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Death-defying Tightrope and Stunt Performers

Performing artists have risked life and limb for the excitement of performing their art in the public eye. The photos below come from the Accunet /AP Multimedia Archive. They include photos related to Jean Francois Gravelet (aka The Great Blondin), The Flying Wallenda Family, Philippe Petit, and Evel Knievel and his son, Robbie.

 

Daredevils of Niagara Falls
A sculpture of Niagara Falls' most famous funambulist Charles Blondin walks on the tightrope in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007. (AP Photo/David Duprey)


 
Mario Wallenda, of the famed Flying Wallendas, rides his specially constructed "skycycle" across the Chicago River Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2006, during a promotional event in downtown Chicago. Wallenda has been in a wheelchair since a high-wire accident in 1962 left him paralyzed from the waist down. The 60-something Wallenda said he was a bit afraid as the wire swayed in the wind. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Angel Wallenda performs at Stone Mountain, Ga., in this Sept. 21, 1991, file photo. Angel Wallenda, a former member of the Flying Wallenda family, took to the high-wire even after losing a leg to cancer, but died of the disease Friday, May 3, 1996, in Sayre, Pa. Wallenda, who was one of the last of the aerialists who followed the motto: "Life is on the wire. The rest is just waiting," was 28. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly, File)
French aerialist Philippe Petit balances as he crosses a cable stretched between the World Trade Center towers high above New York City on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 1974. (AP Photo/Alan Welner)

 
French aerialist Philippe Petit, 24, balances as he crosses a cable stretched between the World Trade Center towers high above New York City Wednesday, August 7, 1974. Petit walked from one rooftop to a point close to the second rooftop and back again as crowds gathered on the lower Manhattan streets to watch the aerial feat. Police arrested him and two assistants shortly after the walk and took Petit to Beekman-Downtown Hospital for psychiatric evaluation. The Frenchman has performed similar stunts in Paris and Australia. (AP Photo/Alan Welner))