Bill Catching

Stuntman, actor, and second unit director Bill Catching was born Jerome P. Catching on June 16, 1926 in Bexar County, Texas. In 1942 at age sixteen Catching hitchhiked from Bandera, Texas to Hollywood, California. Upon reaching California Bill got a job working in barns that furnished horses for movies. After serving a stint in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Catching went on to work as a wrangler for horse trainer and wrangler Ralph McCutcheon. Bill began his long and extensive career as a stuntman primarily in Western films and television shows in the late 1940's. Catching signed up as a stuntman for the production company ZIV Television Programs in the early 1950's. Bill not only doubled for Leo Carrillo on the TV series The Cisco Kid (1950), but also was a stunt coordinator on the TV shows The Wild Wild West (1965) and The Fall Guy (1981). In the wake of retiring from the film and television industry in the mid-1990's, Catching settled in Arizona and raised prize horses on his ranch just outside of Yuma. In August, 1994 Bill received a Golden Boot Award for his sterling and significant contributions to the Western genre; said award was presented to Bill by his good friend Roy Rogers. Catching died of cancer at age 81 on August 24, 2007 at his home in Somerton, Arizona.