A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 2021
IN BRIEF
SEA LION
ESTATE
Girl dies after being pulled
into sea off Cannon Beach
A girl died after she was swept out to sea Thursday
afternoon by a tide north of Haystack Rock in Cannon
Beach.
Offi cials say the girl was located by a U.S. Coast Guard
aircrew and brought back to shore by a jet ski and rescue
swimmer. She was fl own to a hospital.
The principal at the girl’s Portland school told parents
that she died.
Sea lions hang out
on a buoy on the
Columbia River.
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Highway 26 paving project
to cause delays for drivers
A paving project on U.S. Highway 26 is expected to
cause delays beginning Sunday evening.
Single-lane closures between state Highway 53 and the
Nehalem River Bridge will last from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. from
Sunday through Thursday each week.
The project will replace the asphalt and add new guard-
rails, signs and Americans with Disabilities Act ramps at
the end of the bridges.
Wahl steps down from
Seaside school board
SEASIDE — A.J. Wahl has stepped down from her
position on the Seaside school board.
Wahl, of Gearhart, was unopposed for the Zone 3, Posi-
tion 1 seat in the May election.
But Wahl won’t serve. As an attorney and mediator, she was
named judge pro tem for the Clatsop County Circuit Court.
In her resignation letter to the board, she said rules of Ore-
gon judicial conduct prevent her from serving in public offi ce.
Wahl is an attorney and mediator for Wahl LLC. She
will still be eligible to continue to serve on the school dis-
trict’s budget committee.
— The Astorian
Oregon legalizes human composting
Gov. Kate Brown has signed a bill passed by the Legis-
lature legalizing human composting.
Brown signed House Bill 2574 on Tuesday, which
will legalize what’s also known as natural organic reduc-
tion, KOIN-TV reported. It also clarifi es rules surround-
ing alkaline hydrolysis, known as aqua cremation. The law
goes into eff ect July 1, 2022.
State Rep. Pam Marsh, from southern Jackson County,
who co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Brian Clem, said she
decided to sponsor the bill because her constituents are
interested in alternative after-death options.
“My colleagues could see as well that in addition to
providing families with a choice, it also is a business
opportunity,” she said.
Lawmakers mark Juneteenth by
reviving ‘abolition amendment’
As the nation this week made Juneteenth a federal holi-
day, honoring the end of the enslavement of Black people,
lawmakers are reviving calls to end a loophole in the Con-
stitution that allowed another form of slavery — forced
labor for those convicted of some crimes — to thrive.
Oregon U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and Georgia U.S. Rep.
Nikema Williams reintroduced legislation Thursday to
revise the 13th Amendment, which bans enslavement or
involuntary servitude except as a form of criminal pun-
ishment. That exception, which has been recognized since
1865, has led to the common practice of forced prison labor.
Social justice advocates say it created generations of
Black families touched by mass incarceration and poverty
and that the ramifi cations are still being felt today. June-
teenth seemed like the appropriate time to address this
“huge piece of systemic racism in the middle of our Con-
stitution,” Merkley, a Democrat, said.
“At the moment that we are celebrating, if you will,
the 13th Amendment and the end of slavery and its even-
tual announcement ... we should at the same time recog-
nize that the 13th Amendment was fl awed,” Merkley said.
“It enabled states to arrest people for any reason, convict
them and put them back into slavery.”
— Associated Press
DEATHS
June 17, 2021
In WELLS,
Brief
Robert Ernest
Jr., 71, of Warrenton, died
in Warrenton. Caldwell’s
Deaths
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
June 15, 2021
BRISENDINE, Holly,
42, of Seaside, died in
Seaside. Hughes-Ransom
Mortuary is in charge of
the arrangements.
June 3, 2021
CLAUSEN, Dwane,
82, of Warrenton, died in
Warrenton. Hughes-Ran-
som Mortuary is in charge
of the arrangements.
GILBERTSON, Ace
Barry, 74, of Warrenton,
died in Seaside. Ocean
View Funeral & Cre-
mation Service of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Knappa School District Board, 5:30 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St.
TUESDAY
Astoria Planning Commission, 5:30 p.m., City Hall, 1095
Duane St.
