Movies on the blog: Alyson Stoner: Vic Armstrong

Victor Monroe Armstrong (born 5 October 1946) is a BAFTA winning British film director, stunt coordinator, second unit director, and stunt double -- the world's most prolific according to the Guinness Book of Records. The 6-foot Armstrong doubled for 6'1" Harrison Ford in the first three Indiana Jones films, 6'2" Timothy Dalton for Flash Gordon, George Lazenby for the Swiss Alps skiing scenes in the Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and 6'4" Christopher Reeve in Superman and Superman II.

Reportedly, Armstrong looked so much like Harrison Ford that the crewmembers on the films were constantly mistaking him for Ford. This proved useful when Ford injured his back and had to sit out for filming crucial action sequences in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Armstrong filled in for him. The stunt where he jumps from a horse onto a German tank in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was voted one of the Top Ten film stunts of all time by a panel of experts and Sky Movies viewers in the UK in 2002. On a private photograph taken on the film set, Ford wrote to Armstrong, "If you learn to talk I'm in deep trouble!" Armstrong was unable to work on the fourth Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull due to commitments to The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. However, he had discussed possible action sequences with Steven Spielberg during production of War of the Worlds.

Armstrong's first movie as a director was the 1993 action film Joshua Tree (a.k.a. Army of One) starring Dolph Lundgren and George Segal. He is a famed stunt coordinator and action unit director, notable for (amongst others) the action sequences of several James Bond films, War of the Worlds, and I Am Legend. Vic was also the opening scene director on Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Second Unit Director for The Amazing Spider-Man.

Armstrong is the brother of Andy Armstrong and husband of stuntwoman Wendy Leech who is the daughter of fellow James Bond stunt performer George Leech. He met her while filming Superman II (she doubled for Margot Kidder) and they have three children.

His memoir My Life as Indiana Jones, James Bond, Superman and Other Action Heroes: The True Adventures of the World's Greatest Stuntman which was published by Titan Books in early 2011. He received an honorary Academy Award in 2001 for his work.

In 2013, he signed on to direct a remake of the Left Behind film series stated for release in 2014. His next directorial effort will be the true-story-based-film The Sunday Horse, scheduled for release in 2015.