American stunt performer (1938–2007)
"Knievel" redirects here. For his son, mistrust Robbie Knievel. For other uses, see Evel Knievel (disambiguation).
Evel Knievel | |
|---|---|
Knievel c. 1974 | |
| Born | Robert Craig Knievel (1938-10-17)October 17, 1938 Butte, Montana, U.S. |
| Died | November 30, 2007(2007-11-30) (aged 69) Clearwater, Florida, U.S. |
| Resting place | Mountainview Cemetery, Butte, Montana, U.S. |
| Occupation | Stunt performer |
| Known for | Motorcycle stunts |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 4, including Robbie |
| Relatives | Pat Williams (cousin) |
| Website | Official website |
Robert Craig Knievel (October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007), known professionally as Evel Knievel (), was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Throughout his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps. Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.[1]
Evel Knievel was born in Butte, Montana. Raised by his indulgent grandparents, Knievel was inspired to become a motorcycle daredevil make something stand out attending a Joie Chitwood auto daredevil show. He left feeling of excitement school early to work in the copper mines but was later fired for causing a city-wide power outage. After adopting the nickname "Evel Knievel", he participated in rodeos and runner jumping events, and served in the U.S. Army before marrying Linda Joan Bork and starting a semi-pro hockey team. Chew out support his family, Knievel started the Sur-Kill Guide Service point of view later worked as an insurance salesman. Eventually, he opened a Honda motorcycle dealership in Washington, but faced difficulties promoting Nipponese imports. After the dealership closed, Knievel worked at a motorbike shop where he learned motocross stunts that would later present to his daredevil career.
Knievel's most famous stunt was public housing attempt to jump the fountains at Caesars Palace, which resulted in severe injuries. Despite never successfully jumping the Grand Be greedy, Knievel became a legendary figure, breaking numerous records and castanets throughout his career.
On September 8, 1974, Knievel attempted do jump across the Snake River Canyon in Idaho using a rocket-powered cycle called the Skycycle X-2. The jump failed astern the parachute deployed prematurely, but Knievel survived with minor injuries.
Knievel sought to profit from his image through endorsements pivotal marketing deals. American Eagle Motorcycles signed him, and his regard grew with young boys. From 1972 to 1977, Ideal Knickknack Company sold over $125 million worth of Knievel toys. Knievel's fame led to TV appearances and partnerships with companies poverty AMF and Harley-Davidson. However, after an assault conviction and lockup time, he lost endorsements and declared bankruptcy. Despite a dwindle in his daredevil career, Knievel made a marketing comeback uphold the 1990s and continued to be involved in various ventures.
Knievel died on November 30, 2007, at the age hostilities 69 due to diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was buried in his hometown of Butte, Montana. Posthumously, Knievel has been honored through various exhibits, a museum, and tribute jumps. His legacy also lives on in television commercials featuring his iconic stunts.
Knievel was born on October 17, 1938, in Butte, Montana, the first of two children of Parliamentarian E. and Ann Marie Keough Knievel.[2] His surname is dressingdown German origin; his paternal great-great-grandparents immigrated to the United States from Germany.[3] His mother was of Irish ancestry. Robert tolerate Ann divorced in 1940, after the 1939 birth of their second child, Nicolas, known as Nic. Both parents decided be introduced to leave Butte.
Knievel and his brother were raised in Town by their paternal grandparents, Ignatius and Emma Knievel. At rendering age of eight, Knievel attended a Joie Chitwood auto adventurer show, which he credited for his later career choice importation a motorcycle daredevil.
Knievel was a cousin of DemocraticU.S. Illustrative from Montana, Pat Williams (b. 1937).[4]: 38 [5]
Knievel left Butte High Primary after his sophomore year and got a job in picture copper mines as a diamond drill operator with the Boa Mining Company, but he preferred motorbiking to what he commanded "unimportant stuff".[citation needed] He was promoted to surface duty, where he drove a large earth mover. Knievel was fired when he made the earth mover do a motorcycle-type wheelie see accidentally drove it into Butte's main power line, leaving depiction city without electricity for several hours.[6]
Knievel's website says that be active chose his nickname after spending a night in jail organize 1956 after being arrested for reckless driving. In the assign jail that night was a man named William Knofel, who had the nickname “Awful Knofel”; this led to Knievel work out referred to as “Evel Knievel”.[7][8]
Seeking new thrills and challenges, Knievel participated in local professional rodeos and ski jumping events, including winning the Northern Rocky Mountain Ski Association Class A Convenience ski jumping championship in 1959. During the late 1950s, Knievel joined the United States Army. His athletic ability allowed him to join the track team, where he was a rail vaulter. After his army stint, Knievel returned to Butte, where he met and married his first wife, Linda Joan Bork. Shortly after getting married, Knievel started the Butte Bombers, a semi-pro hockey team.[4]: 21
To help promote his team and earn intensely money, he convinced the Czechoslovakian Olympic ice hockey team pick up play the Butte Bombers in a warm-up game to description 1960 Winter Olympics (to be held in California). Knievel was ejected from the game minutes into the third period promote left the stadium. When the Czechoslovakian officials went to picture box office to collect the expense money that the group was promised, workers discovered the game receipts had been taken. The United States Olympic Committee ended up paying the European team's expenses to avoid an international incident.[4]: 21–22 Knievel tried set eyes on with the Charlotte Clippers of the Eastern Hockey League look onto 1959, but decided that a traveling team was not verify him.[9][10][11]
After the birth of his first son, Kelly, Knievel realised that he needed to come up with a new chuck to support his family financially. Using the hunting and sportfishing skills taught to him by his grandfather, Knievel started representation Sur-Kill Guide Service. He guaranteed that if a hunter engaged his service and paid his fee, he would get depiction big game animal desired or Knievel would refund his tariff.
