detail about the logistics and extensive
safety measures that had to be undertaken
before the feat could be performed.
The prep time for that stunt, which only
lasted for a few seconds, took about 45
minutes, he explained.
During his stunting and stunt coordinating
career Jeff has doubled for or
worked in other capacities with such box
office superstars as Tom Cruise, Matthew
McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, Brad
Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Al Pacino and many
others.
“It’s a tough way to make a living but
I’m doing it,” was Jeff ’s overall assessment
of his hazardous occupation which
includes nearly 300 productions and still
counting. His Internet Media database
(IMDb) lists six works in various stages
of pre- and post-production and three
recently completed going into 2020.
“I’ve never been put in the hospital
injured,” he added. “I’ve broken my leg,
ribs, my wrist, had lots of stitches and I
blew my knee out. All the typical injuries
you’d expect but I’ve never been admitted
(to a hospital) over it. It was always
just a little emergency room visit, fix it
up and go.”
How did it all begin for Jeff Galpin,
going from a boyhood tending to injured
animals at a species survival center near
his River Ridge home to performing
stunts for some of Hollywood’s biggest
stars? It began with alligators at the
Audubon Zoo.
While attending veterinary school at
LSU and working an internship at the
zoo, he was assigned to the Louisiana
Swamp Exhibit. As he explained, “These
movie people came in and they needed
somebody who could wrestle an alligator.
They were shooting a movie called
‘Undercover Blues.’ I was a young college
kid and they offered me a hundred dollars
a day. That was a lot of money back then
so I did it.”
After just a few days, Jeff impressed
the film’s producer so much that he kept
him on longer than expected. “I made a
lot of money and I said to myself, ‘Hey,
this is what I want to do,’” he continued.
HAZARDOUS
DUTY
Local stuntman
Jeff Galpin stars
in a risky business
By Dean M. Shapiro
Can a man set his son on fire and not be brought up on criminal charges?
The answer is “yes” if both of them are stuntmen.
Jeff Galpin, a 30-year
veteran of Hollywood’s most
challenging – and dangerous
– business, has done it all,
from wrestling alligators to
jumping from tall structures
to fleeing from burning cars
and more. And, along the
way, he has brought his family into the
stunting and film business, including his
22-year-old son, Tyler, his
sister, his mother and his
other two kids.
“I’ve set up and done high
falls, car flips, fires, you
name it,” Jeff proudly noted.
“My son (Tyler) recently
did a full burn in a movie
and I was the safety setup guy. I actually
set my son on fire,” he added, going into
PHOTOS :COURTESY OF JEFF GALPIN
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