Robert Tessier

Robert Tessier was an interesting man. He was an Army paratrooper during the Korean War, who saw more than his share of combat, winning a Purple Heart as well as a Silver star for his actions.

When he got out of the Service, he kicked around a little, and wound up as a circus stuntman, with his specialty being motorcycle stunts. It wasn't until he was 33 that he got his break in the movies, and it really wasn't a planned career move for him.

Robert Tessier as "Que-ball" from Born Losers.

In '67, a friend of Robert's had heard that a movie company was looking for riders - especially stunt riders for an upcoming "biker" movie. This friend persuaded a reluctant Tessier to go and answer the casting call, and because of his experience, was instantly hired as both an actor and stunt rider for the Tom Laughlin movie Born Losers. Tessier had been given the role of "Que-Ball". Pretty ironic, because Tessier's character sported a full head of hair! Robert had yet to adopt his trademark shaved head look.

Right rear: Jody McCrea, left rear: unidentified actress. Front: a younger Hal Needham. No mystery here why Needham was (among others) Richard Boone's stunt double.

Because of the exposure from Born Losers, Robert was able to pick up stunt work from time to time, along with un-accredited bit parts and extra roles in other movies. This lead to another biker part - that of Magoo, in The Glory Stompers.

Jody McCrea (son of western star Joel McCrea), at this time, was mainly known for his re-occurring character "Deadhead" in the Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello beach party movies. During the filming of Beach Blanket Bingo, Jody had made the acquaintance of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, while Roth had his Surfite car on the set. Ed dug the fact that McCrea's character always wore one of his "RF" hats in the series, and they became friends during the movie filming.

After the beach party movie fad had passed, McCrea had picked up on motorcycles about the same time Roth did. It was Roth's suggestion that McCrea cash in on the biker movie craze, which McCrea did. He formed a partnership, along with some unlikely people as Bob Crew and Kasey Kasam, and produced The Glory Stompers for American International.

Robert Tessier answered the casting call for Glory Stompers, along with another stunt man named Hal Needham. During the filming, Tessier became friends with both McCrea and Needham, and after filming McCrea and Needham both were a good source of steady employment for him from then on out. After his role as Magoo, he also appeared in other biker films such as The Hard Ride, Run Angel, Run, The Sidehackers, Outlaw Riders, and The Jesus Trip.

Shortly after Glory Stompers, McCrey sold out his part of the production company, and mostly retired from acting and Hollywood, but Tessier and Needham remained fast friends, both on and off the screen.

Tessier as Verdugo, from Sword and the Sorcerer

It was around '70 that Robert Tessier ( himself an Algonquin Indian) was cast as a Mohican Indian, and was asked to shave his head for the part. It was here that Tessier developed his trademark bald head, which he kept throughout his career. He was affectionately called "Q-ball" by his friends after that, for both his bald head, and from the name of his character in his first role as an actor.

With his 6'4" frame, bald head, and rugged "bad guy" looks, Tessier was the man all the studios now called whenever they needed a "heavy" or a "tough guy". Tessier was in demand for almost every TV series that needed a tough guy that was filmed during the '70's to the '80's. Along with those TV roles, he was asked personally by Charles Bronson to play opposite him in both Hard Times, and Breakheart Pass. And, Needham was able to secure Tessier roles and stunt work in the Burt Reynolds movies The Longest Yard, Hooper, and Cannonball Run, along with many other movies that Needham was involved in as an actor, or stunt coordinator.

Robert Tessier and Roger Moore, from the "biker scene" in Cannonball Run

From Here, Needham and Tessier formed Stunts, Unlimited, a very well known company in the industry, supplying stunt people and stunt coordination for both the movies, and television. Tessier continued to actively take on many movie rolls himself up until the late '80, when cancer finally forced him to slow down. He fought his cancer relentlessly until the disease finally took his life in Oct. of 1990, at the age of 56.

Another interesting trivia piece on Robert Tessier, is that he was the only "flesh & blood" Mr. Clean to ever appear in Proctor&Gambles' television commercials. All the other Mr. Clean's were animated. I tried to find the commercial with Tessier as Mr. Clean, jamming his head thru a tile bathroom wall, for Mr. Clean Tile and Tub Cleaner, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Too bad, because Tessier looked like he was hardly able to keep a straight face when they filmed it, and I used to laugh my ass off when I used to see it on TV.

The King Of Cool

Marge Simpson: Ok Homer, I want you to take this test, to see exactly how much you actually know about Bart.
Homer: Oooooaaaahhhhhh.......
Marge: Here's the first question. Who's your son's hero.......
Homer: STEVE McQUEEN!!!!!!!!
Marge: Oh Homie, that's YOUR hero....

Ever wake up in the morning, with some random song playing in your head, and it sticks with you for the rest of the day? I know you have. Yesterday morning, I woke up with The Windmills Of Your Mind playing over, and over as I went thru my day. I also kept thinking about what was important about Nov. 7th, and what was it I was forgetting I needed to do tomorrow.