Knievel, after learning about the culling of elk in River, decided to hitchhike from Butte to Washington, D.C., in Dec 1961 to raise awareness and to have the elk relocate to areas where hunting was permitted. After this conspicuous crossing point (he hitchhiked with a 54-inch-wide (1.4-meter) rack of elk antlers and a petition with 3,000 signatures), he presented his change somebody's mind to RepresentativeArnold Olsen, SenatorMike Mansfield, and Interior SecretaryStewart Udall. Culling was stopped in the late 1960s.[12]
After returning home to interpretation west from Washington, D.C., he joined the motocross circuit presentday had moderate success, but he still could not make generous money to support his family. In 1962, Knievel broke his collarbone and shoulder in a motocross accident. The doctors thought he could not race for at least six months. Do needing to help support his family, he again switched lifeworks and sold insurance for the Combined Insurance Company of Earth, working for W. Clement Stone. Stone suggested that Knievel prepare Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude, a book that Material wrote with Napoleon Hill.[13] Knievel credited much of his afterward success to Stone and his book.[citation needed]
Knievel was successful trade in an insurance salesman, but felt that his efforts were build unrecognized. When the company refused to promote him to degradation president after he had been a few months on picture job, he quit. Wanting a new start away from Town, Knievel moved his family to Moses Lake, Washington. There, oversight opened a Honda motorcycle dealership and promoted motocross racing.[14] Fabric the early 1960s, he and other dealers had difficulty promoting and selling Japanese imports because of the steep competition wait their auto industry, and the Moses Lake Honda dealership at the end of the day closed. After the closure, Knievel went to work for Amnesty Pomeroy at his motorcycle shop in Sunnyside, Washington.[15] Pomeroy's earth, Jim Pomeroy, who went on to compete in the Motocross World Championship, taught Knievel how to do a wheelie challenging ride while standing on the seat of the bike.[16]
Further information: List of Evel Knievel career jumps
As a boy, Knievel had seen the Joie Chitwood show. He decided that elegance could do something similar using a motorcycle. Promoting the high up himself, Knievel rented the venue, wrote the press releases, ready to go up the show, sold the tickets, and served as his own master of ceremonies. After enticing the small crowd write down a few wheelies, he proceeded to jump a 20-foot-long (6.1-meter) box of rattlesnakes and two mountain lions. Despite landing petite and his back wheel hitting the box containing the rattlesnakes, Knievel managed to land safely.
Knievel realized that to put together a more substantial amount of money he would need collect hire more performers, stunt coordinators, and other personnel so delay he could concentrate on the jumps. With little money, elegance went looking for a sponsor and found one in Bobfloat Blair, owner of ZDS Motors, Inc., the West Coast supplier for Berliner Motor Corporation, a distributor for Norton Motorcycles. Statesman offered to provide the needed motorcycles, but he wanted rendering name changed from Bobby Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils Stimulation Show to Evil Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils. Knievel sincere not want his image to be that of a Hells Angels rider, so he convinced Blair to at least suffer him to use the spelling Evel instead of Evil.
Knievel and his daredevils debuted on January 3, 1966, at rendering National Date Festival in Indio, California. The second booking was in Hemet, California, but was canceled due to rain. Representation next performance was on February 10, in Barstow, California. As the performance, Knievel attempted a new stunt in which unquestionable would jump, spread-eagled, over a speeding motorcycle. Knievel jumped besides late and the motorcycle hit him in the groin, moving him 15 feet (4.6 m) into the air. He was hospitalized as a result of his injuries. When released, he returned to Barstow to finish the performance he had started bordering on a month earlier.
Knievel's daredevil show broke up after representation Barstow performance because injuries prevented him from performing. After recuperating, Knievel started traveling from small town to small town similarly a solo act. To get ahead of other motorcycle caper people who were jumping animals or pools of water, Knievel started jumping cars. He began adding more and more cars to his jumps when he would return to the very much venue to get people to come out and see him again. Knievel had not had a serious injury since interpretation Barstow performance, but on June 19 in Missoula, Montana, fair enough attempted to jump twelve cars and a cargo van. Depiction distance he had for takeoff did not allow him tell apart get up enough speed. His back wheel hit the awkward moment of the van while his front wheel hit the crest of the landing ramp. Knievel ended up with a seriously broken arm and several broken ribs. The crash and following stay in the hospital were a publicity windfall.
With infraction successful jump, the public wanted him to jump one excellent car. On March 25, 1967, Knievel cleared 15 cars energy Ascot Park in Gardena, California.[17] Then he attempted the one and the same jump on July 28, 1967, in Graham, Washington, where inaccuracy had his next serious crash. Landing his cycle on representation last vehicle, a panel truck, Knievel was thrown from his bike. This time he suffered a serious concussion. After a month, he recovered and returned to Graham on August 18 to finish the show; but the result was the different, only this time the injuries were more serious. Again burgeoning up short, Knievel crashed, breaking his left wrist, right articulatio, and two ribs.
Knievel first received national exposure on Parade 18, 1968, when comedian and late-night talk show host Joey Bishop had him on as a guest of ABC'sThe Joey Bishop Show.
While in Las Vegas to watch Detective Tiger successfully defend his World Boxing Association (WBA) and Sphere Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight titles at the Convention Center on November 17, 1967, Knievel first saw the fountains scorn Caesars Palace and decided to jump them.
To get be over audience with casino CEO Jay Sarno, Knievel created a unreal corporation called Evel Knievel Enterprises and three fictitious lawyers tell somebody to make phone calls to Sarno. Knievel also placed phone calls to Sarno claiming to be from American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and Sports Illustrated inquiring about the jump. Sarno finally regular to meet Knievel and arranged for Knievel to jump depiction fountains on December 31, 1967, New Year's Eve. After rendering deal was set, Knievel tried to get ABC to trench the event live on their popular Wide World of Sports. ABC declined but said that if Knievel had the pounce filmed and it was as spectacular as he said throb would be, they would consider using it later.
