Daily Inspiration Quote by Ken Curtis

Curtis is doing a classic actor’s two-step: tipping his hat to the specialists while quietly reclaiming a slice of authenticity for the performers. “Really excellent stunt jumpers” isn’t just praise; it’s a boundary marker. The dangerous, camera-friendly heroics belong to the pros. But then he pivots to “we had the feel of the parachutes,” a tactile credential that lets the cast sound less like passengers in their own action scenes. In the economy of TV production, “feel” becomes a kind of moral authority.

The intent reads as protective and promotional at once. He’s burnishing the show’s realism without pretending the actors risked their necks every take. That matters in an era when audiences wanted grit but networks wanted control: enough verisimilitude to sell the story, enough compartmentalization to keep insurance happy. Curtis is also signaling craft. Acting, he suggests, isn’t only facial expression and line readings; it’s weight, harness pressure, the way fabric tugs and posture changes when your body is attached to an apparatus. Those details travel through the performance even if the camera never announces them.

Subtextually, it’s a defense against a common dismissal of screen acting as “fake.” He’s saying: yes, doubles did the jumps, but the roles weren’t hollow. The parachute becomes a prop with ethics, a small piece of lived experience that helps the show claim a harder edge than pure studio make-believe.