Early Life and Career
Mahoney was born in Chicago but reared in Davenport, Iowa. He entered the University of Iowa in Iowa City but dropped out to enlist in the United States Marine Corps when World War II began. He served as both a pilot and a flight instructor. After his discharge, he moved to Los Angeles, California, and for a time was a horsebreeder. However, he soon became a movie stuntman, doubling for Gregory Peck, Errol Flynn, and John Wayne. Director Vincent Sherman recalled staging the climactic fight scene in the 1948 film Adventures of Don Juan, and finding only one Hollywood stuntman who was willing to leap from a high staircase in the scene. The man was Mahoney, who demanded and received $1,000 for the dangerous stunt.
Billed as Jacques O'Mahoney in the late 1940s, he performed in several features, shorts, and serials for Columbia Pictures. He succeeded stuntman Ted Mapes as the double for Charles Starrett in the Durango Kid western series. The Durango Kid often wore a mask, which enabled Mahoney to replace Starrett in the action scenes. Mahoney's daring stunts made it seem that the older Starrett grew, the more athletic he became.
Read more about this topic: Jock Mahoney
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