Ryan Dunn dies at 34; star of MTV’s ‘Jackass’

Ryan Dunn, a member of the “Jackass” crew of outrageous daredevils and gross-out pranksters of MTV and movie fame, died in a fiery car crash in a Philadelphia suburb early Monday. He was 34.

Dunn and an unidentified passenger died in the accident, which occurred in West Goshen Township, according to police.

Authorities were called to the scene early Monday and found Dunn’s 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 in the woods, where it was engulfed in flames.

Speeding may have been a contributing factor in the accident, police said.

Dunn reportedly had tweeted a picture of himself drinking with two friends a few hours before the crash.

“I feel like I lost a brother,” Jeff Tremaine, who co-created “Jackass” with Johnny Knoxville and Spike Jonze, said in a statement. “Ryan Dunn was family and we are all deeply devastated.”

“Jackass” co-star Knoxville tweeted on Monday: “Today I lost my brother Ryan Dunn. My heart goes out to his family and his beloved Angie. RIP Ryan, I love you buddy.”

The bearded and tattooed Dunn was a key cast member of the notorious series that originally aired on MTV from 2000 to 2002 and generated controversy for its sometimes dangerous, sometimes disgusting stunts. He also appeared in the three “Jackass” movies.

Dunn earned the admiration of his “Jackass” colleagues early on by jumping into a pool of raw sewage with a snorkel, a mask and flippers.

“I loved when [Bam Margera] made Ryan jump into the poo factory, the ‘Poo Dive’ I think we called it,” Tremaine told MTV News last year. “‘Cause that was horrible, but the best part was … revealing his tattoos that we didn’t know about. That was the first time we ever met Ryan.”

When it came to the stunts he and his pals performed on camera, Dunn told West Virginia’s Charleston Gazette in February that they were always on the look-out for any sign of weakness in one another.

“Yes, there are certain things that petrify me and I do not want to do, but I will not be speaking of them,” he said, adding that he learned to keep his mouth shut.

“If you verbalize the thing you won’t do,” he said, “you’re inevitably going to end up doing it.”

Dunn also hosted the 2005 MTV series “Homewreckers,” as well as appearing on MTV’s “Viva La Bam” from 2003-05 and “Bam’s Unholy Union” in 2007.

He recently began hosting the new show “Proving Ground,” which premiered June 11 on the G4 cable network. The second episode, scheduled to air Tuesday, reportedly has been pulled for now.

Dunn also worked as an actor, including playing a small part in the 2007 movie “Blonde Ambition” and starring in the comedy “Living Will …,” which is scheduled to be released this fall.

He was born in Ohio in 1977 and moved to Philadelphia when he was 15.

He met Margera on his first day of high school and, according to a biography on Dunn’s website, they joined two friends — Christopher Raab and Brandon DiCamillo — in creating their own videos that featured skateboarding and random stunts. They called themselves CKY, short for Camp Kill Yourself.

After achieving local popularity for their videos, the CKY crew sold its first video on the underground skate marketing scene and turned out more videos over the next four years.

Dunn was working as a welder and at gas stations when Knoxville, a fan of the CKY videos, approached them about using their videos on the new “Jackass” series.

dennis.mclellan@latimes.com