Vic Armstrong was born on October 5, 1946 in Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire, England as Victor Monroe Armstrong. He is known for his work on I am Legend (2007), The Green Hornet (2011) and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). He was one of three stunt doubles for Harrison Ford on the Indiana Jones trilogy, even though Ford enjoyed doing his stunts himself. Armstrong looked so much like Ford that members of the cast and crew often mistook him for Ford. When Ford suffered a back injury making the second Indiana Jones film that required surgery, Armstrong filled in for him and filmed a good portion of Ford's stunts and fight scenes.
Quit school at the age of 14 to become a jockey. Worked with George Leech before meeting his wife, Wendy Leech, on the set of Superman (1978). All three were stunt doubles: Armstrong for Christopher Reeve (Superman), Wendy for Margot Kidder (Lois Lane), and George for the man in the burglar's office.
His three children with Wendy Leech: Bruce Armstrong, Scott Armstrong (who worked on the special effects crew in Die Another Day (2002), and Nina Armstrong, have all worked in film production and/or stunts. Discussing the family team effort for Die Another Day (2002), Armstrong said in an April 20, 2002, interview for Scotland's Daily Record about his sons (who were respectively 27 and 21 at the time), "I've got nothing to do with them - they are under another department. They loved stunts when they were younger, but they are mechanically minded. But my daughter Nina is a stunt woman and I worked with her in Charlie's Angels (2000)."
Bond Stuntwork[]
- He rode the horse that plunged off the castle wall into the ocean in Never Say Never Again (1983).
- He doubled Roger Moore in the shark pool fight with Dr. Kananga in Live and Let Die (1973).
- Was George Lazenby's double and stuntman on On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), a period which he likes to refer to as 'The best days of my filming career'.
- Played the first Ninja to enter Ernst Stavro Blofeld's volcano while firing a machine gun in You Only Live Twice (1967).
- Was the stunt double for Christopher Lee in House of The Long Shadows.
Bond Filmography[]
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
| 1967 | You Only Live Twice (film) | Stunts/Ninja #1 | Released |
| 1969 | On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film) | Bond Stunt Double | Released |
| 1973 | Live and Let Die (film) | Bond Stunt Double | Released |
| 1983 | Never Say Never Again (film) | Bond Stunt Double/Stunt Coordinator | Released |
| 1997 | Tomorrow Never Dies (film) | Stunt Coordinator/Second Unit Director | Released |
| 1999 | The World Is Not Enough (film) | Stunt Coordinator/Second Unit Director | Released |
| 2002 | Die Another Day (film) | Stunt Coordinator/Second Unit Director | Released |
Trivia[]
- Armstrong was the world's most prolific stuntman, according to The Guinness Book of World Records.
- Frequently said that his favorite movies to work on were the Indiana Jones series.
- Armstrong worked as the Second Unit Director on the Bond parody film, Johnny English Strikes Again.