Gerry Crampton (28 April 1930 – 24 January 2009) was a British stunt performer and stunt coordinator best known for his work in the James Bond film series.[1][2]
The eldest of five children, Robert Gerald Crampton, was born in Fulham on 28 April 1930. His father, a keen amateur boxer, taught Gerry and his brothers to box. He also became a keen swimmer and taught himself to dive.[3][4]
Gerry left school at the age of 14 to become a butcher's boy before returning to London in 1945, initially finding work at Ealing Studios as a sound assistant on David Lean's Great Expectations (1946). In 1948 Crampton was called up for his National Service and found himself working as a teletypist in the RAF.[5]
After Gerry began bodybuilding, winning Britain's Mr Body Beautiful in 1956.[6]
Crampton's big chance in films came when he met the James Bond stunt coordinator, Bob Simmons, in 1960, who took him under his wing.[7]
In 1967 he appeared in The Avengers episode entitled "Dead Man's Treasure" in the role of 1st Guest.
Crampton had a special expertise working in India where he first worked on Tarzan Goes to India in 1962 with Jock Mahoney.[8] He was to return to India 48 more times in his career, working on countless Indian as well as British productions.[5]
Crampton married for the first time when he was 20, but the marriage lasted less than a year. He remarried three more times, each ending in divorce, but in later years he was always proud to say that he remained on friendly terms with three of his ex-wives.[3]