Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story by Mollie Gregory (review)

Mollie Gregory has written an original, thought-provoking history of stunt-women in the American movie business. Organized chronologically, Gregory's book takes the reader through four different eras, from silent films to the digital age, not only to document this history, but also to reveal the trials and tribulations women have faced in this male-dominated industry. These stuntwomen have experienced sexual harassment, gender and racial discrimination, and disparities in pay, and have had to contend with cultural stereotypes about masculinity and femininity. Gregory's sources include her own interviews with stuntwomen, oral histories from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Stuntwomen's Oral History Project, the transcript of a 1987 trial (in which stuntwoman Julie Ann Johnson sued television producer Spelling-Goldberg Productions for discrimination and wrongful termination of employment), as well as magazine and newspaper articles. Overall, Gregory's use of oral history enlivens and personalizes this history and adds tremendously to the readers' enjoyment.

Women were among the leaders in the early days of the movie industry in the early twentieth century, prominently starring in most films and having a strong role in the overall production of a movie. As Gregory notes, "Before World War I, athletic actresses played famous action heroines in serial dramas that brought audiences back to theaters week after week. In those years, women also wrote, directed, edited, and produced movies" (x). But when men found out there was money to be made, they entered the industry in numbers and forced women out of positions of control: "Then, almost overnight, movies became big business. Men pushed in for the profits, and except for popular actresses such as Mary Pickford, women were eased out—and that included stuntwomen" (x). Just like in the times of Shakespeare, men donned wigs and dressed as women to stand in for female actresses in scenes that required a level of physicality beyond what was deemed appropriate for women. From the 1930s to the 1960s, men "ignored and marginalized [stuntwomen], [although] a few stuntwomen [remained in the industry]. But men dictated what these women were and were not allowed to do" (x).

By the 1950s, "about ten or twelve stuntmen—'boss stuntmen'—ran the business. If they didn't know you, you didn't work," and if you were a woman, you had almost no chance to enter the industry (54). The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was formed in 1933, and though SAG represented stunt players as well as actors, it never attempted to stop gender and racial discrimination, especially in such supportive roles in movies. Gregory argues that this failure was due to the fact that men controlled the organization and had little incentive to change the status quo. In the 1960s, though, stuntwomen who were able to make it into the industry in spite of the odds began to push back. Skilled white stuntwomen earned far less than skilled white stuntmen, and women were frustrated that men still often played stunt-doubles for female actresses. As Gregory notes, "Even when proven stuntwomen were present on the set, men still put on wigs and did the stunts. 'Get the wigs off men' became the slogan the women took to the SAG board, the [SAG] Stunt and Safety Committee, the studios, and the press" (90). Given the difficulties of entering the industry and maintaining a career in it, why did women want to be stuntwomen? As one of Gregory's narrators, Jadie David, explained, "I enjoyed doing something most people would call insane … I enjoyed being able to override my body's natural instincts, push the envelope and not allow fear to overtake my judgment. I learned about life. The more fearless you are in what you do, the fewer regrets you'll have. I learned those things from doing stunts" (272).

Although Gregory's focus is principally on stunt women, the discrimination faced in the industry was not just based on gender, but also on race. White bosses tended to hire white stuntmen, so...