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Hal Brett Needham (March 6, 1931 – October 25, 2013) was an American Stunt performer, film director, actor, writer, and NASCAR team owner. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with actor Burt Reynolds, usually in films involving fast cars, such as Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Hooper (1978), The Cannonball Run (1981) and Stroker Ace (1983).
In his later years, Needham moved out of stunt work, and focused his energy on the world land speed record project. In 2001, Needham received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Taurus World Stunt Awards, and in 2012, he was awarded a Governors Awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
He was the youngest of three children. Raised in Arkansas and Missouri, Needham served in the United States Army as a paratrooper during the Korean War, worked as a treetopper (an arborist who performs tree topping services),
and was a billboard model for Viceroy Cigarettes while beginning a career in Hollywood as a motion picture stuntman.
In 1971, he and fellow stuntmen Glenn Wilder and Ronnie Rondell Jr. formed Stunts Unlimited. Needham had written a screenplay titled Smokey and the Bandit and his friend Reynolds offered him the chance to direct. The film was a huge hit, and the two followed it with Hooper, Smokey and the Bandit II, The Cannonball Run, Stroker Ace, and Cannonball Run II. Needham also directed the TV pilots Stunts Unlimited (1980) and The Stockers (1981), neither of which was picked up as a series. His final theatrical release as director was the 1986 BMX film Rad.
In 1977, Gabriel Toys introduced the "Hal Needham Western Movie Stunt Set" complete with a cardboard old west saloon movie set, lights and props, a toy movie camera and a spring-launched Hal Needham action figure that would break through a balcony railing, land on breakaway table and chairs and crash through a window. They were only manufactured for a short time and have since become highly collectible.
Needham moved out of stunt work, focusing his energy on the World Land Speed Record project that eventually became the Budweiser Rocket, driven by stuntman Stan Barrett. The team failed to set an officially sanctioned World land speed record with the vehicle, and their claims to have broken the sound barrier in 1979 have been heavily disputed.
In the 1980s, he and Reynolds co-owned the Mach 1 Racing team, which fielded the Skoal tobacco Bandit No. 33 Pontiac in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, with Barrett as the driver. Stan was later replaced by Harry Gant, and the team eventually switched to Buicks. The Skoal Bandit became a championship contender, and Gant's 18 victories resulted in his Nascar Hall of Fame nomination.
In 1986, Needham, alongside William L. Fredrick, was awarded a Scientific and Engineering Award for his efforts in developing the Shotmaker Elite camera car and crane.
In 2001, Needham received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Taurus World Stunt Awards. In 2012, he was awarded a Governors Awards by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, where he was introduced by Quentin Tarantino.
Needham and his relationship with Reynolds inspired the Cliff Booth/Rick Dalton friendship in Tarantino's 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
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