Mini Biography
The actor is better known for his prowess as a stunt driver. His work in Bullitt (1968) is legendary where he drove the black Dodge Charger 440 Magnum that was pursued by Steve McQueen in his Ford Mustang 390 G.T. For his reputation earned on Bullitt, Hickman was hired by William Friedkin for The French Connection (1971). He staged a similar chase on the streets of Manhattan but with a greater presence of civilians, an element that had been missing in Bullitt. Doubling for _Gene Hackman_ in the more hazardous stunts, Hickman drove the brown 1970 Pontiac at speeds up to 90mph with Friedkin manning the camera right behind him. Hickman's third spectacle would be captured in The The Seven-Ups (1973) where, yet again, he virtually outdid himself doubling for Roy Scheider in another landmark car chase.
-------------------
William "Bill" Hickman was a stunt driver/actor from the 1950s through the late 1970s. Hickman played a major role in terms of development and execution of three of the greatest movie car chase sequences of all time.
Early career and James Dean
Bill Hickman spent most of his career as a stunt driver, and was involved in the now legendary car chase scenes from Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups, all shot on actual city streets. Bill spent some of his earlier days as driver and friend to James Dean, driving Dean's Ford station wagon towing his famed 550 spyder nicknamed "Little Bastard", and often helping and advising him with his driving technique, he was driving the Ford station wagon and trailer following Dean on the day of his fatal accident and was first on the scene. Hickman was an extra in Dean's 1951 feature movie debut Fixed Bayonets!.
A rare personal quote from Bill on his friendship with Dean: "In those final days, racing was what he cared about most. I had been teaching him things like how to put a car in a four-wheel drift, but he had plenty of skill of his own. If he had lived he might have become a champion driver. We had a running joke, I'd call him Little Bastard and he'd call me Big Bastard. I never stop thinking of those memories." In another interview with James Dean expert Warren Beath, Hickman is quoted as saying "We were about two or three minutes behind him. I pulled him out of the car, and he was in my arms when he died, his head fell over. I heard the air coming out of his lungs the last time. Didn't sleep for five or six nights after that, just the sound of the air coming out of his lungs."
Stuntman work in Bullitt
While Hickman had many small acting (mainly driving) parts throughout the 50s and 60s, he mostly paid his bills with his stuntwork. He sustained a couple of significant injuries during this time including breaking several ribs in a bad trick-fall in the film, "How To Stuff A Wild Bikini."
However, it was the landmark car chase alongside Steve McQueen in the 1968 film Bullitt which he is usually remembered. Bill was to do all his own driving; portraying one of two hit men, he drove a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T through the streets of San Francisco, using the hills as jumps. In a nice professional driver's touch (before compulsory restraints were introduced in California) Hickman's character buckles his seat belt before flooring it at the beginning of the pursuit by Bullitt's car, thereby indicating to the audience that we are about to go on a truly wild ride.
In those pre-digital days, the dangers were real: in one shot Hickman accidentally loses control and clips the camera fixed to a parked car. The chase climaxes with his Charger careening off into a gas station and erupting in a massive fireball. (Unfortunately the remotely-aimed Charger glides slightly off course and can just be glimpsed passing behind the gas station instead of running into it: had Hickman been behind the wheel he would have struck it dead on). Prior to the filming of the chase sequence, Hickman and McQueen did endless days of high speed, close quarter driving in practice for the actual chase. Comments and film of Bill talking about his work are few and far between, although in the featurette shot at the time Bullitt: Steve McQueen's Commitment To Reality he can be seen discussing the chase with McQueen on location.
The French Connection
Another of the memorable moments in Hickman's career was when he was asked to perform a high-risk car chase scene by William Friedkin for his 1971 film The French Connection. As with Bullitt, The French Connection (also produced by Bullitt's producer, Philip D'Antoni) is famed for its car chase sequence, what differs from the usual car chase is that Gene Hackman's character is chasing an elevated train from the street below (the scene was filmed in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, with most of the action taking place on 86th Street), this chase involved real traffic and at one point Bill hits a car driven by a fellow stunt driver who missed his point, this scene was kept in the film by Friedkin as it added reality to the whole sequence, however the scene where the woman steps out into the street with a baby carriage was staged even though years of debate thought it to be a real incident with the woman being unaware of the filming process, the fact she was captured from multiple angles including a close up of her facial reaction to seeing Bill's car bearing down on her lends itself to being a staged event, although a very realistic one (This of course has as much to do with the Academy Award winning editing in that scene, done by Jerry Greenberg, as the driving by Hickman). Hickman also had a supporting role in the film as federal agent Mulderig, who played an antagonist of sorts to Gene Hackman's character.
