Longtime Santa Clarita resident and former stuntman Jack Lilley died Wednesday evening at age 91, family and friends said.
According to Savanah Lilley, Lilley’s granddaughter-in-law, Lilley died peacefully in his sleep at the Motion Picture and Television Fund home in Woodland Hills. He had advanced Alzheimer’s disease.
“Papa has been a part of my life for longer than Garret (Lilley’s oldest grandson) and I have been together,” she wrote in an email. “Papa was friends with my grandparents and even my great grandparents, as they all did stunts together.”
Lilley, a second-generation stunt performer and a 2008 recipient of a plaque on Santa Clarita’s Walk of Western Stars, has more than 280 credits to his name and 70 years in the film and television industry. His credits include “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962), “Rawhide” (1959-1964), “Blazing Saddles” (1974), “Three Amigos!” (1986), “Army of Darkness” (1992) and “Planet of the Apes” (2001).
The stuntman came to Los Angeles from Texas as a kid when his dad got into the business of renting horses to movie studios. Lilley’s dad soon found himself doing stunts in movies. Lilley, who helped with what he’d turn into the Movin’ On Livestock motion picture rental business (which Lilley’s son Clay now runs out of New Mexico), followed in his father’s footsteps.
According to Savanah Lilley, Lilley taught many actors how to ride horses in movies. One of those actors was Billy Crystal for the 1991 film “City Slickers.” After the experience, Savanah Lilley said, Crystal gifted Lilley a signed photograph of Crystal with a horse. On the photo, Crystal wrote, “Jack, thanks for the time of my life. Billy.”
Lilley’s granddaughter-in-law added that Lilley started many stuntmen and women in the business.
“If he liked you,” she said, “he would find a job for you. He would get you to wherever you wanted to go in your career and life.”
Lilley’s wife, Irene, who he married on December 20, 1958, died last May. She was 95 years old. Lilley is survived by three adult sons (Clay, Clint and Ben), five grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
A service for Lilley is set for 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 17, 2025, at Eternal Valley Memorial Park and Mortuary in Newhall. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be sent to the Village Church of Santa Clarita at TheVillageChurch.org/giving.
Lilley was previously profiled in The Signal. To read the story, go to https://bit.ly/4ivMLDs.
