Stuntman
A.J. Bakunas died doubling
George Kennedy in a fall that killed Big Lew Cassidy (Kennedy). The scene had been shot safely with the stuntman jumping from the ninth floor of the construction site and shooting location in Lexington, Kentucky. At the time he held the record for high falls, set while doubling
Burt Reynolds in
Hooper (1978), but when rival
Dar Robinson beat his distance in a helicopter jump at Knott's Berry Farm, A.J. and
Lee Majors returned to the star's home state to re-shoot the opening of the movie with Bakunas jumping from the top of the building. He fell correctly onto an airbag, but the airbag split on impact. His father was with him at the time of his death, but his mother never visited A.J. on-set because she always feared he would be killed. Ironically, the completed structure, Kincaid Towers, became home to a life insurance company that eventually went bankrupt.
