Tri-Cities ‘Human Torch’ dies after 20+ year daredevil career as Hollywood stuntman

If you’ve lived in Tri-Cities for some time, you may remember a stuntman who performed daredevil feats across the West following his roles in many Hollywood productions and TV shows.

If you’re newer here, Gary Edelen turned his fearlessness into a 20-year career as a movie stuntman and once held the world record for the longest full-body burn.

He called himself the “Human Torch.”

Edelen, who was featured many times over the years by the Tri-City Herald, died this month in Richland. He was 78.

Gary Edelen, Hollywood stuntman

The Kennewick High grad headed to California to work on building movie sets after growing up in Tri-Cities.

After a while he worked himself into stunt work for popular TV shows, such as the Greatest American Hero, Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure, and in many movies.

You can see his work in “The Vanishing,” with Jeff Bridges, Keifer Sutherland and Sandra Bullock, “Edge of Honor,” and Chuck Norris’ “An Eye for an Eye,” where he “died” seven times as various characters.

“I’ll probably keep doing stunts until I die,” Edelen told a Herald reporter in 1997.

At the time he estimated he’d been blown up 500 times in his career. He said then he’d never felt his life was in danger during a stunt - “but it would be a nice way to go.”

He moved back to Washington state in the ‘90s and did construction work, but continued to do stunts every now and then, including for Stephen King’s TV mini series, “Rose Red.”

Edelen’s work included jumps off 100-foot cliffs and high-rise buildings, wrecking cars at high speeds and getting dragged by horses, according to past Herald stories.

But the stunt he did the most?

Easily his “Human Torch.” He performed that signature act hundreds of times throughout his life.

The ‘Human Torch’ stunt

After leaving Hollywood, he started doing the full-body burn as an exhibition show for live audiences.

For years, he toured the region into his 50s, performing at venues in Washington, California and Nevada.

He often started the tour right at home in Tri-Cities, and performed the stunt at the Tri-City Raceway in West Richland several times.

Edelen covered himself in layers of fire-retardant clothing and gel, and enter a steel chamber surrounded by gallons of gasoline.

On his command, someone lit a fuse, causing an explosion that ignited him.

He’d run out of the chamber, fully engulfed, burning for at least 30 seconds, sometimes over a minute, depending on the show.

‘Human Torch’ world record

In 2000, Edelen broke the world record for the longest full-body burn in a scheduled attempt with MTV.

After years of perfecting the process, he found a way to stay aflame for two minutes and 14 seconds.

At the time, full-body fire stunts in Hollywood rarely lasted more than 20 seconds.

Edelen used the safety practices and stunt norms from movie sets as the foundation for his thrill show, and added to the formula until he could break the world record.

His son Darren Edelen told the Herald this week that despite a close call in the 1970s, his father enjoyed the thrill of his stunts.

“That’s how it has to work,” Gary Edelen told the Herald in 1998. “You’re damned right I push the limit. It’s all part of the act. The audience loves it and it’s a rush for me. But every time I do this I’m scared. If I wasn’t I’d quit. Being scared keeps me from making mistakes. I always ask God to look out for me.”

His stunt was featured on “The Guinness Book of World Records Show,” “World’s Most Dangerous Stunts,” “I Dare You” and more.

He held and tried to break other world records before that, including the longest parasailing flight, achieved on an 18-hour flight along the Columbia River. That stunt propelled him to move to Hollywood in the first place.

Eventually, his fiery record was beaten and is currently held by Josef Tödtling of Austria who stayed burning for 5 minutes and 41 seconds.

But his brush with fame and the famous didn’t seem to change the Eastern Washington native.

“The first year, I think I ended up with a swelled head. I think that probably happens to everybody,” he once told the Herald.

“Most of the stunt people you find are boring, down-to-earth,” he said at the time.

With a long, successful career in stunt work that involved only a handful of injuries, Edelen died of natural causes on Oct. 19.

He is survived by his wife, Carol, his two kids, Darren and Deanna, and two grandchildren, Kevin and Taylor.

CODA Alternative Cremation & Funeral, Kennewick, is handling his arrangements.