BODY DOUBLES GET EXPOSURE, LITTLE CREDIT - Sun-Sentinel article from 1991

https://web.archive.org/web/20210628100701/https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1991-07-16-9101260347-story.html

They get naked with famous actors. But even though nude body doubles do the work stars refuse, they get little money - and no credit.

Shelley Michelle turned a spotlight on body doubles when she revealed her role in Pretty Woman. It was she, not star Julia Roberts, putting on thigh- high boots and bracelets in the opening scenes of the movie.

She has lent her ballet-sculpted body to other actresses, including Catherine Oxenberg in Overexposed and Kim Basinger in My Stepmother is an Alien. For the latter, she was filmed putting stockings on her legs (which she says are insured for $1 million) while strapped into a dolly 25 feet in the air.

"For two minutes in Stepmother, the whole screen is this leg scene," says Michelle, 25. "At the premiere, the first time I saw it, I jumped up out of my seat. 'Those are my legs! Those are my legs!' And everyone's like, 'Sure they're your legs."'

She didn't receive screen credit in any of the three movies. In fact, Touchstone, which made Stepmother, denied that a double was used, she says. While the stars made hundreds of thousands of dollars, she was paid standard Screen Actor's Guild wages for stunt work. For Pretty Woman, that meant about $750 a week for four weeks of work.

But actresses -- and sometimes actors -- have used body doubles since the silent film era. Sometimes it was because the scene was dangerous, or a closeup was required and the star wasn't available, or because the actor's body simply didn't measure up. As movies got steamier, more actors deferred explicit scenes to their stand-ins.