追悼録　Bud Ekins　享年77歳

久しぶりの追悼録です。

It's been a while but here's an obit that caught my eyes.

このところ、映画や音楽の巨星が沈みましたが、
あまり紹介する気もなく、時間も無かったので書かずに終わりましたが。。。

Recently, several giant stars of music and film left us, but I really
did not feel like relaying the news, and I just didn't have the time, either.

今日、久しぶりにThe New York Timesの忌報の欄を見ると、
Bud Ekinsという人が亡くなった、と出ていました。

So I looked at the New York Times obit today for the first time in a long time, and
there was an article that Bud Ekin died.

相変わらず、｢誰、その人?｣ということだと思いますが。。。
この人は、オートバイ乗り、スタントマンでした。
一番有名なのは、スティーブ･マックィーンが、 The Great Escape 　(大脱走)
でオートバイで脱走を試みる場面のスタントをこの人がやったこと。

As usual, you must be thinking, "Who the heck is Bud Ekins?"
He was a motorcycle stunt rider.
Perhaps his most famous stunt was riding as Steve McQueen's double in The Great Escape;
Bud was the one on the bike in that famous escape attempt scene jumping the barbed wire.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/10/12/arts/subekins190.jpg
The New York Timesの記事より。From the New York Times.

実は彼らはバイクショップで知り合ったオートバイ仲間で、その縁でマックィーンが
大脱走のスタントをやってくれないかと頼んだそうです。

It's written that McQueen and Bud Ekins were bike buddies who met in a bike shop, and
because of that friendship, McQueen later asked him if he would do that stunt.

とはいえ、彼はモトクロス選手としても名声高く、1999年にはオハイオにある
オートバイの殿堂入りしています。

Bud Ekins was also famous, perhaps more famous, as a motocross rider. He's been
inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Ohio in 1999.

因みにWikipediaによると、映画｢大脱走｣は多くのところが事実に基づいていますが
このバイクでの脱走は起こった記録はなく、架空のものだそうです。オートバイ好きの
マックィーンが入れたい、といって入ったシーンだそうです。

By the way, according to Wikipedia, many parts of the movie were based on historical
facts, but there is no evidence that the bike escape was attempted. It was there
only because McQueen loved motorcycles...