Martin Grace: Images of Martin’s Career
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Martin Grace |
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This is the old school in Lisdowney where Martin went to school. It was closed down in the 1960s. Now it’s used as a cattle shed. The travelling shows set up in a field beside the school.
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This is the school team, which won the St. Kieran’s League in 1956. Martin Grace is third from the right in the back row. He scored 3 goals and 2 points that day. The boy on his right is Pat Delaney. Pat later won four All-Ireland medals with Kilkenny. But on this day the hero was Martin Grace!
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This is Martin in the Cadbury’s Milk Tray advertisement. This is one of the stunts that made him famous. The famous line at the end of the ad was “And all because the lady loves Milk Tray!”
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This is the 100 feet fall that Martin did from the minaret in Rhodes. This is the highest fall he did. The film was called “Escape to Athena”. He described this stunt when he answered question 4.
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This is Martin practising for the jump from the tower. The photo is taken from the ground looking up. It looks like the photographer is in for a fright.
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Martin: “Hanging outside on the Eiffel Tower, Paris, about 500 feet up from the ground. This was on the James Bond film “A View to a Kill”. I wore a concealed harness and cable for this one.”
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Martin: “Running along an iceberg on a lough in Iceland. The film was “A View to a Kill”. Icebergs can very quickly flip over dangerously.”
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Martin: “Discussing strategy with Roger Moore, now Sir Roger Moore on “A View to a Kill”, in San Francisco, U.S.A. He was a bit taller but shoes with a bit of extra heel made up the difference.”
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Martin: “Avoiding a fast beach buggy in Corfu on the James Bond film “For Your eyes Only”.”
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Martin: “Being thrown around like a rag doll by Richard Kiel “Jaws” on “The Spy Who Loved Me”. He was 7ft. 6ins. But also a very kind man.” Martin: “Unusual request from a Pop Promo music company. Just a head on fire. What a way to make a living!”
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Martin: “Instilling confidence. This boy on “Shallow Hal” washed up into a tree when the fat lady jumped into the pool. Notice he has a good position, and a branch for each hand. He also wore a hidden harness and was wired off.”
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This is the church where Martin used to look up at the bell. He often thought about climbing up there. He wouldn’t be able to daydream like that now because the bell is not there anymore. About 30 years ago the church was changed. The roof was lowered and the belfry was taken down. The bell is now over on the left. It wouldn’t be that difficult to climb up to it now!
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Martin: “With native college students. I trained them to do basic action and to make them act like savages. They responded well.
This student achieved good reactions. Here he simulates getting an arrow through his neck. Special arrow. I sort of went native here.” |
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Martin: “Joe Viterelli who played the Irish Father on “Shallow Hal”. Jack Black who played a major role in “King Kong”. This photo was taken during the filming of “Shallow Hal”.”
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Martin: “You want me to climb down the side of the train? Using signs to let the helicopter pilot know where I am aiming for on “Octopussy” in Peterborough in England.
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This photo was taken in Korea when they were filming the film “Inchon”.
Martin: “Another of my favourite action pictures. Caught in mid-air. It shows danger and expression and good body position. Was in real set explosion using a trampette for the effect.” |
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Martin: “Jumping onto a Restaurant Boat on the River Seine in Paris. This was for the film “A View to a Kill”, one of the James Bond films. Beautiful bridge!”
Martin can just be seen as he jumps off the bridge. He is marked with a blue X. |
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Martin: “Hanging on to a moving train. Action from “Octopussy” (James Bond). The bars were added to the side of the train to assist climbing.”
This photo did not come out very well but we wanted to put it in because this was the kind of stunt Martin was doing when he was injured and ended up in hospital with a broken pelvis. |
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Martin: “On the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay. Not many get the chance to be up there. Notice how small the cars look. On the film “A View to a Kill”.”
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Martin: ”
This top section was actually built in the studio to achieve the action stunt scenes. It was built to scale.“ |
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Martin: “ Many horses will rear naturally but for films the horse must rear only when it is required to. Here the trainer is giving him some practice.”
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Martin: “The best falling horses are usually timid and not so strong. Mares are often better at falling. Three falls are a maximum each day. After that the horse gets bored.
This horse was for falling. During the training period the horses learn how to lie down and relax. Notice the very soft sand. It makes them feel comfortable.” |
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Martin: “This is a beautiful show horse we used on “Shallow Hal”. He was trained to rear, sit and walk on his knees for a short distance.”
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Martin: “This is the finished article. A spectacular fall with man and horse. Neither one gets hurt. This is a very experienced Spanish stuntman on the filming of “Anna and the King”.”
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Martin: “This little fellow got all the attention during training for the film “Anna and the King”.”
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Martin: “One of our trained falling horses getting familiar with the elephants on “Anna and the King”.”
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Martin: “Although I was a Stunt Co-ordinator on “Shallow Hal”, Peter Farley, the Director, requested that I give Irish dialect lessons to Joe Viterelli, the actor, who played an Irish father.”
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Martin: “The third of my favourite stunts. Hanging underneath roaring engines, floating at speed. Very exciting. On “For Your Eyes Only”.”
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Martin: “Unusual props. A coffin used in shooting scenes in Venice. Notice the hearse boat in the background. Transport in Venice is on canals. It is built in sea water.”
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Martin: “This was when I dressed well, as Roger Moore’s double in the Gondola chase in Venice on “Moonraker”.”
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This is Martin on location on a tropical island, eating a coconut. This is the nice part of being a stuntman!
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This is an autographed photograph of Harrison Ford that Martin sent to his former teacher, Larry Hamilton, during the filming of one of the Indiana Jones films. Martin did double for Harrison Ford in these films.
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Martin: “This is a fire blowing scene at a glass-making furnace in Venice, Italy. The sequence was never used, as it would have made the scene too long, although interesting.“
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