Kerry Rossall

Kerry Rossall
Kerry Rossall
	Rossall in 2017
Born	June 23, 1947 (age 76); Burbank, California, U.S.
Education	James Monroe High School
Alma mater	California Western University
Occupations	Stunt coordinator; stunt performer; actor; film producer;
Years active	1975–present
Known for	Apocalypse Now; Cobra; Friend of the World; Movin' Too Fast; Justified;
Notable credits	Babylon 5; The Crow: City of Angels; The Judge; They Live; Tomorrow You're Gone;
Parent	Frederick J. Rossall

Kerry Darrell Rossall (born June 23, 1947) is an American stunt coordinator, stuntman, actor and film producer known for three Taurus World Stunt nominations for Apocalypse Now Redux (2001). He appeared in the films Apocalypse Now (1979), They Live (1988), The Crow: City of Angels (1996), Tomorrow You're Gone (2012) and produced the films Friend of the World (2020) and Movin' Too Fast (2006).

Early life

Rossall was born in Burbank^[1] to Frederick J. Rossall of Sepulveda, California.^[2] He grew up in the San Fernando Valley^[1] and was a Boy Scout recipient of the God and Country award.^[3] Rossall attended James Monroe High School^[2] and was on the track team for pole vaulting^[4] and played American football.^[5] During his summer time in college, he surfed in Hawaii while studying as an economics major^[1] at California Western University.^[2]

After graduating, Rossall traveled to Europe and continued to surf. Upon his return, he had met stuntman Terry Leonard while working as a ski patrolman at Mammoth Mountain. Rossall was accepted to the Naval Aviation Program in Pensacola, Florida for Marine Corps boot camp and was learning to be a pilot when the Vietnam War ended. His aeronautics training helped prepare him for a career in the film industry.^[1] Despite being credited among stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, he has remained out of the news for most of his career.^[6] Rossall resides in Carlsbad, California.^[7]

Career

1975–1979

After they met in Mammoth, Terry Leonard asked Rossall if he wanted to work on The Wind and the Lion in Spain. Rossall agreed and got along with the director John Milius after discovering he surfed in Malibu. The next project for Milius was writing a script for Francis Ford Coppola. Rossall got involved after Leonard was signed on as the stunt coordinator.^[1]

Apocalypse Now

Rossall said his career in stunts and acting took off on the set of Apocalypse Now when he and Steve Boyum were initially there to double as a pair of surfers. Coppola was amused enough by their talent that he fired the original actors after the four of them had a surf-off.^[1] Rossall described the helicopter explosion^[8] sequence as the most dangerous. He was the lookout for himself and three other stuntmen. It was an expensive shot in which Rossall injured his shoulder, hit is head and caught on fire. He claimed that working with Coppola was inviting and that each day after filming, he would play racquetball with Robert Duvall who he also tried to teach how to surf.^[1] On screen, Rossall played "Mike from San Diego" and advises Bill Kilgore about Charlie's point, in which the Duvall's character responds, "Charlie don't surf!"^[9]^[10]^[11] Rossall was on the film set for over 6 months, involved in 5 of the 6 crucial stunts and worked on every major action sequence.^[1]

Following a rerelease in 2001 called Apocalypse Now Redux, Rossall shared Taurus World Stunt Awards nominations alongside stunt performers Terry Leonard, Steve Boyum and Joe Finnegan for 3 stunts in the film: Best Fire Stunt, Best Water Work, and Best Work With a Vehicle.^[12]

1986–1998

While filming Cobra, Rossall was doubling as a bad guy driver. While doing a test run, he was supposed stop a van 30 feet away from actress Brigitte Nielsen. His foot got tangled in some cables that had fallen from the dashboard and he braked too late. When the van stopped, it was 25 feet over its mark, a near fatal stunt that almost killed Nielsen. During the actual take, Rossall hit cement at 20 miles per hour, cracking his sternum and breaking his passenger's back.^[1]

During the filming of Babylon 5, actress Claudia Christian recalled Rossall choreographing a fight scene for the episode "Eyes" when he intentionally hit his head on a piece of cloth thought to be padded. A metal object underneath caused Rossall's head to swell and bleed, resulting in a noticeable lump.^[13]