Warrenton City Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main Ave.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Stuntman: ‘I put my physical well-being on the line’
Sean Connery, left, is pictured with stuntman Jeff Jensen
wearing identical costumes on the set of the 1987 movie ‘The
Untouchables.’
included “The Indian Run-
ner” (1991), “Sub D own”
(1997) and “The Watcher”
(2000). He directed and wrote
the fi lms “Fallacy” (2004)
and “Velocity” (2007). The
latter highlighted his love
of Moto Grand Prix Cham-
pionship motorcycle rac-
ing. “High Speed,” which he
directed in 2002, was a Brit-
ish motorcycle racing drama.
rider who attacked brandish-
ing chainsaws then fl ew over
the handlebars. Doubling for
John Goodman in the 1994
“Flintstones” movie, meant
wearing a dress when Fred
put on a disguise.
One spectacular stunt was
for Lundgren’s 1992 adven-
ture “Universal Soldier.” The
scene called for Lundgren’s
character to Australian rap-
pel (standing, facing down)
650 feet down the Hoover
Dam on the Nevada-Arizona
border.
“I wore fi ve layers of
gloves,” Jensen said, recall-
ing meticulous preparation
that included making sure the
rope was long enough. “If I
trip and fall, I die. You have to
lean out at a 90-degree angle.
I did it six times, once with a
camera on my head.”
Jensen appeared in three
of the “Star Trek” movies,
but laments the change to
computer generated images
in many of today’s fi lms. “I
love making movies,” he
said. “I hate the business of
movies,” alluding to how
money is wasted, “but I love
the process.”
He worked as second-unit
director for several. “We get
to blow up all the buildings.
We are like the ‘red-haired
stepchildren.’ But you have to
adapt your style to each direc-
tor, ” he said.
Director Peter Masterson’s
1991 movie “Convicts” was a
farm drama starring Robert
Duvall and James Earl Jones.
Jensen was fi lming Duvall
ride his horse to his planned
mark, then turn. Jensen said
he amazed himself by ask-
ing Duvall to do it again,
but make sure his character
appeared to make a conscious
decision to change direction.
He was relieved when the
seasoned actor agreed to the
validity of fi lming a second
take.
“It was my fi rst day on the
set as a union director!” Jen-
sen laughed.
Other second-unit work
Jensen was still racing
professionally until about
fi ve years ago. A 2009 doc-
umentary, “The First, Last
Race” features his love for
racing, despite his injuries. In
an online report, an admirer
described in gory detail how
he fell off his cycle during the
grueling Pike’s Peak Interna-
tional Hill Climb, but insisted
on riding his BMW down the
steep hill with a broken col-
lar bone. “If I crash, I don’t
bounce anymore” Jensen
quipped.
He isn’t happy with the
injuries, but has no real
regrets. “I had a life of real
adrenaline, racing and then
stunt work. Filmmaking is a
rush,” he said, lamenting the
need to stop. “I was cut off
from the drug of adrenaline.”
His father, who died last
year, encouraged him. “He
taught me to pursue all my
dreams. He asked me if I
would do it over. The only
thing maybe I would start
directing full time sooner,”
Jensen said.
On one shoot, he knew
he was going to need help
to continue working so he
arranged to visit his orthope-
dic surgeon between scenes.
“I should have stopped doing
it,” he said. “But you build
relationships and don’t want
to let anyone down.”
Satisfaction isn’t the only
reward. “It is a lifetime of
work that keeps paying off ,”
Jensen said. Somewhere in
Hollywood, a clerk with a
calculator determines resid-
uals — additional contracted
payments each time a fi lm is
shown. Jensen said on one
recent night, he turned on his
TV and discovered he had
eight fi lms being shown. “I
just got a stack of 107 resid-
ual checks,” he laughed.
“One was for 8 cents.”
He teases that if he ever
writes his autobiography, the
title will be, “Fall down, pick
up check: The life of a Holly-
wood stuntman.”
Continued from Page A1
ball player for 30 years. Your
body is being hammered. It
takes a toll. But it’s all rela-
tionships and ego.”
Jensen’s stunts appear
in movies including Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s
1990
sci-fi classic “Total Recall”
and “Speed,” the 1994 San-
dra Bullock bomb-on-a-bus
drama.
