Shawn Robinson: Stuntman Found Dead While In New Orleans Working On Hollywood Film

Shawn Robinson, a successful stuntman in Hollywood, was found dead in New Orleans while working on the upcoming film, Deepwater Horizon. He was discovered by a co-worker who went to check on him in his hotel room when he didn’t show up for work, A.V. Club reports.

Robinson did stunt work in such films as Fast & Furious, Guardians Of The Galaxy, The Lone Ranger,Captain America: The Winter Soldier, X-Men: The Last Stand, War Of The Worlds, and The Lost World: Jurassic Park. He was a stunt rigger for the films Catwomanand Hollywood Homicide. As a rigger, he confirmed the stunt equipment worked correctly and made sure the stunts could be performed safely.

Deadline reports that Shawn Robinson’s cause of death hasn’t yet been released.

Shawn Robinson’s stuntman career spanned a 25-year period. He was highly regarded by his colleague, T.J. White, who talked about his influence in the stunt performer community.

“He was an amazing stunt rigger and worked on some of the biggest shows in town. [He] was responsible for the safety of hundreds of stuntmen and women. He was a very likable guy who always had a smile on his face. This is tragic.”

Robinson comes from a family of stuntmen; his brother, Troy, is a stunt double for Vin Diesel, and their father, Dar Robinson, was a legendary stuntman who created many stunt techniques. Dar was killed on set as he was performing a motorcycle stunt for the 1986 film, Million Dollar Mystery. He was in a chase scene in the Arizona desert when the motorcycle he was on went over a cliff.

Dar was also a stunt double for Steve McQueen, and he was famous for some of the most incredible stunts ever seen on film, including the world record motion picture high fall of 220 feet when he jumped from the top of Atlanta’s Hyatt Regency Hotel. The stunt was for the Burt Reynold’s crime thriller, Sharky’s Machine.

Director Richard Donner dedicated the 1987 movie, Lethal Weapon, in Dar’s honor. The final credits included, “This picture is dedicated to the memory of Dar Robinson / one of the motion picture industry’s greatest stuntmen.”

Many stunt performers take huge risks with their lives on a daily basis. They drive at fast speeds, do extreme level jumps, and operate dangerous machines. According to Top Tenz, stunt performers who died in the modern film era include Kun Liu in The Expendables 2; Lu Yanqing in Red Cliff; Jose Marco in Shark; Jack Tyree in The Sword and the Sorcerer; Chris Lamon in Exit Wounds; Paolo Rigon in For Your Eyes Only; Joseph Leonard Svec in The Right Stuff; A.J. Bakunas in Steel; Harry L. O’Connor in XxX and Sonja Davis in Vampire in Brooklyn.

Shawn Robinson was a stuntman who was one of the best in his field. His talent and dedication to the safety of his colleagues will be missed by everyone in the motion picture industry.

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