Claim:   A stuntman was killed during the filming of a fight scene in How the West Was Won.

Status:   False.

Origins:   It is rumored that in the 1962 epic western How the West Was Won, a stunt man was killed during filming of the fight scene on the logging train. Actually, the stunt man was not killed, nor did the incident on which this rumor is based occur during filming.

According to John Baxter's Stunt: The Story of the Great Movie Stunt Men (1974), the stunt man in this highly publicized incident was Bob Morgan, husband of actress Yvonne de Carlo. Morgan was doubling for George Peppard; he had completed his shots in the scene and was resting on the edge of a train's flat car. The fiberglass logs loaded on the flat car suddenly shifted, dumping him on the tracks. His injuries occurred when the axles rolled him under, but he was able to push the truck bodily off the rails. Morgan lost a leg and some bones from his spine, and his face was also disfigured.

Last updated:   17 August 2007

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