The Seven Ups
Bill performed yet another memorable chase sequence for the little known 1973 film The Seven-Ups (in which again Hickman worked with Philip D'Antoni, who had also produced Bullitt and The French Connection) in which he drove the car being chased by the star of that film, Roy Scheider, who is heavily doubled by Hickman's good friend and fellow stuntman, Jerry Summers. The chase itself leans heavily on the Bullitt chase, with the two cars bouncing down the gradients of uptown New York (à la San Francisco's steep hills) with Hickman's 1973 Pontiac Grandville pursued at wheel-breaking speed by Scheider's Pontiac Ventura. Even the engines sound alike - Scheider's Pontiac and McQueen's Mustang; added to which there is an almost complete lack of dialogue. But the reason why these chases work so well (and why Bill himself was so highly-regarded) is down to their gritty realism and danger of each tire-busting slide, accompanied by close camera angles and camera-cars moving at high speed and parallel to the action car so you actually get to see the nervous faces of the actors behind the wheel.
In the accompanying behind-the-scenes featurette of the 2006 DVD, Hickman can be seen co-ordinating the chase from the street where we also see another example of how memorable (and dangerous) these sequences were: on cue, a stuntman in parked car opens his door, only for Hickman's vehicle to take it completely off its hinges, where (from the behind-the-scenes footage) we see the door fly off at such a force it could easily have killed the close-quarter camera team set-up only yards away (it missed them only by chance). The end of the chase was Bill's own idea, a 'homage' to the death of Jayne Mansfield, where one of the cars smashes into the back of an eighteen-wheel truck, peeling off its roof like a tin of sardines.
Later work
Bill moved on to more stunt coordination work in films as the 1970s wound down, The Hindenburg and Capricorn One notably. He staged the motorcycle chase in "Electra Glide In Blue," starring Robert Blake and also appeared as a driver in the 1969 Disney film The Love Bug (which later aired on NBC as part of The Wonderful World of Disney in 1979) and as the military driver for George C. Scott in the Academy award-winning movie Patton. He had many bit parts in classic television series of the 50s and 60s, such as The Man from UNCLE.
Bill Hickman died of cancer in 1986 at the age of 65. His legacy leaves behind some unforgettable films with some of the best examples of car control ever to be seen on screen.
from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Hickman"
∼Bill Hickman (January 25, 1921 – February 24, 1986), born William Hickman, was an American professional stunt driver, stunt coordinator and actor in the U.S. Film industry. He is considered one of the film industry's most accomplished stunt drivers. In a film career spanning from the 1950s through to the late 1970s, his body of work included films such as Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups.Hickman spent some of these earlier days as driver and friend to James Dean, driving Dean's Ford station wagon towing Dean's famed 550 Spyder nicknamed "Little Bastard", and often helping and advising him with his driving technique. He was driving the Ford station wagon and trailer following Dean on the day of his fatal accident and was the first person on the scene.Bill Died of cancer in 1986. (wikipedia)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGdaKwFOjok
The actor is better known for his prowess as a stunt driver. His work in Bullitt (1968) is legendary where he drove the black Dodge Charger 440 Magnum that was pursued by Steve McQueen in his Ford Mustang 390 G.T. For his reputation earned on Bullitt, Hickman was hired by William Friedkin for The French Connection (1971). He staged a similar chase on the streets of Manhattan but with a greater presence of civilians, an element that had been missing in Bullitt. Doubling for _Gene Hackman_ in the more hazardous stunts, Hickman drove the brown 1970 Pontiac at speeds up to 90mph with Friedkin manning the camera right behind him. Hickman's third spectacle would be captured in The The Seven-Ups (1973) where, yet again, he virtually outdid himself doubling for Roy Scheider in another landmark car chase.
-------------------
William "Bill" Hickman was a stunt driver/actor from the 1950s through the late 1970s. Hickman played a major role in terms of development and execution of three of the greatest movie car chase sequences of all time.