2006: Movin' Too Fast

Rossall produced the action film Movin' Too Fast written and directed by Eric Chambers. The film was completed in 2006 with Artist View Entertainment and starred Layla Alexander, Marquita Terry and Matthew Glave.^[14]

2008–2013

Rossall met actor Don Handfield at a gas station after noticing Handfield's car had a camera mounted to it. He was later brought into Handfield's directorial project Driver's Ed as Second Unit Director. It was then pitched to Broken Lizard as a web series, but was eventually released as a television deal.^[15]

Justified

On February 3, 2011, Rossall was the stunt coordinator while filming an episode of the TV show Justified. At approximately 1:30 a.m., stunt performer Lisa Hoyle was knocked unconscious when a parked car rolled over her ankle after being hit by another car. She and another stunt performer said they were never informed that the car they were near would be involved in the stunt. She claimed she was getting food during the meeting in which the stunt was being explained. On February 1, 2013, Hoyle filed a lawsuit against Sony Pictures in which she says the incident wrecked her body and ruined her marriage. Rossall and Hoyle's husband, now divorced, were among the defendants in the case.^[16]^[17]^[18] Rossall had also organized a phone meeting about the stunt, but both performers allegedly were not informed of that call.^[19]

When I find that I'm afraid before performing any stunt, it tells me that further preparation is necessary.^[1]

2017–2020: Friend of the World

In 2017, Rossall was the executive producer for the independent film Friend of the World written and directed by Brian Patrick Butler and starring Nick Young and Alexandra Slade. It was made in San Diego, premiered at the Oceanside International Film Festival in 2020 and was nominated for two San Diego Film Awards before it was distributed by Troma Entertainment^[7] and Cineverse.^[20] Video Librarian deemed it one of their Best Narrative Films of 2022.^[21]

