A biography for Hal Needhamhasn’t been written yet.
“The $25,000 stunt was a demonstration of the automobile air bag system for an Allstate Insurance television commercial. I drove a car into a concrete obstacle at 25 m.p.h.”
“When people say Evel's a stuntmen I want to throw up. He's nothing but a daredevil idiot. The only reason he's famous is because he wrecks his motorcycle every time he rides.”
“I hope to be remembered for mentoring the future generation of stuntmen and fighting for the rights and respect that stuntmen and stuntwomen deserve for their contribution to the world of moviemaking.”
“You can only fall so far through a tree before the limbs become abrasive to your body.”
“My ego would be fed tremendously when I'd go on a set and get in a car and tear it to pieces. I'd get out and everyone on the set would applaud.”
“No actor does all his own stunts, no matter what he says.”
“Is there fear? No, there isn't. Now, I've made mistakes. I've broken 56 bones in my body, and each one was a mistake. But when we do stunts, there's just no room for fear.”
“I was a sharecropper's son. That's as low as you can get on the totem pole.”
“I'm too old and too rich to do any more stunts.”
“I don't cry unless it's personal.”
“Anyone who thinks stuntmen are crazy is dead wrong. These guys are calculating. They rig things, they think about different ways of doing it... they're not afraid.”
“I'd say most stuntmen are injured working with horses. They have a one-celled brain and change their minds right in the middle of a stunt no matter how many times they do it right in rehearsal.”
“It's the little added bonus of realism that makes the difference between an adequately done stunt and a really convincing one.”
“I know one thing; I'll never win an Academy Award.”
“When 'Smokey' was released and became a blockbuster, Trans Am sales went through the roof. If you wanted a black Trans Am, you had to wait a minimum of six months. By the time we were ready to shoot 'Smokey II,' I was on a first-name basis with Pontiac.”
“I have a country-boy sense of humor. I come from a poor family, and I have no education. But I am Middle America, and what makes me laugh is what makes them laugh.”
“I didn't want to limit my income so I decided to master all aspects of stunting.”
“When the 55 mph speed limit came in and the oil crisis caused fuel rationing, the truckers began to look like the last American cowboys.”
“I worked as a stuntman on the 'Star Trek' TV series pilot.”
“I've got more money than I know what to do with.”