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Leon "Rusty" McClennon (14 September 196130 April 2015; age 53) was a stuntman and stunt actor who was the regular stunt double for Michael Dorn on Star Trek: The Next Generation beginning with the third season under stunt coordinator Dennis Madalone. He also doubled Dorn for the water stunt in Star Trek Generations. His costume and hat from the seventh film was later sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. [1] [2] [3] Other costumes worn by McClennon were also sold off, including the ones from "A Fistful of Datas", [4] [5] "Qpid", [6] and "Firstborn". [7] His Klingon uniform neck collar from his work on the episode "Redemption II" was later sold off on a Propstore auction. [8]

Early life and career[]

Born as Leon McClennon to John and Dorothy McClennon, he was nicknamed "Rusty" by his aunt Alma and uncle Sapp as an infant. He was the second of three children with older sister Vinita and younger sister Sahala Smith. He attended the Palisades Charter High School in Los Angeles and was introduced into drafting. He excelled and moved to UCLA for a drafting class. Following his high school years he was offered the first job using his drafting skills.

Through his sister Vinita who was working as a stuntwoman throughout the 1990s, McClennon got a job as a background actor on Airwolf in 1984. Not knowing the restrictions not to talk to the actors, he started to talk and telling jokes to Ernest Borgnine who asked to give him a line for his acting job so he would become an SAG member. McClennon's appearance as limo driver in the second season episode "Eruption" became his first on screen appearance. Stunt coordinator Ron Stein and stunt double Bob Herron also worked on this episode.

Stunt career[]

In 1984, McClennon started training stunt work with Greg Wayne Elam and Joey Banks. A few years later he received his first credit as stuntman on a feature film with I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988, with Bernie Casey, Clarence Williams III, Cullen Chambers, Wren T. Brown, Tom Wright, stunt coordination by Alan Oliney and stunts by Tony Brubaker, Eugene Collier, Gilbert Combs, Kenny Endoso, Jim Halty, Irving Lewis, Dennis Madalone, Dwayne McGee, Johnny C. Meier, Bob Minor, Sharon Schaffer, and Kym Washington).

Rusty McClennon

McClennon in 1994 in "Birthright, Part II"

Further stunt work include Glory (1989, stunt coordination by Bob Minor), Peacemaker (1990, stunt coordination by B.J. Davis and Eddie Braun), Ghost Dad (1990, working with Greg Barnett, Janet Brady, David Richard Ellis, Tom Huff, Jeff Imada, Buck McDancer, Noon Orsatti, Lynn Salvatori, and Sharon Schaffer), Cold Dog Soup (1990), Predator 2 (1990), The Five Heartbeats (1991), Deep Cover (1992), Class Act (1992, stunt coordinated by Julius LeFlore), and Live Wire (1992, stunt coordination by Yannick Derrien).

It was in 1991 that McClennon doubled actor Sinbad for the first time on the sport comedy Necessary Roughness (1991, starring Scott Bakula and stunt coordination by Allan Graf). Further projects on which he worked as his stunt double are the comedy Houseguest (1995, working with his sister), First Kid (1996, also as c-stunt coordinator with Tony Brubaker), Jingle All the Way (1996, stunt coordination by Joel Kramer), The Cherokee Kid (1996, stunt coordination by Tony Brubaker), and Good Burger (1997, with stunts by Denney Pierce, Johnny Martin, Jay Caputo, and David Keith Anderson).

McClennon worked as stunt coordinator on What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993, stunts by Janet Brady) and performed stunts in Vampire in Brooklyn (1995, working with LaFaye Baker, Ousaun Elam, Bob McGovern, and Bennie E. Moore, Jr.), Friday (1995), Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), Out-of-Sync (1995, also as stunt coordinator), Virtual Combat (1995, with Michael Dorn), Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys (1995, with Joe Piscopo and Kate Mulgrew), Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998, stunt coordination by Kane Hodder), Holy Man (1998), Life (1999), and The Practice (1999-2000, with Wren T. Brown, Richard McGonagle, and Eileen Weisinger).

In 1999, McClennon was the stunt coordinator on Love and Action in Chicago, which featured Jason Alexander, Kamala Lopez-Dawson, and Mike Mukatis. He also performed stunts in Hot Boyz (2000), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), Swordfish (2001, with stunts by Dana Hee, Denney Pierce, Joey Box, and Mark Riccardi), Training Day (2001), and The One (2001), and worked as stunt coordinator on the comedy The Wash (2001).

Death[]

McClennon passed away on 30 April 2015. His memorial service was held on 20 June 2015 at Faithful Central Church in Inglewood. Alan Oliney spoke about him and Sinbad was scheduled to speak about him but was not part of the memorial service. [9]

Star Trek appearances[]

External link[]

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