perkin’s 4 months as a deck hand on a freighter plying the South Seas at the age of 18 (1925) – in fact he told this story himself as as early as 1933.[13]The Herald (Melb)13 Dec 1933, p12 However this experience appears unrelated to his decision to emigrate to the US several years later, and might instead be evidence of his father using his shipping connections to get his son some worthwhile life experiences. If he really did run away to sea in 1925, it did not dramatically undermine his relationship with his parents or siblings, as he returned to Australia to see them repeatedly, over the rest of his life.
This writer has the sense that Gil Perkins loved “a bit of a yarn” – in the best Australian tradition.[14]meaning – he was a story teller He found a ready audience for Hollywood stories on visits home, for example in early 1934, Melbourne radio station 3UZ interviewed him repeatedly, in what seems to have become a popular segment that stretched out over three months. Thus, perhaps, some of his claims may need to be viewed with a degree of caution.
The stories of Gil’s physical prowess growing up in Australia are many – and owe much to Hollywood based, Australian journalist/publicist Lon Jones [c1904-1989]. Amongst the various claims is one that is easily verified. Gil really was a champion swimmer and had trained as a lifesaver at West Saint Kilda lifesaving club – impressive achievements for a 21 year old.[16]See for example, The Argus,(Melb) 29 Oct 1927, p22 and The Herald (Melb) 9 Feb 1928, p10 He also played Australian Rules Football[17]The Herald (Melb) 8 June 1927, p3 at least at amateur level. He claimed this famously rough contact sport taught him protective skills he could use in later life – such as how to “fall and tumble.”[18]Rosenberg &Silverstein (1970) p283 Perhaps. He also said he had learned to box and ride horses – and bikes – in his Australian childhood,[19]Sporting Globe (Melb) 25 Jan, 1939, p8 but fencing he learned in Hollywood from sword master Fred Cavens.[20]Rosenberg & Silverstein (1970) p296
In many of his interviews, Gil made it clear that as a young man he was passionate about the movies. He was not alone. By the 1920s, Hollywood’s studio system had become a dominant force in feeding Australian cinemas, and the phenomenon of the movie actor as a celebrity was well established. As Kirsten Mckenzie notes, in 1920 alone, Australia’s population of 5 million attended cinemas 68 million times.[22]McKenzie (2010)
Six foot tall,[23]182 cms in height physically strong, blond and blue-eyed, Gil Perkins arrived in San Francisco on July 7, 1928, as a passenger on the SS Maunganui, in company with Saint Kilda friend William Wedmore.[24]The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 June 1928, p15 On arrival, Gil gave his profession as auto salesman, while Wedmore described himself as a motor mechanic. They both gave the same US contact – a Mr R. Ireland of 750 Pine St, San Francisco. In time, their US careers went in different directions, although they remained close friends.[25]Gil was best man at Wedore’s wedding in July 1934, while Wedmore returned the favour when Gil married in 1939. Wedmore’s Automotive Service ran at 1100 Mission … Continue reading
Gil arrived in the US with no Australian stage or film experiences of his own. However he had the advantage of being a confident – or forceful – personality, something he acknowledged when he described himself as “a very determined young man.”[26]Rosenberg & Silverstein (1970) p278 For a short time, while he established himself in the US, he sold cars.[27]The Herald (Melb)13 Dec 1933, p12
Breaking into film
The sheer volume and variety of Gil Perkins’ work in Hollywood – spanning more than 50 years – means it does not lend itself to a succinct summary, and the most accurate list appears to be the Internet Movie Data Base(IMDB). Gil’s own estimate was that he appeared in 1500 films, and even more television programs.[28]Weaver (1996) p210 David Inman’s three volume directory, prepared in 2001, made a sterling effort to document the appearances of all TV performers[29]Inman (2001) Vol 3, p2221 however this does not seem to provide a definitive list of Gil’s work. In part, the issue is the nature of Gil’s work as a stuntman, a double or a featured extra – roles that so often went uncredited.
