Actor and stuntman Robert Tessier was born of Algonquian Indian descent
on June 2, 1934 in Lowell, Massachusetts. He specialized in tough,
menacing villains throughout American cinema of the 1970s and 1980s.
Tessier had served time in the United States Armed Forces seeing action
in Korea as a paratrooper and earning both a Silver Star and a Purple
Heart, and in addition was an accomplished motorcycle rider and circus
stunt performer.
His movie breakthrough came at age 33, in the low budget
Tom Laughlin biker movie
The Born Losers (1967). With his
menacing looks, Tessier was never short of on screen work, often
turning up in several movies a year playing gang leaders, bikers and
other murderous thugs. He appeared alongside 'Burt Reynolds' on three
occasions in
The Longest Yard (1974),
Hooper (1978) and
The Cannonball Run (1981).
Alternately, he was equally busy on television appearing in popular
series including
Starsky and Hutch (1975),
Magnum, P.I. (1980),
The Fall Guy (1981) and
The A-Team (1983). Undoubtedly,
Tessier's most well remembered role was that of grinning, head-butting
street fighter Jim Henry in the
Charles Bronson film
Hard Times (1975).
Tessier formed "Stunts Unlimited" with fellow noted stunt performers
Hal Needham,
Glenn R. Wilder and
Ronnie Rondell Jr.. Robert Tessier
passed away aged 56 from cancer on October 11, 1990.
