{"id":5893,"date":"2026-08-25T07:35:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T07:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=5893"},"modified":"2026-08-25T07:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T07:35:26","slug":"james-lew-stuntman-and-hot-shots-part-deux-actor-dies-at-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=5893","title":{"rendered":"James Lew, Stuntman and \u2018Hot Shots! Part Deux\u2019 Actor, Dies at 73"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
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\n\tJames Lew, the veteran stunt performer and coordinator who worked with John Carpenter on Big Trouble in Little China<\/em>, They Live<\/em> and Escape From L.A.<\/em> and in scores of other films and TV shows, has died. He was 73.<\/p>\n

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\n\tLew died Sunday, his wife, Jordana Potter, announced. No cause of death was revealed.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn what could be his best-known role, Lew lost a fierce (but very funny) battle with Charlie Sheen\u2019s Topper Harley in Jim Abrahams\u2019 parody of the Rambo films, Hot Shots! Part Deux<\/em> (1993), and he was in on plenty of action in the Rush Hour<\/em> movies released in 1998, 2001 and 2007.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2017, he received an Emmy for outstanding stunt coordination for a drama series, limited series or movie for his work on the Netflix series Luke Cage<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tLew also did stunts for Black Rain<\/em> (1989), Showdown in Little Tokyo<\/em> (1991), Undercover Blues<\/em> (1993), Under Siege 2: Dark Territory<\/em> (1995), The Last Samurai<\/em> (2003), Tropic Thunder<\/em> (2008), Star Trek<\/em> (2009), Inception<\/em> (2010), Olympus Has Fallen<\/em> (2013) and Avengers: Endgame<\/em> (2019).<\/p>\n

\n\tLew was born on Sept. 6, 1952, and raised in South Central Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy lifelong adventure into the martial arts began when I was 14 years old,\u201d he said in an undated interview. \u201cIt was part of a natural discovery and curiosity that I decided to \u2018try\u2019 training in the martial arts. The school was a combination of taekwondo and Tang Soo Do.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tHe played a monk and performed stunts on a 1974 episode of ABC\u2019s Kung Fu<\/em>, then appeared in John Cassavetes\u2019 The Killing of a Chinese Bookie<\/em> (1976) and in the Hong Kong movie The Young Dragon<\/em> (1979).<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Carpenter, he served as stunt coordinator in Big Trouble in Little China<\/em> (1986) and handled stunts on They Live<\/em> (1988) and Escape From L.A.<\/em> (1996).<\/p>\n

\n\tLew portrayed a martial arts instructor in the Carl Weathers-starring Action Jackson<\/em> (1988) and a deadly killer in Red Sun Rising<\/em> (1994) and showed up on the big screen in Timecop<\/em> (1994), Lethal Weapon 4<\/em> (1998) and Traffic<\/em> (2000), among many other films.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, he also could be spotted on television in everything from T.J. Hooker<\/em>, The Fall Guy<\/em>, The A-Team<\/em>, Falcon Crest<\/em> and Murder, She Wrote<\/em> to Roseanne<\/em>, Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/em>, Walker, Texas Ranger<\/em>, Alias<\/em> and Westworld<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tLew wrote and directed the mockumentary 18 Fingers of Death!<\/em> (2006), which was inspired by his life in Hollywood, and co-directed the parody Made in Chinatown<\/em> (2021), featuring Vincent Pastore.<\/p>\n

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\n\tHe was inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame in 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Lew, the stunt performer who worked for John Carpenter on three films and fought Charlie Sheen in Hot Shots! Part Deux, has died at 73.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-5893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-obituaries"],"yoast_head":"\nJames Lew, Stuntman and \u2018Hot Shots! Part Deux\u2019 Actor, Dies at 73 - US Property Moves<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=5893\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"James Lew, Stuntman and \u2018Hot Shots! 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