They've traded punches in knockdown brawls, crashed biplanes through barns, and raced to the rescue in fast cars. They add suspense and drama to the story, portraying the swimmer stalked by the menacing shark, the heroine dangling twenty feet below a soaring hot air balloon, or the woman leaping nine feet over a wall to escape a dog attack. Only an expert can make such feats of daring look easy, and stuntwomen with the skills to perform—and survive—great moments of action in movies have been hitting their mark in Hollywood since the beginning of film.
Here, Mollie Gregory presents the first history of stuntwomen in the film industry from the silent era to the twenty-first century. In the early years of motion pictures, women were highly involved in all aspects of film production, but they were marginalized as movies became popular, and more important, profitable. Capable stuntwomen were replaced by men in wigs, and very few worked between the 1930s and 1960s. As late as the 1990s, men wore wigs and women's clothes to double as actresses, and were even "painted down" for some performances, while men and women of color were regularly denied stunt work.
For decades, stuntwomen have faced institutional discrimination, unequal pay, and sexual harassment even as they jumped from speeding trains and raced horse-drawn carriages away from burning buildings. Featuring sixty-five interviews, Stuntwomen showcases the absorbing stories and uncommon courage of women who make their living planning and performing action-packed sequences that keep viewers' hearts racing.
"1121815879"
Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story
They've traded punches in knockdown brawls, crashed biplanes through barns, and raced to the rescue in fast cars. They add suspense and drama to the story, portraying the swimmer stalked by the menacing shark, the heroine dangling twenty feet below a soaring hot air balloon, or the woman leaping nine feet over a wall to escape a dog attack. Only an expert can make such feats of daring look easy, and stuntwomen with the skills to perform—and survive—great moments of action in movies have been hitting their mark in Hollywood since the beginning of film.
Here, Mollie Gregory presents the first history of stuntwomen in the film industry from the silent era to the twenty-first century. In the early years of motion pictures, women were highly involved in all aspects of film production, but they were marginalized as movies became popular, and more important, profitable. Capable stuntwomen were replaced by men in wigs, and very few worked between the 1930s and 1960s. As late as the 1990s, men wore wigs and women's clothes to double as actresses, and were even "painted down" for some performances, while men and women of color were regularly denied stunt work.
For decades, stuntwomen have faced institutional discrimination, unequal pay, and sexual harassment even as they jumped from speeding trains and raced horse-drawn carriages away from burning buildings. Featuring sixty-five interviews, Stuntwomen showcases the absorbing stories and uncommon courage of women who make their living planning and performing action-packed sequences that keep viewers' hearts racing.
They've traded punches in knockdown brawls, crashed biplanes through barns, and raced to the rescue in fast cars. They add suspense and drama to the story, portraying the swimmer stalked by the menacing shark, the heroine dangling twenty feet below a soaring hot air balloon, or the woman leaping nine feet over a wall to escape a dog attack. Only an expert can make such feats of daring look easy, and stuntwomen with the skills to perform—and survive—great moments of action in movies have been hitting their mark in Hollywood since the beginning of film.
Here, Mollie Gregory presents the first history of stuntwomen in the film industry from the silent era to the twenty-first century. In the early years of motion pictures, women were highly involved in all aspects of film production, but they were marginalized as movies became popular, and more important, profitable. Capable stuntwomen were replaced by men in wigs, and very few worked between the 1930s and 1960s. As late as the 1990s, men wore wigs and women's clothes to double as actresses, and were even "painted down" for some performances, while men and women of color were regularly denied stunt work.
For decades, stuntwomen have faced institutional discrimination, unequal pay, and sexual harassment even as they jumped from speeding trains and raced horse-drawn carriages away from burning buildings. Featuring sixty-five interviews, Stuntwomen showcases the absorbing stories and uncommon courage of women who make their living planning and performing action-packed sequences that keep viewers' hearts racing.
Mollie Gregory is the author of Women Who Run the Show: How a Brilliant and Creative New Generation of Women Stormed Hollywood, 1973–2000.
Table of Contents
The Rise and Fall of Female Stunt Players in Silent Movies Blackface and Wigs: Men Take over Stunts Television: More Stunt Work—If You Can Get It Stunt Performers Organize Socail Trumoil Brings New Opportunities for Women and Minorities The Women's Movement and Female Action Heroes Disaster Movies and Disastrous Stunts Female Stunt Coordinators Battle for Safety Danger, Drugs, and Death Breaking the Code of Silence Women's New Attitudes and Ambitions Julie Johnson's Day in Court High Falls Stunt Fights Cat Stunts Computer-Generated Imagery and the Future of Stunt Work Controversy and Progress for Stuntwomen
What People are Saying About This
William M. Drew
"Studded with absorbing descriptions of the hazardous work of these athletic, unsung heroes, Mollie Gregory's excellent account is a richly detailed and long-overdue history of the daring stuntwomen of the screen."
From the Publisher
"A highly original, pioneering volume on the under-appreciated role of women in film. Stuntwomen documents the unique and until now untold story of its title subjects from the 1910s through the present. Mollie Gregory brings to her project the same skill, enerfy and vitality that those stuntwomen displayed, "a come-from-behind, risk-it-all saga," as she describes it. Much as men took over the role of director from the early women filmmakers, so did stuntmen quite deliberately it seems exclude their female counterparts, and it was not until fairly recent times that women once again proved just how capable they were in this field. The stunts are discussed in detail, along with the political, social, union, and, of course, gender issues involved. And did I mention that Stuntwomen is highly readable and pleasantly jargon-free?" — Anthony Slide, author of "It's the Pictures That Got Small": Charles Bracket on Billy Wilder and Hollywood's Golden Age and Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses
"Studded with absorbing descriptions of the hazardous work of these athletic, unsung heroes, Mollie Gregory's excellent account is a richly detailed and long-overdue history of the daring stuntwomen of the screen." — William M. Drew, author of The Last Silent Picture Show: Silent Films on American Screens in the 1930s
Anthony Slide
"A highly original, pioneering volume on the under-appreciated role of women in film. Stuntwomen documents the unique and until now untold story of its title subjects from the 1910s through the present. Mollie Gregory brings to her project the same skill, enerfy and vitality that those stuntwomen displayed, "a come-from-behind, risk-it-all saga," as she describes it. Much as men took over the role of director from the early women filmmakers, so did stuntmen quite deliberately it seems exclude their female counterparts, and it was not until fairly recent times that women once again proved just how capable they were in this field. The stunts are discussed in detail, along with the political, social, union, and, of course, gender issues involved. And did I mention that Stuntwomen is highly readable and pleasantly jargon-free?"
