A five-time world champion rodeo rider from 1917 to 1923 and legendary Hollywood stuntman who became an important second unit director, Canutt also acted (usually as a villain) in many of the Western and action films for which he did the stunt work and served as a double for such stars as John Wayne, Clark Gable and Gene Autry. In the 1930s he also worked as a second unit director of action sequences most notably on "Stagecoach" (1939), the chariot race in "Ben Hur" (1959) and "Spartacus" (1960). In the mid-1940s he also directed four B Westerns. Canutt earned a special Oscar in 1966 for "achievements as a stuntman and for developing safety devices to protect stuntmen everywhere."