Ronnie Rondell Jr. was a stuntman with a ton of credits to his name, although very few would even know his name. But you’ve seen his stunt work, for sure. Almost everybody has seen the cover of With You Were Here by Pink Floyd and that’s Ronnie on the cover, on fire.
Ronnie’s other credits include stunt work in films like The Matrix Reloaded, multiple Lethal Weapon movies, Demolition Man, and literally hundreds more films and TV shows dating all the way back to the 1950’s. But his most recognizable work is obviously the iconic album cover.
It was also one of his most dangerous. According to Aubrey Powell, the photographer who took the iconic pic: "Rondell Jr. warned about the dangers of such a stunt. “He said, ‘It’s dangerous for a man to stand still on fire. Normally, you’re running and the fire’s spreading behind you, or you’re falling and the fire is above you, or you can always make out with camera angles that the stunt person is closer to the fire than they really are’…I had a suit and wig made that were soaked in flame retardant, Ronnie was covered in this gel – it was like napalm – and his team set him on fire. We repeated the process 14 times, took the shot, and then on the 15th a gust of wind blew up and wrapped the fire around his face and burnt him. He threw himself to the ground and his whole team piled on blankets to put him out. He said: “That’s it! I’m done!”
R.I.P. Ronnie.