But creating thrills for
movie goers came at a cost.
Some 17 surgeries on a mis-
shapen knee that bulges
through his jeans, plus ugly
burn scars on both his fore-
arms, attest to a life of fall-
ing from bikes and build-
ings or handling fl ames and
explosives.
At 63, he has had to retire.
As he drove his motor
home north from California,
Jensen parked in Kelso and
jumped on his motorcycle.
Riding west through Wahkia-
kum County, he discovered
his new home. He described
scenic State Route 4 as spec-
tacular. “I said, ‘I want to live
here, ’” he recalled.
Now settled, Jensen is
embarked on his new project.
He has started a foundation
called Soldiers to Cinema,
using his Hollywood contacts
to train disabled veterans for
jobs on movie sets.
Learning the trade
His story began with a
pre teen boy admiring Steve
McQueen in the 1971 moto-
cross documentary “On Any
Sunday.” Jensen grew up in
California’s Orange County,
racing motorcycles and cars
through his teens then getting
into the construction indus-
try, building homes for such
notables as California Angels
baseball star Rod Carew.
In Hawaii, he observed
Jack Lord’s crew fi lming
“Hawaii Five -0.” “I saw them
doing motorcycle stunts and
thought, ‘I could do that, ’” he
said.
Jensen had already earned
his Screen Actors Guild cre-
dential fi lming a commer-
cial for Yamaha. He moved
to Los Angeles to break into
Hollywood.
At 6 feet, 5 inches tall,
he had an advantage. “There
were three other big guys.
The only other guys my size
were old cowboys and they’d
say, ‘Let the kid do it, ’” he
said. “I was very fortunate
and my career took off .”
Jensen thirsted to learn
every aspect. “From Day 1 in
the fi lm industry, I was want-
ing to direct and would like
that job,” he said.
He enrolled in the Univer-
sity of Southern California
fi lm school. On days when
stunts were not required, he
returned to the set, observed
directors and helped out. His
career advanced by earning
credentials with the Stunt-
men’s Association of Motion
Pictures and the Actors Stu-
dio in New York.
He savored travel to exotic
locales. “I have been on every
continent except South Amer-
ica, even under the polar ice
cap,” he said. “The places that
they paid me to go! I had the
most amazing career. But my
injuries caught up with me.”
Early stunt work was on
TV shows like “Walker, Texas
Ranger,” as well as Chuck
Norris’ 1983 movie “Lone
Wolf McQuade.” He fell off a
seven-story building in “The
Fall Guy,” and appeared in
episodes of “Falcon Crest,”
“Knight Rider” and “Mag-
num, P.I.” He fought with
Jackie Chan on “Cannon-
ball Run 2” in 1984 and Syl-
vester Stallone in the 1988
“Rambo III” movie, where he
was second-unit director. H e
performed stunts in the 1989
“Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade” with Harrison Ford.
Fighting — or pretending
to fi ght — meant developing
eye and hand coordination to
eff ectively “pull punches.”
“The worst thing you can
do is hit an actor or hit the
camera,” he said. “Fighting is
all choreography for the cam-
era. It’s all rehearsing, block-
ing. It is all a big con.”
On rare occasions where
performers actually hit Jen-
sen, he made sure he was paid
extra.
Another inside secret is
how stunt coordinators plan
car chases and crashes. Jen-
sen is amused to reveal how
they use tiny “Matchbox” toy
cars to help multiple drivers
learn their moves before they
did the real thing for the roll-
ing camera. “We are creating
illusions. W e are not crash-
ing,” he said.
Doubling for the stars
Jensen cherishes mem-
ories of working with big-
name stars, especially those
who recognized his skill.
“I put my physical well-be-
ing on the line so they can
be safe,” he said. A treasured
1987 snapshot from the set of
“The Untouchables” shows
Sean Connery and his double
— Jensen, with identical cos-
tume and mustache. Another
shows him with Donald
Sutherland, who he describes
as “very thoughtful.”
The contrast in scenes ran
the gamut. In “Running Man”
in 1987 with Schwarzeneg-
ger, he was a motorcycle
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