Stuntman Brayton Walter "Bob" Yerkes is from Los Angeles County, California. Yerkes started tumbling down at Santa Monica Muscle Beach at age eleven and ran away from home to join the Clyde Beatty Circus as part of an acrobatic act at age fifteen. Bob began performing stunts in movies upon returning to Los Angeles in the late 1940s. His career as a stuntman encompasses several decades. Among the notable people that Yerkes has doubled for are Paul Newman, Robert Duvall, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christopher Lloyd, and Della Reese. Moreover, Bob also taught many celebrities circus acts for various "Circus of the Stars" TV specials throughout the 1980s as well as has trained numerous stunt performers in the backyard of his home in Los Angeles, California.