Stuntman, “Danger Island” actor was 94 years old

Kim Kahana, the stuntman, teacher, coordinator and war hero who played Chongo in the children’s show Danger Island and doubled for Charles Bronson in several action films, died. He was 94 years old.

Kahana died Monday of natural causes at his home in Groveland, Fla., his wife, Sandy Kahana, said. The Hollywood Reporter.

The 5-foot-7, 150-pound Kahana has taught stunts to many thousands of students since the mid-1970s in six-week classes held in Chatsworth, California and Central Florida. Many went on to have thriving careers in show business.

He also had six different degrees of black belt – he also taught martial arts – and worked as a professional bodyguard, protecting Hollywood types.

A native of Hawaii, Kahana made his film debut as a biker in the Marlon Brando film. The Wild One (1953) and was an extra in other films before realizing that stuntmen were being paid more than he was.

He learned stunts and stunt coordination from Yakima Canutt, an honorary Oscar winner who doubled for Clark Gable in Gone with the wind (1939) and organized the emblematic car race in Ben-Hur (1959).

On Banana Splits Adventure Timea Saturday morning children’s program that aired on NBC from 1968 to 1970 and then in syndication, Kahana appeared in the show’s live-action series Danger Island like Chongo, a native who did not speak English but communicated using animal and bird sounds.

“I got a call to audition for the role,” he recalled in 2012. “I jumped on the table, did a backflip, and was hired.”

“Uh-oh Chongo!” was the catchphrase used to kick off each adventure in the segments that starred Jan-Michael Vincent and were directed by Richard Donner.

Kahana’s athleticism and stature meant she could double for Stefanie Powers The girl from UNCHI and Sally Field on Flying Nun.

His resume as a stuntman, coordinator and/or actor included Cool Hand Luke (1967), Planet of the Apes (1968), Patton (1970), Soylent Green (1973), Earthquake (1974), Killer Elite (1975), Smokey and the Bandit (1977), MacArthur (1977), Good boys wear black (1978), passenger 57 (1992) and Jeepers Creepers (2001).

“Throughout hundreds of movies and television shows, Kahana has been beaten, burned, cut, thrown, shot, catapulted, hit by cars, and exploded, sometimes only in illusion, sometimes for real,” Los Angeles Times he wrote in 1987. “He was paid $52,000 to drop by cable from a jet helicopter into a hole in the side of a 747.”

That stunt was for Airport 1975 (1974).

Kahana was born on October 16, 1929 in Lanai City, Hawaii. He dropped out of school in the third grade, came to the US mainland as a stowaway, and at 13 hitchhiked to Boston, where an aunt and uncle lived.

He began working with band leader Xavier Cugat and as a knife and fire dancer in a stage show called The Samoan Warriors.

Kahana received two Bronze Stars, one Silver Star and two Purple Hearts for his service during the Korean War. He emerged from a mass grave after an enemy firing squad left him for dead and was blinded in the left eye by an exploding grenade.

In 1955, he was the sole survivor of a plane crash in Texas that killed the other 32 people on board. “I walked away without a scratch,” he said.

When Kahana drove a friend to an audition on his motorcycle, he was spotted by a casting agent and asked to come in, which led to his gig. The Wild One.

His Hollywood career took off in the 1960s, working in films with the likes of Elvis Presley. Fun in Acapulco (1963) and Paradise, Hawaiian style (1966) and in the TV shows inclusive The Time Tunnel, High Chaparral and Ironside.

When Brady bunches went to Hawaii in 1972, during the show’s fourth season, Kahana could be seen doing a fire dance in an episode that also featured Vincent Price. Later, he found regular work Kung Fu and Nickelodeon GUTS.

He stepped in for Bronson in the films including The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Dirty Dozen (1967), mechanic (1972), Death wish (1974), Mr. Majestyk (1974) and Burst (1975).

Among his students who went on to Hollywood careers were stuntmen Heidi Schnappauf, Tom Place, Billy D. Lucas (double for Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Joanne Lamstein (double for Barbra Streisand).

Kahana was a longtime member of the SAG Safety Investigation Team, and his incredible life story was told in the 2023 documentary. Kim Kahana: The Man Who Changed Hollywood.

He did stunts for a movie just last year and was still teaching stunts in his final days.

Besides his wife, whom he married in 2005, they got to know each other further passenger 57 when she was the extra figure – survivors include his children, Tony, Kim Jr. and Debbie, and his grandchildren, Michael, Lance, Kalana and Josh, an author. Another son, Rick, died in 2012 of a heart attack at the age of 51.

All his children followed dad into the stunt business.