Quote:
Originally Posted by Baz
In 1970 Rolf Aurness won the Surfing World Championship at Bells Beach and his father James Arness the Hollywood actor (he featured in the tv western drama 'Gunsmoke' as Marshall Matt Dillon) travelled with him to Victoria (Australia). The pair surfed at Bells in the lead up to the event. This footage from John Bennett's film Blue Cool shows James Arness surfing Bells on his Bing Foil.
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Baz, this footage is amazing to me for a couple of reasons.
First, because James Arness was 6'7". Very unusual to see anyone that tall surf, a difficult to balance thing. Second, he was severely wounded in his leg during WWII. The leg bothered him for the rest of his life.
from Wikipedia:
Although Arness wanted to be a naval fighter pilot, he was concerned his poor eyesight would bar him. However, his 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) frame ended his chances because the limit for aviators was set at 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m). He was drafted into the US Army and reported to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, in March 1943.[3] As a rifleman, he landed on Anzio Beachhead on January 22, 1944, with the 2nd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division. Arness - due to his height - was the first man to be ordered off his landing craft to determine the depth of the water; it came up to his waist.[3] He was severely wounded in his right leg during the Battle of Anzio,[5][6] and medically evacuated from Italy to the U.S., where he was sent to the 91st General Hospital in Clinton, Iowa. After undergoing several surgeries, he was honorably discharged from the Army on January 29, 1945.[7] However, his wounds continued to trouble him throughout the remainder of his life. In his latter years he suffered with chronic leg pain that often became acute, and was sometimes initiated when he was mounted on horses during his performances on Gunsmoke.[8][6] His military decorations included the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze battle stars, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.[8][9]