I have always thought that the producers of "Hooper" did an injustice to Jock Mahoney nee Jacques Mahoney in not having him play the Brian Keith part. After all, the character's name was Jocko and Mahoney was called that by his co-workers. While Brian Keith may have been a better actor and known to younger audiences as "Uncle Bill" from TV's Family Affair (still playing cable TV somehere I'm sure), Mahoney was a great stuntman and early TV western star (Range Rider, Yancey Derringer) and even played Tarzan in a couple of films. His stepdaughter is Sally Field and his daughter Princess Mahoney played a bit part of one of the girls in the bar. It would have made it more of a family affair and younger audiences would have had the chance to see Jocko at work. He was president of the Stuntman's Union and had the reputation of doing dangerous stunts nobody else would touch. The saying around Hollywood was that "if Jocko walked away (refused) from a stunt, it was much too dangerous." Brian Keith's character comments on how he wished he hadn't spent so much time on the set and more time at home, helping to raise his daughter, played by Sally Field. It was a nice, warm touch which gave a little more realistic depth to the character.
Review of Hooper
