Gary Kent

Gary Kent (born June 7, 1933 in Walla Walla, Washington) is a film director and actor/stuntman notable for his contribution to the grindhouse, drive-in movie and exploitation film genres.

He was born on a wheat ranch at Walla Walla, Washington, the son of Arthur E. and Iola Kent. He graduated from Renton High School, Renton, Washington, and attended the University of Washington, where he studied journalism, played football and pole-vaulted on the track team. After college he entered the Naval Air Corps, where he wrote promotion and publicity for the Navy's elite flying team, The Blue Angels.

In 1959 Kent moved to Hollywood and was working primarily in drive-in exploitation films. He acted, worked stunts and directed action for directors Richard Rush, Monte Hellman, Al Adamson, Don Jones, Ray Dennis Steckler, Peter Bogdanovich and Brian De Palma. He performed television stunts and acted on Green Hornet, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and NBC's Daniel Boone starring Fess Parker. Some of the films he directed were The Pyramid (1975) and Rainy Day Friends (1983). Kent doubled Jack Nicholson in stunts in the Richard Rush films Hells Angels on Wheels, The Savage Seven and Psych-Out, and also did his very first stunts in 1966 Nicholson films Ride in the Whirlwind and The Shooting, which shot back to back in Kanab, Utah under the direction of Monte Hellman.

In his 2009 memoir Shadows and Light, Kent writes of an "outlaw" cinema aimed at breaking film taboos and barriers.In the book he talks of shooting at Spahn Ranch when Charles Manson and his followers were there. Brad Pitt's stuntman character in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is believed to be at least partially inspired by Kent. He retired from stunts in 2003 after an accident on Don Coscarelli's film Bubba Hotep, for which Kent served as stunt coordinator. Kent does continue to act in independent films. Kent is the subject of the documentary Danger God released on DVD in 2019.

• The Thrill Killers (1964) - Frank
• The Black Klansman (1966) - Wilkins
• Ride in the Whirlwind (1966)
• The Shooting (1966)
• Hells Angels on Wheels (1967)
• Psych-Out (1968) - Thug leader
• The Savage Seven (1968) - Lansford
• Targets (1968) - gas tank worker
• A Man Called Dagger (1968)
• One Million AC/DC (1969) - Olaf
• The Mighty Gorga (1969) - Arnold
• Satan's Sadists (1969) - Johnny
• Body Fever (1969) Frankie
• Hell's Bloody Devils (1970) - Hit man
• The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (1971)
• The Return of Count Yorga (1971)
• Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971) - Bob
• Angels' Wild Women (1972)
• Schoolgirls in Chains (1973) - Frank
• Freebie and the Bean (1974)
• The Forest (1982) - John
• Lost (1983) - Jack
• Warbird (1989)
• Color of Night (1994)
• Bubba Ho Tep (2002)