Mickey Gilbert

Roderick Michael Gilbert (April 17, 1936 – February 5, 2024) was an American actor, stuntman and rodeo performer.

Early life and career
Roderick Michael Gilbert was born in Los Angeles, California on April 17, 1936.

Gilbert was Robert Redford's stuntman in films, from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) through The Old Man & the Gun (2018). In the trailer for The Old Man & the Gun, Redford says that he and Gilbert "were in the same class in the same high school in the San Fernando Valley, and then many, many years later, he showed up in my life again as the stunt double in Butch Cassidy, so from that point on  he's been in all my films since."

Some of Gilbert's best known stunt roles are the leap off a cliff into water as Redford's Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; jumping from a moving train to a signal for Gene Wilder in Silver Streak; rolling down a hill while mounted on a horse in The Return of a Man Called Horse; and leaping on horseback off a cliff into water in The Frisco Kid. Gilbert also appeared as a horse rider stunt performer in the 1980 TV movie Stunts Unlimited.

Later in his career he worked as a stunt coordinator.

Gilbert portrayed the Ripper in the first episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

Personal life and death
Gilbert married Yvonne Yrigoyen, whose father was also a stunt performer, in 1962. They had three sons, all of whom are also stunt performers, as are their five grandsons. He died at his home in Camarillo, California, on February 5, 2024, at the age of 87.