Kenny Powers (stuntman)
Kenneth Marion Powers (Kenny Powers) (July 9, 1947 – February 28, 2009) was an American stuntman. Powers was born to Edward Lee and Florence Pauline Powers in Landrum, South Carolina, on July 9, 1947. He grew up in Landrum, which is in the Blue Ridge Mountains area near the border with North Carolina. After high school, he joined the Navy and served as a barber in the Navy according to his DD 214. He died at the Hampton Veterans Center in Hampton, Virginia on February 28, 2009. He was married to Beverly Powers at the time of his death.[1]
St. Lawrence River jump
He is best known today for his unsuccessful October 1979 attempt to jump the Saint Lawrence River in a rocket-powered Lincoln, where he took the place of stuntman Ken Carter. He suffered significant injuries including a broken back, but survived.[2][1][3][4]
Carter's years of planning for the "Superjump", and Powers failed attempt were the subject of a 1981 documentary called The Devil at Your Heels, directed by Robert Fortier and produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Powers was actually substituted at the last minute for Carter, without Carter's knowledge, because the jump's backers feared Carter had decided the jump would not work. This is not an accurate account of why Powers was substituted for Carter. The backers were concerned about Carter's health. Carter still wanted to do the jump. However, he and Kenny Powers remained friends until his death. This is the version told to Beverly Plumley Powers by Kenny Powers and Donna Ray Powers. It is also the account on the official documentary of the jump.
Video of the stunt also appeared on the American television show That's Incredible!,[5] as well as the 1981 film Faces of Death II. A four-minute clip of the stunt taken from Faces of Death II was uploaded to YouTube in 2006, causing renewed popularity.[6]
Other work
Powers worked for and with Carter for many years,[7] and also performed stunts for Hollywood, including in the 1970s films Smokey and the Bandit, Vanishing Point, and Hooper.[8] He continued to perform stunts until at least 2005.[6][9] Kenny did his last stunt in Greenville, Alabama on August 26, 2006. Kenny Powers was never in a Hollywood movie. Ken Carter's and his stunt crew were once approached about doing the stunts for the movie Smokey and the Bandit, but another group were selected. Kenny Powers was touring with Ken Carter at the time. Kenny often claimed to have been a Hollywood stuntman. Usually, when he was delusion under the effects of an opioid pain pill when he made these claims. He experienced pain issues for many years.
References
- 1 2 (1 April 2009). Obituary, Tryon Daily Bulletin
- ↑ (6 October 1979). Rocket car explodes in flight over St. Lawrence River, St. Petersburg Times (Associated Press)
- ↑ (13 October 1979). Rocket car jump 'the wildest ride of my life': Driver, Montreal Gazette (Associated Press)
- ↑ Smothers, Jimmy (8 August 1986). Hollywood stuntman just another 'regular guy', Gadsden Times
- ↑ Goens, Mike (22 April 1982). Kenny Powers isn't crazy or nuts ... he's just Kenny Powers, Florence Times-Tri-Cities-Daily
- 1 2 Chang, Richard S. Kenny Powers: Wrong Man, Right Time, 0-60 Magazine (2009)
- ↑ Smothers, Jimmy (8 June 1972). Accident in the Making, Gadsden Times
- ↑ (24 October 1986). Stunt driver Kenny Powers: a man of steel and plastic, Lakeland Ledger
- ↑ Boynton, Eric (30 June 2002). It's the ultimate high, Spartanburg Herald-Journal, p. D1, D6