:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Darlene-Vogel-Back-to-the-Future-II-031226-6b1b8cfbab86496bb803a70a2b7f4434.jpg "Back to the Future II actress debunks rumor that she died filming hoverboard chase, recalls stunt...")
Darlene Vogel's stunt double, Cheryl Wheeler, required four reconstructive surgeries after the scary incident. Back to the Future II actress debunks rumor that she died filming hoverboard chase, recalls stunt double's crash Darlene Vogel's stunt double, Cheryl Wheeler, required four reconstructive surgeries after the scary incident. By Kathleen Perricone March 12, 2026 5:29 p.m. ET Leave a Comment :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/DarleneVogelBacktotheFutureII0312266b1b8cfbab86496bb803a70a2b7f4434.jpg) Darlene Vogel (left) played hoverboarding villain Spike.
Darlene Vogel's stunt double, Cheryl Wheeler, required four reconstructive surgeries after the scary incident.
Back to the Future II actress debunks rumor that she died filming hoverboard chase, recalls stunt double's crash
Darlene Vogel's stunt double, Cheryl Wheeler, required four reconstructive surgeries after the scary incident.
By Kathleen Perricone
March 12, 2026 5:29 p.m. ET
Leave a Comment
Darlene Vogel (left) played hoverboarding villain Spike. Credit:
Universal Pictures
In the *Back to the Future** *films, Marty McFly changed the course of history. And now, one of the featured actresses is debunking a rumor surrounding the 1989 sequel.
Darlene Vogel, who played villainess Leslie "Spike" O'Malley in *Back to the Future II*, recently recounted the iconic scene in which Griff (Thomas F. Wilson) and his cohorts chase Marty (Michael J. Fox) on hoverboards in the year 2015. The action sequence culminates with the bad guys crashing, hurtling 20 feet in the air — and into the landmark Hill Valley clocktower.
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Jason Scott Lee, Ricky D. Logan, Thomas F. Wilson, and Darlene Vogel.
Ralph Nelson/Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett
"The one thing that I am surprised that a lot of [fans] don't know about, which I see on Facebook, is that, like, my stunt double got hurt in the crash," Vogel said on *The Patrick LabyorSheaux* podcast. "And they think it was me. And they thought I died or whatever."
Vogel's stunt double, Cheryl Wheeler, survived the mishap, but she was seriously injured, breaking several bones in her face and right arm and suffering a concussion. Her two-year recovery required four reconstructive surgeries.
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The way the stunt was choreographed, Griff, Spike, and their friends Whitey and Data were supposed to crash through the building's candy-glass paned window and land safely on padding, Wheeler recalled in 2015.
But at the last moment, the four stunt doubles started drifting to the left, and as Wheeler was on the far left, she collided with a column.
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Stunt double Cheryl Wheeler can be seen falling in the scene.
Universal Pictures
Worse yet, all four actors were on the same tether, so when they were simultaneously released, the stuntwoman was dropped 20 feet onto the concrete below.
That take ended up in the final cut of *Back to the Future II*.
"When you watch the movie, if you really pause it for that second," said Vogel, "she crashed into the pole and drops down."
All these years later, not only do fans mistakenly think it was Vogel who was injured, apparently so did Michael J. Fox.
"I bumped into Michael in New York, like, right after COVID," she recalled. "And I saw him and [his wife] Tracy coming out of a restaurant. I'm like, 'Oh my god, I have to say hello.' I haven't seen Michael since the premiere, you know?"
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Fox didn't immediately recognize Vogel, but once she reminded him of their connection, "he was like, 'Oh my god, hi! And he said to me, he goes, 'Didn't you get hurt?' And I said, 'No. That was my that was my stunt double, Cheryl.'"
Watch Darlene Vogel's full interview on *The Patrick LabyorSheaux* podcast in the video above.
- Sci-Fi & Fantasy Movies
Source: "EW Sci-Fi"
Source: Sci-Fi
Published: March 12, 2026 at 11:38PM on Source: MANUEL MAG
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