Behind The Scenes Info Not Meant For The Screen

Wonder Woman’s Original Outfit

Every knows the iconic costume Lynda Carter wore when she portrayed Wonder Woman. It’s an iconic look, in the comics, cartoons, and live action. But an outfit people are less familiar with was the one Lynda Carter wore in the pilot of the series. When we’re first introduced to Wonder Woman, she and the rest of the Amazons wore white, form-fitting minidresses and a Lone Ranger-style domino mask. She wore this costume in order to participate in the competition to see who could take Steve Trevor back to civilization. Wonder Woman has also worn a variety of different, more situational outfits, but this one was certainly the most out there.

The Opening Of Barbarella

Barbarella is a 1968 science fiction film, but it seems more focused on the attractiveness of the lead than any plot. In the opening scene, Jane Fonda, who played the titular role, wriggles out of her space suit in zero-gravity. The scene, itself, wasn’t particularly enjoyable for Fonda, so she ended up drinking a lot of vodka just to get through it. Unfortunately, that take was unusable, so she had to come back in the next day and do it again. This time with a massive hangover.

Joy Harmon Said No To Drugs

Cool Hand Luke is a film that takes place entirely in a prison. As a result, a majority of the cast for the film are male. Although, there is one scene where Joy Harmon cleans her car. And that turned out to be a scene that drove audiences wild. The scene was very provocative, but Harmon never really understood that part of the film, just having fun washing a car. While Harmon didn’t understand the subtext, the producers thought she might, and said she might have to smoke weed in order to get through the scene. Harmon refused and almost left the set. If it wasn’t thanks to Stuart Rosenberg, the director, apologizing, she probably would’ve left the project.

Miss May And The Dirty Dozen

The Dirty Dozen was a 1967 hit film with an all-star cast. While they were filming in England, they were visited Dolly Read for a few publicity shots. She was fresh off an appearance in Playboy in 1966 as Miss May. She was one of the few British Playmates, as well as a Bunny. She would greet and serve guests in Playboy Clubs in Chicago, London, and New York.

The Love Boat On A Real Boat

In the series, The Love Boat, passengers would go onto the cruise to either find love or fall back in love. It had plenty of guest stars as well, with each episode detailing a different love story. While the series took place on a cruise ship, they didn’t use any cruise ship sets. They actually films on a real cruise ship. The real boat’s name was the Pacific Princess. And all the extras you see in the background were actually paying customers onboard.

The Dynamic Duo

Despite its campiness, Adam West’s portrayal of Batman was one of the most iconic ever known. Although, you probably wouldn’t have expected the man portraying such a good-two-shoes to have such an active sex life. According to a story published after West’s death, he would sleep with up to eight women a night. He’d even try to get his rocks off between scenes on the set of the Batman. But it wasn’t just him. Burt Ward, the actor who portrayed Robin, had just as many women interested in sleeping with him as West did.

Two Leias

Carrie Fisher’s portrayal of Princess Leia was probably her most iconic role, as well as a career defining moment. Her most iconic appearance are the white robes and bun hair from the original film, but Return of the Jedi features Leia’s second most well-known outfit. That would be the metal bikini she wore after she was captured by Jabba the Hutt. However, seeing two beautiful women in the same outfit would be completely unexpected. This is Tracy Eddon, a good friend of Fisher’s who acted as her stunt double.

Cousin Itt

It can be pretty easy for actors of shorter stature to get several memorable roles. One such actor is Felix Silla. Even if you don’t recognize his face, you’ll know some of his roles. His most notable was Cousin Itt in The Addams Family. Since then, he had also gotten roles in Planet of the Apes, Battlestar Galactica, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Painted Gold

One of the most memorable screen deaths in a James Bond film was in Goldfinger. It was when Shirley Eaton’s character, Jill Masterson, is painted gold. It actually made an urban legend that you can die from clogged pores that deprive people of oxygen. That was completely false, although the paint did prove difficult to remove.

The King’s Final Film

Elvis Presley may be more well-known for his singing career now, but he was also a famous actor as well. Presley’s last film wasn’t very good though. It was Change of Habit. And who he paired up with for this film ended up becoming the most famous of all his co-stars. That woman would be the sitcom star, Mary Tyler Moore. And her stellar career was spawned from a not-so-stellar film.

Escape From John Carpenter’s Garage

If you’re a fan of Escape from New York, you’re likely familiar with the death of Maggie in the movie. Her final stand ends with her being run over by a Cadillac being driven by the Duke of New York. However, after shooting the scene, director John Carpenter found that the fate of Maggie wasn’t too clear. So, he decided to film a new mini-scene to help bridge the gap. Getting Maggie’s actress, Adrienne Barbeau wasn’t too difficult, considering they were married at the time. To make things even simpler, they decided to film the scene in Carpenter’s garage.