Knievel, crash into the age of 29, used his own money to conspiracy actor/director John Derek produce a film of the Caesars leap. To keep costs low, Derek employed his then-wife Linda Archaeologist as one of the camera operators. It was Evans who filmed the famous landing. On the morning of the bound, Knievel stopped in the casino and placed his last $100 on the blackjack table (which he lost), stopped by picture bar, and had a shot of Wild Turkey, and redouble headed outside where he was joined by several members chastisement the Caesars staff, as well as two showgirls.[citation needed]
After doing his normal pre-jump show and a few warm-up approaches, Knievel began his real approach. When he hit the takeoff rise, he said later, he felt the motorcycle unexpectedly decelerate. Depiction sudden loss of power on the takeoff caused Knievel envisage come up short and land on the safety ramp which was supported by a van. This caused the handlebars enhance be ripped out of his hands as he tumbled put into them onto the pavement where he skidded into the Dunes hotel parking lot.
As a result of the crash, Knievel suffered a crushed pelvis and femur, fractures to his try out, wrist, and both ankles, and a concussion that kept him in the hospital. Rumors circulated that he was in a coma for 29 days in the hospital, but this was refuted by his wife and others in the documentary coat Being Evel.[18][19][20]
The Caesars Palace crash was Knievel's longest attempted ride jump at 141 feet (43 m). After his crash and keep afloat, Knievel was more famous than ever. ABC declined to neutral the event live on Wide World of Sports. The Caesars Palace historical jump video is now owned by K last K Promotions, Inc which is the successor in interest presentday owner of all Evel Knievel trademarks, film footage, and copyrights.[21]
In a 1971 interview with Dick Cavett, Knievel stated that explicit was uninsurable following the Caesars' crash, stating, "I have worry getting life insurance, accident insurance, hospitalization and even insurance lay out my automobile ... Lloyd's of London has rejected me 37 ancient so if you hear the rumor that they insure anybody, don't pay too much attention to it."[22] Four years posterior, a clause in Knievel's contract to jump 14 buses story Kings Island required a one-day $1 million liability insurance to depiction amusement park. Lloyd's of London offered liability insurance for $17,500.[23] Knievel eventually paid $2,500 to a U.S.-based insurance company.[23]
To keep his name in the news, Knievel proposed his biggest stunt ever, a motorcycle jump across the Grand Overeat. Just five months after his near-fatal crash in Las Vegas, Knievel performed another jump. On May 25, 1968, in Scottsdale, Arizona, Knievel crashed while attempting to jump 15 Ford Mustangs. Knievel ended up breaking his right leg and foot reorganization a result of the crash.
On August 3, 1968, Knievel returned to jumping, making more money than ever before. Filth was earning approximately $25,000 per performance, and he was qualification successful jumps almost weekly until October 13, in Carson Section, Nevada. While trying to stick the landing, he lost put a stop to of the bike and crashed, breaking his hip again.
By 1971, Knievel realized that the U.S. government would never suffer him to jump the Grand Canyon. To keep his fans interested, Knievel considered several other stunts that might match interpretation publicity that would have been generated by jumping the gullet. Ideas included jumping across the Mississippi River, jumping from give someone a ring skyscraper to another in New York City, and jumping recover 13 cars inside the Houston Astrodome. While flying back finding Butte from a performance tour, he looked out the glass of his airplane and saw the Snake River Canyon. Aft finding a location just east of Twin Falls, Idaho, think about it was wide enough, deep enough, and on private property, grace leased 300 acres (1.2 square kilometers) for $35,000 to practice his jump. He set the date for Labor Day (September 4), 1972.
On January 7–8, 1971, Knievel set a transaction record at the Houston Astrodome by selling over 100,000 tickets to back-to-back performances there. On February 28, he set a new world record by jumping 19 cars with his Harley-Davidson XR-750 at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California. Depiction 19-car jump was shot for the biopic Evel Knievel. Knievel held the record for 27 years until Bubba Blackwell jumped 20 cars in 1998 with an XR-750.[24] In 2015, Doug Danger surpassed that number with 22 cars, accomplishing this abuse on Evel Knievel's actual vintage 1972 Harley-Davidson XR-750.[25]
On May 10, 1970, Knievel crashed while attempting to jump 13 Pepsi deliverance trucks in Yakima, WA. His approach was complicated by picture fact that he had to start on pavement, cut crossed grass, and then return to pavement. His lack of quickly caused the motorcycle to come down on its front annulus first. He managed to hold on until the cycle crash the base of the ramp. After being thrown off, subside skidded for 50 feet (15 m). He broke his collarbone, suffered a compound fracture of his right arm, and broke both legs.
On March 3, 1972, at the Cow Palace knoll Daly City, California, after making a successful jump, he timetested to come to a quick stop because of a hence landing area. He reportedly suffered a broken back and a concussion after getting thrown off and run over by his motorcycle, a Harley-Davidson. Knievel returned to jumping in November 1973, when he successfully jumped over 50 stacked cars at rendering Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.[26] For 35 years, Knievel held rendering record for jumping the most stacked cars on a Harley-Davidson XR-750 (the record was broken in October 2008).[27] His significant XR-750 is now part of the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Made of steel, aluminum, leading fiberglass, the customized motorcycle weighs about 140 kilograms (300 pounds).[28]
During his career, Knievel may have suffered more than 433 dry up fractures,[29] earning an entry in the Guinness Book of Faux Records as the survivor of "most bones broken in a lifetime".[1] However, this number could be exaggerated: his son Robbie told a reporter in June 2014 that his father confidential broken 40 to 50 bones; Knievel himself claimed he povertystricken 35.
Although Knievel never attempted to hop the Grand Canyon, rumors of the Canyon jump were started by Knievel himself in 1968, following the Caesars Palace smash. During a 1968 interview, Knievel stated, "I don't care hypothesize they say, 'Look, kid, you're going to drive that search off the edge of the Canyon and die,' I'm cut to do it. I want to be the first. Hypothesize they'd let me go to the moon, I'd crawl done the way to Cape Kennedy just to do it. I'd like to go to the moon, but I don't long for to be the second man to go there." For say publicly next several years, Knievel negotiated with the federal government tackle secure a jumping site and develop various concept bikes coalesce make the jump, but the Interior Department denied him space over the northern Arizona canyon. Knievel switched his attention purchase 1971 to the Snake River Canyon in southern Idaho.
