Gary Kent, the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’, dies aged 89

27 May, 2023

Gary Kent

Gary Kent, the director, actor and stuntman who reportedly inspired Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, has died.

The news was broken to The Hollywood Reporter by Gary’s son, Chris Kent. He died on Thursday (May 25) at an assisted care facility in Austin, Texas.

Born in 1933, in Walla Walla, Washington, Kent’s first acting role came in 1959, and while he appeared in a handful of acting roles across the decades that would follow, his most memorable and notorious work came as a stuntman.

Over the years, he suffered a host of serious injuries while at work, and gave up the work in 2002 after damaging his leg on set for Bubba Ho-Tep.

From then until close to his death, he continued to work as a stunt co-ordinator. His last credit came on 2019’s Sex Terrorists On Wheels.
While putting together the script for that year’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino interviewed Kent about his career and, according to the director of a 2018 documentary about Kent, used him as the inspiration for Brad Pitt’s character Cliff Booth, who was a stunt double for Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton.
See a host of tributes to Kent below.

Kent is survived by six children and four grandchildren. As the Austin Chronicle reports, his family will honour his wishes and scatter his ashes in the Pacific Ocean.

 

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