2025 marks the 39th anniversary of the release of director Tobe Hooper‘s sequel to his 1974 classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a sequel appropriately titled The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (get it HERE)… and sadly, we’ve just lost one of the film’s biggest contributors: stuntman Bob Elmore. While Bill Johnson is the primary actor credited with playing Leatherface in that movie, he had an aversion to acting out moments of violence – so whenever a scene required the chainsaw-wielding killer Leatherface to do something violent, Elmore would step in to play the character. (Although he did miss out on a bit of the vehicular action in the opening kill sequence, handing the Leatherface costume over to another stuntman, Tom Morga.) So if you’ve ever enjoyed the performance of Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, that was due to the combined efforts of Johnson and Elmore.
Elmore’s passing was confirmed on social media by his wife, Murley Elmore, who wrote: “It is with sadness that I share the Homegoing of Leatherface, TCM2. Bob Elmore was a man of great generosity and integrity that spanned thirty years of stuntman. His heart far exceeded his size and he lived well. Bob loved and served the Lord, a devoted family man, and was able to live his dreams of travel after retirement. I was thankful and blessed to be Mrs. Leatherface, but even better, Mrs. Bob Elmore.“
In addition to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Elmore’s stunt credits included work on Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, The Monster Squad, Big Bad Mama II, License to Drive, Cage, Dr. Giggles, Casino, City of Angels, Being John Malkovich, The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and more, including multiple John Candy films: Who’s Harry Crumb?, Uncle Buck, Nothing But Trouble, Only the Lonely, and Delirious. He also had acting roles in The Usual Suspects, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, 14 Ghosts, and The Once and Future Smash.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is, along with its predecessor, one of my all-time favorite movies, so I’m very sad to hear that we’ve lost one of its Leatherface actors. Our sincere condolences go out to Bob Elmore’s family, friends, and fans.