Early career and James Dean
Bill Hickman spent most of his career as a stunt driver, and was involved in the now legendary car chase scenes from Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups, all shot on actual city streets. Bill spent some of his earlier days as driver and friend to James Dean, driving Dean's Ford station wagon towing his famed 550 spyder nicknamed "Little Bastard", and often helping and advising him with his driving technique, he was driving the Ford station wagon and trailer following Dean on the day of his fatal accident and was first on the scene. Hickman was an extra in Dean's 1951 feature movie debut Fixed Bayonets!.
A rare personal quote from Bill on his friendship with Dean: "In those final days, racing was what he cared about most. I had been teaching him things like how to put a car in a four-wheel drift, but he had plenty of skill of his own. If he had lived he might have become a champion driver. We had a running joke, I'd call him Little Bastard and he'd call me Big Bastard. I never stop thinking of those memories." In another interview with James Dean expert Warren Beath, Hickman is quoted as saying "We were about two or three minutes behind him. I pulled him out of the car, and he was in my arms when he died, his head fell over. I heard the air coming out of his lungs the last time. Didn't sleep for five or six nights after that, just the sound of the air coming out of his lungs."
Stuntman work in Bullitt
While Hickman had many small acting (mainly driving) parts throughout the 50s and 60s, he mostly paid his bills with his stuntwork. He sustained a couple of significant injuries during this time including breaking several ribs in a bad trick-fall in the film, "How To Stuff A Wild Bikini."
However, it was the landmark car chase alongside Steve McQueen in the 1968 film Bullitt which he is usually remembered. Bill was to do all his own driving; portraying one of two hit men, he drove a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T through the streets of San Francisco, using the hills as jumps. In a nice professional driver's touch (before compulsory restraints were introduced in California) Hickman's character buckles his seat belt before flooring it at the beginning of the pursuit by Bullitt's car, thereby indicating to the audience that we are about to go on a truly wild ride.
In those pre-digital days, the dangers were real: in one shot Hickman accidentally loses control and clips the camera fixed to a parked car. The chase climaxes with his Charger careening off into a gas station and erupting in a massive fireball. (Unfortunately the remotely-aimed Charger glides slightly off course and can just be glimpsed passing behind the gas station instead of running into it: had Hickman been behind the wheel he would have struck it dead on). Prior to the filming of the chase sequence, Hickman and McQueen did endless days of high speed, close quarter driving in practice for the actual chase. Comments and film of Bill talking about his work are few and far between, although in the featurette shot at the time Bullitt: Steve McQueen's Commitment To Reality he can be seen discussing the chase with McQueen on location.
The French Connection
Another of the memorable moments in Hickman's career was when he was asked to perform a high-risk car chase scene by William Friedkin for his 1971 film The French Connection. As with Bullitt, The French Connection (also produced by Bullitt's producer, Philip D'Antoni) is famed for its car chase sequence, what differs from the usual car chase is that Gene Hackman's character is chasing an elevated train from the street below (the scene was filmed in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, with most of the action taking place on 86th Street), this chase involved real traffic and at one point Bill hits a car driven by a fellow stunt driver who missed his point, this scene was kept in the film by Friedkin as it added reality to the whole sequence, however the scene where the woman steps out into the street with a baby carriage was staged even though years of debate thought it to be a real incident with the woman being unaware of the filming process, the fact she was captured from multiple angles including a close up of her facial reaction to seeing Bill's car bearing down on her lends itself to being a staged event, although a very realistic one (This of course has as much to do with the Academy Award winning editing in that scene, done by Jerry Greenberg, as the driving by Hickman). Hickman also had a supporting role in the film as federal agent Mulderig, who played an antagonist of sorts to Gene Hackman's character.
The Seven Ups
Bill performed yet another memorable chase sequence for the little known 1973 film The Seven-Ups (in which again Hickman worked with Philip D'Antoni, who had also produced Bullitt and The French Connection) in which he drove the car being chased by the star of that film, Roy Scheider, who is heavily doubled by Hickman's good friend and fellow stuntman, Jerry Summers. The chase itself leans heavily on the Bullitt chase, with the two cars bouncing down the gradients of uptown New York (à la San Francisco's steep hills) with Hickman's 1973 Pontiac Grandville pursued at wheel-breaking speed by Scheider's Pontiac Ventura. Even the engines sound alike - Scheider's Pontiac and McQueen's Mustang; added to which there is an almost complete lack of dialogue. But the reason why these chases work so well (and why Bill himself was so highly-regarded) is down to their gritty realism and danger of each tire-busting slide, accompanied by close camera angles and camera-cars moving at high speed and parallel to the action car so you actually get to see the nervous faces of the actors behind the wheel.
