RIP: Ronnie Rondell Jr., Hollywood Stuntman Set on Fire for a Pink Floyd Album, Dies at 88.
Ronnie Rondell Jr., a stuntman in a family full of them who performed in films including How the West Was Won, Ice Station Zebra, Twister and The Matrix Reloaded, has died. He was 88.
Rondell died Tuesday at a senior living facility in Osage Beach, Missouri, his family announced.
Rondell is known to the Pink Floyd faithful as the businessman on fire on the cover of the band’s 1975 album, Wish You Were Here. In an era before computer effects, his mustache was burned off during the photo shoot that took place on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank.
The London Times adds:
He threw himself to the ground where Powell’s team sprayed him with foam and smothered him in blankets. He lost only an eyebrow and part of his signature moustache, but declared: “That’s it! I’m done!”
“Ronnie was very gracious about it, considering,” said Powell, who had fortunately taken the picture he craved on the previous attempt.
That photograph went on to become one of the great album covers. Years later, Rondell said his only regret was that it completely eclipsed the far more dangerous stunts he had performed during a career that included more than 200 movies and television series.
Related: ‘They set a man on fire and scrambled the RAF:’ The mad stories of Pink Floyd’s album covers.
Pink Floyd were slowly falling apart when they came to make their follow-up to Dark Side of the Moon. To the perpetually angst-ridden Waters, the title track was a lament both for the absent Barrett (unrecognisable when, bloated and confused, he visited the group during the recording sessions) and also for the fact that they were becoming strangers to one another. He was commenting, too, on how the record business turned musicians against one another while cheerfully ripping them off.
That was the message that Powell and Thorgerson seized upon for the cover. “There was a lot of anger, especially in Roger, about the record business,” said Powell. “So we’re talking about the absence of sincerity, about people being ripped off.”
They had the perfect image in mind: two businessmen shaking hands, one on fire – symbolising the cynical nature of the music industry and how someone always ended up getting burnt in a deal.
However, in the era before CGI or sophisticated animation, a picture of a burning man required a man to be literally set alight. This led them to Stunts Unlimited, where none of the resident stuntmen were up for the gig. “Who wants to be on a record cover when we can be in The Towering Inferno?” said one.
There was just one exception – veteran Rondell, who was excited to take part in what he knew to be a dangerous undertaking, staying on the spot while on fire (“You’re standing still and fire moves”).
Just another day at the office for the design team of Hipgnosis, whose 2023 documentary I reviewed here: ‘Squaring The Circle:’ New Documentary Explores How Hipgnosis Created Rock’s Greatest Album Covers.