Gil’s first film part was as an extra in The Divine Lady (1928) – a sound film – in so far as it had an accompanying musical soundtrack, and then in The Delightful Rogue, also as an extra, contributing to background “atmosphere.”[32]The Herald (Melb)13 Dec 1933, p12 He then took an acting part in James Whale’s[1889-1957] Journey’s End, in 1930.[33]Rosenberg & Silverstein (1970) p278 A talkie, based on a dramatic stage play and set mostly in an officers dug-out in World War 1 France, it resonated with post-war audiences and was a great success. Unfortunately Gil’s brief role – as Sergeant Cox – is difficult to positively identify in the grainy, low-res copy available today. Fellow Australian, Billie Bevan, played an officer.
On being a stuntman
Gil Perkin’s transition into stunt work was apparently related to the downturn in work caused by the Depression – it was driven by necessity.[34]Weaver (1996) p233 In 1975, he told an Australian paper that he had actually been down to his last $5 when he got stunt work on Moby Dick (1930) with John Barrymore [1882-1942].[35]Australasian Post, 22 May 1975 Tall story or not, by the time of his first visit home in late 1933, he was already an established stuntman. Stunt work was good money, he said, perhaps even “easy money.” Years later he told interviewers Rosenberg & Silverstein that in the Depression he sometimes earned as much as $150-$200 a day as a stuntman.[36]Rosenberg & Silverstein(1970) p282 But one had to be fit, he explained. Although he said he enjoyed a glass of Australian beer, he didn’t smoke, or drink hard liquor.[37]Herald (Melb) 13 Dec 1933, p12 He remained in robust health for most of his life.
In 1996, Gil was interviewed at length by Tom Weaver about his stunt work in King Kong (1933), when he doubled for leading actor Bruce Cabot in some scenes, including the one shown above, where the two key characters are escaping from Kong. With a characteristic modesty, Gil described this as “no great stunt.”[40]Weaver (1996) p215-6
Rosenberg and Silverstein’s 1970 book The Real Tinsel includes several studio photos of Gil doing impressive stunts in other films – for example; hanging out a porthole and being suspended from high wires for Eddie Albert in The Fuller Brush Girl (1950). It is quite clear from interviews with Gil that stunt work in Hollywood’s golden era was self taught – learned by observation and practice – there was no stunt school to attend. It could also be risky, and Gil was scathing of directors who had lost stunt men in actions gone wrong. Carelessness meant Raoul Walsh [1888-1980] lost several stunt men in They Died with Their Boots on (1941), while Gil told Tom Weaver that director Ralph Ceder [1897-1951] would “kill you if you didn’t watch yourself.“[41]Weaver (1996 p221 There were also limits to what stunts he would do – by the time Rosenberg & Silverstein interviewed him, he had long since refused motorcycle and airplane stunts. A friend, stunt pilot Paul Mantz [1903-1965], had been killed in a plane crash on the set of The Flight of the Phoenix in 1965.[42]Rosenberg & Silverstein (1970) p288
But much of the stunt work Gil did, appears to have been more mundane; fights and jumps, falls from horses, even dressing up in monster costumes. It was his stamina, wide range of physical skills – and a robust physique – that kept him employed and eventually gave him the reputation of being one of Hollywood’s leading stuntmen.
We see examples of this in much of his later work, where Gil was often a featured extra, sometimes with a few lines as well as having stunts to perform. In the 15-part Republic serial Captain America (1944), he appeared as a thug, who ends up fighting Captain America. Apparently audiences were not expected to remember minor players – and thus Gil appeared as a similar (but different) thug over several episodes – in exciting fight scenes. He explained to Tom Weaver that fight scenes in serials were generally done in one long “master shot” – with leading actors cut in later. By contrast, feature film fights were usually done in separate takes.[44]Weaver (1996) p224
Stanley Kubrick’s[1928-1999] big budget “sand and sandals” epic, Spartacus (1960) used numerous stunt artists, including Gil. At 3 hours in length and with a large cast and many action scenes, Gil appears repeatedly as a featured extra – including in a couple of stunt sequences. Two stunt sequences are illustrated here. Below left, the fence on the gladiator’s cage is pushed over by escaping gladiators. Gil, as a gladiator, is climbing the left of the fence – hard to make out in this photo, but easily identifiable in still photos taken at the same time by LIFE photographer J.R. Eyerman. Below right, also during the gladiator’s revolt, Gil arrives with sword – soon to fight a Roman, who is about to appear from the left.
