Who rode the motorcycle in The Great Escape?

Asked by: Chris Mastracci

Ekins is best known as the actor who jumped the fence on a motorcycle in the 1963 film The Great Escape, and one of the stuntmen who drove the Ford Mustang 390 GT in the car chase scene in the 1968 film Bullitt.

Did Steve McQueen drive the motorcycle in The Great Escape?

However, in an unearthed interview the Hollywood icon revealed that he did not perform the 60-foot jump. Mr McQueen had only just begun riding off-road bikes at the time and was not up to the task. Instead, it was his long-time friend and body double Bud Ekins.

What make of motorcycle did Steve McQueen ride in The Great Escape?

1961 Triumph TR6 Trophy

The motorcycles used during chase scene in film The Great Escape were 1961 Triumph TR6 Trophy models disguised as German BMW R75 motorcycles. The star of the movie, Steve McQueen, did much of the riding for the film himself, although Bud Ekins performed the famous jump scene as McQueen’s stunt double.

Did Steve McQueen ride a Triumph in The Great Escape?

McQueen was known as a hands-on actor often doing his own stunts in his films. Word is that McQueen wanted to do the fence jump himself, but the task instead fell to Bud Ekins, a stuntman on the film. The bike itself is a 1962 650cc Triumph TR6R and it has never been shown publicly until now.

Did Steve McQueen do all his own stunts?

As in all of his movies, McQueen is doing his own stunts. “You can’t trick it no more when you do a job, right?” he commented. BESIDES the rigors of the job there is the added matter of working for Henry Hathaway, a director with a reputation for toughness. “Difficulties I don’t mind,” McQueen went on.

What happened to the commandant of the camp from The Great Escape?

He was repatriated in 1947. He died in 1963 at the age of 82, less than two months before the film The Great Escape was released.

Where was The Great Escape motorcycle scene filmed?

Exteriors for the escape sequences were shot in the Rhine Country and areas near the North Sea, and Steve McQueen’s motorcycle scenes were filmed in Fussen (on the Austrian border) and the Alps. All interiors were filmed at the Bavaria Studio in Munich.

Who drove Dodge Charger in Bullitt?

stuntman Bill Hickman

In Bullitt, this wasn’t the case. The Dodge Charger was the most talked about car from the film, and it happened to be driven by the bad guy—a hitman played by Hollywood stuntman Bill Hickman. The car chase scene showed the Mustang easily tailing the Charger.

Who drove the Mustang in Bullitt?

Steve McQueen

Ford Mustang driven by Steve McQueen in ‘Bullitt’ sells for $3.4 million. (Reuters) – The 1968 Ford Mustang GT that Steve McQueen drove in the classic car chase from the movie “Bullitt, one of the most famed cars from American cinema, sold for $3.4 million at auction in Florida on Friday, Mecum Auctions said.

How much of the film The Great Escape is true?

The film is accurate in showing that only three escapees made home runs, although the people who made them differed from those in the film. The escape of Danny and Willie in the film is based on two Norwegians who escaped by boat to Sweden, Per Bergsland and Jens Müller.

Is anyone from The Great Escape still alive?

Dick Churchill, the last living participant in a daring breakout from a German prisoner-of-war camp that inspired the 1963 movie “The Great Escape,” died on Feb. 12 at his home near Crediton, Devon, England. He was 99. His son Roger confirmed the death by email.

How long did it take to dig the tunnel in The Great Escape?

during World War II. He worked for fifteen months on the huge, three-tunnel project known in book and film as “The Great Escape” and was in charge of hiding over 200,000 pounds of golden sand from the German “ferrets”.