Peter Horak
Biography
Born in Prague during the war era, Peter Horak is a filmmaker and legendary stunt professional whose career spans decades of international cinema. After escaping Czechoslovakia in 1968, he defected to Canada and later moved to Los Angeles, where he trained at Paul Stader’s stunt school and began working in Hollywood. A former Czech national judo champion, Horak combined athletic skill with mechanical expertise, designing and building his own stunt equipment and performing some of the industry’s most dangerous stunts. In 1980, he set a world record with a 120-foot jet-boat jump, surpassing a record established during Live and Let Die and earning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for 16 years.
Known For & Full Filmography2 Titles
Movie - 1998, 2h 15m • as Baker Fuksa
We find Steven, a good-looking American hero devastated by the death of his girlfriend, wandering through Europe and looking for happiness. A car accident leads him to a small town sitting literally in the shadow of Dracula's castle. The frightened villagers have been preyed upon for generations. Steven is stunned to discover Carla, the innkeeper's daughter looks identical to his dead girlfriend. When she begs for his assistance against the vampire, he agrees to help them. Together with Dr. Van Helsing, he attacks Dracula using a variety of ingenious weapons against the supernatural. Dracula shows unusual powers that defeat them at every turn, including fireballs and lightning from his fingertips. He is constantly on a search for blood to satisfy his centuries-old bickering brides. When Dracula kidnaps Carla right out of her bed, Steven and Van Helsing desperately try to kill him before it is too late.
Movie - 1999, 2h 15m • as Self
The story of how a daring Czech Judo champion, with dreams of freedom, escaped from Communist Eastern Europe and trained for years to become one of the most respected stuntmen in Hollywood. Movie icon Chuck Connors, who befriended Peter Horak and worked on movies with him, hosts. Connors shows what kind of guts and training it takes to perform awesome stunts that few others would attempt--all done with equipment of his own making. Peter sets a world record by jumping a 2000 pound boat 120 feet through the air. He engulfs his body in flames. But the height of his daring is a spectacular 200-foot fall from the top of the Imperial Palace Hotel in Las Vegas. This is a rare glimpse into the mind and body of a professional movie stuntman.