- Born
- Birth nameVictor Monroe Armstrong
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- He was a stuntman for over 30 years having left school at14 and started working with his father and the intention of being jockey riding point to point but he grew too big. As he was interested in films stuntman jimmy Lodge got him a job working with the horses on the film Arabesque, Some years down the line having become a professional stuntman he was in the Bond film You Only Live Twice in which he slid down a rope one handed while firing a machine gun with the other,- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tonyman 5
- SpouseWendy Leech(? - present) (3 children)
- The world's most prolific stuntman, according to The Guinness Book of World Records.
- Was one of three stunt doubles for Harrison Ford on the Indiana Jones trilogy, even though Ford enjoyed doing his stunts himself. Armstrong looked so much like Ford that members of the cast and crew often mistook him for Ford. When Ford suffered a back injury making the second Indiana Jones film that required surgery, Armstrong filled in for him and filmed a good portion of Ford's stunts and fight scenes.
- Directed the opening scene of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
- Frequently said that his favorite movies to work on were the "Indiana Jones" series.
- Rode the horse that plunged off the castle wall into the ocean in Never Say Never Again (1983).
- Being a stuntman isn't about being crazy. It's the exact opposite of that. Stunt work is control, calmness, rational thinking, good reflexes, athletic ability and good attitude. And a lot of hard work. [Belfast Newsletter, 19 October 2002]
- [on doing the stunt in which a rider and his horse fall together:] "It's the hardest thing in the business. The poor old cowboys! It takes huge technical ability to time a horse fall. You've got to be on the right leg and on the right stride, so that when you give your horse the signal, he throws himself through the air. Then you've got to hold him all the way to the ground, for the safety of the animal as well, so he doesn't try to get out of it and break a leg. More often than not he turns over, and more often than not he's on top of you. [London Sunday Times, 20 October 2002]
- [re a stunt in Superman II (1980) where he flies from a swimming pool up through the roof of Grand Central Station:] "We did this by building the set upside down with the ceiling over a pit in the studio floor and placed the camera upside down, and I dove from the roof of the studio through the ceiling piece into my catch rig. I only had three feet to turn from a vertical dive onto my back once I had gone through the ceiling piece before I hit the catch rig."
- [on meeting Richard Todd:] Like owners do, he'd come down and look at the horses on a Sunday. I can still smell the aftershave. It's amazing. I didn't know what aftershave was then. I thought, 'Wow, how glamorous.' [London Sunday Times, 20 October 2002]
- [on being hired by Jimmy Lodge to stunt in Arabesque (1966):] Jimmy doubled for Gregory Peck. I doubled for this other fellow, and we did this chase with helicopters following us and I thought, 'Wow, this is fantastic.' Twenty pounds a day! Phenomenal! [October 20, 2002; £20 equaled $56 in 1965]
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content