RIP Kitti O`Neil.

The greatest Stunt Woman ever. If your old enough.
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-46124062

Never heard of her (EDIT: rather, I probably just don't remember her) but she was apparently pretty awesome!

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The performer notably filled in for stunt scenes as the heroic Wonder Woman in the 1970s TV series about the comicbook character, receiving credits for 52 episodes.

She also served as the stunt double on The Bionic Woman for star Lindsay Wagner, earning credits for 58 episodes, in addition to appearing in several movies, including The Blues Brothers.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ny-ent-kitty-oneil-dies-20181107-story.html

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n 1976 in southeastern Oregon's Alvord Desert, O'Neil set the land-speed record for female drivers. She piloted a hydrogen peroxide powered three-wheeled rocket car built by Bill Fredrick called the “SMI Motivator”. It reached an average speed of 512.710 mph (825.127 km/h), with a peak speed of 621 miles per hour (999 km/h).

As a stuntwoman, she appeared in The Bionic Woman, Airport '77, The Blues Brothers, Smokey and the Bandit II and other television and movie productions. In filming for a 1979 episode of Wonder Woman, she set a women's high-fall record of 127 feet (39 m) at the Valley Hilton in Sherman Oaks, California, later breaking the record with a 180-foot (55 m) fall from a helicopter. She credited her small size, at 5'-2" and 97 pounds (44 kg), for allowing her to withstand impact forces.

In 1977 O'Neil set a women's record for speed on water of 275 miles per hour (443 km/h), and she held a 1970 women's water skiing record of 104.85 miles per hour (168.74 km/h).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_O%27Neil

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At that size I guess she wasn't feeling G-forces so much.

RIP

Proof that balls of steel are not of biological origin.

Never heard of her either but sounds like she had a (why the heck can we not use the word d amn is beyond me) great life! Love a girl with a ton of go in her. She even had a Mattell toy ...

I think the reason she is so poorly known, especially by males of our age, is that there was another extremely famous male showman that was popular during that time frame that we watched instead of her.
From what I am reading and seeing we did miss some great showmanship of hers.

RIP.


Wheels

Like 8-track tape, I never understood how it worked (stop turning crank and it takes off)...

BTW, I was a fan of The Bionic Woman (although not as much as her male counterpart) and Wonder Woman, so I must have seen Kitti O`Neil's work many times without knowing it. I'd be interested to know what her part was in The Blues Brothers (I'll check this weekend).

I am guessing she stunted for Carrie Fisher since they both had small builds.


Wheels

Interesting fact, she was deaf.

Childhood illness causes the deafness at age 8. Sad, but overcome with courage like no other.

Wow, that's a blast from the past! I had that crank up Evil Knievel in the late '70's. Another one as well with the zip pull demo derby cars where the doors flew off once they hit each other or a wall or whatever. Used to love them!

Never heard of her but she seemed to have lived a wonderful life even with her disability.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...f48762_story.html?utm_term=.caee0e7a2ca1