Plummeting from scarily high buildings, being engulfed in flames, smashing through windows and throwing himself from trains – it’s all in a day’s work for Fife stuntman Bob McCrystal.
The Leven-based great-grandfather, 77, has spent more than five decades putting his body on the line for action scenes in iconic films including James Bond, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, A Clockwork Orange and Trainspotting.
He’s pulled off countless death-defying stunts, doubling for stars including Harrison Ford, Gregory Peck and Dennis Waterman.
He’s been shot by Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas, set on fire by Roger Moore, attacked by Malcolm McDowell and carried off by a pterodactyl.
And in his role as the executioner in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, he cut off William Wallace’s head.
He dropped a perilous 90ft feet into the sea at Tobermory harbour from a helicopter when he was doubling for Anthony Hopkins on the 1971 thriller When Eight Bells Toll.
Bob has also featured as a Stormtrooper in Star Wars, an alien, elf and bogeyman in Doctor Who, and ridden horses in lieu of various actors.
Amazingly, the only lasting injury from his incredible career hails from having had a tooth knocked out by US star Tony Curtis during a fight scene for 70s series The Persuaders.
In its place he has a gold filling made from his late wife’s wedding ring.
Meeting Bob at home in Fife
I’m honoured to meet Bob at his home in the Fife seaside town where he lives with his 12-year-old Chihuaha, Nala.
He welcomes me with a cheery smile and the offer of a coffee and a cuddle with his friendly wee dog.
His energy levels are admirable.
We’ve barely started chatting and he’s up on his feet, digging out old photos and film paraphernalia, and three of his most prized possessions – an original Indiana Jones fedora, leather jacket and tuxedo.
“The jacket and hat are from Raiders of the Lost Ark, filmed in 1981,” he says.
“Harrison Ford has worn these. The tuxedo is from Temple of Doom.”
In a corner of the room we’re chatting in are several pairs of cowboy boots Bob’s acquired, plus he has a holster… and a gun.
Without warning, he thrusts it out and shoots it (it fires a blank), giving me and photography Kenny Smith the fright of our lives. Bob laughs loudly and grins. He’s certainly full of surprises.
Fife stuntman in every Indiana Jones film
“I’ve been in three Indiana Jones movies,” he beams, producing a series of screenshots from the 2023 offering, Dial of Destiny, in which Glasgow doubled for New Year City in some scenes.
“There was a 12-man stunt team on the first film, but there are only two of us left. The production team tracked us down.
“My agent got me two weeks on Dial of Destiny, the last Indiana Jones film ever to be made.
“That’s me on the horse, with Harrison Ford’s face. It was filmed in West George Street in Glasgow.
“A production girl came up to me and said: ‘You’re gonna be riding a horse, doubling Harrison Ford.’
“I said: ‘I look nothing like Harrison Ford.’ But it was made possible with CGI.”
Bob, nicknamed by some in the industry as ‘Scotty’, admits there were a few hairy moments during filming, with one scene focused on a parade on 5th Avenue.
“The storyline is that Indy’s getting chased by the baddies,” he explains.
“He steals a policeman’s horse to gallop away – and that’s the horse I’m on.”
The horse, however, spooked when a big bass drum was struck.
“The horse reared up and started pawing the air. They shouted ‘cut’ and we did the scene again. But they kept the first attempt in the film. I guess it looked pretty dramatic!”
A CV to die for
Bob’s CV includes appearances in some of the most iconic films and TV of all time – it’s hard to keep up as he brings out laminated copies of still photos and then plays his impressive showreel, recorded on a USB stick.
Watching it, I am gobsmacked.
It opens with him playing a member of a rival gang that fights with Malcolm McDowell’s ‘droogs’ in A Clockwork Orange.
He backflips off a trampoline and smashes through a window in one scene.
And in the 1979 film Escape to Athena starring Roger Moore and Telly Savalas, he falls 75ft from a mosque in Rhodes.
“I was playing a German soldier and was shot at by Savalas,” Bob explains.
“I fell on to a pile of cardboard boxes.”
Death-defying stunts
Bob admits a “friend” called Jack Daniel’s helped build up his Dutch courage for the death-defying stunt.
“You always have a wee hip flask, a wee refreshment!” he chuckles.
“When you hit the boxes, it’s like landing on a pillow because they’ve been built up and they’re filled with air. There’s a foam rubber mat and tarpaulin on top.”
The reel also features Bob, who’s been in seven Bond films, in scenes from Octopussy, For Your Eyes Only, and The Spy Who Loved Me.
I gasp as one scene in the latter movie shows Bob engulfed in flames.
“Roger Moore set me on fire,” he laughs. “I was one of the bad people. I had a fire suit on.
“If you’re in it any length of time it causes you to sweat, and there’s steam. I jumped into water so it was fine.”
‘I cut off Mel Gibson’s head’
Other memorable moments include acting as the executioner in Braveheart. How did that feel?
“I cut Mel Gibson’s head off and got paid for it!” he says. “Not many folk can say that!”
Bob’s worked on all three Rebus series – with John Hannah, Ken Stott and Outlander star Richard Rankin.
And he doubled Gregory Peck being shot from a burning boat in the 1980 film The Sea Wolves.
Other credits include Batgirl, Superman: The Movie, Outlander, Game of Thrones, The Avengers, Taggart, The Poseidon Adventure, Dempsey and Makepeace, Deadpool, Wolverine, Extraction, and the 2024 film Damaged starring Samuel L Jackson.
Bob was shot by Clint Eastwood
A major highlight was being shot by Clint Eastwood in the 1968 movie Where Eagles Dare.
