Six-times James Bond stuntman Gerry Crampton dies aged 74

Gerry Crampton, who died on January 24 aged 78, was a stuntman known as "Mr Mayhem", doubling for, and often befriending, some of Hollywood's biggest stars. He appeared in six James Bond films from Dr No in 1962 to The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977 - reports The Telegraph.

When he stood in for Jack Nicholson as the Joker during one stunt in Batman (1989), the actor was incredulous at the risks Crampton was prepared to take, telling him: "You gotta be out of your box!"

The eldest of five children, Robert Gerald Crampton was born in Fulham on April 28 1930, the son of a coach driver. During the Second World War his mother refused to be evacuated with the children until 1944, when the family finally moved to North Devon. His father, a keen amateur boxer, taught Gerry and his brothers to box. He also became a keen swimmer and taught himself to dive. On one occasion he leapt off a bridge into the tidal River Taw. A crowd of onlookers applauded, but Gerry's horrified mother was ticked off by a passing policeman.

Gerry left school at the age of 14 to become a butcher's boy before returning to London in 1945, initially finding work at Ealing Studios as a sound assistant on David Lean's Great Expectations (1946).

Factory work in Greenford followed, together with an interest in body building, which eventually saw him crowned Britain's Mr Body Beautiful in 1956.

In 1948 Crampton was called up for his National Service and found himself working as a teletypist in the RAF, but being billeted only a short distance from home, he would return at weekends with his RAF friends for his mother to feed.

Crampton's big chance in films came when he met the James Bond stunt coordinator, Bob Simmons, who took him under his wing. Before long he was stunt riding, fencing, fighting and rolling cars, working on a succession of big pictures including several of the Bond films.

But Crampton's big love was India where he first worked on Tarzan Goes to India in 1962 with Jock Mahoney. He was to return to India 48 more times in his career, working on countless Indian as well as British productions.

At one time he claimed to know the name of every stunt horse in India – where he picked up the "Mr Mayhem" nickname – and always knew how to build a good Indian stunt team when he arrived.

In 1975 Crampton was the stunt coordinator on Sholay, a Hindi Western directed by Ramesh Sippi. It became a huge hit in India, running for 286 weeks in one Mumbai cinema. He directed the action sequences, and his work on the film changed the face of Indian cinema. Indeed, for any director working with Crampton, the job always seemed easier.

The stunts and the action were meticulously planned, with Crampton invariably offering firm advice on camera positions. He was demanding behind the camera, however. When one explosive stunt at sea went awry later in his career, Crampton trained the camera on stuntwomen swimming frantically away from the huge fireball, shouting at them: "Keep acting".

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) was one of many high profile 1980s productions that relied on Crampton's skills. Other included, Gandhi (1982) and The Jewel in the Crown (1984), and he was one of the very few British stuntmen ever to be received into the Hollywood Stuntmen's Hall of Fame.

His fearlessness was not without repercussion. While making Cromwell (1970) Crampton's injuries falling from a horse landed him in the London Clinic. Fighting a leopard in Tarzan Goes to India, Crampton was chained to a tree. The animal's claws were supposed to have been clipped, but when the camera rolled, it was goaded and released, and Crampton was left to defend himself. Clipped or not, the leopard's claws left scars on Crampton's body which he bore for the rest of his life. Other accidents left him with a metal plate and screws in his ankle. On one motorcycle fall the petrol cap caught him so hard between the legs that he fainted and was rushed to hospital.

Crampton's work inevitably brought him into contact with stars, and at one time Peter Sellers, on whose earlier films Crampton had worked, was one of his closest friends. Indeed, for some years Sellers regarded him not only as a friend but as something of a minder. Crampton once received a late night call from the actor, who was being pestered by a man in a London club. "Come and sort him out, Gerry" Sellers pleaded. Crampton was best man at Sellers's wedding to his third wife, Miranda Quarry.

The two men shared an enthusiasm for fast cars, and during his life Crampton owned a Bentley Turbo, several Aston Martins, and an E-type Jaguar.

Christopher Lee, in recalling a working relationship going back to the early 1960s, was not surprised at Crampton's success: "He was so bloody good."

Edward Fox noted: "Whatever you were asked to do, Gerry had prepared it so well that you were never in any sort of danger – you were in totally safe hands. He really minded that you, as the actor, were completely safe. He would undoubtedly risk his life to save yours."

Crampton married for the first time when he was 20, but the marriage lasted less than a year. He remarried three more times, each ending in divorce, but in later years he was always proud to say that he remained on friendly terms with three of his ex-wives.

Gerry Crampton is survived by all four wives.

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