Wayne Burson

Stuntman and actor Wayne Burson was born Wayne Woodmansee on November 9, 1920 in Moscow, Colorado. His mother's brother was famous rodeo star Buster Burson. Wayne worked the rodeo circuit prior to moving to California to pursue a career in the film business and starting out as a stuntman in a few Gene Autry movies made by Republic Pictures. Among the notable actors that Burson was a stunt double for are John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Henry Fonda, Van Heflin, Glenn Ford, and Kirk Douglas. After retiring from the film industry in the early 1960's, Wayne went on to become a horse trainer as well as the president of the vocational school West Coast Training Service. Moreover, Burson and fellow stuntman Chuck Roberson were partners in raising and training thoroughbred horses for over forty years. (Some of Burson's horses won races at such tracks as San Diego's Del Mar, Seattle's Long Acres, and San Francisco's Bay Meadows.) in 1990 Wayne moved to Oregon City, Oregon, where he ran Pearson's Restaurant. Burson died of congestive at age 76 on May 10, 1997.