In other scenes from the film, Gil appears prominently in the background. Below left, Gil can be seen centre right, as Spartacus (Kirk Douglas [1916-2020] at left) leads gladiators past the body of Draba (out of sight, at right). Below right, Spartacus and Antoninus (Tony Curtis [1925-2010] ) discuss plans with other rebel gladiators. Gil Perkins can be seen at extreme left. He has no dialogue in the film. Yakima Canutt [1895-1986] was credited as being the stunt coordinator on Spartacus. Gil graciously acknowledged “Yak” Canutt’s ability as a stuntman.[47]See Rosenberg & Silverstein(1970) p288 Gil also served as a stunt coordinator on feature films.[48]Barker (1999)
Gil Perkins as a featured extra in Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960). Click to enlarge.[49]Screen grabs author’s copy
While Gil provided no comments about Stanley Kubrick or producer-star Kirk Douglas, over time he did make many comments about other directors and actors he had worked with. He admired Alfred Hitchcock [1899-1980] and George Stevens [1904-1975] as directors and had long associations with actors Red Skelton [1913-1997] and William Boyd [1895-1972], both of whom he doubled for.
While comfortable in the company of actor John Wayne [1907-1979], Gil did not like director John Ford [1894-1973]. “I didn’t like the way he picked out a patsy on a picture and gave him a hard time. I thought he was a despot and a professional Catholic. I was a stuntman and got fired every night, so he didn’t scare me.”[50]Eyman (1999) p155 He recalled that on Fort Apache (1948), Ford took a particular dislike to John Agar(1921-2002). Ford “ate him alive. There was nothing this poor kid could do that was right.”[51]Eyman (1999) p336 Gil also did not like Eric Von Stroheim [1885-1957], whose bullying of Boots Mallory [1913-1958] on the set of Walking Down Broadway/Hello Sister (1933) he recalled vividly. “He was a pain in the ass.” [52]Weaver (1996) p219
B-picture producer Joy Newton Houck [1900-1999] and his company Howco Gil could not recall fondly either – largely because of their financial dealings.[54]Weaver (1996) p227 Perhaps Hollywood at this time really was an era of brutal relationships, so at odds with the romantic and sentimental atmosphere modern writers sometimes give it.
The post war period was an era of significant change in the US – reflecting new priorities for the urban middle classes and changes in cinema audience habits. The changes associated with the rise of television were many. In Hollywood a decline of the studio system saw increasing job insecurity – there were fewer and fewer actors and writers with ongoing studio contracts. Peter Lev notes that while there were 804 actors under contract to major studios in 1945, ten years later there were only 209.[55]Lev (2006) p26 It was in this uncertain environment that Gil was appointed to the board of the Screen Actors Guild – in April 1954,[56]Daily News (Los Angeles) Apr 12, 1954, p6 – although he had been a member of this labour union since the mid-1930s.[57]Gil was still serving the Screen Actors Guild in 1975, according to Australasian Post, 22 May 1975
In 1954, Gil was also instrumental in setting up the Hollywood Stuntmen’s Association – a fraternal organisation comprising, at first, only 35 members.[59]Daily Telegraph(Qld) 19 Aug, 1954, p25. This was another report by Lon Jones
Of course, television soon provided another source of work for stuntmen – and Gil can be found in numerous programs from the 1950s. As a spokesman for stuntmen, Gil was less than impressed by the efforts to reduce violence on TV and he dismissed such scenes as merely “rough and tumble brawls.” He felt the work was down by 50% for some stuntmen in 1962,[60]Lodi News-Sentinel (California) 8 Oct 1962, p14 however Gil seems not to have suffered this problem so much himself. He was still regularly a featured, but uncredited extra – and was now often consigned to playing menacing heavies – Kaos agents in Get Smart, henchmen in Batman and endless bad guys in westerns such as The Virginian, The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp, Bonanza and Wagon Train.