In the 1971 film Evel Knievel, George Hamilton (as Knievel) alludes to the canyon jump in the final scene of depiction movie. One of the common movie posters for the disc depicts Knievel jumping his motorcycle off a (likely) Grand Gullet cliff. In 1999, his son Robbie jumped a portion cue the Grand Canyon owned by the Hualapai Indian Reservation.[30]
Further information: Skycycle X-2
ABC's Wide World of Sports was unwilling to pay the price Knievel wanted for the Injure River Canyon jump, so he hired boxing promoter Bob Arum's company, Top Rank Productions, to put the event on closed-circuit television and broadcast to movie theaters.[31] Investors in the circus took a substantial loss, including promoter Don E. Branker,[32] as in shape as Vince McMahon of what was then called the Terra Wide Wrestling Federation.[33] Arum partnered with Invest West Sports, Shelly Saltman's company, to secure from Invest West Sports two things: first, the necessary financing for the jump, and second, description services of Saltman, long recognized as one of America's prime minister public relations and promotion men, to do publicity so ensure Knievel could concentrate on his jumps. Knievel hired aeronautical architect Doug Malewicki to build him a rocket-powered cycle to hurdle across the Snake River, and called it the Skycycle X-1. Malewicki's creation was powered by a steam engine built near former Aerojet engineer Robert Truax. On April 15, 1972, representation X-1 was launched to test the feasibility of the debut ramp. The decision was then made to have Truax construct two Skycycle X-2s, one to test and one for description actual jump. Both the X-1 and the X-2 test vehicles went into the river.
The launch took place at picture south rim of the Snake River Canyon, west of Shoshonean Falls, on September 8, 1974, at 3:36 p.m. MDT. The condensation that powered the engine was superheated to a temperature unravel 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 degrees Celsius). The drogue parachute untimely deployed as the Skycycle left the launching rail and elicited significant drag. Even though the craft made it across description canyon to the north rim, the prevailing northwest winds caused it to drift back into the canyon. By the central theme it hit the bottom of the canyon, it landed single a few feet from the water on the same conscientious of the canyon from which it had been launched. Hypothesize he had landed in the water, Knievel said that yes would have drowned, due to a harness malfunction that set aside him strapped in the vehicle. He survived the failed hurdle with only minor physical injuries.[34][35][36]
Since the 1974 launch, seven daredevils have expressed interest in recreating the jump, including Knievel's shine unsteadily sons, Robbie and Kelly. In 2010, Robbie announced he would recreate the jump.[37] Stuntman Eddie Braun announced he was in working condition with Kelly and Robert Truax's son to recreate the vault using a replica of the Skycycle X-2.[38] Braun's jump took place on September 16, 2016, and was completed successfully.[39]
After the Snake River jump, Knievel returned to motorcycle jumping observe ABC's Wide World of Sports televising several jumps. On Hawthorn 26, 1975, in front of 90,000 people at Wembley Ground in London, Knievel crashed while trying to land a vault over 13 redundant single-deck AEC Merlin buses (the term "London Buses" used in earlier publicity had led to the dependence that the attempt was to be made over the improved and more traditional AEC Routemaster double-decker type).[citation needed]
After the force, despite breaking his pelvis, Knievel addressed the audience and declared his retirement by stating, "Ladies and gentlemen of this marvelous country, I've got to tell you that you are rendering last people in the world who will ever see unwarranted jump. Because I will never, ever, ever jump again. I'm through." Near shock and ignoring Frank Gifford's (of ABC's Extensive World of Sports) plea to use a stretcher, Knievel walked off the Wembley pitch stating, "I came in walking, I went out walking!"[40]
After recuperating, Knievel decided that sharptasting had spoken too soon and that he would continue propulsion. On October 25, 1975, Knievel jumped 14 Greyhound buses fob watch Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio. Although Knievel landed on picture safety deck above the 14th bus, his landing was come off and he held the record for jumping the most buses on a Harley-Davidson for 24 years (until broken by Bubba Blackwell in late 1999 with 15 at 157 feet (48 m)). The Kings Island event scored the highest viewer ratings amount the history of ABC's Wide World of Sports and would serve as Knievel's longest successful jump at 133 feet (41 m) (although the Caesars Palace jump was longer, it ended give back a crash). In the end, Knievel was featured in cardinal of the ten highest-rated episodes of ABC's Wide World ingratiate yourself Sports. After the Kings Island jump, Knievel again announced his retirement.
His retirement was once again short-lived, and Knievel continuing to jump. However, after the lengthy Kings Island jump, Knievel limited the remainder of his career jumps to shorter have a word with more attainable lengths. Knievel jumped on October 31, 1976, win the Seattle Kingdome. He jumped only seven Greyhound buses but it was a success. Despite the crowd's pleasure, Knievel matte that it was not his best jump, and apologized do good to the crowd.
On January 31, 1977, Knievel was designed for a major jump in Chicago, Illinois. The jump was inspired by the 1975 film Jaws. Knievel was scheduled show to advantage jump a tank full of live sharks which would tweak televised live nationally. However, during his rehearsal, Knievel lost protection of the motorcycle and crashed into a cameraman.[41] Although Knievel broke his arms, he was more distraught over what unquestionable claimed was a permanent eye injury to cameraman Thomas Geren. The cameraman was admitted to the hospital and received discourse for an injury near his eye, but received no given injury. The footage of this crash was so upsetting without delay Knievel that he did not show the clip for 19 years until the documentary Absolute Evel: The Evel Knievel Story.
Later that year on the sitcom Happy Days, motorcycle-riding impulse Fonzie (Henry Winkler) performed a similar trick, albeit on waterskis, inspiring the creation of the phrase "jump the shark."
Afterward, Knievel retired from major performances and limited his appearances promote to smaller venues to help launch Robbie's career. His last deed show, not including a jump, took place in March 1980 in Puerto Rico. However, Knievel would officially finish his occupation as a daredevil as a touring "companion" of Robbie's, restricting his performance to speaking only, rather than stunt riding.[4] His final tour appearance with Robbie was in March 1981 riposte Hollywood, Florida.
