David Campagna

David Campagna (October 23, 1946 – March 6, 2017 [1]) was an American visual artist and actor, best known for acting as Christopher Walken's stand-in and stunt double.[2] He was a native of Fremont, California.

David Campagna
Born	(1946-10-23)October 23, 1946 San Jose, California
Died	March 6, 2017(2017-03-06) (aged 70) Beverly Hills, California
Occupation	Actor
Spouse	Carolyn Mary Kleefeld

Career

After studying theater at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California, David Campagna moved to Los Angeles, to pursue a career as an actor. In 1973, he was hired as a page for ABC Television, working on several network shows, including The Merv Griffin Show, Laverne and Shirley, Happy Days, The Odd Couple, and The Lawrence Welk Show. Under the tutelage of acting teacher Jeff Corey, Campagna became a soap opera actor, with roles on General Hospital and The Young and the Restless.[3]

He eventually became Christopher Walken's stand-in and stunt double in more than 15 films over 20 years.

Campagna was the inspiration for California poet and visual artist Carolyn Mary Kleefeld's 2014 book, The Divine Kiss: An Exhibit of Paintings and Poems in Honor of David Campagna.[4] The book has been translated into bilingual Romanian/English, Japanese/English, and Greek/English editions, as well as a trilingual Sicilian/Italian/English edition.

Campagna married Kleefeld on Valentine’s Day 2017. He died three weeks later, on March 6, 2017, of esophageal cancer, diagnosed three years earlier.[5] A memorial stone in Campagna's honor is at the Beverly Hills Hotel, below the suite where he stayed with Carolyn Kleefeld for a number of years.

References

1. admin (26 March 2017). "David Campagna Obituary - Los Angeles, California". legacy.com. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
2. "Fremont man doubles for Hollywood star – East Bay Times". Retrieved 2017-01-28.
3. The Seventh Quarry INTERVIEW SUPPLEMENT, an interview, conducted by American writer John Dotson, with American actor David Campagna.
4. The Divine Kiss: An Exhibit of Paintings and Poems in Honor of David Campagna (2014) Cross-Cultural Communications, New York ISBN 978-0893049706
5. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?pid=184712485

• The Divine Kiss/In the Flames of Dandelions (Sărut Divin/În Flăcările Păpădilor) with Ioan Nistor, (Bilingual Romanian/English) All poems translated by Dr. Olimpia Iacob, (2014) Limes Publishing, ISBN 978-973-726-854-9
• The Divine Kiss: An Exhibit of Paintings and Poems in Honor of David Campagna (Japanese/English bilingual edition) Translated by Naoshi Koriyama (2017) Coal Sack Publishing/Cross-Cultural Communications ISBN 978-4-86435-277-2 (Japanese), ISBN 978-0-89304-385-8 (American)
• The Divine Kiss: An Exhibit of Paintings and Poems in Honor of David Campagna (Greek/English bilingual edition) Translated by Manolis Aligizakis (2018) Libros Libertad Publishing, Ltd/Cross-Cultural Communications ISBN 978-1-926763-50-7 (Canadian), ISBN 978-0-89304-232-5 (American)
• The Divine Kiss: An Exhibit of Paintings and Poems in Honor of David Campagna (Sicilian/Italian/English trilingual edition) Translated by Marco Scalabrino and Gaetano Cipolla (2018) Legas/Cross-Cultural Communications ISBN 978-1-939693-20-4
• "David Campagna". Pretty Famous.
• "Kiss Toledo Goodbye - Full Cast and Credits". Hollywood.com.
• "David Campagna". IMDB.

Further reading

• The Divine Kiss: An Exhibit of Paintings and Poems in Honor of David Campagna (2014) Cross-Cultural Communications, New York ISBN 978-0893049706
• The Seventh Quarry INTERVIEW SUPPLEMENT, an interview, conducted by American writer John Dotson, with American actor David Campagna.