For a jump over 13 double-decker buses in London's Wembley Stadium in 1975, he was paid $1 million, a fortune at the time, according to Maxim.
One of Knievel's motorcycles -- a 1972 Harley-Davidson XR-750 -- is in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
PAIN, TROUBLE AND TOUGHNESS
His final years were plagued by pain from his accidents, as well as pulmonary fibrosis, a scarring of the lungs.
"God never made a tougher son of a bitch than me," Knievel told USA Today in an interview published in January.
The reporter described Knievel, who was 68 at the time, as feeble and reliant on an oxygen tank and an implanted drug pump to relieve his pain.
He spent almost a month in a coma in 1968 after he crashed while jumping the fountains at the Caesars Palace casino-hotel in Las Vegas. There were more serious injuries when he tried to clear a tank full of sharks in Chicago in 1976.
"If you don't know about pain and trouble, you're in sad shape," he told Esquire. "They make you appreciate life."
Knievel's personal life was at times almost as painful as his job. He had trouble with the law starting as a teenager, went through bankruptcy and was estranged for years from his son, Robbie, who also became a motorcycle daredevil.
Knievel did not quit drinking until undergoing a liver transplant in 1999.
Born in Butte, Montana, he said he was inspired at the age of 8 when he saw an auto daredevil show.
He was dubbed "Evil Knievel" by a jailer in Montana after crashing his motorcycle while fleeing from police. He later changed the spelling to "Evel" as his daredevil career took off to avoid being perceived as a bad guy.
Knievel was married twice and had four children.
