LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- Think of a bullwhip and fedora and one man immediately springs to mind : Indiana Jones , the sardonic archeologist played by Harrison Ford in Steven Spielberg 's '80s trilogy which started with `` Raiders of the Lost Ark . '' `` If you learn how to talk I 'm in deep trouble , '' quips Harrison Ford ( right ) to Vic Armstrong ( left ) on this photo which shows how similar the pair look . But if you were to venture on set during the filming of `` Raiders '' hoping to catch a few moments with the star you might have had a surprise . The tall , rangy man in the dented hat signing autographs could just as easily have been Ford 's stunt double , Vic Armstrong . Back then , in the right light Armstrong could easily be mistaken for Ford -- both of them over six feet tall and bronzed with crinkly eyes . And it 's this that is at the root of his success as Indy 's `` fall guy . '' In fact , Ford is a talented stuntman in his own right and Armstrong says that his biggest headache on set was trying to stop Ford from getting involved in action that was too risky . `` The biggest stunt I always say on the Indiana Jones films was stopping Harrison doing the stunts because I had to fight nearly every time to stop him , '' Armstrong chuckles . An accomplished horseman ( his first career choice was steeplechase jockey ) , it 's Armstrong 's Indy you see galloping along in the stained khaki shirt and jumping from his horse onto a tank in `` The Last Crusade . '' `` Technically very difficult , '' Armstrong says , `` I had to rely on a horse , and horses have a sense of survival and they do n't actually do what you tell them to do as they have n't read the script . '' It may have been his close resemblance to Ford that clinched the `` Raiders '' job but the pair developed a rapport that led Armstrong to work on the other two installments of the trilogy , `` Temple of Doom '' and `` The Last Crusade . '' `` It always works better if you do have a relationship with [ the actor ] . You can mimic how they move , how they work when you coordinate fights for them like I did with Harrison , '' Armstrong tells CNN . Armstrong was just 16 years old when he started in the stunt industry in 1965 . He utilised his horseriding skills to double as Gregory Peck in spy movie `` Arabesque . '' He had to jump a huge moat and then fall off his mount but it was the simple lifestyle and travel that hooked young Armstrong -- `` Forty dollars a day and all you can eat . Fantastic living . '' After over 40 years and countless movies , his filmography reads like a who 's who of Hollywood : he has doubled for Sean Connery , Donald Sutherland , John Voight and collaborated with directors like Ridley Scott , Paul Verhoeven , Michael Cimino and Sir Richard Attenborough . His work for three decades on classic Bond films like `` You Only Live Twice '' and `` Live and Let Die '' cemented his reputation as a stuntman who could pull off complicated of stunts with precision . `` The films I 've done I 've been very lucky to have been very prolific in an area and a time when iconic films were being made . `` My first stunt on a Bond film was in 1966 in the winter of `` You Only Live Twice '' . I was one of the ninjas coming down firing guns into the volcano , which for me was sensational . '' He doubled for Roger Moore in `` Live and Let Die '' for a short while and was then propelled into working as a stunt coordinator and director of action units . Armstrong then added a superhero to his already impressive roster of action idols , standing in for Christopher Reeve in `` Superman . '' Despite this , his allegiances lie solidly with cinema 's 'real ' heroes . `` If you look at `` Spiderman '' and movies like that , or the `` Incredible Hulk , '' they are far more computer-generated and so therefore slightly more cartoonish or video game-ish . `` My personal preference is for real action just enhanced or maybe helped by computers . We use computers to take away fall pads or wires if you 're getting snatched or thrown in the air . '' And in the spirit of keeping it real , Armstrong has gone to great lengths to help stuntmen achieve their crazy feats as safely as possible . In the 1980s he modified a tool known as the `` fan descender '' for the film `` Green Ice . '' It would allow stuntmen to safely slow down when performing high freefalls . It revolutionized the stunt industry and in 2002 he was awarded a Science and Technology Academy Award for his invention -- the only one ever handed out to a stunt man . Earlier this year , he was honored by the Screen Actors Guild for his work on 2007 action horror `` I am Legend . '' He has just finished work on `` The Mummy 3 '' -- it was his prior commitment to this movie that stopped him working on the fourth Indy film `` Kingdom of the Crystal Skull '' -- and is now stunt coordinating on the Weinstein production `` Shanghai . '' Even after all this time , Armstrong , the authority on how to create a death defying stunt , still reckons Ford is the best stuntman actor he has ever worked with -- `` Harrison has to be the ultimate . '' So why bother with a stunt double ? `` I was cheaper and it did n't matter if I got hurt . ''
Vic Armstrong was Harrison Ford 's stunt double in the Indiana Jones movies . His physical similarity to Ford is at the root of his success as Indy 's `` fall guy '' After 40 years in the business , Armstrong is the authority on death defying stunts . Armstrong on Ford as a stuntman actor : `` Harrison has to be the ultimate ''