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William H. Burton Sr.

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Alias:
Bill Burton
Bill Burton Sr.
Billy Burton
Billy Burton Sr.
William Burton

Biography from TheMovieDB

William H. Burton Sr., also known as Bill or Billy, is a stuntman, stunt coordinator and 2nd unit director. He was one of the original members of Stunts Unlimited and he received the 2019 Taurus Lifetime Achievement Award. One of the great all-around stuntmen, it is said of Billy that he can drive anything with wheels and ride anything with legs!  Billy started ranching and found success on the rodeo circuit but soon moved to Hollywood. Many of the film and television productions at the time were Westerns so he was able to find steady work as a stuntman and extra.  He got his start in stunts in 1965 by way of the rodeo to work on western films and television shows in Hollywood. He soon met mentor Hal Needham who taught him what it took to be a great stuntman and he was one of the original members of Stunts Unlimited formed in 1970 by Hal Needham, Glenn Wilder and Ronnie Rondell.  In 1976 and 1978, Billy won the World Stuntman’s Competition on CBS Sports Spectacular, competing in motorcycle, car, and horse work for the award.  From there, he transitioned into directing action sequences for film. He has brought numerous memorable sequences to life, including an exhilarating boat chase between Nicholas Cage and John Travolta in Face-Off and the iconic motorcycle chase in Mission: Impossible 2 with Tom Cruise.  His directing credits include Mission: Impossible 2, The Scorpion King, Collateral Damage, Hostage, and more. With over 50 years as a stuntman, stunt coordinator, and 2nd unit director, Billy considers his career a great ride.

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Additional information:

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Film Production

Additional Production Assistant:
2007  Dead Heist

Second Unit Director:
1986  Jackals
1993  Hard Target
1995  The Good Old Boys
1997  Face/Off
1998  The X Files
2000  Mission: Impossible II
2002  Collateral Damage
2002  The Scorpion King
2005  Hostage
2005  House of Wax
2007  Dead Heist

Stunt Coordinator:
1972  Boxcar Bertha
1974  Strange Homecoming
1975  A Boy and His Dog
1977  Moonshine County Express
1977  Rolling Thunder
1981  Body Heat
1981  Cutter's Way
1981  Eyewitness
1982  Wrong Is Right
1986  Jackals
1987  Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge
1990  Dick Tracy
1993  Hard Target
1995  The Good Old Boys
1996  The Phantom
1997  Face/Off
1998  The X Files
2000  Mission: Impossible II
2002  Collateral Damage
2002  The Scorpion King
2005  Hostage
2005  House of Wax
2007  Dead Heist
2007  Fracture
2007  The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2014  The Homesman

Stunt Double:
1971  Star Spangled Girl
1972  Boxcar Bertha
1974  Strange Homecoming
1975  A Boy and His Dog
1977  Moonshine County Express
1977  Rolling Thunder
1981  Body Heat
1981  Cutter's Way
1981  Eyewitness
1982  Wrong Is Right
1986  Jackals
1987  Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge
1990  Dick Tracy
1993  Hard Target
1995  The Good Old Boys
1996  The Phantom
1997  Face/Off
1998  The X Files
2000  Mission: Impossible II
2002  Collateral Damage
2002  The Scorpion King
2005  Hostage
2005  House of Wax
2007  Dead Heist
2007  Fracture
2007  The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2014  The Homesman

Stunt Driver:
1971  Star Spangled Girl
1972  Boxcar Bertha
1974  Strange Homecoming
1975  A Boy and His Dog
1977  Moonshine County Express
1977  Rolling Thunder
1978  Game of Death
1978  The Young Runaways
1981  Body Heat
1981  Cutter's Way
1981  Eyewitness
1982  Wrong Is Right
1986  Jackals
1987  Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge
1990  Dick Tracy
1993  Hard Target
1995  The Good Old Boys
1996  The Phantom
1997  Face/Off
1998  The X Files
2000  Mission: Impossible II
2002  Collateral Damage
2002  The Scorpion King
2005  Hostage
2005  House of Wax
2007  Dead Heist
2007  Fracture
2007  The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2014  The Homesman

Stunts:
1969  The Good Guys and the Bad Guys
1969  The Undefeated
1970  Little Big Man
1970  Little Fauss and Big Halsy
1971  Star Spangled Girl
1972  Boxcar Bertha
1973  Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
1974  Strange Homecoming
1975  A Boy and His Dog
1975  Bite the Bullet
1975  Crazy Mama
1976  Fighting Mad
1977  Moonshine County Express
1977  Rolling Thunder
1978  Game of Death
1978  Hooper
1978  The Driver
1978  The Young Runaways
1980  Heaven's Gate
1980  Smokey and the Bandit II
1981  Body Heat
1981  Cutter's Way
1981  Eyewitness
1982  The Entity
1982  Wrong Is Right
1985  To Live and Die in L.A.
1986  Jackals
1986  Soul Man
1987  Code Name: Zebra
1987  Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge
1987  Predator
1989  K-9
1990  Dick Tracy
1993  Hard Target
1995  Bad Boys
1995  The Good Old Boys
1996  The Phantom
1997  Face/Off
1997  Volcano
1998  The X Files
1999  Go
2000  Mission: Impossible II
2002  Collateral Damage
2002  The Scorpion King
2005  Hostage
2005  House of Wax
2007  Dead Heist
2007  Fracture
2007  The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2014  The Homesman

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About the Movie Section

Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).

Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).

At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.

Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)

While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:

  • I added "runners up" to Top 10 lists, treating them as ties where applicable and numbering them accordingly at the bottom of each list.
  • Regarding those polls wherein "franchise" movies were submitted as one project until BFI's policy changed to regard them separately, I treated them as ties and renumbered the affected lists accordingly (e.g. the Godfather films).

Regarding profile removals and data corrections:

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  • For additional corrections and profile removals, please e-mail The Open Movie Database (OMDb).

Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).

Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.

Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.