Carl Ciarfalio, an actor and veteran stuntman whose work appeared in films like Roger Corman’s cult classic 1994 Fantastic Four movie and Casino and TV shows from The Fall Guy to Justified, has died.
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His wife, Teri Ryan, announced his death last week on his Facebook page. She did not provide any details, including the cause of death.
Ciarfalio was 72.
According to IMDb, Ciarfalio had over 300 on-screen credits and worked with some of Hollywood’s biggest names over the past five decades, including Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Steven Soderbergh, Denzel Washington, and Tom Cruise.
“Our Carl has passed on,” his wife wrote. “And by ‘our’ I mean all of us. He was so special to everyone. We will celebrate his special life and light. No idea how yet, but I know the laughter will flow with the tears. He went peacefully, and we were all there.”
Born in Alhambra, California, on Nov. 12, 1953, Ciarfalio was a college wrestler who began his career performing live stunt shows at Knott’s Berry Farm and Universal Studios.
His screen career began in the early 1980s with stunt work and small roles in TV shows like The Fall Guy, MacGyver, Sledge Hammer! and Magnum, P.I.
His early film credits include Licence to Kill, RoboCop 2 and 3, Wayne’s World, Beverly Hills Cop III and Batman & Robin.
Carl Ciarfalio Suits Up as a Beloved Superhero in a Cult Classic
Ciarfalio also had the distinct, rocky honor of being one of the first actors to portray the Fantastic Four’s The Thing in Roger Corman’s infamous low-budget 1994 film adaptation. He played the iconic character after Ben Grimm gets zapped by cosmic rays, transforming into the orange rock monster—a classic man-in-a-suit performance.
Carl Ciarfalio in The Fantastic Four (1994) pic.twitter.com/hC6VDcpc6J
— Frame Found (@framefound) September 13, 2019
He worked in hundreds of stunt and acting roles through last year, with recent credits including Justified, Meet the Blacks and the Sharknado films. Later, he took on the role of stunt coordinator for various movies, including the Expendables series starring Sylvester Stallone.
According to Deadline, he won Best Fight Sequence at the first-ever Stuntman Awards in 1985 for an episode of Knight Rider and later received an Actor Awards nomination for the stunt ensemble in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man.
Ciarfalio joined the Stuntmen’s Association of Motion Pictures in 1985 and served as president from 1992 to 1996. He later helped establish the Stunt Peer Group at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2000 and served two terms on its Board of Governors. His work led to the creation of the Emmy Award for Outstanding Stunt Coordination in 2001, now part of the Creative Arts Emmys.