As coordinator and director, Dobbins is known for films such as Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Running Man, Extreme Prejudice, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Commando, and Weird Science.
As a stuntman and actor Dobbins was frequently omitted from the end credits.
Even in his credited work, he is often given generic character names such as Cowboy #2 in Gunsmoke (S17E21 "Yankton") and 1st Bandit in The Six Million Dollar Man (S1E12 "The Coward").
Dobbins died in Austria after suffering a heart attack near the ski resort of Schladming during the filming of Red Heat starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He was airlifted from the film location by helicopter to a hospital where, later, a doctor pronounced him dead.