In the accompanying behind-the-scenes featurette of the 2006 DVD, Hickman can be seen co-ordinating the chase from the street where we also see another example of how memorable (and dangerous) these sequences were: on cue, a stuntman in parked car opens his door, only for Hickman's vehicle to take it completely off its hinges, where (from the behind-the-scenes footage) we see the door fly off at such a force it could easily have killed the close-quarter camera team set-up only yards away (it missed them only by chance). The end of the chase was Bill's own idea, a 'homage' to the death of Jayne Mansfield, where one of the cars smashes into the back of an eighteen-wheel truck, peeling off its roof like a tin of sardines.
Later work
Bill moved on to more stunt coordination work in films as the 1970s wound down, The Hindenburg and Capricorn One notably. He staged the motorcycle chase in "Electra Glide In Blue," starring Robert Blake and also appeared as a driver in the 1969 Disney film The Love Bug (which later aired on NBC as part of The Wonderful World of Disney in 1979) and as the military driver for George C. Scott in the Academy award-winning movie Patton. He had many bit parts in classic television series of the 50s and 60s, such as The Man from UNCLE.
Bill Hickman died of cancer in 1986 at the age of 65. His legacy leaves behind some unforgettable films with some of the best examples of car control ever to be seen on screen.
from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Hickman"
∼Bill Hickman (January 25, 1921 – February 24, 1986), born William Hickman, was an American professional stunt driver, stunt coordinator and actor in the U.S. Film industry. He is considered one of the film industry's most accomplished stunt drivers. In a film career spanning from the 1950s through to the late 1970s, his body of work included films such as Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups.Hickman spent some of these earlier days as driver and friend to James Dean, driving Dean's Ford station wagon towing Dean's famed 550 Spyder nicknamed "Little Bastard", and often helping and advising him with his driving technique. He was driving the Ford station wagon and trailer following Dean on the day of his fatal accident and was the first person on the scene.Bill Died of cancer in 1986. (wikipedia)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGdaKwFOjok
Mini Biography
The actor is better known for his prowess as a stunt driver. His work in Bullitt (1968) is legendary where he drove the black Dodge Charger 440 Magnum that was pursued by Steve McQueen in his Ford Mustang 390 G.T. For his reputation earned on Bullitt, Hickman was hired by William Friedkin for The French Connection (1971). He staged a similar chase on the streets of Manhattan but with a greater presence of civilians, an element that had been missing in Bullitt. Doubling for _Gene Hackman_ in the more hazardous stunts, Hickman drove the brown 1970 Pontiac at speeds up to 90mph with Friedkin manning the camera right behind him. Hickman's third spectacle would be captured in The The Seven-Ups (1973) where, yet again, he virtually outdid himself doubling for Roy Scheider in another landmark car chase.
-------------------
William "Bill" Hickman was a stunt driver/actor from the 1950s through the late 1970s. Hickman played a major role in terms of development and execution of three of the greatest movie car chase sequences of all time.
Early career and James Dean
Bill Hickman spent most of his career as a stunt driver, and was involved in the now legendary car chase scenes from Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups, all shot on actual city streets. Bill spent some of his earlier days as driver and friend to James Dean, driving Dean's Ford station wagon towing his famed 550 spyder nicknamed "Little Bastard", and often helping and advising him with his driving technique, he was driving the Ford station wagon and trailer following Dean on the day of his fatal accident and was first on the scene. Hickman was an extra in Dean's 1951 feature movie debut Fixed Bayonets!.
A rare personal quote from Bill on his friendship with Dean: "In those final days, racing was what he cared about most. I had been teaching him things like how to put a car in a four-wheel drift, but he had plenty of skill of his own. If he had lived he might have become a champion driver. We had a running joke, I'd call him Little Bastard and he'd call me Big Bastard. I never stop thinking of those memories." In another interview with James Dean expert Warren Beath, Hickman is quoted as saying "We were about two or three minutes behind him. I pulled him out of the car, and he was in my arms when he died, his head fell over. I heard the air coming out of his lungs the last time. Didn't sleep for five or six nights after that, just the sound of the air coming out of his lungs."
