Allan Graf

About Allan Graf

Who is it?: Stunts, Actor, Assistant Director
Birth Day: December 16, 1949
Birth Place:  Wichita, Kansas, United States
Birth Sign: Capricorn
Alma mater: University of Southern California
Occupation: Actor, Stunt coordinator, Film director
Years active: 1976–current
Home town: Los Angeles, California
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 245 lb (111 kg)

Allan Graf Net Worth

Allan Graf was born on December 16, 1949 in  Wichita, Kansas, United States, is Stunts, Actor, Assistant Director. Graf is one of Hollywood's premier 2nd unit directors and stunt coordinators whose 35 year career behind the cameras includes the staging of stunts in over five dozen films while directing second unit action on three dozen features, including such recent films as Todd Phillips' comedy "Due Date, "Walt Disney's "The Muppets" (2011, on which he also cordinated stunts) and Phillips' independent feature, "Project X" (2012).A native of Southern California, Graf first made his mark on the gridiron, where he captained the 1967 San Fernando High School city championship team, winning All-American honors. He won a full athletic scholarship to the University of Southern California, and played offensive guard for John McKay's powerhouse Trojans. Graf started on McKay's legendary, undefeated (12-0) 1972 NCAA National Championship team, and was one of the heroes at the 1973 Rose Bowl, when USC defeated Ohio State 42-17. He next played in the 1973 college all-star game against the NFL's undefeated Miami Dolphins at Chicago's Soldier Field.Following graduation, Graf became a free agent with the Los Angeles Rams before joining the World Football League's Portland Storm during their inaugural 1974 season. When the league abruptly folded, Graf tackled a career change when he fatefully won a role as former Chicago Bears player Dick Butkus' stunt double in the 1976 Disney film, "Gus," a comic opus about a field-goal kicking mule.Following his debut, Graf worked as a stunt player for several years on a variety of projects, notably Walter Hill's "Southern Comfort," "The Driver" and "The Long Riders," John Carpenter's "They Live," Paul Verhoeven's "Total Recall," "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," "Raising Arizona," "Action Jackson," "S.W.A.T.," "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," "Independence Day" and, most recently, "Captain America: The First Avenger."He has coordinated stunts on several other projects, including "Punch Drunk Love," "Domestic Disturbance," John Woo's "Broken Arrow," "Wayne's World,""The Hangover, Part II" (the highest-grossing, R-rated comedy of all time), and several of director Hill's actioners, including "Supernova," "Geronimo: An American Legend" and "Wild Bill," on which he also directed the films' 2nd unit. On Hill's 1990 sequel, "Another 48 Hrs.," Graf, as the film's 2nd unit director and stunt coordinator, was the very first stuntman to cannon roll a bus at 60 mph. He subsequently flipped a bus again on the Jean-Claude Van Damme actioner, "Nowhere to Run," cannon rolling a 40-foot bus underneath a 60-foot wide freeway overpass.The former college football great is also one of Hollywood's best known football coordinators and 2nd unit directors, designing and staging the gridiron action for such films as Oliver Stone's epic, "Any Given Sunday," Howard Deutch's comedy, "The Replacements," "The Program," "The Waterboy," "Necessary Roughness," "Man of the House," Gary Fleder's football biopic, "The Express," Cameron Crowe's Oscar®-winning "Jerry Maguire" and Peter Berg's acclaimed football classic, "Friday Night Lights." His work on "Friday Night Lights" and "The Express" all earned ESPY Awards.To further add to Graf's slate of talents, he has also logged several supporting acting roles, including that of 'Captain Turner' on HBO's "Deadwood" (again working with Walter Hill) along with many other projects such as "L.A. Confidential" (the abusive husband beaten down by Russell Crowe in the film's early moments), "The Replacements," Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia" and "Boogie Nights," Oliver Stone's "The Doors," Hill's "Red Heat" and "Another 48 Hrs.," "Poltergeist" and "Verhoeven's "RoboCop," among dozens of others.Graf penned an original screenplay entitled "Turning the Tide," a football drama which depicts the historic 1970 gridiron contest between McKay's USC Trojans and Bear Bryant's Crimson Tide of Alabama. The film is currently in development.Graf most recently reteamed with filmmaker Brian Helgeland on "42" after having served as 2nd unit director on his 2001 adventure film, "A Knight's Tale," for whom he designed and directed all the jousting sequences.
Allan Graf is a member of Stunts

💰 Net worth: Under Review

Biography/Timeline

1961

As the result of his experience coordinating Stunts on Sports movies, Graf has developed a regular "team" of stuntmen he can call on to get just the right look for the film. Graf's knowledge of the history of the game makes him especially useful. "for The Express, based on Syracuse's Ernie Davis in 1961 becoming the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy, [Graf] needed smaller players – and ones who could adopt that era's playing styles."