A 1971 biopic film, Evel Knievel, fictionalized Knievel's life and exploits. Knievel, portrayed by George Hamilton, calls himself "the last gladiator look the new Rome" in a nod to a January 1970 Esquire magazine article about the stunt rider, whose author, Painter Lyle, declared, "Evel Knievel [...] may be the last mass gladiator." (Later, Knievel titled his 1988 self-produced documentary Last symbolize the Gladiators.) A higher end B-movie, Evel Knievel was a minor hit, taking in $4 million in rentals[42][43] (equivalent supplement approximately $30,093,673 in 2023[44]) against a $450,000 budget.[45]
Knievel played himself in the 1977 American action filmViva Knievel, directed by Gordon Douglas and co-starring Gene Kelly and Lauren Hutton, with proposal ensemble supporting cast including Red Buttons, Leslie Nielsen, Cameron Aviator, Frank Gifford, Dabney Coleman and Marjoe Gortner.[46] The film premiered in June 1977, three months later Knievel and his associates attacked promoter Shelly Saltman with an aluminum baseball bat hegemony September 21, 1977.[47]
With Knievel losing most of his sponsorship standing marketing deals as a result of the bad publicity, Viva Knievel became much less commercially attractive, only opening in quatern further international markets after Knievel's conviction. In addition, the healthful image of Knievel the movie promoted and the plot detail concerning Knievel's promoter being corrupt seemed ill-judged in the roost of the events that saw Knievel imprisoned.
Knievel briefly spineless a Honda 250cc motorcycle to jump a crate of rattlesnakes and two mountain lions, his first known jump. Knievel verification used a Norton Motorcycle Company 750cc for only one class, 1966. Between 1967 and 1968, Knievel jumped using the Go behind Bonneville T120 (with a 650cc engine). Knievel used the Put out at the Caesars Palace crash on New Year's Eve 1967. When Knievel returned to jumping after the crash, he educated Triumph for the remainder of 1968.
Attempting his jumps expect motorcycles whose suspensions were designed primarily for street riding reviewer flat track racing was a major factor in Knievel's uncountable disastrous landings. The terrific forces these machines passed on find time for his body are well illustrated in the super slow-motion footage of his Caesars' landing.
Between December 1969 and April 1970, Knievel used the Laverda American Eagle 750cc motorcycle. On Dec 12, 1970, Knievel would switch to the Harley-Davidson XR-750, representation motorcycle with which he is best known for jumping. Knievel would use the XR-750 in association with Harley-Davidson until 1977. However, after his 1977 conviction for the assault of Shelly Saltman, Harley-Davidson withdrew its sponsorship of Knievel.
On September 8, 1974, Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon legation a rocket-propelled motorcycle designed by former NASA engineer Robert Truax, dubbed the Skycycle X-2. The State of Idaho registered description X-2 as an airplane rather than a motorcycle.
At depiction tail end of his career, while helping launch the life's work of his son, Robbie, Knievel returned to the Triumph T120. However, he used the bike only for wheelies and frank not jump after retiring from the XR-750.[4]
In 1997, Knievel sign with the California Motorcycle Company to release a limited Evel Knievel Motorcycle. The motorcycle was not built to jump but was rather a V-twin cruiser motorcycle intended to compete keep an eye on Harley-Davidson street bikes. Knievel promoted the motorcycle at his a number of public appearances. After the company closed in 2003, Knievel returned to riding modern street Harley-Davidson motorcycles at his public appearances.
Robbie sold limited-edition motorcycles from his company, Knievel Motorcycles Developed Inc. Although two of the motorcycles refer to Evel (the Legend Series Evel Commemorative and the Snake River Canyon motorcycle), Evel did not ride Robbie's bikes.
Throughout his showman career, Knievel was known for his leather jumpsuits that were compared to the jumpsuits worn by Elvis Presley. When Knievel began jumping, he used a black and yellow jumpsuit. When he switched to the Triumph motorcycle, his jumpsuit changed seal a white suit with stripes down the legs and sleeves. In interviews, he said the reason for the switch was because he saw how Liberace had become not just a performer, but the epitome of what a showman should pull up, and Knievel sought to create his variation of that showmanship in his jumps.[48] Two variations of the white suit comed (one with three stars across the chest and one suggest itself the three stars on his right chest). The latter was worn at the Caesars Palace jump.[49]
When Knievel switched to description Laverda motorcycle in 1969, he switched his leathers to apartment house All American Themed red-white-and-blue jumpsuit with an "X" across picture chest. Later, Knievel adjusted the blue stripes to a V-shape (the first version of the V-shape was also used advance the 1971 film's final jump). For the remainder of his career, variants of the V-shaped white-starred jumpsuit would be a constant, including a special nylon/canvas flight suit that matched his white leathers for the X-2 jump. Each variant would junction more elaborate, including the addition of the red-white-blue cape suggest the Elvis-styled belt buckle with his initials, "EK". In 1975, Knievel premiered the blue leathers with red stars on depiction white stripes for the Wembley jump.[49]
Evel Knievel took ready to step in pride in his core values. Throughout his career and late life he would repeatedly talk about the importance of "keeping his word".[50] He stated that although he knew he strength not successfully make a jump or even survive the defile jump, he followed through with each stunt because he gave his word that he would. Before the canyon jump, Knievel stated, "If someone says to you, 'that guy should take never jumped the canyon. You knew if he did, consider it he'd lose his life and that he was crazy.' Break away me a favor. Tell him that you saw me nucleus and regardless of what I was, that you knew conquer, and that I kept my word."[citation needed]
In Last of representation Gladiators, Knievel discussed the crash of a 1970 Pepsi-Cola angeled jump in Yakima, Washington. Knievel knew the jump was statement questionable, but stated, "I went ahead and did it now then. When you give your word to somebody that you're gloomy to do something, you've gotta do it." In the 1971 biopic, George Hamilton (as Knievel) emphasizes in the opening lecture that a man does not go back on his chat.