Stuntman work in Bullitt
While Hickman had many small acting (mainly driving) parts throughout the 50s and 60s, he mostly paid his bills with his stuntwork. He sustained a couple of significant injuries during this time including breaking several ribs in a bad trick-fall in the film, "How To Stuff A Wild Bikini."
However, it was the landmark car chase alongside Steve McQueen in the 1968 film Bullitt which he is usually remembered. Bill was to do all his own driving; portraying one of two hit men, he drove a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T through the streets of San Francisco, using the hills as jumps. In a nice professional driver's touch (before compulsory restraints were introduced in California) Hickman's character buckles his seat belt before flooring it at the beginning of the pursuit by Bullitt's car, thereby indicating to the audience that we are about to go on a truly wild ride.
In those pre-digital days, the dangers were real: in one shot Hickman accidentally loses control and clips the camera fixed to a parked car. The chase climaxes with his Charger careening off into a gas station and erupting in a massive fireball. (Unfortunately the remotely-aimed Charger glides slightly off course and can just be glimpsed passing behind the gas station instead of running into it: had Hickman been behind the wheel he would have struck it dead on). Prior to the filming of the chase sequence, Hickman and McQueen did endless days of high speed, close quarter driving in practice for the actual chase. Comments and film of Bill talking about his work are few and far between, although in the featurette shot at the time Bullitt: Steve McQueen's Commitment To Reality he can be seen discussing the chase with McQueen on location.
The French Connection
Another of the memorable moments in Hickman's career was when he was asked to perform a high-risk car chase scene by William Friedkin for his 1971 film The French Connection. As with Bullitt, The French Connection (also produced by Bullitt's producer, Philip D'Antoni) is famed for its car chase sequence, what differs from the usual car chase is that Gene Hackman's character is chasing an elevated train from the street below (the scene was filmed in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, with most of the action taking place on 86th Street), this chase involved real traffic and at one point Bill hits a car driven by a fellow stunt driver who missed his point, this scene was kept in the film by Friedkin as it added reality to the whole sequence, however the scene where the woman steps out into the street with a baby carriage was staged even though years of debate thought it to be a real incident with the woman being unaware of the filming process, the fact she was captured from multiple angles including a close up of her facial reaction to seeing Bill's car bearing down on her lends itself to being a staged event, although a very realistic one (This of course has as much to do with the Academy Award winning editing in that scene, done by Jerry Greenberg, as the driving by Hickman). Hickman also had a supporting role in the film as federal agent Mulderig, who played an antagonist of sorts to Gene Hackman's character.
The Seven Ups
Bill performed yet another memorable chase sequence for the little known 1973 film The Seven-Ups (in which again Hickman worked with Philip D'Antoni, who had also produced Bullitt and The French Connection) in which he drove the car being chased by the star of that film, Roy Scheider, who is heavily doubled by Hickman's good friend and fellow stuntman, Jerry Summers. The chase itself leans heavily on the Bullitt chase, with the two cars bouncing down the gradients of uptown New York (à la San Francisco's steep hills) with Hickman's 1973 Pontiac Grandville pursued at wheel-breaking speed by Scheider's Pontiac Ventura. Even the engines sound alike - Scheider's Pontiac and McQueen's Mustang; added to which there is an almost complete lack of dialogue. But the reason why these chases work so well (and why Bill himself was so highly-regarded) is down to their gritty realism and danger of each tire-busting slide, accompanied by close camera angles and camera-cars moving at high speed and parallel to the action car so you actually get to see the nervous faces of the actors behind the wheel.
In the accompanying behind-the-scenes featurette of the 2006 DVD, Hickman can be seen co-ordinating the chase from the street where we also see another example of how memorable (and dangerous) these sequences were: on cue, a stuntman in parked car opens his door, only for Hickman's vehicle to take it completely off its hinges, where (from the behind-the-scenes footage) we see the door fly off at such a force it could easily have killed the close-quarter camera team set-up only yards away (it missed them only by chance). The end of the chase was Bill's own idea, a 'homage' to the death of Jayne Mansfield, where one of the cars smashes into the back of an eighteen-wheel truck, peeling off its roof like a tin of sardines.
Later work
Bill moved on to more stunt coordination work in films as the 1970s wound down, The Hindenburg and Capricorn One notably. He staged the motorcycle chase in "Electra Glide In Blue," starring Robert Blake and also appeared as a driver in the 1969 Disney film The Love Bug (which later aired on NBC as part of The Wonderful World of Disney in 1979) and as the military driver for George C. Scott in the Academy award-winning movie Patton. He had many bit parts in classic television series of the 50s and 60s, such as The Man from UNCLE.
