Heidi von beltz and ray liotta wife
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Heidi von Beltz Dies: Stuntwoman Paralyzed In ‘Cannonball Run’ Crash Was 59
Heidi von Beltz, a stuntwoman who was paralyzed when a stunt went terribly wrong on the set of The Cannonball Run, died Wednesday at Tarzana (Calif.) Medical Center. She was 59 and had, with the aid of her sister, courageously battled quadriplegia for the last 35 years of her life.
Von Beltz was a stunningly beautiful 24-year-old stuntwoman, actress and world-class skier in 1980 when she got the call from her fiancée, stunt coordinator Bobby Bass, to come to the desert outside of Las Vegas to double for Farrah Fawcett on the ensemble action comedy starring Burt Reynolds.
The stunt, Bass told her, was going to be a piece of cake. All she’d have to do was ride as a passenger in the front seat of a car as it wove its way through a line of speeding oncoming cars. But the car, an Aston Martin, had no seatbelts, bald tires, defective steering and a malfunctioning clutch. Whe
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Suffering continues for paralyzed ex-stuntwoman
Heidi von Beltz was a stunning 24-year-old actress and world-class skier in 1980 when she got a call from her boyfriend, “Cannonball Run” stunt coordinator Bobby Bass, to head to the desert outside Las Vegas and double for the film’s hona lead, Farrah Fawcett. A top-notch athlete, Heidi was training to be a stuntwoman, and Bobby thought she could do it.
It was a disaster waiting to happen.
The stunt called for an Aston Martin to weave its way through a line of speeding, oncoming cars, but the fordon was plagued with mechanical problems. The steering barely functioned, and the clutch and speedometer didn’t work. To man matters worse, the vehicle had no seat belts.
The driver, Jimmy Nickerson, wanted to wait until the car could be repaired, but he was told that the parts from Los Angeles had not arrived and that he’d have to “make do.”
“The last thing I remember before the crash was so
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The Heidi Chronicle
Buck Henry takes a bite of chicken hash and leans forward to speak above the restaurant din. “It’s like we’re part of a secret society, or a club of some kind,” he says. “People come out to that house for these parties, and a lot of people are brought who meet her for the first time. And they’re all hesitant and curious, and maybe a little scared. And then they meet her, and, you know … she’s Heidi!”
Henry is recounting a gathering held some months ago at the ranch-style home, on 11 acres high above Zuma Beach, that is known to Malibu resi dents as the Old Red House. It is owned by Heidi von Beltz, a stunning and singular 37-year-old woman who was front-page news for several guilt-ridden moments in Hollywood, but who has since settled into a less visible but more complex role. From a distance, she is still a poster adult for Tin seltown recklessness. Up close, she has become some kind of self-performed miracle.
“I don’t want to ascribe to her prope