“I played a German soldier again,” says Bob. “They always seem to want to bump me off.
“Eastwood shot me as I was coming up a staircase. I was also set on fire after a bomb went off in the courtyard.”
More recently, he’s worked on Doctor Who alongside Dundee-trained Ncuti Gatwa and “creature actor” Robert Strange.
Roles in Doctor Who and beyond
Bob shows me photos of him playing the “bogeyman” in an episode from the latest series called Space Babies. It’s pretty gross – the monster is made from bogeys…
“The bogeyman’s suit was hot and heavy to wear,” reveals Bob. “I was Robert’s stand-in when he needed to cool off. Oh, I also played an elf and an alien.”
He’s been in fight scenes galore over the years – look out for him in the first Trainspotting film during Begbie’s bar brawl.
He doubled Dennis Waterman in The Sweeney, having his hair dyed baby blonde in the process and rolling a car.
And he even worked alongside John Wayne, playing a soldier in the 1968 war film, The Green Berets.
From riding horses to playing dead
In the 1973 Western Chato’s Land, in which Charles Bronson played an Apache, Bob doubled the Scottish actor Roddy McMillan.
“Roddy couldn’t ride horses – so all the long shots are me,” he adds.
So how has he managed to escape injury over the years? “I’ve been lucky. I’ve only had a few bumps and bruises,” he tells me.
“But see that gold tooth? Tony Curtis knocked out my real one in a fight scene in The Persuaders!”
Hairy moments galore
And what about the pterodactyl? Bob chuckles. “The US actor Doug McClure came to Britain to make the 1974 fantasy movie The Land that Time Forgot.
“It was supposed to be a tropical island. It was a disused quarry in Reading. It was freezing.
“In one of the shots you see this pterodactyl flying down, grabbing me and carrying me off. It was just a big wooden puppet, hanging from a crane.”
Another scary moment was being dropped from a chopper into the sea in Mull when he doubled for a young Tony Hopkins, later to become Sir Anthony Hopkins.
The plan was to drop Bob 20 feet, but a mix-up meant he in fact plunged into the icy water from 90 feet. Amazingly, he emerged unscathed.
At 77, is he still open to doing the high-risk daredevil stuff?
“It’s not that I’m not open to doing it – they won’t let me,” he says. “What they call me these days is a ‘featured extra’.
“This allows me to get involved in fight scenes, ride horses and things like that.”
Journey to becoming a stuntman
So how did Bob’s journey to becoming a legendary Hollywood stuntman begin?
Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, he emigrated to America with his family in 1960 as part of the £10 resettlement scheme.
At school in New York, he excelled at gymnastics – although little did he know that this would later boost his career in the film industry.
After leaving school, he joined the US Army and was drafted to Vietnam for 13 months.
Life-changing opportunity
But it was an invite to go behind the scenes at Universal Studios in Hollywood that changed his life.
“My friend, Greg Flhors, had an uncle who was head of props,” he recalls.
“The day I was invited along, there were extras working on the 1962 film The 300 Spartans with Richard Egan.
“I thought it looked an amazing job and wanted to know more how to get into it.
“Someone heard my Scottish accent – everyone over there seemed to love it – and asked if I could read a script.
“I was offered a job not as an extra but as an official tour guide, taking visitors on a train tour of Universal Studios.
“In the 60s one of the big shows was a Western called The Virginian. The finale of the tour was a bar room brawl scene with six stuntmen dressed as cowboys.
“It didn’t take long for me to know the routine inside out.”
When one of the stuntmen “broke a lot of bones”, Bob offered to do the fall for the next show.
First stunt ever
And when Doug McClure, best known for his role as Trampas in The Virginian, showed up as a guest on the tour, Bob was tasked with hitting the actor in the face with a custard pie and falling over a table.
“That was the first stunt I ever did!” he enthuses.
A few years later, Bob headed back to Scotland for a family funeral.
While on home soil he contacted Equity, the actors’ union, and spoke to a man called Geoff Rice, who he would end up working with for the next 45 years.
The first job Geoff flagged for Bob was the helicopter stunt in Mull with Anthony Hopkins.
Between roles, Bob supplemented his wages by working as a chef.
“Stunt work was never full-time so I set up my own catering business, ran the White Swan Hotel in Methil, bought a couple of chip vans and in 1980 settled with my third wife, Ann Marie, in Leven,” he explains.
Changed days
Stunt performance in films has undergone huge changes in the decades since Bob was included in the now legendary Stunt Arrangers and Performers ‘red book’ of 1973.
And sadly, Bob is one of a few people in it who are still alive.
But he’s keen to carry on living life to the full, grabbing any opportunities that come his way.
“I’ve no plans to give up!” he exclaims. “This time last year I was recovering from a bowel cancer operation and they tell me I’m cancer free. Let’s hope it stays that way.
“I’ve had three wives (sadly Ann Marie died in 2017) and I have six daughters, two sons, 22 grandchildren and one great-grand-daughter.
“I’ve a fantastic life popping up in the odd film and TV show. I’ve no intention of stopping and I’ll keep on auditioning for all sorts of roles.”
- Hollywood professionals have been calling for the Oscars to add a stunts category, honouring the performers and stunt coordinators who execute some of film’s most jaw-dropping feats.
- At the 2024 Oscars in March, Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling introduced a video tribute celebrating the stunt community. Gosling’s 2024 film The Fall Guy focused on a down-and-out stuntman as hero. Gosling described it as a “love letter to the stunt community” and said: “This movie is just a giant campaign to get stunts an Oscar.”
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