Vale Sandy Harbutt
Director of and actor in cult Aussie biker film Stone passes awaySandy Harbutt, the man responsible for the 1974 Australian cult motorcycle film, Stone, passed away on Saturday, November 21, aged 79.
Best known for his leading role as Undertaker, Harbutt also co-authored the screen play, was the director and producer and also designed the costumes in the low-budget film. And despite receiving some damning early reviews, Stone broke the all-time box-office record of the day and went on to gross $1.57 million in Australia.
The film follows the story of the Grave Diggers bikie gang, which allows an undercover cop named Stone to join their ranks in a bid to find out who is killing off its members.
"I wanted to write a script and obviously if it's the first one you're going to write, it was going to be about something I really knew about and was secure about, and one of those things was motorbikes," said Harbutt in an interview at the time of the film's release.
He owned a Triumph at the time he decided to make the film.
Related reading: 10 must-watch motorcycle movies
However instead of Triumph machinery, the Grave Diggers rode Kawasaki Z900s in the film, while Ken Shorter, the actor who played Stone, rode a Norton Commando – the same make and model, incidentally, as he used as his daily ride.
Harbutt's creation garnered a cult following in Australia and in 1998 more than 30,000 motorcyclists gathered to celebrate the film's 25th anniversary. The cavalcade recreated the funeral cortege scene in the film with a run up the Newcastle freeway; at the time it was believed to be the biggest mass motorcycle run in Australian history.
One year later, a movie documenting the film's production, Stone Forever, was released.
Harbutt made as many as 15 on-screen acting appearances, but despite Stone's enormous success, it remained the only feature film he ever directed.
News of Harbutt's death broke over the weekend on John Ivkovitch's facebook page; Ivkovitch played the character Zonk.
"My life-long friend Sandy Harbutt, the Undertaker, passed away peacefully last night at Wollongong Hospital. He turned 79 on Friday," he wrote.
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