Obituary: Gil Perkins

MAY I say thank you to Nicolas Barker for his excellent obituary of Gil Perkins [30 April]? writes Dave Cresswell. As so much that we enjoy in films is attributable to the skills of stunt people it is often sad to see them pass away with much the same anonymity as when they plied their trade. Barker's piece rectifies the balance a little.

Could I point out one slight error? Gil Perkins was not William Boyd's double in all his Hopalong Cassidy films but in a series of action movies he did for RKO before his "Hoppy" days. Boyd's doubles in the Cassidy series were usually "western types", Cliff Lyons, Ted Wells, Leo McMahon.

Boyd did however call on Perkins's services for the occasional "tricky stunt". A good example being a fine dive from a dam in Riders of the Timberline (1941).