Carl Ciarfalio, a longtime stuntman, stunt coordinator and actor who worked with such top names as Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, Ron Howard, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh and many others, has died. He was 72. His wife, Teri Ryan, announced the news on his Facebook page this week but did not provide details including a cause of death.
“Our Carl has passed on,” she wrote. “And by ‘our’ I mean all of us. He was so special to everyone. We will celebrate his special life and light. No idea how yet but I know the laughter will flow with the tears. He went peacefully and we were all there.”
Born on November 12, 1953, in Alhambra just east of Los Angeles, Ciarfalio was a college wrestler before getting his start doing live stunt shows at Knott’s Berry Farm and later Universal Studios. His prolific screen career got going in the early 1980s with stunt works and/or bit roles in TV series including The Fall Guy, MacGyver, Sledge Hammer! and Magnum, P.I.
His earlier film credits range from the Pierce Brosnan James Bond pic Licence to Kill and RoboCop 2 and 3 to Wayne’s World, Beverly Cop III and Batman & Robin. He continued to work on camera in hundreds of stunt and acting roles all the way to last year, with more recent credits as Justified, Meet the Blacks and Sharknado films.
Ciarfalio’s credits are far too numerous to list, but he also worked on such classic TV series as Simon & Simon, Quantum Leap, Family Matters, ER, Community and Murder, She Wrote. Among his even more prolific film career included such memorable pics as Beetlejuice, Total Recall, Glory, Get Shorty, Mallrats, Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion, Daddy Day Care, Bruce Almighty, After the Sunset and Wedding Crashers.
He served as stunt coordinator on about three dozen projects including The Expendables, Meet the Blacks and Rock, Paper, Scissors, along with many short films.
He won Best Fight Sequence at the inaugural Stuntman Awards in 1985 for an episode of Knight Rider and later earned a Actor Awards nom for The Amazing Spider-Man stunt ensemble.
Ciarfalio joined the Stuntmen’s Association of Motion Pictures in 1985 and was its president from 1992-96. He also served two terms on the the Board of Governors at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences after helping to organize the Stunt Peer Group in 2000. He also was key to establishing the Emmy Award for Outstanding Stunt Coordination the following year, an award now presented annually during the Creative Arts Emmys.