Simon Crane

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Simon Crane is a British stuntman, stunt co-ordinator and second unit director.

Crane was originally a law student but dropped out to pursue a stunt career. His first major work came in the 1985 Bond film A View to a Kill. In 1987 he became Timothy Dalton's stunt double in The Living Daylights. He also played the character of Che Che in a reenactment of the "gatecrasher" fight scene from On Her Majesty's Secret Service traditionally used to test the fighting skills of actors up for the part of James Bond. Vic Armstrong co-ordinated the fight. Actors believed to have tested opposite Crane in the screen tests include Mark Greenstreet, Sam Neill and Pierce Brosnan.

After achieving coach level in five sports and spending five years as the apprentice to an experienced stunt co-ordinator, Crane was allowed to act as second unit stunt co-ordinator on Licence to Kill. In 1993, Crane performed the dangerous-looking aerial transfer for the film Cliffhanger, for which he earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for the costliest aerial stunt ever performed. Crane was paid $1 million to perform the aerial transfer scene, where he crossed between two planes at an altitude of 4,572 m (15,000 ft).

In 1995 he became the overall stunt co-ordinator for GoldenEye - the opening bungee jump was voted the greatest film stunt ever in a poll for Sky Movies. After a four-year break from the Bond franchise, during which he co-ordinated stunts for the Academy-Award winning films Titanic and Saving Private Ryan, Crane returned to handle the stunts for The World Is Not Enough, with Vic Armstrong as second unit director.