Fist fights and shootouts: Hollywood stunt show came to Mid-State Fair in 1980s
People are the lifeblood of a county fair.
From the kids showing animals to grandparents displaying their gardening skills, local residents are the stars.
Other attractions include concerts, carnival rides, rodeo riders, monster trucks and deep-fried food. You might also catch some old-fashioned entertainment — such as a magician, hypnotist or stunt performers.
The Santa Barbara County Fair wraps up Sunday, and the California Mid-State Fair runs July 20-31 in Paso Robles.
Jill Duman wrote this story about stunt performers at the Paso Robles fair, published in the Telegram-Tribune on Aug. 14, 1989.
Stuntmen: They just fell into the job
Pistols popped at half-past six on a dusty street at the Mid-State Fair.
Two men were shooting it out.
When it was over, a villain, a hero and a comic signed autographs and smoked cigarettes.
The three guys — Jerry Cobleigh, John Grantham and Jim Poslof — are all stunt men acting in the Universal Studios Stunt Spectacular, a road show now making its U.S. debut at the fair. They free-fall from two-story windows, fake a few fist fights, crack bullwhips, shoot real guns and splatter fake blood — all in the name of sharing Hollywood stunt secrets with star-struck fans.
More amazing than their tricks is the genuine enthusiasm the men express for performing the same show four times a day. It’s no stunt. They really like it.
“You pretty much know you’re going to have a good show when you have a good audience,” said Cobleigh, a 36-year-old stuntman who once played professional golf. “Nine times out of ten, you’re going to have a good crowd.”
Cobleigh and his co-stars — 30-year-old Grantham and 41-year-old Poslof — are all real stuntmen who act and perform stunts on television and in movies.
All three men say acting in stunt shows at Universal Studio Tours in Hollywood and in the Stunt Spectacular make for having “the greatest part-time job in the world.”
It is, they contend, a chance to make a living between assignments and work before a live audience.
“It’s instant gratification,” said Grantham.
A former University of Mississippi acting student, Grantham left college 10 years ago after realizing “I’d be there four years to get a piece of paper and everyone would say ‘So what?’ ”
In true Hollywood style, he arrived in California with $300 “and everything I owned” in a van. For three years, he worked odd jobs as he tried to break into the acting business.
Then a job as a tour guide for Universal Studios led to stunt work — first at Universal acting in a mini-show for tourists, and then as a stuntman for such movies as the 1986 (film) “Masters of the Universe.”
Cobleigh divided his early career between Professional Golf Association tours and stage acting.
As a member of the West Coast touring group performing the Broadway production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Cobleigh appeared on “The Merv Griffin Show,” met one of the stunt industry leaders, and soon began combining stunt assignments with small parts on action shows like “Hill Street Blues” and “High Mountain Rangers.”
“On a lot of shows, I acted and did my own stunts,” he said. “Vary rarely do I double for other people.”
Poslof drove a forklift for Lucky Food Centers before deciding to put his childhood dream of acting to the test.
A stunt job at Knott’s Berry Farm led to more professional opportunities, including stunt roles in “Pippi Longstockings,” and television’s “T.J. Hooker” and “General Hospital.”
But life as a stuntman is as much bandages and stitches as it is beer and skittles.
Cobeleigh spent time on the sidelines in 1984 — the result of a run-in with an axe handle that left him with a broken nose, broken jaw and missing front teeth. Poslov once nearly shaved off the top of his head in a fall. Both men shrug off hazards as part of the job.
“It’s just like sports,” said Cobleigh.
If you live to collect a paycheck, stunt work pays pretty well. A good stuntman can make as much as $400 a day (adjusted for inflation, that’s $955) with medical insurance provided. A stunt coordinator determines the rate of pay for stuntmen and stuntwomen — depending on the number and difficultly of stunts in each television show or film.
Stunts can — and do — include falling out of buildings, wrestling with wild animals and driving cars across broken bridges.
But the riskiest thing Poslof does isn’t part of any script.
“Driving on a public road,” he said. “In a stunt you know what’s coming.”
