James Winburn, the stunt double for Michael Myers in John Carpenter’s iconic original 1978 slasher movie Halloween, has died. He was 85.
His cause of death is unknown as of this time.
The stuntman was the person wearing the Michael Myers mask for Halloween’s final sequences in which the killer character is apprehended by Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) and disappears after he is shot and falls from a balcony.
Winburn returned as the iconic masked villain’s stunt double alongside returning cast members Pleasance and Jamie Lee Curtis in 1981’s Halloween II as well.
The event and exhibition company wrote that Winburn had attended its For the Love of Horror convention in October.
Another convention organization, Monster-Mania Convention, shared a statement on Facebook Sunday that indicated Winburn was expected to appear at one of its events in November but pulled out due to a health issue.Winburn worked as a stunt artist or stunt coordinator in 78 movies and television shows between 1970 and 2005, according to IMDB.
Aside from his physical appearances as Michael Myers in Halloween, Winburn also notably worked on director Carpenter’s 1981 film Escape from New York, as well as the original 1982 movie Tron.
While Winburn did not continue his work on the Halloween franchise after the sequel, his work helped launch one of horror’s longest-running franchises.
