Biography

Charles Bail had a very long, diverse and impressive show business career that spanned the 1950s to the 1990s and encompasses everything from acting to directing to performing and/or coordinating stunts in numerous motion pictures and television programs.

Bail hailed from Pennsylvania. He quit school in the ninth grade and traveled the country prior to serving a stint in the Navy. After finishing high school and spending two years in college, he joined a "wild west show" that performed all over the Orient. He got his start in show business as an extra on the TV series Wagon Train (1957), and soon made the transition from extra to stuntman and guest star on such western series as The Texan (1958), Gunsmoke (1955), The Rough Riders (1958), The Big Valley (1965), Bonanza (1959), Laredo (1965), Bat Masterson (1958), Daniel Boone (1964), The High Chaparral (1967) and Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958). Bail handled stunt coordinator chores on Werewolves on Wheels (1971), The Last Movie (1971), Getting Straight (1970) and The Cycle Savages (1969), and performed stunts in such movies as The Jayhawkers! (1959), Hells Angels on Wheels (1967), The Green Berets (1968), The Scavengers (1969), The Devil's 8 (1969) and Cleopatra Jones (1973).

Bail made his directorial debut with the funky blaxploitation item Black Samson (1974). He subsequently directed the outrageous sequel Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (1975), the immensely enjoyable cross-country road race romp The Gumball Rally (1976), the nifty sci-fi/action outing Choke Canyon (1986) and the lackluster urban vigilante opus Street Corner Justice (1996). In addition, he directed episodes of such TV shows as Conan the Adventurer (1992), Baywatch Nights (1995), The New Adam-12 (1990), Dragnet (1989), Knight Rider (1982), Manimal (1983), and CHiPs (1977). Charles worked for director Richard Rush on several projects in various capacities; he gives a fine performance as amiable stunt coordinator Chuck Barton in the terrific The Stunt Man (1980). Moreover, Bail was an uncredited second unit director for the features "Greased Lightning," "The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper," and "The Beastmaster." After retiring from show business, Charles settled down in Texas and raised horses. Bail died at age 85 from heart and gall bladder issues on November 25, 2020 in Tyler, Texas.