Nathaniel "Buddy" Hart is an actor, best known for his child-actor role in the sitcomLeave It to Beaver, in which he played "Chester Anderson," a friend of Wally Cleaver. Now known as Buddy Joe Hooker, one of the entertainment industry’s busiest stunt professionals, he began as a young child actor on the successful television seriesThe Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. Under the stage name Buddy Hart, his acting career continued in shows such as Gunsmoke, Father Knows Best and The Twilight Zone. Hartalso starred in the family feature that his stunt performer father, Hugh Hooker, produced called.The Littlest Hobo That role led to a part on Leave It To Beaver as one of Wally Cleaver’s best friends, Chester. He appeared in 12 episodes. Hart pursued the stunt profession in Rock Hudson’s Tobruk and Shirley MacLaine’s Sweet Charity. Hart's reputation as the go-to coordinator for car chases grew with movies such as To Live and Die in L.A. and Jade. His extensive resume as a coordinator spans all genres and includes numerous classics: Harold and Maude, The Outsiders, Godfather III, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Meet Joe Black, and The 40 Year Old Virgin. Among the directors with whom Hart has worked are Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola. William Friedkin and Hal Ashby. In the 1977 film about the stunt business, Hooper, Hart broke industry records with a rocket powered car jump and many other stunts doubling Jan Michael Vincent’s character Ski. He was also the stunt double for Sylvester Stallone on the high fall through the trees off the cliff in First Blood. His career continued with stunts such as the first motorcycle jump over a helicopter as it landed and, then, rolling a truck 17 times down a sand embankment in the 1971 action feature Clay Pigeon. In recognition of his contribution to the film industry, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences inducted Hart into its membership during the first year it began a limited initiation of motion picture stunt coordinators. Hooker works alongside his wife, Gayle, a fellow stunt-performer, and they have twin sons.
