Ted White (born January 25, 1927) is an American stunt man/actor who doubled for John Wayne, Fess Parker, Clark Gable, Lee Marvin and Richard Boone, among others.
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The hulking (6'4") White also played football for the University of Oklahoma.
His first film was Sands of Iwo Jima in 1949. White was in the Marine Corps and they needed extras. That was where White met John Wayne and began doubling Wayne in 1952.
He had a minor role in Starman, and has also acted in several western films and in such television series as Daniel Boone, Hunter, Magnum, P.I. and The Rockford Files, usually in tough-guy roles such as police officers or hired thugs. He has also worked in Gone in 60 Seconds, Silverado, Major League and Tron.
In 1984 he was selected to play hockey masked psychotic, deformed serial killer Jason Voorhees for Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, simply because the director needed a large man for the part, which White reluctantly accepted only because he needed the money.[1] Uneasy about playing one of the most infamous murderers in screen history, White asked not to be credited on screen for his part he would later be credited for the archive footage of him as Jason that was used in the seventh Friday film. To a certain degree he got into the spirit of things by keeping his distance from the actors playing his victims, as he didn't want them to get too friendly with him since that might have changed their performances, as they would know who he was.
On the other hand, he became infuriated with director Joseph Zito for being insensitive to the pain actress Judie Aronson was experiencing when she was out on the raft filming her nude death scene, where she developed hypothermia and actually started crying from the pain brought onto her by the cold. This infuriated White to the point that he threatened to quit if they didn't let her out of the lake, and Zito complied since he didn't have the time or resources to find another stuntman White's size. Despite his initial distaste for the role, he is considered by many fans to have been one of the best Jasons.
White was offered the role of Jason for Friday the 13th: A New Beginning and Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, but turned them down. The roles ultimately went to stuntmen Tom Morga and C.J Graham, respectively. White has stated that he now wishes that he had accepted the roles.
| Preceded by Richard Brooker |
Actors portraying Jason Voorhees 1984-1988 |
Succeeded by Tom Morga |
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