In the following example from a 1963 episode of The Beverley Hillbillies, Granny fires a shotgun and Gil, as the pool maintenance man, leaps over the veranda to escape her. This appearance also showcased Gil’s natural accent – the same accent found among many Australians from the urban middle class of his era. As Nicolas Barker noted in his 1999 obituary, to American ears he simply passed for English.[61]Barker 1999
In only one film appearance did Gil actually play an Australian. This was Lost Flight (1970) a made for TV film – a pilot for a TV series that did not eventuate. In this, he was credited as “the Australian”, while Playboy model Connie Kreski [1946-1995] played his wife. (She had no lines, so perhaps no one noticed she was also 40 years his junior!!) Gil had one line, where presumably to emphasize his Australian-ness, the line included the words “bloody” and “mate.”
Gil’s final film was a small part in Martin Scorsese Raging Bull (1980), which also appears to have been the year of his final visit home to Australia.[64]The Age (Melb) 1 April 1980, p2 But no matter how many films he appeared in, Gil Perkins was apparently never really satisfied with just being a good stuntman. In 1970, he told Rosenberg and Silverstein that he really wished he had been a 2nd Unit director.[65]Rosenberg & Silverstein (1970) p287 On a return home in 1975 he told an Australian journalist that he had only ever wanted to be an actor.[66]Australasian Post, 22 May 1975 In one of his final interviews – with Tom Weaver in 1996, he said he wished he had been a cameraman.[67]Weaver (1996) p233 The problem was that it was “hard to graduate from stuntman to anything else.”[68]Rosenberg & Silverstein(1970) p296
Gil Perkins died at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital on Mulholland Drive,
Woodland Hills, in late March 1999. He had become a US citizen in the early 1930s, and had married in 1939. He was survived by his daughter Susan, and by his extended family still living in Australia.
Gil’s daughter Susan Perkins (1941-2023) was a long time employee of 20th Century Fox.
Nick Murphy
August 2025
References
- Victoria, Births Deaths & Marriages, Birth Certificate 26646/1907 Gilbert Vincent Perkins, 24 August 1907.
Oral History
- Gil Perkins interviewed by Ronald L Davis, 21 August 1986. Oral History collection, De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
Text
- Barker, Nicolas (1999) Gil Perkins obituary. The Independent (London UK) 29 April 1999, p6
- Eyman, Scott, (1999) Print the legend : the life and times of John Ford. Simon & Schuster
- Inman, David M (2001) Performers’ Television Credits, Vol 3: N-Z, McFarland & Co
- Freese, Gene Scott (2014) Hollywood Stunt Performers, 1910s-1970s: A Biographical Dictionary. 2nd Edition. McFarland & Co.
- Lev, Peter (2006) The Fifties: Transforming the Screen, 1950-1959. Vol 7 in History of the American Cinema. University of California Press.
- McKenzie, Kirsten. Journal of Women’s History; Baltimore Vol. 22, Iss. 4, (Winter 2010): “Being Modern on a slender income: ‘Picture Show’ and ‘Photoplayer’ in early 1920s Sydney”. 114-136, 329.
