Cheryl Marie Wheeler Duncan (18 August 1960 – 12 February 2020; age 59) was a stuntwoman and martial artist who worked as stunt double for Denise Crosby on the Star Trek: The Next Generation first season episode "Code of Honor" under stunt coordinator Glenn R. Wilder.
Wheeler Duncan was married to fellow stuntman and martial artist Shane Dixon until his death in 1999. During this time she was also known as Cheryl Wheeler Dixon. Born as Cheryl Wheeler in 1960, she started to train Yoshukai Karate at the age of 15 at Gerry Blanck's Martial Arts Center and continued with kickboxing, judo, aikido, and grappling. She held a second degree black belt in Yoshukai Karate and was a three time WKA World Kickboxing Champion. Wheeler Duncan mentions her hardest kickboxing match being the one against Star Trek actress Lucia Rijker in Holland in 1987. [1] In 1996 she was inducted into the Black Belt Magazine's Hall of Fame as Woman of the Year and also appeared on and in several Black Belt magazines.
Wheeler Duncan was a member of the Screen Actor's Guild from 1985 and started to work as stuntwoman in 1987. Among the many Hollywood actresses she doubled are Kathleen Turner, Uma Thurman, Darlene Vogel, Goldie Hawn, Jenna Elfman, Cameron Diaz, Kelly Preston, Nicole Kidman, Daryl Hannah, Ellen Barkin, Bridget Fonda, Natasha Henstridge, Sandra Bullock, Shelley Long, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Rene Russo.
She was married between 1999 and 2009 to Robert Lindsey Duncan with whom she owned Genesis Today, Inc., a nutritional supplement company in Austin, Texas and with whom she had two children. [2] [3] She also worked as a stuntnastics teacher at the Stunt Ranch. [4] Following her divorce from Duncan, she married fitness trainer Robert Reed Sanders. The couple was killed in a shootout at her ex-husband's house in Yellow Springs, Ohio on 12 February 2020. [5]
Cheryl Wheeler-Sanders (Dixon) and her husband Robert Reed Sanders were both killed in what is described as an "ambush" and "shootout" with her ex-husband Robert Lindsey Duncan on his property in Yellow Springs, Ohio on February 12, 2020. Cheryl and her husband drove from their home in Leicester, North Carolina, purportedly to confront Mr. Duncan about a college trust fund concerning their daughters. According to the Greene County, Ohio Sheriff, the Sanderses set up wireless video cameras on a tree stump across the street from Duncan's property to monitor the activity there. On the morning of February 12, 2020, as Mr. Duncan and his wife, Molly, were returning home, they pulled into their driveway and were confronted by Robert Sanders. Mr. Sanders approached the vehicle, pointed a gun at Mrs. Duncan, and then turned the weapon toward Mr. Duncan. Mr. Duncan, who is licensed to carry a concealed weapon, shot and killed Mr. Sanders. Cheryl Sanders, who was monitoring the live stream of the events on her cell phone from the wireless cameras, then pulled up to the driveway in her vehicle and pointed her weapon toward Mrs. Duncan. Mr. Duncan shot Mrs. Sanders, killing her. In a press conference given by the Greene County Sheriff, no charges were filed as the case was determined to be "justifiable homicide". (citation needed • edit)
Television work[]
Wheeler Duncan performed stunts on television series such as Matlock, The Fall Guy, Knight Rider, Hunter, T. J. Hooker (starring William Shatner), Hard Time on Planet Earth, Father Dowling, and Scarecrow and Mrs. King (starring Kate Jackson). She served as stunt double for Mariel Hemingway on Civil Wars and for Shannon Tweed and Shawn Weatherly on Baywatch. In the 1990s she doubled Christine Lahti in Chicago Hope, Andrea Parker in The Pretender, and performed stunts in episodes of Mann & Machine, Veronica's Closet (starring Kirstie Alley), and Dark Skies.
Further television work includes 18 Wheels of Justice, as double for Theresa Russell in Nash Bridges, for Jenna Elfman in Dharma & Greg (2002, with Mitchell Ryan and Chris Durand), for Christa Miller in The Drew Carey Show, for Jennifer Garner in J.J. Abrams' Alias, and for Lori Loughlin in Birds of Prey (2002, with Dina Meyer and Stephen McHattie).
Wheeler Duncan performed stunts in GCB (2012) and The Lying Game (2013) and worked as stunt double for Elizabeth Mitchell on Revolution (2012-2014, starring Billy Burke and with Stephen Collins).
Film work[]
Wheeler Duncan started her stunt career in the late 1980s and among her first films are Fatal Beauty (1987, with Whoopi Goldberg) in which she doubled Jennifer Warren and worked with Goldberg's stunt double Kim Washington, as double for Janet Jones in Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988, with David Graf, Matt McCoy, Jerry O'Connell, and René Auberjonois), Sunset (1988), They Live (1988), as stunt double for Juliette Lewis on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), and for Elizabeth McGovern on Johnny Handsome (1989).
In 1989 Wheeler Duncan got hurt on set while filming a glass dive stunt for actress Darlene Vogel. She shattered her face, jaw, and her right wrist to the point where she lost almost 40% of her wrist cartilage. The following years she had several surgeries and her face was rebuilt. But Wheeler Duncan had to end her professional kickboxing career. [6] [7]
Not long after her accident, Wheeler Duncan returned to the stunt business and started to work as personal stunt double for actress Rene Russo on Lethal Weapon 2 (1989). Further projects in which she doubled Russo include Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), Ransom (1996), The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000), and Showtime (2002).
Other projects include stunt doubling Kelly Preston on Run (1991), Nicole Kidman on Billy Bathgate (1991), Kathleen Turner on V.I. Warshawski (1991), Daryl Hannah on Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), Ellen Barkin on Man Trouble (1992), the action film Sweet Justice (1992, with Marjean Holden and Patricia Tallman), as double for Sharon Stone on Sliver (1993), for Sandra Bullock on Demolition Man (1993), and for Bridget Fonda on Point of No Return (1993).
Wheeler Duncan worked again as stunt double for Kathleen Turner, on Undercover Blues (1993) and Serial Mom (1994). She also performed stunts in The Mask (1994), as double for Penelope Ann Miller on The Relic (1997), as double for Uma Thurman on Batman & Robin (1997), and again for Bridget Fonda on Break Up (1998).
In 2000 she doubled actresses Cameron Diaz and Kelly Preston on Charlie's Angels for which she received a Taurus World Stunt Award for Best Stunt Sequence. She doubled Natasha Henstridge on Ghosts of Mars (2001), Connie Nielsen on Gladiator (2000), performed stunts in Spider-Man (2002) and Ocean's Eleven (2001), and doubled Connie Nielsen again on Basic (2003).
She worked as stunt double for Willa Ford on Friday the 13th (2009), doubled Josie Davis on the thriller The Ascent (2010), worked as stunt driver on Doonby (2011), doubled Jessica Alba's fights in Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (2011), Rene Russo in Thor (2011, starring Chris Hemsworth and Idris Elba), performed stunts in Doonby (2013, with Richard Hancock), and doubled Charlize Theron in Dark Places (2015). She also worked as producer on The Martial Arts Kid (2014, featuring T.J. Storm, Jeff Rector, and stunts by Antal Kalik).
External links[]
- CherylWheelerDuncan.com – official site
- Cheryl Wheeler Duncan at the Internet Movie Database
- Cheryl Wheeler-Dixon at Wikipedia
- Stunt Reel at YouTube