R.I.P.

Ted White, Stuntman and Jason Voorhees in Fourth ‘Friday the 13th,’ Dies

The performer doubled for stars like John Wayne, Clark Gable, and Fess Parker throughout his nearly 70-year career.

Ted White, the stuntman who donned a goalie mask to play the Friday the 13th franchise’s silent serial killer in 1984, died Friday. He was 96. His son confirmed White’s death to Fox News on Sunday, saying: “He was a tough guy. Honest and told the truth, whether you liked it or not. The last of the blood-and-guts guys.” The stuntman’s death was first reported by friend and collaborator Sean Clark, who posted the news to social media on Friday evening, calling White “the best storyteller you could have ever met.” A six-year veteran of the Marine Corps, White got his first film role as an uncredited marine in 1949’s Sands of Iwo Jima. He met John Wayne and began doubling for him, going on to perform stunts for other stars like Clark Gable, Fess Parker, and Rock Hudson. White was cast to play Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, the franchise’s fourth entry. Despite the film’s success, he turned down offers to return as Voorhees in the next two Friday the 13th movies. Jeri Bayouth, White’s widow, told Fox News her late husband was “a tender heart and a very generous heart.” She added: “He took a lot of risks and [had] a lot of adventures.”