Bill Hickman died of cancer in 1986 at the age of 65. His legacy leaves behind some unforgettable films with some of the best examples of car control ever to be seen on screen.
from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Hickman"
∼Bill Hickman (January 25, 1921 – February 24, 1986), born William Hickman, was an American professional stunt driver, stunt coordinator and actor in the U.S. Film industry. He is considered one of the film industry's most accomplished stunt drivers. In a film career spanning from the 1950s through to the late 1970s, his body of work included films such as Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups.Hickman spent some of these earlier days as driver and friend to James Dean, driving Dean's Ford station wagon towing Dean's famed 550 Spyder nicknamed "Little Bastard", and often helping and advising him with his driving technique. He was driving the Ford station wagon and trailer following Dean on the day of his fatal accident and was the first person on the scene.Bill Died of cancer in 1986. (wikipedia)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGdaKwFOjok
The actor is better known for his prowess as a stunt driver. His work in Bullitt (1968) is legendary where he drove the black Dodge Charger 440 Magnum that was pursued by Steve McQueen in his Ford Mustang 390 G.T. For his reputation earned on Bullitt, Hickman was hired by William Friedkin for The French Connection (1971). He staged a similar chase on the streets of Manhattan but with a greater presence of civilians, an element that had been missing in Bullitt. Doubling for _Gene Hackman_ in the more hazardous stunts, Hickman drove the brown 1970 Pontiac at speeds up to 90mph with Friedkin manning the camera right behind him. Hickman's third spectacle would be captured in The The Seven-Ups (1973) where, yet again, he virtually outdid himself doubling for Roy Scheider in another landmark car chase.
-------------------
William "Bill" Hickman was a stunt driver/actor from the 1950s through the late 1970s. Hickman played a major role in terms of development and execution of three of the greatest movie car chase sequences of all time.
Early career and James Dean
Bill Hickman spent most of his career as a stunt driver, and was involved in the now legendary car chase scenes from Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups, all shot on actual city streets. Bill spent some of his earlier days as driver and friend to James Dean, driving Dean's Ford station wagon towing his famed 550 spyder nicknamed "Little Bastard", and often helping and advising him with his driving technique, he was driving the Ford station wagon and trailer following Dean on the day of his fatal accident and was first on the scene. Hickman was an extra in Dean's 1951 feature movie debut Fixed Bayonets!.
A rare personal quote from Bill on his friendship with Dean: "In those final days, racing was what he cared about most. I had been teaching him things like how to put a car in a four-wheel drift, but he had plenty of skill of his own. If he had lived he might have become a champion driver. We had a running joke, I'd call him Little Bastard and he'd call me Big Bastard. I never stop thinking of those memories." In another interview with James Dean expert Warren Beath, Hickman is quoted as saying "We were about two or three minutes behind him. I pulled him out of the car, and he was in my arms when he died, his head fell over. I heard the air coming out of his lungs the last time. Didn't sleep for five or six nights after that, just the sound of the air coming out of his lungs."
Stuntman work in Bullitt
While Hickman had many small acting (mainly driving) parts throughout the 50s and 60s, he mostly paid his bills with his stuntwork. He sustained a couple of significant injuries during this time including breaking several ribs in a bad trick-fall in the film, "How To Stuff A Wild Bikini."
However, it was the landmark car chase alongside Steve McQueen in the 1968 film Bullitt which he is usually remembered. Bill was to do all his own driving; portraying one of two hit men, he drove a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T through the streets of San Francisco, using the hills as jumps. In a nice professional driver's touch (before compulsory restraints were introduced in California) Hickman's character buckles his seat belt before flooring it at the beginning of the pursuit by Bullitt's car, thereby indicating to the audience that we are about to go on a truly wild ride.
In those pre-digital days, the dangers were real: in one shot Hickman accidentally loses control and clips the camera fixed to a parked car. The chase climaxes with his Charger careening off into a gas station and erupting in a massive fireball. (Unfortunately the remotely-aimed Charger glides slightly off course and can just be glimpsed passing behind the gas station instead of running into it: had Hickman been behind the wheel he would have struck it dead on). Prior to the filming of the chase sequence, Hickman and McQueen did endless days of high speed, close quarter driving in practice for the actual chase. Comments and film of Bill talking about his work are few and far between, although in the featurette shot at the time Bullitt: Steve McQueen's Commitment To Reality he can be seen discussing the chase with McQueen on location.
