David Richard Ellis David Richard Ellis was a former stuntman and stunt actor who turned into stunt coordinator and director . He served as stunt double for Laurence Luckinbill in . His costume was sold off on the It ' s A Wrap ! sale and auction on eBay . Ellis was born in Hollywood , California . He is the brother of stuntwoman Annie Ellis and the father of producer Tawny Ellis . In 2004 he was nominated for a Taurus World Stunt Award for best stunt coordination in " The Matrix Reloaded " and shared this nomination with R . A . Rondell and Glenn Boswell . Ellis started his career as an actor in several Disney films in the ' 70s , including " The Strongest Man in the World " ( 1975 , with William Schallert and James Gregory ) . With a background as an experienced surfer , he also started a career as a stuntman and performed in films such as " Deathsport " ( 1978 , with Richard Lynch and William Smithers ) , " Smokey and the Bandit II " ( 1980 ) , " Nice Dreams " ( 1981 ) , in which he doubled actor Tommy Chong , " The Beastmaster " ( 1982 ) , " Rocky III " ( 1982 , with Bob Minor , Tony Brubaker , and Tom Lupo ) , " To Live and Die in L . A . " ( 1985 , with Dean Stockwell ) , the academy award nominated " Anna " ( 1987 ) , " Lethal Weapon " ( 1987 , with Mitchell Ryan and Lycia Naff ) , the action film " Blind Fury " ( 1989 , with Terry O ' Quinn , Noble Willingham , and Meg Foster ) , " Road House " ( 1989 , with Anthony De Longis and Patricia Tallman ) , " Days of Thunder " ( 1990 ) , and " Warlock : The Armageddon " ( 1993 , with Zach Galligan ) . Beside his stunt performances in films and television series , he has also contributed his knowledge as stunt coordinator and was responsible for the action in films , including " Invasion of the Body Snatchers " ( 1978 , with Leonard Nimoy ) , " Airplane II : The Sequel " ( 1982 , with William Shatner ) , the television series " V : The Final Battle " ( 1984 , with Richard Herd and Andrew Prine ) and its sequel " V " ( 1984 - 1985 , with Judson Scott ) , " Burglar " ( 1987 , with Whoopi Goldberg ) , the six time academy award nominated " Fatal Attraction " ( 1987 ) , " Tennessee Nights " ( 1989 , with Denise Crosby and Ed Lauter ) , several episodes of " Baywatch " ( 1989 - 1991 , alongside Gregory J . Barnett , and with Branscombe Richmond and Tracee Lee Cocco ) , the academy award winning " Misery " ( 1990 , with Graham Jarvis ) , " The Addams Family " ( 1991 , with Carel Struycken and Christopher Lloyd ) , " Kuffs " ( 1992 , with Christian Slater ) , " Body of Evidence " and " Made in America " ( both 1993 , the latter one starring Whoopi Goldberg ) , and " The Jungle Book " ( 1994 ) . Not far away from the position of the stunt coordinator , Ellis also served as second unit director on several productions . Among them are the television film " Condor " ( 1986 , with Ray Wise and Carolyn Seymour ) , several episodes of " Baywatch " ( 1989 - 1991 ) , Mel Brooks ' comedy " Life Stinks " ( 1991 , with Michael Ensign and Brian Thompson ) , " Forever Young " ( 1992 , with Nicolas Surovy and Eric Pierpoint ) , " Blank Check " ( 1994 , starring Brian Bonsall ) , " Waterworld " ( 1995 ) , " Sphere " ( 1998 ) , " Deep Blue Sea " ( 1999 ) , Disney ' s " The Kid " ( 2000 , featuring Jeri Ryan ) , " The Perfect Storm " ( 2000 ) , " Harry Potter and the Sorcerer ' s Stone " ( 2001 ) , " The Matrix Reloaded " ( 2003 , with Anthony Zerbe ) , and " Master and Commander : The Far Side of the World " ( 2003 ) . Ellis has directed the films " Homeward Bound II : Lost in San Francisco " ( 1996 ) , " Final Destination 2 " ( 2003 , with Tony Todd ) , " Cellular " ( 2004 , with Lenore Kasdorf and stunt coordination by Freddie Hice ) , " Snakes on a Plane " ( 2006 ) , " Asylum " ( 2007 ) , and the sequel " The Final Destination " ( 2009 , with music by Brian Tyler ) . Ellis died on 7 January 2013 while working on the remake of the action film " Kinte " in Johannesburg , South Africa . No cause of death is known .