Gary Kent
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The True Story Behind Gary Kent, Spahn Ranch, and Charles Manson
KELLY
We’ve all seen car chases, fistfights, and people jumping out of exploding buildings. These things are normal in the movies.
(SFX: Car driving, getting closer)
But when a car crashes during an action scene, who’s actually in the driver’s seat? Is it the actor who’s playing that character?
(SFX: Car crash)
Not likely.
Today we hear from Gary Kent, a man whom you’ve probably seen on the big screen, but didn’t realize it.
(Music: Theme music)
Gary is here to talk about being a stunt man, someone who performs dangerous or difficult tasks in place of actors, and the camera never knows the difference.
GARY
Jack Nicholson was was just getting started and he said he was looking for stunt men and so I said I’m a stunt man and then they hired me
KELLY
Gary has been a part of the stunt industry since before there were stunt schools. In the 40 years he has worked in film, Gary has worked with Jack Nicholson, Penny Marshall, Alan Arkin, James Caan, Bruce Willis and Garry Marshall…those are just a few.
On this episode of Qavah, we learn all about Gary Kent’s filmmaking career, and how it got tied up in a historical event that no one would have ever expected.
(Music: Heavy metal “Fight Club” style, fades out…)
(SFX: Squeaky door shutting, rat footsteps)
BODY
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KELLY
On June 7, 1933, in Walla Walla, Washington, Arthur and Iola Kent became the proud parents of a baby boy they named Gary. Gary Kent grew up to be quite an athlete. After graduating from Renton High School in Renton, Washington, Gary went on to the University of Washington where he was on the football team and pole vaulted on the track team. While in college, Gary studied journalism. After college, Gary joined the Naval Air Corps, where he wrote publicity and promotion for the Blue Angels. And then in 1959, he moved to Hollywood to be an actor.
Welcome to Hollywood
(Music: California music)
GARY
When I started in stance I went to LA to be an actor and all the actors were out of work and I said no that’s not for me I want to work and I’ve heard about these guys called stunt people so Jack Nicholson was was just getting started and was going up to Utah to make some westerns and he said he was looking for stunt man and so I said I’m a stunt man and then they hired me and I went up to Utah when we were there filming The gang I was just crawling on the ground I didn’t know you you pick it up you wear pads and rubber guns
So the Daniel Boone company came out to shoot and they had 4 of the best stuntmen in the business and they wanted one more but they didn’t want to send back to California so Nicholson said I’ve got a great stunt man he doesn’t use pads he doesn’t he said send me so they sent me over to Daniel Boone after they made After they made at nine and made me through the ropes and started teaching me what it was all about and in those days there were no stunt schools we were we would go and study had to do something So it’s pretty much we better learn learn to be a stunt guy and carry his bag for him for nothing for a while till they trusted you enough to give you a gag A gag means stunt a gig would be a job a gag would be a stunt so there were no start schools it was like being hired by somebody who knew and trusted you and you became a part of this great brotherhood sisterhood kind of things
KELLY
Gary did his very first stunts for Jack Nicholson in Ride in the Whirlwind and The Shooting, directed by Monte Hellman. Some other directors he has worked with have been Peter Bogdanovich, Brian De Palma, and his favorite, Richard Rush.
GARY
Yeah I did a picture called psych out with my favorite director Richard Rush And it’s starred Jack Nicholson Bruce Dern but I got to act in it I got to play a bad guy and I got to act with Jack Jack Nicholson and I also did the special effects A lot of firework and again that was before CGI
KELLY
For other Richard Rush films, Gary doubled Jack Nicholson in Hells Angels on Wheels and The Savage Seven.
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GARY
(Include segment about Easy Rider vs. Hell’s Angels on Wheels)
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KELLY
Fortunately for Gary Kent and his genre, the drive-in saw its peak in popularity the late 1950s and early 1960s, adding 4,000 drive-ins across the United States. During that same period, in 1960 Sony had developed a portable 8 inch television and had sold over 4 million sets. This created a market for a small budget film.
GARY
The thing that happened that was lucky for us was television came in So mom and dad kept the kids home to watch TV in the drive-ins had no product and the studios had avoided the drive-in scene so they were looking for product and they gave a chance for all these young filmmakers to get their films made and distribute them
In a way it’s similar today if you’ve got $10 in equipment you can go film a movie it doesn’t mean it’s going to be good or you can have it shown but you can shoot one and that was the kind of the feeling then that all the outlaws are running around making B movies but it was a lot of work
KELLY
The feeling was that, if you had a camera and some friends, you could make anything happen. Gary writes about what it was like in his memoir Shadows and Light.