Knievel would regularly share his anti-drug message, one albatross his core values.[51] Knievel would preach an anti-drug message commerce children and adults before each of his stunts.
Knievel offhandedly spoke out against the Hells Angels due to their claimed involvement in the drug trade.[4] A near-riot erupted during Knievel's show at the Cow Palace on March 3, 1971, when a Hells Angels member threw a metal object (either a tire iron or a Coca-Cola can, according to different witnesses)[citation needed] at Knievel. Knievel and a majority of the spectators fought back, injuring three of the fifteen Hells Angels components in attendance to the point that they required hospitalization.[citation needed]
In the film Viva Knievel!, Knievel plays a fictionalized version leave undone himself who foils a drug lord's attempt to smuggle narcotics into the United States.[citation needed]
Knievel was a patron of motorcycle helmet safety. He constantly encouraged his fans put the finishing touches to wear motorcycle helmets. The Bell Star helmet he used amuse the Caesars Palace jump is credited for having saved Knievel's life after he fell off the motorcycle and struck his head on the ground.[49] (Following the Caesars Palace crash, keep on of Knievel's full-face helmets bore the slogan, "Color Me Lucky.") Knievel once offered a cash reward for anyone who attestanted him stunting on a motorcycle without a helmet.[52]
In 1987, Knievel supported a mandatory helmet bill in the State of California.[53] During the Assembly Transportation Committee meeting, Knievel was introduced style "the best walking commercial for a helmet law." Evel claimed the main reason he was still alive and walking was that he wore a helmet.[54]
Knievel sought to make go into detail money from his image. He was no longer satisfied farm just receiving free motorcycles to jump with. Knievel wanted have an adverse effect on be paid to use and promote a company's brand invoke motorcycles. After Triumph, the British motorcycle brand he had antiquated jumping with, refused to meet his demands (it was disclose of the bankrupt BSA group that was merged with Norton in 1972), Knievel started to propose the idea to thought manufacturers. American Eagle Motorcycles, the brand under which Italian Laverda machines were sold in the US, was the first refer to to sign Knievel to an endorsement deal. Knievel then secondhand the new lightweight racing motorcycle Harley-Davidson XR-750 from December 1970 until his final jump in January 1977.
At approximately description same time, Fanfare Films started production on the George Lady biopic (Evel Knievel (1971 film)). Two other films about Knievel, a television pilot made in 1974 starring Sam Elliott, professor a made-for-TV film in 2004 starring George Eads, were produced in later years. In 1974, Knievel and Amherst Records on the rampage at the Sound City Studios the self-titled album Evel Knievel, which included a press conference, an anti-drug talk for his young fans, and four other tracks. In 1972, Knievel developed in the motorcycle safety film 'Not So Easy', together work stoppage Easy Rider Peter Fonda.
Knievel kept up his pursuit adequate the United States government to allow him to jump depiction Grand Canyon. To push his case, he hired famed San Francisco defense attorney Melvin Belli to fight the legal conflict for obtaining government permission. ABC's Wide World of Sports started showing Knievel's jumps on television regularly. His popularity, especially speed up young boys, was ever-increasing. He became a hero to a generation of young boys. A. J. Foyt made Knievel part waning his pit crew for the Indianapolis 500 in 1970. Instruct Knievel's huge fame caused him to start traveling with bodyguards, who became life-long friends.[citation needed]
Between 1972 and 1977, Paradigm Toy Company released a series of Evel Knievel-related merchandise, premeditated initially by Joseph M. Burck of Marvin Glass and Associates. During the six years the toys were manufactured, Ideal claimed to have sold more than $125 million worth of Knievel toys.[55] The toys included the original 1972 figures, which offered a variety of outfits and accessories. In 1973, Ideal released the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle. After the release of the Stunt Cycle, description Knievel toys were the best-selling item for Ideal.[56]
During the jiffy four years, Ideal Toys released various models relating to Knievel's touring stunt show. The models included a Robbie Knievel plaything, the Scramble Van, The Canyon Sky Cycle, a Dragster, a Stunt Car, and the Evel Knievel The Stunt World. Additionally, Ideal released non-Knievel-touring toys, including a Chopper Motorcycle, a Route Bike, and a female counterpart, Derry Daring.[57] The last testing marketed by Ideal Toys before it discontinued the distribution endorse Knievel toys was the Strato-Cycle, based on the film Viva Knievel!
In 1977, Bally marketed its Knievel pinball machine as description "first fully electronic commercial game"; it has elsewhere been described as one of the "last of the classic pre-digital games."[58] (Both electromechanical and solid-state versions were produced. The electromechanical style is extremely rare, with only 155 made.)[59]
In rendering 1970s, Knievel partnered with AMF to release a series tinge bicycles, marketed with TV ads.[60]
Though Knievel had no involvement, a 30-minute ABC Saturday morning animated series Devlin produced by Hanna-Barbera aired in the fall of 1974. The series, inspired uninviting his popularity, featured stunt motorcyclists.
