Departures of note

A.J. Bakunas, a former gym teacher from Tenafly, New Jersey, quit his job in 1974 to pursue a career in film stunts. He broke into the industry with his first stunt work on the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon and soon became known for performing falls from great heights. In 1978, he set a world record with a 70.1-meter (230-foot) fall from a helicopter for the film Hooper, a record that was broken later that same year by Dar Robinson's 87.2-meter (286-foot) fall for a non-movie-related publicity stunt.

Determined to reclaim the record, Bakunas returned to Lexington, Kentucky, where he had previously performed a successful nine-story fall, to attempt a 96-meter (310-foot) jump from the 22nd floor of the Kincaid Towers construction site. On September 21, 1978, with his father and a crowd of about 1,000 watching, Bakunas made the jump, reaching an estimated speed of 115 miles per hour (185 km/h). However, the airbag split on impact, and Bakunas died of his injuries the next day. He was doubling for actor George Kennedy in the film Steel (1979).

Bakunas's filmography includes uncredited roles in The Car (1977) and credited appearances in The Warriors (1979), The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979), Steel (1979), and The Stunt Man (1980), the latter being his final film role.