He recalls that when Wayne asked him to play an Australian sailor, "I said, 'Duke, I'm not good with accents.' He said, 'Eddy, I'm just going to throw you through the window.' I said, 'OK.' "
Donno's home office is filled with 40 years of memories. One photograph on his wall shows him at the wheel of a car doing a flip amid a fiery explosion on the set of "The Hitcher." Another photo, from comedian Jack Benny's old TV show, depicts Donno seated on a motorcycle, with Benny holding on behind him.
Like a number of stunt performers, Donno has passed along his vocation. Tony Donno has worked for years in the business, with credits ranging from the film "Pearl Harbor" to the TV series "24."
He expresses amazement at his dad's durability, but he doesn't think he'll be doing stunts when he's Eddy's age. "I really don't want to be falling down at 70," Tony said with a smile.
On the set of "Supernatural" at the Sable Ranch near Santa Clarita last March, executive producer and writer Eric Kripke reveled in describing Eddy's stunts. "Eddy got splattered with blood last night, and it was great," Kripke said with a laugh. "We fog up the windows and we splatter this blood ... against the window, but Eddy is inside the car igniting the mortar" -- an explosive that would lift the vehicle -- "and all the blood goes flying all over Eddy, and Eddy comes out and says, 'You don't pay me enough for this [expletive].' "
The following night, Donno climbed into the Impala and crashed it into the house.
It is at such moments that Donno, who turns 71 next month, knows why he doesn't retire. "There is nothing I can think of that makes me feel young like when they say 'Roll 'em!' and 'Action!' " he says. "Your whole life becomes like new."
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Times staff photographer Myung J. Chun contributed to this story.
