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James Winburn, the stunt double for Michael Myers in John Carpenter‘s iconic original 1978 slasher movie Halloween, has died. He was 85.
The longtime Hollywood stuntman died over the weekend due to an undisclosed health issue, Entertainment Weekly confirmed. 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.
“We are extremely sad to learn of the passing of James Winburn,” U.K.-based Monopoly Events wrote on Twitter after news of Winburn’s death went public Monday. The event and exhibition company wrote that Winburn had attended its For the Love of Horror convention in October.
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“James was an absolute pleasure to work and shared some amazing stories with everyone over the weekend,” the company wrote. “Our sincere condolences go out to his family, friends and fans.”
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.
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“Sad to learn of the passing of James Winburn today,” the organization wrote. “James was an absolute pleasure to work with and we had hoped to see him again for our show in Oaks, PA but sadly a health issue prevented that.”
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“James was always appreciative of the Halloween fans and truly enjoyed meeting everyone,” the statement read. “Our sincere condolences go out to his family, friends and fans.”
We are extremely sad to learn of the passing of James Winburn, who joined us for @ftlohorror last month
James was an absolute pleasure to work and shared some amazing stories with everyone over the weekend.Our sincere condolences go out to his family, friends and fans#RIP pic.twitter.com/K74XvFbLQp
— Monopoly Events (@monopolyevents1) November 21, 2022
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.
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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.
The Halloween series spawned 13 movies in total, the most recent of which, Halloween Ends, released in October, almost 44 years after the original Halloween released in theaters Oct. 25, 1978.
