1. William Hickman was an American professional stunt driver, stunt coordinator and actor.
19 Facts About Bill Hickman
1. 2.
Bill Hickman was already an established stuntman by the time The Wild One was being filmed and his expertise on motorcycles landed him work on the Stanley Kramer production.
3.
At some point during the project, Bill Hickman was injured and was unable to continue.
4.
However, Bill Hickman is clearly shown in several of the publicity stills from The Wild One.
5.
Bill Hickman spent some of these earlier days as driver and friend to James Dean, driving Dean's Ford station wagon towing Dean's famed 550 Spyder nicknamed "Little Bastard", and often helping and advising him with his driving technique.
6.
Bill Hickman was driving the Ford station wagon and trailer following Dean on the day of Dean's fatal 1955 accident and was the first person on the scene.
7.
Bill Hickman sustained a couple of significant injuries during this time, including breaking several ribs in a bad trick-fall in the film How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.
8.
The dangers were real: in one shot Bill Hickman accidentally loses control and clips the camera fixed to a parked car.
9.
Bill Hickman played federal agent Mulderig who is in constant conflict with Gene Hackman's Popeye Doyle in the 1971 Best Picture Oscar winner The French Connection.
10.
Bill Hickman performed a high-risk car-chase scene for director William Friedkin in the film.
11.
Bill Hickman, who was already hired as the stunt coordinator for the film, was a last minute acting replacement for Michael McGuire, who backed out of the film for unknown reasons.
12.
Bill Hickman performed a chase sequence for the 1973 film The Seven-Ups.
13.
Bill Hickman had many bit parts in classic television series of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Bat Masterson, The Man from UNCLE and Batman.
14.
Bill Hickman performed the stunt where James Bond driving a Mustang Mach 1 escapes a police hot pursuit in a Las Vegas parking lot by jumping over parked cars in Diamonds Are Forever.
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Bill Hickman was brought in to perform the stunt when the stunt driver hired for the gig failed to make the jump.
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Bill Hickman performed the stunt successfully on the first take.
17.
Bill Hickman moved on to more stunt coordination work in films as the 1970s wound down, notably The Hindenburg and Capricorn One.
18.
Bill Hickman staged the motorcycle chase in Electra Glide In Blue, starring Robert Blake, and appeared as a driver in the 1969 Disney film The Love Bug and as the military driver for George C Scott in the Academy Award-winning movie Patton.
19.
Bill Hickman died of cancer in 1986 at the age of 65 in Indio, California.