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(written from a Production point of view)

Ronald "Ronnie" R. Rondell, Jr. (born 10 February 1937; age 87) is a stuntman, stunt coordinator and director who worked as stunt coordinator on Star Trek: First Contact. He also portrayed the henchman of Nicky the Nose in the film.

Rondell is the son of the late actor and assistant director Ronald R. Rondell whose career spanned forty years. He was also the father of stuntman Reid Rondell who died at the age of 22, filming a helicopter stunt for the television series Airwolf in 1985. [1] Rondell's second son is stuntman and stunt coordinator R.A. Rondell who is married to First Contact stuntwoman Debby Lynn Ross and has a son, Erik Rondell, also a stuntman. Rondell together with Hal Needham and Glenn R. Wilder was also a founding member of the stunt organization Stunts Unlimited in the early 1970s. [2]

With a career of 50 years as a stuntman and stunt coordinator and a career of 40 years as an assistant and 2nd unit director, Rondell is best known to be the stuntman on fire on the cover of the 1975 Pink Floyd studio album Wish You Were Here, shaking hands with fellow stuntman Danny Rogers.

Rondell started his on-screen career in the early 1950s as Dannie Kettle in the comedy film series about the Kettle family, including Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair (1952), Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation (1953), and Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki (1955), Her Twelve Men (1954, with Ian Wolfe), The Enemy Below (1957, with Theodore Bikel), The Naked and the Dead (1958, with William Campbell), and Monster on the Campus (1958, with Whit Bissell). Also in the '50s Rondell started his career in the stunt industry with performances in the television series Soldiers of Fortune, Mike Hammer, Combat Sergeant (1956), Richard Diamond, Private Detective, and Cimarron City.

Between the '60s and the '90s Rondell worked on over twenty television series such as Laredo, Twen Police (1970-1973), Charlie's Angels (1978-1980), Dynasty (1981), Falcon Crest, T.J. Hooker, Baywatch (1989), and Thunder in Paradise (1994) and on over 100 feature films such as Spartacus (1960), The Devil's Brigade (1968), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), McQ (1974), The Beastmaster (1982), The Karate Kid (1984), Mannequin (1987, starring Kim Cattrall), Lethal Weapon, (1987) Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Tango & Cash (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Predator 2 (1990), Thelma & Louise (1991), Demolition Man (1993), The Crow (1994), Speed (1994), Waterworld (1995), and Twister (1996).

Following his work on Star Trek: First Contact, Rondell worked as stunt coordinator on the Russian unit of The Saint (1997), as supervising stunt coordinator on Batman & Robin (1997), and as stunt coordinator on Sphere (1998) and Deep Blue Sea (1999). Stunt work during these years include Vanishing Point (1997), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997, with Eddy Donno, Billy Hank Hooker, and Buddy Joe Hooker), Gone Fishin' (1997), Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), Stigmata (1999), End of Days (1999), The Contender (2000, with Dan Barringer, Doug Coleman, and Hubie Kerns, Jr.), and American Outlaws (2001).

Following his retirement in 2001, Rondell received a Lifetime Achievement Taurus World Stunt Award in 2004. [3]

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