Well, I was listening to the news this morning, and the newscaster mentioned that today was the anniversary of Steve McQueen's death, 29 years ago, in Juarez, Mexico. Yesterday all made sense to me now. The Windmills Of Your Mind was the movie theme to McQueen's movie The Thomas Crown Affair, and what I was forgetting to do was to write this post in my blog last night.Weird, huh?

Steve McQueen, Homer Simpson's hero, and one of mine. The King of Cool forever. I read a little while ago, that Brad Pitt "....was almost ready" to ink a deal to play McQueen in the upcoming biopic of his film life, with a minor inclusion of McQueen's women, cars, bikes, and consumption of illegal substances.

The operative word here is "play". Brad Pitt wouldn't even make an ingrown hair on Steve McQueen's cheek.

The King is dead, long live the king.......
7/24/30 - 11/7/80

Elective surgery II

We're moving along with Randy's swingarm frame. Got it all bolted down, got all the plug welds finished up (all 28 of them), and bent and fishmouthed the tubing sections to mate the seat area tubing back with the new backbone.

We dropped the engine in for a look-see, and everything is copacetic. Now all we have left is to make the new gusset that will connect the backbone to the seatpost, make the top engine mounting bracket, and weld up the seams.

See that white arrow, that's pointing to that chinga at the bottom of the downtube? That's a sleeve (one for each side) that's cut to an angle, that match the sleeve for the underbackbone tube. They'll slide up to the neck, and get welded in place after the seams are finish welded. Just a different "touch" Randy wanted added, after he saw my VL frame.

I'm pretty certain.....

........that Von Dutch had met his match when he was squiring Cindy Rutherford around. The Harbortown Bobber is worth the price just to see her part in it. She was a very cool lady!

Photo courtesy of Kristina Marie, Glitterfist Productions

Von Dutch Monday VII

This is Von Dutch's lathe. The photo is from a Von Dutch article that Ed Roth did on Von Dutch while he was in Calabasas, CA, for his April '68 issue of Choppers Magazine. The print quality wasn't really good on the original magazines, so I've cleaned up the photo as best I could.

All of Von Dutch's shop equipment, like his band saws, bench sanders and grinders, louver presses, and this lathe were all works of art in their own right. Dutch would take old shop equipment (the lathe was said to be close to 40 years old at this time in '68), and disassemble, rebuild, refurbish, paint, pinstripe, and engine turn panels on them, and they were as beautiful as they were functional.

Now what strikes me as strange, is that the photos Roth took for the story clearly show all of Dutch's equipment installed in his shop. The story goes that somebody from the Calabasas building codes dept. came up to Dutch's shop, and told him he couldn't have a "machining facility" on his property, so Dutch is said to have procured his "ex-Long Beach Transit Co." (actually, the bus came from McDonald Douglas' sprawling plant in El Segundo, and was used as an employee transport bus) '53 GMC bus, and Von Dutch said he installed his equipment in it to beat the property codes.

Now, I was up in this area in '70, and at that time the Calabasas area was pretty much tumbleweeds and rattlesnakes. I find it hard to believe that on property that was zoned agriculture to begin with, that Calabasas came up and told him he couldn't have a "machining facility" on the property, when they did tolerate mechanical work and spray painting, a transit bus parked on the property, a horse, some goats, and Steve McQueen's White-built WWII armored halftrack parked there - which Dutch would be prone to tear all over his property in. And, add in the fact that Von Dutch was always firing off rifles, pistols and cannons at all hours of the day and night, that story seems far fetched. But, who knows?

It's my guess that Dutch got the bus, installed all his equipment in it, and already had a future plan in place to split in it, and earn a living from it on the road. I think he invented the cover story to throw people off, and cover what he was really planning. He eventually did split from California in his "shop bus", when fate forced his hand, and he left for Arizona in it, and stayed there for 3 years. But, that's another story.

Here's a good closeup of Von Dutch's lathe, as installed in his bus. The picture has a little sun glare on the R/H side, because of the light coming in the upper windows. The inscription on the mounting pedestal, in German translates out to Von Dutch's Weapon and Motorcycle Factory of Calabasas.

Here's a picture of Dutch at work inside his bus at his Calabasas home. You can see his lathe set up in the background, at what would have been the right front of the bus. Again, photo from Sundays With Von Dutch. The interior floor of the bus has been described as ".....littered with metal shavings, cigarette butts, and beer cans".

And, here's how Von Dutch's lathe was presented for pre-inspection, lot # 038, at the Brucker Collection Auction at the Peterson Automotive Museum, in May, of 2006. The winning bid for Dutch's lathe was $21, 275.00 Seems like a bargain, when you consider Dutch's Snap On screwdriver that he engraved with his name on the handle, went at that same auction for $1,700.00 I'm really surprised the Bruckers didn't sell Von Dutch's old socks and longjohns at that auction.

I have a photo somewhere of the lathe set up on this very table inside the Santa Paula workshop, but I'll be damned if I can locate it.