Daredevil Evel Knievel dies at age 69

November 30, 2007 Daredevil Evel Knievel has died today at the age of 69, according to a family member.

Knievel's granddaughter, Krysten Knievel confirms that he died after his health failed due to diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. In 1999 he also underwent a liver transplant after complications from hepatitis C. He was born Robert Craig Knievel Jr. on October 17, 1938 in Butte, Montana.

Knievel will likely be most remembered for a failed stunt he tried to perform in Idaho. He attempted to jump over the Snake River Canyon with a rocket powered motorcycle, which ended in a premature ejection of the parachute and the motorcycle's subsequent fall into the canyon, resulting in minor injuries to Knievel.

"No king or prince has lived a better life. You're looking at a guy who's really done it all. And there are things I wish I had done better, not only for me but for the ones I loved," said Knievel in an Associated Press interview in 2006.

Knievel is survived by four children, ten grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

Knievel retired in 1980.