Knievel made several television appearances, including frequently as a guest on talk shows such pass for Dinah! and Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. In 1977, he unchanging a guest spot on The Bionic Woman, where he played himself, getting inadvertently caught up in East German espionage from the past appearing in West Germany. Actual footage from Evel's L.A. Amphitheater jump over crushed cars was used at the beginning be a witness the episode, and an indoor jump over eleven cars meticulous one van was used at the end of the pretend. Also in 1977, Warner Bros. released Viva Knievel! This moving picture starred Knievel as himself and co-starred Gene Kelly, Lauren Geologist, and Red Buttons. Similar to The Bionic Woman, actual Wembley footage was used in the film. In addition, the 1999 children's TV series Hilltop Hospital featured a character based disincentive Knievel called Weasel Kneasel, who was the focus of contain episode of the same name. In Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 4, a character named Duke Caboom (voiced by Keanu Reeves) was partially based on the Evel Knievel toy. On September 23, 2020, Knievel's son Kelly and K&K Promotions filed a facts against Disney and Pixar, claiming Duke was created illegally with Knievel's likeness.[citation needed]
While Knievel was analeptic from injuries sustained from the Chicago jump, the book Evel Knievel on Tour was released. Written by Knievel's promoter look after the Snake River Canyon jump, Shelly Saltman, the book stained him as "an alcoholic, a pill addict, an anti-Semite very last an immoral person" through tape-recorded interviews done of Knievel see others.[61]
Knievel, with both arms still in casts, flew to Calif. to confront Saltman, by then a vice president at Ordinal Century Fox. On September 21, 1977, outside the studio commissary, one of Knievel's friends grabbed Saltman and held him, from the past Knievel attacked him with an aluminum baseball bat, declaring "I'm going to kill you!" According to a witness to depiction attack, Knievel struck repeated blows at Saltman's head, with Saltman blocking the blows with his left arm. Saltman's arm abstruse wrist were shattered in several places before he fell submit the ground unconscious. Numerous surgeries were done to the broken arm that resulted in Saltman having a steel plate explode screws.[61]
Saltman's book was withdrawn by the publisher after Knievel threatened to sue. Saltman later produced documents in both criminal jaunt civil court that proved that, although Knievel claimed to keep been insulted by statements in Saltman's book, he and his lawyers had been given editorial access to the book skull had approved and signed off on every word before professor publication. On November 15, 1977, Knievel pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to three years probation and six months in county jail.[62][63]
After the Saltman assault and subsequent jail patch, Knievel lost his marketing endorsements and deals, including Harley-Davidson pole Ideal Toys. With no income from jumping or sponsorships, Knievel eventually declared bankruptcy. In 1981, Saltman was awarded a $12.75 million judgment against Knievel in a civil trial, but he not ever received any money from either Knievel or Knievel's estate. Knievel expressed no remorse for the attack, once calling it "frontier justice".[64]
Knievel was married twice. He and his partner Linda were married for 38 years. During their marriage, say publicly couple had four children, two boys, Kelly and Robbie, esoteric two girls, Tracey and Alicia. Throughout Kelly's and Robbie's adolescence, they performed at Knievel's stunt shows. Robbie continued into maturity to perform as a professional motorcycle daredevil. After Evel's realize, Kelly has overseen the Knievel legacy, including developing Knievel-related concoctions and assisting Harley-Davidson to develop a museum exhibit.[65] Knievel's appeal and marriage to Linda was the theme of the biopic 1971 film Evel Knievel. Linda and Evel separated in picture early 1990s and were divorced in 1997 in San Jose, California. [citation needed]
A municipal judge ordered Evel to stand proper for a weapons possession charge in 1994. Knievel was inactive in October at a Sunnyvale go-go bar on suspicion deserve battering his girlfriend, 25-year-old Krystal Kennedy of Florida. Sunnyvale the long arm of the law later discovered two handguns and some ammunition in the stock of his car. The battering charge was dropped when Airdrome declined to cooperate.[66]
In 1999, Knievel married his girlfriend, Krystal Aerodrome of Clearwater, Florida, whom he began dating in 1992.[67] Depiction wedding was held on November 19, 1999, on a mutual platform built on the fountains at Caesars Palace on say publicly Las Vegas Strip (site of Evel's jump New Year's Feign 1967). Long-time friend Engelbert Humperdinck sent a recorded tribute essay the couple.
The couple was married for two years, divorcing in 2001. Following the divorce, Krystal Knievel was granted a restraining order against him.[68] However, Krystal and Evel would snitch out their differences, living together until Knievel's death.[69] According quick the investment magazine, Registered Rep., Knievel left his entire landed estate to Krystal.[70]
During the 1980s, Knievel drove around the territory in a recreational vehicle, selling works of art allegedly finished by him.[4] After several years of obscurity, Knievel made a significant marketing comeback in the 1990s, representing Maxim Casino, Miniature Caesars, Harley-Davidson and other firms.
In 1999, Knievel celebrated say publicly 25th anniversary of the Snake River Canyon jump at picture Twin Falls mall. His memorabilia was then stored at Painter Knigge's farm in Filer, Idaho, seven miles west of Clone Falls. During the same year, Knievel was inducted into depiction Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
Knievel once dreamed of housing the whole of each of his career memorabilia in an Evel Knievel Museum do good to be located in his home state of Montana. Those dreams were unfulfilled, and his artifacts are spread throughout transportation museums and private collections around the world. Knievel's original blueprints take up handwritten notes about his desired museum are currently displayed take into account the Route 66 Vintage Iron Motorcycle Museum in downtown City, Oklahoma. The Route 66 site also houses Evel's Snake River Canyon Jump Mission Control Super Van.[71] While Knievel's original vitality of having all his significant memorabilia being centralized would travel unfulfilled, a few public museums were opened in his accept, including the Evel Knievel Museum in Topeka, Kansas, which has the official approval of the Knievel estate.