The French Connection
Another of the memorable moments in Hickman's career was when he was asked to perform a high-risk car chase scene by William Friedkin for his 1971 film The French Connection. As with Bullitt, The French Connection (also produced by Bullitt's producer, Philip D'Antoni) is famed for its car chase sequence, what differs from the usual car chase is that Gene Hackman's character is chasing an elevated train from the street below (the scene was filmed in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, with most of the action taking place on 86th Street), this chase involved real traffic and at one point Bill hits a car driven by a fellow stunt driver who missed his point, this scene was kept in the film by Friedkin as it added reality to the whole sequence, however the scene where the woman steps out into the street with a baby carriage was staged even though years of debate thought it to be a real incident with the woman being unaware of the filming process, the fact she was captured from multiple angles including a close up of her facial reaction to seeing Bill's car bearing down on her lends itself to being a staged event, although a very realistic one (This of course has as much to do with the Academy Award winning editing in that scene, done by Jerry Greenberg, as the driving by Hickman). Hickman also had a supporting role in the film as federal agent Mulderig, who played an antagonist of sorts to Gene Hackman's character.
The Seven Ups
Bill performed yet another memorable chase sequence for the little known 1973 film The Seven-Ups (in which again Hickman worked with Philip D'Antoni, who had also produced Bullitt and The French Connection) in which he drove the car being chased by the star of that film, Roy Scheider, who is heavily doubled by Hickman's good friend and fellow stuntman, Jerry Summers. The chase itself leans heavily on the Bullitt chase, with the two cars bouncing down the gradients of uptown New York (à la San Francisco's steep hills) with Hickman's 1973 Pontiac Grandville pursued at wheel-breaking speed by Scheider's Pontiac Ventura. Even the engines sound alike - Scheider's Pontiac and McQueen's Mustang; added to which there is an almost complete lack of dialogue. But the reason why these chases work so well (and why Bill himself was so highly-regarded) is down to their gritty realism and danger of each tire-busting slide, accompanied by close camera angles and camera-cars moving at high speed and parallel to the action car so you actually get to see the nervous faces of the actors behind the wheel.
In the accompanying behind-the-scenes featurette of the 2006 DVD, Hickman can be seen co-ordinating the chase from the street where we also see another example of how memorable (and dangerous) these sequences were: on cue, a stuntman in parked car opens his door, only for Hickman's vehicle to take it completely off its hinges, where (from the behind-the-scenes footage) we see the door fly off at such a force it could easily have killed the close-quarter camera team set-up only yards away (it missed them only by chance). The end of the chase was Bill's own idea, a 'homage' to the death of Jayne Mansfield, where one of the cars smashes into the back of an eighteen-wheel truck, peeling off its roof like a tin of sardines.
Later work
Bill moved on to more stunt coordination work in films as the 1970s wound down, The Hindenburg and Capricorn One notably. He staged the motorcycle chase in "Electra Glide In Blue," starring Robert Blake and also appeared as a driver in the 1969 Disney film The Love Bug (which later aired on NBC as part of The Wonderful World of Disney in 1979) and as the military driver for George C. Scott in the Academy award-winning movie Patton. He had many bit parts in classic television series of the 50s and 60s, such as The Man from UNCLE.
Bill Hickman died of cancer in 1986 at the age of 65. His legacy leaves behind some unforgettable films with some of the best examples of car control ever to be seen on screen.
from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Hickman"
∼Bill Hickman (January 25, 1921 – February 24, 1986), born William Hickman, was an American professional stunt driver, stunt coordinator and actor in the U.S. Film industry. He is considered one of the film industry's most accomplished stunt drivers. In a film career spanning from the 1950s through to the late 1970s, his body of work included films such as Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups.Hickman spent some of these earlier days as driver and friend to James Dean, driving Dean's Ford station wagon towing Dean's famed 550 Spyder nicknamed "Little Bastard", and often helping and advising him with his driving technique. He was driving the Ford station wagon and trailer following Dean on the day of his fatal accident and was the first person on the scene.Bill Died of cancer in 1986. (wikipedia)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGdaKwFOjok
