Tragic story behind the 'other Harry Potter' whose career was over the minute he heard his own bones snapping
British gymnast David Holmes couldn't believe his luck when, back in the year 2000, a stunt coordinator hired him to play Daniel Radcliffe's stunt double in an incoming new movie series titled Harry Potter.
"I found myself in this wonderful studio strapped to the back of a truck, getting towed down the runway, dragging my feet along the floor in front of Chris Columbus, the director," he recalled in conversation with The Mirror recently.
"So that’s how I got my job."
Little did the Essex-born athlete know at the time that, whilst the role would introduce him to a vast plethora of huge-name stars and Hollywood veterans, it would also cost him his mobility.
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On the set of the fantastical film franchise's seventh film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, an incident saw Holmes, then 25, thrown into a wall during a 'jerk-back' stunt, which saw him hooked up to a wire and flung backwards to mimic the effects of an explosion.
The severity of the injuries meant that the stuntman was left totally paralysed, costing him the use of his hands and mid-to-lower part of his body.
He would also need to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Speaking to Mama Mia this week, the former sportsman opened up about the physicality of the accident that changed his life forever.
"My spinal cord separated at the C 67 vertebrae just at the bottom of your neck before your thorax starts," he told the publication. "I was instantly paralysed from that moment."
Whilst he stays in touch with his former cast-mates, he says the constant reminders of his injuries are heart to move past.
"Soon I'm going to be in a wheelchair longer than I was on legs," Holmes said this week.
"You're stripped back to how you were as a toddler — so vulnerable, so needy. People needed to feed me, people needed to dress me, wash me, you name it, and then gruelling rehabilitation."
The ex-stuntman has since retained a close relationship with Potter star Radcliffe specifically, who produced the 2023 HBO documentary David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived, and whom Holmes previously described as 'the older brother he'd spent his whole life wanting'.
Recalling Radcliffe and his co-stars visiting him in hospital at the time, Holmes reflected this week: "They were young to have to see me like that, with wires in me and stuff hanging out my nose.
"For me being brave for them on camera all those years... they got the opportunity to flip that and be brave for me."
He added of Radcliffe specifically: "I could not be prouder of who he is. He's a great human being that will sacrifice his life to make sure other people stay employed."
Holmes also keeps in touch with Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the Wizarding World franchise, and Matthew Lewis, who was cast as Neville Longbottom.
The group have since enjoyed a yearly tradition, where they get together to raise funds for the hospital where Holmes was treated.
Sharing a snap from last year's reunion, Felton captioned an Instagram upload alongside the stuntman and Lewis: "So every year for the past 15 years the David Holmes Charity Cricket Match has been running a closed door event for all my family and friends from the film industry, as well as plenty of my old classmates from Harry Potter.
"It’s such a wonderful day, and thanks to Amy Stares who arranges it each year we have raised over £100,000 for the Royal Orthopedic Hospital, which is where I was treated for my recovery injury."
The Malfoy star added: "I’m still under the care of the expert team and that hospital to this day.
"I’m proud to announce that this year the cricket match is going to be live streamed so that anybody who wants to watch the event can, as well as contribute to the Fundraising appeal, raising money for @the.rnoh.charity and @greatormondst."
Topics: Harry Potter, TV And Film, Health, True Life
Rhianna Benson