Was stuntman Joe Canutt related to Yakima Canutt?
Duff Hale
Midlothian, Texas
Harry Joe Canutt was Yakima’s second son. Yakima’s eldest son, Edward Clay “Tap,” was also a top stuntman. Both sons worked with their famous father.
World champion cowboy-turned- stuntman Enos Edward Canutt was born in 1895 in Colfax, Washington. When he competed in the Pendleton Round-Up in Oregon in 1914, a newspaper mistakenly reported he was from Yakima and the nickname “Yakima” or “Yak” stuck. He parlayed his rodeo profession into a movie stuntman career that included doubling for John Wayne in 1939’s Stagecoach.
Marshall Trimble is Arizona’s official state historian and the vice president of the Wild West History Association. His latest book is Arizona’s Outlaws and Lawmen; History Press, 2015.
If you have a question, write: Ask the Marshall, P.O. Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327 or e-mail him at marshall.trimble@scottsdalecc.edu
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