GARY
KELLY
The films made during this time were groundbreaking. There were no rules; films tested the limits of what a film could be. For the first time in history, this was seriously analyzed as an art form.
But as Gary dove further into this brand new world, he encountered something he had never expected.
(SFX: Car slowing down over gravel, parking, engine humming)
In 1953, a dairy farmer named George Spahn purchased a 55 acre ranch in Los Angeles county California.
(SFX FADES IN: Movie set, people shouting to each other)
The ranch became a known as the Spahn Ranch and became a location for western-themed movies and television shows, including The Lone Ranger with Clayton Moore, Duel in the Sun, and a few episodes of the television show, Bonanza.
(SFX: Slate claps, “Action!”)
Gary, too, worked on films at Spahn Ranch.
GARY
It was great because you got off the studio lot so it’s kind of like going on location in a way Lunch is catered breakfast catered but yeah Corriganville Iversen Ranch was right across the street from the Spahn Ranch there were no TV antennas
No something so you could do westerns or films from the 20s or 30s without worrying about it
It was we brought our big trucks of equipment and stuff how your butt out there to shoot in but again it was a great experience to get away from the big studio gates it make you feel like you were in an institution so it was freedom to do your thing
Who is George Spahn of the
Spahn Ranch
KELLY
George Spahn was 80 years old and going blind living on his ranch when he met a “family” that he allowed to exchange labor for rent. One of the members of the family, Lynette Squeaky Fromme, said of him, “I was impressed with George Spahn’s hardiness. He was eighty years old and, although his blindness had for five or six years kept him in a world apart, he was mentally still present, living alone and working through all the frustrations of having lost authority in the running of his own business.” This family came, supposedly to help him with daily chores and the horse rental business, which was his main source of income.
Gary Kent was filming at Spahn Ranch when he met this family and George Spahn. According to Gary, all was not as it seemed with this family’s agreement to work for rent.
(SFX: Footsteps, squeaky door opening)
GARY
George was always sitting at a table you go to his house my production man you still want so I’d have to go to George Spahn to make arrangements for us to shoot there you’d walk in his house in the minute you went in the smell would just kill you there were rats everywhere all food all over the table and George would be sitting there with a cup of coffee blind. He would try to up the price for shooting all the time but he didn’t know because he couldn’t see it but his house was just filthy it was a rats nest
KELLY
Unfortunately, Spahn couldn’t see that this family wasn’t owning up to their end of the deal. While filming at the ranch, Gary spent some time with the family and their mysterious leader, Charlie.
CHARLES MANSON FAMILY
GARY
My interaction with Charlie, although I’d see him hanging around a lot I didn’t know who he was. I was just one of the people that we were using a dune buggy that they loan to my buddy Bud Carlo. A camera car and it broke down and I need to get it fixed. I was production manager, so I asked Patricia Krenwinkel one of the girls, had them is extra sometimes. I said I need to find a good mechanic do you know one and she said yes we got a great mechanic and she brought over Charlie Manson
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KELLY
Gary didn’t know it at the time, but this was no ordinary family. This was the Manson family, not related by blood but tied together as a religious cult, and led by Charles Manson.
GARY
I met Charlie and I said I need this dune buggy fixed and he said I can fix it but I need $70 up front so bud gave him $70 and I just saw him as a little guy he didn’t have this big scary eyes or anything and we came back the next day and it was not fixed and I said get me Charlie and they went and got Charlie and I said Charlie you better fix this dune buggy Right away or Bud Carter will will bring you a new anus it’s not what I said but it’s close enough and so he got under and fixed it right away and that was my meeting with Charlie Manson
Spahn ranch was kind of was where Charlie Manson and his gang hung out it was kind of something It was old dilapidated kinda like George Spahn it was just fun shooting there
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
KELLY
Spahn Ranch was about to become the site of a dramatic series of events, events which had already happened as Gary was meeting Charles Manson, but that wouldn’t come to light for some time. These events would become the stuff of history and even recent films. Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, released in 2019, features the characters of Charles Manson, George Spahn, and a character partially based on Gary Kent, who is played by Brad Pitt.
There were various people working at Spahn Ranch during this time, one of whom was a ranch hand named Donald or “Shorty” Shea.
WHAT HAPPENED TO SHORTY SHEA?
