Jeannie Epper, epic stuntwoman behind feats of TV’s ‘Surprise Girl,’ dies at 83
LOS ANGELES — Jeannie Epper, a groundbreaking performer who did stunts for a lot of of an important ladies of movie and tv motion of the Seventies and ’80s, together with star Lynda Carter on TV’s “Surprise Girl,” has died. She was 83.
Epper died of pure causes Sunday at her house in Simi Valley, California, household spokesperson Amanda Micheli advised The Related Press.
Thought of one of many biggest at her craft — Leisure Weekly in 2007 referred to as her “the best stuntwoman who ever lived” — Epper got here from a household dynasty of stunt performers that included each her mother and father, John and Frances Epper. Her 70-year profession as a stuntwoman and stunt coordinator started when she was 9.
“It’s all I actually know, exterior of being a mother or a grandma,” Epper mentioned in a 2004 documentary, “Double Dare,” directed by Micheli.
Her siblings, Tony, Margo, Gary, Andy and Stephanie all additionally labored in stunts. Steven Spielberg referred to as them “The Flying Wallendas of Movie,” based on The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported Epper’s loss of life.
Her youngsters Eurlyne, Richard and Kurtis, and her grandson Christopher adopted her into the stunt enterprise.
She discovered it tough to get a lot stunt work as a girl early on however noticed a serious surge in alternative as ladies acquired extra action-oriented roles within the late Seventies.
Her breakthrough function — and the one she would at all times be most related to — was on “Surprise Girl.” Epper crashed by means of home windows, kicked down doorways and deflected bullets whereas doubling Carter on the sequence that ran for 3 seasons on ABC from 1976 to 1979.
In the identical period, she doubled Lindsay Wagner on “Bionic Girl” and Kate Jackson on the unique “Charlie’s Angels.”
Within the Nineteen Eighties, Epper took a well-known tumble down a mudslide for Kathleen Turner in “Romancing the Stone” and fought for Linda Evans in her tangles with Joan Collins on TV’s “Dynasty.”
Epper additionally appeared in additional intellectual fare, doing the stunt driving for Shirley MacLaine when she threw Jack Nicholson from a Corvette within the 1984 greatest image Oscar winner “Phrases of Endearment.”
And he or she was a relentless presence on movies directed or produced by Steven Spielberg, together with 1977’s “Shut Encounters of the Third Sort,” 1982’s “Poltergeist” and 2002’s “Minority Report.”
“She actually qualifies to be one of many nice stunt coordinators,” Spielberg mentioned in “Double Dare.”
Extra lately, her work appeared in “The Quick and the Livid: Tokyo Drift,” “Kill Invoice: Vol. 2” and ”The Wonderful Spider-Man 2.”
In 2007, she grew to become the primary lady to obtain a lifetime achievement award on the Taurus World Stunt Awards.
She was the final survivor amongst her stunt-performer siblings. Son Kurtis additionally died earlier than her.
Her survivors embody husband Tim, youngsters Eurlyne and Richard, 5 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.