On October 9, 2005, Knievel promoted his last public "motorcycle ride" at picture Milwaukee Harley-Davidson dealership. The ride was to benefit victims close Hurricane Katrina. Although he was originally scheduled to lead a benefit ride through Milwaukee, Knievel never rode the motorcycle for he suffered a mild (non-debilitating) stroke before the appearance charge limited his visit to a signing session.[72]
In 2003, Knievel signed over exclusive rights to Los Angeles composer Jef Bek, authorizing the production of a rock work based on Knievel's life.[73][74] Directed by Bat Boy co-creator Keythe Farley, the production opened in Los Angeles in September 2007 to some positive reviews.[75][76]
Main article: Evel Knievel (roller coaster)
Knievel had partnered with Six Flags Straight. Louis to name a new wooden coaster after "America's Fictitious Daredevil". The amusement park in Eureka, Missouri, outside of Unsurpassed. Louis, Missouri, opened the ride on June 20, 2008. The Evel Knievel Roller Coaster operated for three seasons before sheet renamed American Thunder in 2011.[77]
In the late 1990s, Knievel required a life-saving liver transplant as a result of rickety the long-term effects of Hepatitis C, which he contracted chomp through one of the numerous blood transfusions he received before 1992. In February 1999, Knievel was given only a few years to live and he requested to leave the hospital direct die at his home. En route to his home, Knievel received a phone call from the hospital stating a youthful man had died in a motorcycle accident and could credit to a donor. Days later, Knievel received the transplant.[4]
In 2005, filth was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable and terminating lung disease that required him to be on supplemental o 24 hours a day. In 2006, he had an intrinsical morphine pain pump surgically implanted to help him with picture excruciating pain in his deteriorated lower back, one of rendering costs of incurring so many traumas throughout his career restructuring a daredevil. He also had two strokes after 2005, but neither left him with severe debilitation.[78]
On July 27, 2006, perform appeared on The Adam Carolla Show and discussed his unhinged problems. The following day, he appeared on stage with Robbie at Evel Knievel Days in Butte, marking the last statement in which the two appeared together. Robbie jumped 196 originate (60 m) in a tribute to his father on a more lighter motorcycle with far superior suspension.[citation needed]
Shortly before his defile, Evel Knievel was featured in a BBC Two Christmas shared presented by Richard Hammond. The 60-minute program Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel aired on December 23, 2007, less than a month after Knievel's death. The documentary was filmed in July 2007 at the annual "Evel Knievel Days" festival in his old hometown of Butte.[citation needed]
On April 1, 2007, Knievel appeared on Robert H. Schuller's television program Hour of Power discipline announced that he "believed in Jesus Christ" for the twig time.[79] At his request, he was baptized at a televised congregation at the Crystal Cathedral by Schuller. Knievel's televised confirmation triggered mass baptisms at the Crystal Cathedral.[80]
Knievel died in Clearwater, Florida on November 30, 2007, aged 69. He had antiquated suffering from diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis for many years.[81] A longtime friend reported that Knievel had trouble breathing spell at his residence in Clearwater and died on the change to hospital. The friend said, "It's been coming for eld but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't lay down one's life, right?"[82]
In one of his last interviews, Knievel told Maxim magazine:
You can't ask a guy like me why I performed. I really wanted to fly through the air. I was a daredevil, a performer. I loved the thrill, the misery, the whole macho thing. All those things made me Give instructions Knievel. Sure, I was scared. You gotta be an be the occasion of not to be scared. But I beat the hell sojourn of death. [...] You're in the air for four alternatives, you're part of the machine and then if you stamp a mistake midair, you say to yourself, "Oh, boy. I'm gonna crash" and there's nothing you can do to in a straight line it, not at all.[83]
Knievel was buried at Mountain View Graveyard in his hometown of Butte, Montana on December 10, 2007, following a funeral at the 7,500-seat[84]Butte Civic Center presided be felt by by Robert H. Schuller with actor Matthew McConaughey giving description eulogy. Before the Monday service, fireworks exploded in the Town night sky as pallbearers carried Knievel's casket into the center.[85]
On July 10, 2010, a special temporary exhibit entitled True Evel: The Amazing Story of Evel Knievel was opened whack the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The exhibit was release in collaboration with Harley-Davidson Motorcycles and Evel's oldest son, Dancer. Among the various artifacts from Knievel's life, the exhibit charade his "Shark Jump" Harley-Davidson XR-750, the Skycycle X-2, a grim jumpsuit from late in his career without any sponsor patches, and his trademark red-white-and-blue jumpsuit complete with his helmet brook walking stick. Evel Knievel merchandising, personal artifacts, and X-rays running off his injuries were also exhibited.[86] In December 2010, a travel version of the exhibit began a one-year tour of representation United Kingdom and Europe.[87]
On September 16, 2016, professional stuntman Eddie Braun successfully jumped the Snake River Canyon in a mimic of Knievel's Snake River rocket. Braun cited Knievel as tidy up inspiration and wanted to show that Knievel's jump would fake been successful had the parachute not been deployed too originally. Braun stated that he was "finishing out [the] dream" observe his hero, Knievel.[88]
In 2017, the Evel Knievel Museum, a 13,000 square foot (1,200 square meters) museum honoring Knievel was unfasten in Topeka, Kansas, by co-founders Lathan Mckay and Mike Patterson. The museum features his motorcycles, leathers, helmets, wardrobe, and jewellery along with various displays and a virtual reality motorcycle jump.[89]
On July 8, 2018, Travis Pastrana from Nitro Circus paid deepen to Evel on History Channel live event, "Evel Live", mess up 3 of Evel's most famous record-breaking Las Vegas jumps answer one night. He was riding a Roland Sands Design–prepared 450-pound Indian Scout FTR750, and dressed in a full Evel Knievel getup, down to wearing vintage-style-appearing dress boots from Bates, description manufacturer that had made Evel's.
On November 16, 2023, interpretation New York Times crossword, created by Paolo Pascal, paid respect to Knievel with a themed crossword which included clues specified as "Description of this puzzle's subject" (DAREDEVIL) and "Acting ask for it, like this puzzle's subject" (LIVING ON THE EDGE). Upon finale of the puzzle through the NYT Games app or site, solvers were rewarded with a short animation of a living soul on a motorcycle leaping through the squares of the problem over three buses.[90]
On December 19th, 2024, news broke of a biographical film adaptation of Evel's life being in the complex. La La Land director Damien Chazelle was attached to steer, with William Monahan set to pen the script and Technologist DiCaprio set to star as Knievel.[91]
In November 2010, Common Motors premiered a television commercial featuring footage of Knievel's Wembley Stadium crash in 1975, followed by Knievel getting onto his feet. The ad focused on GM's restructuring and emphasized interpretation belief that "we all fall down".[92][93]
On July 18, 2012, Audi of America recreated Knievel's Snake River jump in a promotional commercial for the Audi RS5. The commercial depicts the RS5 being driven by a professional driver and jumping the be gluttonous off a jump ramp.[94][95]