1970

Allan Lee Graf was raised in Sylmar, California, but transferred to San Fernando High School in tenth grade. According to Graf, San Fernando was the best high school football program in the state in the 1970s. Though originally from mostly white Sylmar, Graf proved himself sufficiently as a defensive player at San Fernando to be elected captain of the more integrated Tigers team as a senior. In 1968, the San Fernando Tigers won the Los Angeles City High School football championship, going undefeated; Graf was selected L.A. City co-player of the year and a Parade Magazine All-American at defensive tackle.

1972

Heavily recruited by Pac-8 universities, Graf opted to stay in his native Los Angeles to play for John McKay and the University of Southern California Trojans. Graf was unhappy when line coach Rod Humenuik told him he'd be playing offensive tackle. Graf liked to tackle offensive ball carriers; with his natural aggressiveness, he felt he would play better on defense. Humenuik said: "With your speed you're a great pulling guard. You have a natural tendency to pull with your hips." Graf started three years at tackle for the Trojans. During USC's remarkable undefeated 1972 season, Graf played with Trojan legends Lynn Swann, Pat Haden and Sam Cunningham, helped Anthony Davis to get a record six touchdowns against rival Notre Dame, and won a national championship ring after defeating Ohio State in the 1973 Rose Bowl. The 1972 USC Trojans have sometimes been classed among the best college football teams of all time. Thirty three teammates on the 1972 roster would eventually be drafted by teams in the National Football League, including five first round picks.

1973

Unpicked in the 1973 NFL Draft, Graf attended the Los Angeles Rams' 1973 fall training camp as a free agent. Playing behind All-Pro Tom Mack in camp, Graf asked to be traded or released, but was the last man cut from camp, leaving him without an NFL contract. Graf was one of several Trojan graduates to join the Portland Storm franchise in the new World Football League, but after the league folded in the middle of its second season, Graf thought his football career was behind him.

1989

But frequent collaborations with Director Walter Hill gave Graf the experience and confidence to do more than just stunt work; in 1989 he was asked by Hill not only to coordinate Stunts for his new film Johnny Handsome, but also to direct the film's second unit, a first for Graf.

1990

Graf's stunt coordination received much attention in Walter Hill's 1990 film Another 48 Hrs., after he performed a "cannon-roll" using a school bus at speed, lifting the bus 17 feet (5.2 m) in the air with dynamite, and rolling it down the highway for 285 feet (87 m).

1992

Graf has directed the second unit of photography on many sports-related motion pictures where his stunt coordination made him a key decision maker, but he has also directed second unit in many mainstream comedies, starting with Wayne's World in 1992. Especially in collaboration with Walter Hill, with whom he shares association in many movie projects, Graf's experience has grown in the action film genre, especially in the Western. In 2004, Graf helped Hill create and execute realistic Stunts for the premiere of David Milch's Deadwood television series on HBO. Graf was himself cast as the bodyguard "Captain Joe Turner" of series antagonist George Hearst. In episode five of the third season, Graf's character and his camp rival Dan Dority (portrayed by william Earl Brown) engaged in a climactic and gritty five-minute bare-knuckle brawl which was described by one reviewer as "a bloody marvel."

2000

Graf's special connection with Sports has led him to be one of Hollywood's most capable and experienced football stunt coordinators. Starting with Gus, Graf has performed or coordinated Stunts in over a dozen football-related films. For Friday Night Lights Graf personally interviewed over 900 candidates for a forty-man roster, including doubles for the actors involved. After deciding on talent, Graf put together a playbook and started the roster running plays, gradually working the actors into the practices. "My rule of thumb is we never hit an actor. We can't afford anyone to get hurt. When we did Any Given Sunday, we could do some controlled stuff, but it is very limited how much you can do." Graf is often called "Coach" on set. Referring to 2000's The Replacements reporter Liz Segal said, "Staging plays for Howard Deutch’s comedy about replacement players during the 1987 NFL strike gave Graf his biggest thrill ever. To get that real pro-football feel, some sequences had to be filmed during a Baltimore Ravens’ halftime."

2002

Graf and wife Betty have three children, all USC alums or students: Derek, Nicole and Kevin. Graf's sons have played football as legacies at USC: Derek Graf played center and right offensive tackle for the 2002 squad, and Kevin Graf is the starting right offensive tackle as a junior entering the 2012 season.