GARY
Short shay was a stunt man at the Spahn ranch he wasn’t really a stunt man but he wanted to be sure you had this stunt chuck was telling me about it today he would win the street man would say hey I’ve got a stat I bet you won’t do always so what was it needs a watch this new tire rope around his neck and get a horse and tie rope on the saddle and he throw a rock at the horse and the horse would drag him by the neck I said damn right I won’t do that Who would do that? but he they were always around those for the guys that wrangle the horses at Spahn Ranch the Manson clan had a little to do with the horses again once upon a time in Hollywood had them taking people on trail rides and they did not do that shorty shea and Juan Flynn a couple of wranglers Manson people just sort of lived off in the old buildings and stuff and then come around beg for our lunches so we just knew them as this sort of like and kept people that around the set mostly girls A couple of guys but mostly girls
KELLY
While Gary and his crew were working on their film, the Manson family was moving in the shadows. Before long, people started to disappear. Gary had no idea what was happening until it was too late.
Manson Family Murders
(SFX: Thunderclap, rain, car engine humming. Engine continues throughout Gary’s narration)
GARY
We found out not long because at that time when I heard into the dune buggy they had already done that yet so we had no idea they’re getting ready to move back to the Barker residence at that time but the murders it already happened except Shorty shay the stunt guy who got dragged by the neck had disappeared we were like what happened to Shorty Shea? We did not know that Charlie had killed Shorty shape most people know Rosemary Labianca and her husband and Sharon Tate and I’ve been murdered most people know that but also Shorty Shea this wonderful guy who wanted to be a step man had been cut off his head severed parts of his body thrown down a well we found out years later what it happened to him what happened to that great guy Shorty Shea yeah he was one of the victims
(SFX: Car driving on gravel)
SHARON TATE MURDERS
KELLY
On August 8th, 1969, Charles Manson sent four of his followers to a house on Cielo Drive in Los Angeles, California. They were instructed to destroy everyone in the house as gruesomely as they could. Why? Well, as it turned out, Charles Manson was an aspiring musician, and a music producer had refused to give him a record deal. Manson was furious. And this producer, Terry Melcher, just so happened to live at Cielo Drive.
However, when the Manson family arrived at the house, Terry Melcher was nowhere to be found. The new inhabitants of the house were film director Roman Polanski and his wife, actress Sharon Tate, who was expecting a baby. Polanski was away from home at the time, and the young actress had invited her friends over for the evening: coffee heiress Abigail Folger; Polish writer Wojciech Frykowski; and celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring.
The Manson family accomplished what they had set out to do, and they claimed five victims that night. The four inside the house were brutally murdered, and so was Steven Parent, a friend of the property’s caretaker.
By the time Gary started producing films at Spahn Ranch and met Charles Manson, this had already happened, and the ranch was serving as a safe house for the Manson family.
LABIANCA MURDERS
On August 9th, the day after the original murders, Manson took his family out on another drive. He considered several different victims to follow the previous day’s murders. He eventually settled on Leno LaBianca, a supermarket executive, and his wife Rosemary.
By the end of the weekend, seven people had been murdered. The Manson family wouldn’t be arrested until October of that year, more than two months after their crimes, and after they had also killed Shorty Shea at Spahn Ranch.
(SFX FADE IN: Sirens)
Until the murders were discovered, Charlie Manson and his followers would simply remain a mysterious, and seemingly harmless, family to Gary.
(SFX fades out)
BUBBA HO TEP
KELLY
Despite this unfortunate incident, Gary’s career soared in the following years. He not only continued in stunt work, but has also acted and directed films. He directed The Pyramid in 1976 and Rainy Day Friends in 1985. He ultimately retired from stunts in 2003, following an accident on the film Bubba Ho Tep directed by Don Coscarelli.
OUTRO
KELLY
Looking back on his work as a stunt man, Gary is proud of what he’s accomplished. His stunts have been nothing short of breathtaking. He’s been dragged behind a pickup truck, thrown from a horse, and had several broken bones and other injuries. He fondly remembers making Psych Out with his favorite director, Richard Rush.
GARY
I did a great car hit where I get hit by a car and bounced off and Into a trunk and then off of the truck and over the hood of another car crushed my head on the concrete when I see that stunt I go I don’t believe I did that but I’m very proud I like it
KELLY
As Gary once told the Austin Chronicle, however, the golden age of the stuntman may now be over. With the introduction of CGI, or computer-generated imagery, there is no longer a need for stunt men to put themselves in danger. Filmmakers can create the illusion all on a computer.
Even though you can’t win an Oscar for being a great stuntman, Gary’s grateful to have been a part of this exciting industry. His life as a filmmaker has had twists and turns as crazy as any movie.
(SFX: Theme music)
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