Biography
Bill Catching, born Jerome P. Catching on June 16, 1926, in Bexar County, Texas, was a stuntman, actor, and second unit director. At sixteen, in 1942, he hitchhiked from Bandera, Texas, to Hollywood, California. Upon arrival, he found work in barns supplying horses for films. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Catching worked as a wrangler for horse trainer Ralph McCutcheon. Beginning in the late 1940s, he launched a lengthy career as a stuntman, mainly in Western films and television. In the early 1950s, he joined ZIV Television Programs as a stuntman. Catching doubled for Leo Carrillo on the TV series The Cisco Kid (1950) and served as a stunt coordinator on The Wild Wild West (1965) and The Fall Guy (1981). After retiring from the film and television industry in the mid-1990s, he settled near Yuma, Arizona, where he raised prize horses on his ranch. In August 1994, Bill was honored with a Golden Boot Award for his outstanding contributions to the Western genre, presented by his friend Roy Rogers. He passed away from cancer at age 81 on August 24, 2007, at his home in Somerton, Arizona.
