John Nordlum was an American stunt performer.

Nordlum served in the U.S. Army and attended St. John’s Catholic Seminary in Minnesota.

He taught high school English and literature in Greece, the Virgin Islands, Singapore, and Guam before settling in Honolulu.

Nordlum was working as an underwater research diver when actor Jack Lord spotted him and asked him to work as his stand-in and stunt double on Hawaii Five-0. When Lord retired, he gifted Nordlum with the 1974 Mercury Marquis car that was used in the series. Nordlum later loaned the car to the reboot of Hawaii Five-0. It appeared in the pilot episode in 2010.

Nordlum was asked to be Tom Selleck’s stand-in and stunt double when Magnum P.I. came to Hawaii. Nordlum also doubled Selleck in several of his movies, including Three Men and A Baby, Her Alibi, and Quigley Down Under.

Nordlum later established the Hawaii Stunt Association to train Hawaii residents in stunt work when television production was booming on the islands.

He served on the board of directors for the Screen Actors Guild Hawaii from 1988 to 2017, and also chaired the Stunt and Safety Committee on the board.

Nordlum died January 31, 2018, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was 81.