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Stunts	Actor	Producer	Notes
1975	The Wind and the Lion	Yes	No	No	uncredited
1979	Apocalypse Now	Yes	Yes	No	Mike from San Diego
1979	1941	Yes	No	No
1980	In God We Tru$t	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
1982	Turkey Shoot	Yes	Yes	No	Officer arresting Chris
1983	Blue Thunder	Yes	No	No
1983	Christine	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
1984	Breakin'	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
	Riptide	Yes	No	No
	Red Dawn	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
	Starman	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
1986	Cobra	Yes	No	No	Stand-in^[1]
1986	Never Too Young to Die	Coordinator	No	No	Stand-in
1987	Death Before Dishonor	Coordinator	No	No	Stand-in
	Dragnet	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
	Dudes	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
	Big Shots	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
1988	Shakedown	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
	Rambo III	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
	Spellbinder	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
	They Live	No	Yes	No	2nd Unit Guard
	Moonwalker	Yes	No	No
1989	The Abyss	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
	Breaking Point	Yes	No	No
	Conquering Space	Yes	No	No	Short film
	Captain Power: The Beginning	Coordinator	No	No
1990	Genuine Risk	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
1990	The Rookie	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
1991	Delta Force 3: The Killing Game	Coordinator	No	No	2nd unit director
1991	Flight of the Intruder	Yes	No	No	Stand-in
1993	Babylon 5: The Gathering	Coordinator	No	No
1994	The Hard Truth	Yes	No	No
1995	Automatic	Yes	No	No
1995	Die Hard with a Vengeance	Yes	No	No
1996	The Crow: City of Angels	Yes	Yes	No	Zeke
1997	The End of Violence	Yes	Yes	No	Featured Performer
	She's So Lovely	Coordinator	No	No
	Air Force One	Yes	No	No
1998	Running Woman	Yes	No	No
	Babylon 5: In the Beginning	Yes	No	No
	City of Angels	Yes	No	No
	Six Days Seven Nights	Yes	Yes	No	Yacht Owner (uncredited)
	Babylon 5: Thirdspace	Coordinator	No	No
	Blade	Yes	No	No
	Finding Graceland	Yes	No	No
	Rush Hour	Yes	No	No
	Babylon 5: The River of Souls	Coordinator	No	No
	Wanted	Yes	No	No
1999	Babylon 5: A Call to Arms	Coordinator	No	No
	The Limey	Yes	No	No
	Crusade	Coordinator	No	No
	Ride with the Devil	Yes	No	No
2000	The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle	Yes	No	No
2001	Ocean's Eleven	Yes	Yes	No	Flashback Security Guard (uncredited)
2002	Local Boys	Yes	No	No
2002	Road to Perdition	Yes	Yes	No	Rooney's Henchman (uncredited)
2003	The Life of David Gale	Coordinator	No	No
	2 Fast 2 Furious	Yes	No	No
	American Wedding	Coordinator	No	No
	Bad Santa	Yes	Yes	No	Policeman
	Timeline	Yes	No	No
	The Haunted Mansion	Yes	No	No
2004	The Last Ride	Yes	No	No
	The Terminal	Yes	No	No
	Meet the Fockers	Yes	No	No
2005	Movin' Too Fast	Coordinator	No	Yes	2nd unit director
2006	Alpha Dog	Coordinator	No	No	^[22]
	10th & Wolf	Coordinator	No	No
	Mission: Impossible III	Yes	No	No	^[23]
	Poseidon	Yes	No	No
	The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift	Yes	No	No
	World Trade Center	Yes	No	No
2007	Blades of Glory	Yes	Yes	No	Fire Extinguisher
	Slipstream	Yes	No	No	Double
	I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry	Yes	No	No
2008	Semi-Pro	Yes	No	No
	Spy School	Coordinator	No	No
	Get Smart	Yes	No	No	Double
	Adventures in Appletown	Coordinator	No	No
2009	Driver's Ed	No	No	No	2nd unit director
2009	Without a Paddle: Nature's Calling	Coordinator	No	No
2010	Gulliver's Travels	Yes	No	No
2011	The Muppets	Yes	No	No
2012	This Means War	Yes	No	No
	Music High	Consultant	No	No
	Tomorrow You're Gone	Yes	Yes	No	Chaney
2013	Gangster Squad	Yes	No	No
	InAPPropriate Comedy	Yes	No	No
	Deep Dark Canyon	Coordinator	No	No
	12 Years a Slave	Yes	No	No
2014	The Judge	Yes	No	No	Double for Robert Duvall
2015	La Migra	Yes	No	No	Safety consultant
2016	Sully	Yes	No	No
2016	Masterminds	2nd unit coordinator	Yes	No	Trunk Hostage (uncredited)
2018	First Timers	No	No	Yes	Short film
2020	Friend of the World	No	No	Executive

Television
Year	Title	Stunts	Actor	Notes
1983	The A-Team	Yes	No	Episode: "Mexican Slayride"
1984	Knight Rider	Yes	No	Van Driver #1 (uncredited)
1985	Hunter	Yes	No	Eddie Marx
1988	Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future	Yes	Yes	Jack^[24]
1988	Santa Barbara	Yes	Yes	Biker (2 episodes)
1994-1998	Babylon 5	Coordinator	No	111 episodes
1998-1999	Walker, Texas Ranger	Yes	Yes	Bad Guy, Mace, Joe Martin
2000-2001	The Fugitive	Coordinator	No	14 episodes
2001	The Agency	Coordinator	No
2010	Hawthorne	Coordinator	No	4 episodes
2010-2011	Justified	Coordinator	No	10 episodes

Accolades
Festival	Year	Title	Award	Result	Notes
Taurus World Stunt Awards	2002	Apocalypse Now Redux	Best Fire	Nominated	shared with Steve Boyum, Joe Finnegan, Terry Leonard^[12]
			Best Work with a Vehicle	Nominated	shared with Steve Boyum, Joe Finnegan, Terry Leonard^[12]
			Best Water Work	Nominated	shared with Steve Boyum^[12]
San Diego Film Awards	2020	Friend of the World	Best Narrative Feature Film	Nominated	shared with Brian Patrick Butler and Luke Pensabene

References

External links

Kerry Rossall at the American Film Institute Catalog
Kerry Rossall at AllMovie
Kerry Rossall at the British Film Institute^{[better source needed]}
Kerry Rossall at IMDb
Kerry Rossall at Rotten Tomatoes
Kerry Rossall at the TCM Movie Database

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