Photo of Chuck Roberson
Acting

Chuck Roberson

Profession
Acting
Born
May 10, 1919 · Shannon, Texas, USA
Died
June 8, 1988

Biography

Charles Hugh Roberson (May 10, 1919 – June 8, 1988) was an American actor and stuntman. Roberson was born near Shannon, Texas, the son of farmer Ollie W. Roberson and Jannie Hamm Roberson. Raised on cattle ranches in Shannon, Texas, and Roswell, New Mexico, he left school at 13 to become a cowhand and oilfield roughneck. He married and took his wife and daughter to California, where he joined the Culver City Police Department and guarded the gate at MGM Studios. Following army service in World War II, he returned to the police force. During duty at Warner Bros. studios during a labor strike, he met stuntman Guy Teague, who alerted him to a stunt job at Republic Pictures. Teague had been John Wayne's stunt double for many years and was able to show him the ropes. Chuck also resembled John Carrol whom Roberson doubled in his first picture, Wyoming (1947). He played small roles and stunted in other roles in the same film. He graduated to larger supporting roles in Westerns for Wayne and John Ford, and to a parallel career as a second-unit director. His television appearances include The Lone Ranger, The Adventures of Kit Carson, Lawman, Death Valley Days, Have Gun – Will Travel, Laramie, Gunsmoke, The Virginian, Laredo, Bonanza, Daniel Boone, and The Big Valley. Roberson also appeared in Disney's television Westerns The Swamp Fox and Texas John Slaughter. They were part of The Wonderful World of Color. Before that, he portrayed a Confederate Prison Captain in The Great Locomotive Chase. In 1980 he published an autobiography, The Fall Guy: 30 Years as the Duke's Double. Roberson died of cancer on June 8, 1988, in Bakersfield, California, and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Hollywood Hills, California, next to his brother, actor Lou Roberson. Bob Dylan drew him as Long Tom in his Beaten Path series, the drawing is entitled "Untitled 1" and is based on a frame from the film Winchester '73 (1950). Roberson and Wayne Burson, another stuntman, were partners in breeding and training racehorses, with Roberson furnishing the horses from his Bakersfield, California, ranch and Burson training them.

Known for

Spartacus poster
Spartacus
Film · 1960 · ★ 7.5
The Searchers poster
The Searchers
Film · 1956 · ★ 7.7
Beneath the Planet of the Apes poster
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Film · 1970 · ★ 6.1
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance poster
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Film · 1962 · ★ 7.8
Rio Bravo poster
Rio Bravo
Film · 1959 · ★ 7.8
Red River poster
Red River
Film · 1948 · ★ 7.3
El Dorado poster
El Dorado
Film · 1966 · ★ 7.4
How the West Was Won poster
How the West Was Won
Film · 1962 · ★ 7.0
The Misfits poster
The Misfits
Film · 1961 · ★ 7.0
The Big Country poster
The Big Country
Film · 1958 · ★ 7.6
Winchester '73 poster
Winchester '73
Film · 1950 · ★ 7.3
The Alamo poster
The Alamo
Film · 1960 · ★ 7.1

Filmography