- Rosenberg, Bernard & Silverstein, Harry (1970) The Real Tinsel. MacMillan Company
- Weaver, Tom (1996) It came from Horrorwood. Interviews with moviemakers in the science fiction and horror tradition. McFarland Books
Web
- Mager, Boyd & Summers, Neil. Western Clippings- Action Actors. Gil Perkins
Footnotes
| ↑1, ↑28 | Weaver (1996) p210 |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | In Nicolas Barker’s 1999 obituary for Gil, he was named “the Stuntman’s stuntman”- able to do anything |
| ↑3 | and not in “Northern Australia” or Queensland as is often claimed |
| ↑4 | Perhaps coincidentally, two other expat Australian actors Snub Pollard [1889-1962] and William H O’Brien [1891-1981], were active in the Screen Extras Guild at this time, later absorbed into SAG |
| ↑5 | and wearing a toupee. Daily Mirror(London) 24 Nov 1962, p9 |
| ↑6 | See Weaver (1996) p215. |
| ↑7 | Source of screengrab – Author’s copy |
| ↑8 | Victoria, Birth Certificate: Gilbert Vincent Perkins 26646/1907 |
| ↑9 | Australian Electoral roll, 1921 |
| ↑10, ↑53 | Author’s collection |
| ↑11 | Barker, 1999 |
| ↑12 | Ancestry.com |
| ↑13, ↑27, ↑32 | The Herald (Melb)13 Dec 1933, p12 |
| ↑14 | meaning – he was a story teller |
| ↑15 | The Argus (Melb), 23 Apr 1934 p14 |
| ↑16 | See for example, The Argus,(Melb) 29 Oct 1927, p22 and The Herald (Melb) 9 Feb 1928, p10 |
| ↑17 | The Herald (Melb) 8 June 1927, p3 |
| ↑18 | Rosenberg &Silverstein (1970) p283 |
| ↑19 | Sporting Globe (Melb) 25 Jan, 1939, p8 |
| ↑20 | Rosenberg & Silverstein (1970) p296 |
| ↑21 | author’s collection |
| ↑22 | McKenzie (2010) |
| ↑23 | 182 cms in height |
| ↑24 | The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 June 1928, p15 |
| ↑25 | Gil was best man at Wedore’s wedding in July 1934, while Wedmore returned the favour when Gil married in 1939. Wedmore’s Automotive Service ran at 1100 Mission St, South Pasadena for many years. |
| ↑26, ↑33 | Rosenberg & Silverstein (1970) p278 |
| ↑29 | Inman (2001) Vol 3, p2221 |
| ↑30 | 3 years later, he described himself in this scene to The Herald (Melb)13 Dec 1933, p12 |
| ↑31 | screen grab from author’s copy |
| ↑34, ↑67 | Weaver (1996) p233 |
| ↑35, ↑66, ↑69 | Australasian Post, 22 May 1975 |
| ↑36 | Rosenberg & Silverstein(1970) p282 |
| ↑37 | Herald (Melb) 13 Dec 1933, p12 |
| ↑38 | Weaver (1996) p215-6. |
| ↑39 | Source of screengrab – author’s copy |
| ↑40 | Weaver (1996) p215-6 |
| ↑41 | Weaver (1996 p221 |
| ↑42 | Rosenberg & Silverstein (1970) p288 |
| ↑43 | Screengrab from DailyMotion |
| ↑44 | Weaver (1996) p224 |
| ↑45 | Source of screengrabs – Youtube |
| ↑46 | Screen grabs from author’s copy |
| ↑47 | See Rosenberg & Silverstein(1970) p288 |
| ↑48 | Barker (1999) |
| ↑49 | Screen grabs author’s copy |
| ↑50 | Eyman (1999) p155 |
| ↑51 | Eyman (1999) p336 |
| ↑52 | Weaver (1996) p219 |
| ↑54 | Weaver (1996) p227 |
| ↑55 | Lev (2006) p26 |
| ↑56 | Daily News (Los Angeles) Apr 12, 1954, p6 |
| ↑57 | Gil was still serving the Screen Actors Guild in 1975, according to Australasian Post, 22 May 1975 |
| ↑58 | Los Angeles Mirror, June 11, 1953, p41 |
| ↑59 | Daily Telegraph(Qld) 19 Aug, 1954, p25. This was another report by Lon Jones |
| ↑60 | Lodi News-Sentinel (California) 8 Oct 1962, p14 |
| ↑61 | Barker 1999 |
| ↑62 | Screengrabs from youtube |
| ↑63 | Screen grab from copy on DailyMotion |
| ↑64 | The Age (Melb) 1 April 1980, p2 |
| ↑65 | Rosenberg & Silverstein (1970) p287 |
| ↑68 | Rosenberg & Silverstein(1970) p296 |
Really great piece and an amazing insight into the workings of the business!