The Playmates Witness The Apocalypse

During the surreal, “Suzy Q” scene in Apocalypse Now, a helicopter with a bunny logo lands on a stage surrounded by cheering G.I.s Three women pop out in costumes and dance. The performance is brief, and the young women take their leave. The women were actually introduced as “playmates”. And for the most part that was true. Cyndi Wood and Linda Carpenter were the 1974 Playmate of the Year and Miss August of 1976 respectively. The third woman, Colleen Camp, was a professional actress though. There’s also another poster of someone who had tested to be a Playmate, but had gotten another gig. Remember Lynda Carter? Well, turns out the woman in the poster was her.

Just One Night

Susan Dey and David Cassidy portrayed siblings in the Partridge Family. Although, behind the scenes, Dey actually had a crush on Cassidy. He was a real teen heartthrob at the tie, so it was understandable, but Cassidy viewed her more as just a sibling, even if he knew how she felt. He would have relations with other women though. But, after their show stopped taping, the two did hook up. In a memoir, Cassidy revealed that he actually regretted it. And since then, the two haven’t spoken.

Mr. Rogers Flips The Bird

No one would flip off a child, right? At least not intentionally. Well, the only one that could probably even get away with it unintentionally would be Mr. Rogers. While singing “Where is Thumbkin”, Mr. Rogers ends up throwing a one-finger salute, and even twirling it around, when he presents the “Tall-man”.

Jiggle TV

Jiggle Television was a nickname for ABC given by NBC in the 1970s. With shows like Three’s Company, Wonder Woman, and Charlie’s Angels, it seemed as though the network was relying rather heavily on sex appeal. Charlie’s Angels, in particular proved to be the epitome of this, with the female cast members often finding themselves doing gymnastic routines in tight-fitting clothing.

Reverse Psychology On Chevy Chase

Animal House is considered the gold standard when it comes to college comedies. No leading man, simply a cast of crazy frat boys trying to keep their fraternity alive. It had an a massive cast of comedians, including the late, great John Belushi. But then the producers wanted to bring Chevy Chase into the film. At the same time, Chase was already considering making Foul Play with Goldie Hawn, but was still interested in making Animal House. It seemed as though director, John Landis didn’t want Chase in the film. So he used some reverse psychology to make him take the role for Foul Play. Landis had apparently said, “Listen, Chevy, our picture is an ensemble, a collaborative group effort like Saturday Night Live. You’d fit right in, whereas in Foul Play, that’s like being Cary Grant or Paul Newman, a real movie-star part. Don’t you think you’d be better off surrounded by really gifted comedians?” Of course Chevy wanted to take the big leading role.

The New Hot Thing

Iconic sex symbol Mae West came out of retirement to appear in Myra Breckinridge, a famous 1970 flop of a movie about a man, played by Rex Reed, who undergoes gender reassignment surgery and comes out looking like Raquel Welch. Mae West, who was in her late 70s, demanded — and for some reason, got — top billing, script approval, and permission to sing two songs in the movie. Before filming even started, it was clear that West thought she was the star.

Raquel Welch was already the new hot actress, and Farrah Fawcett showed great potential — and Mae West wasn’t about to play nice with either one of them. West decided that only she was allowed to wear black or white in the film, so all of Welch’s costume had to be remade. The two were so icy to one another that even though they share scenes with one another they’re never actually in the same frame. West wasn’t just awful to Welch, she bullied Fawcett to tears. One traumatic tactic West used was repeatedly complaining about the color of Fawcett’s hair — and forcing her to dye it a new color three times.

Three Is Company

Suzanne Somers played Chrissy Snow, the stereotypical dumb blonde on Three’s Company, and when she show proved to be a roaring success there was no doubt that her presence had a lot to do with it. Her co-stars John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt were very funny, and the group worked very well together, but Somers was a bona fide sex symbol of the ’70s.

But was she the star of Three’s Company — or was John Ritter the star? Or did the show not have a star? It’s a tough question, but Ritter was making more money than she was. And male stars of other successful shows, like Alan Alda of MASH and Carroll O’Connor of All In The Family, were making a lot more. After four seasons, Somers made her move, demanding a raise from $30,000 per episode to $150,000. ABC said no, and cut her air time down to 60 seconds per episode, then fired her at the end of the season.

Somers figured there was no way the show would let Chrissy go — but what she didn’t know was that ABC was in no mood to negotiate. The network had just agreed to substantial raises for Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams of Laverne And Shirley, and her argument for a big raise, no matter how valid, fell on deaf ears.

The Incredible Wig

On The Incredible Hulk, Bill Bixby’s David Banner need only get angry to turn into the green-skinned Hulk — but for Lou Ferrigno, the bodybuilder who actually played the monster-superhero, the transformation was more involved. Achieving the Hulk’s face called for prosthetics, and green grease paint was slathered on to make his skin tone the correct shade.

The grease paint was waterproof, to an extent, and came off on everyone else’s clothes. It also didn’t do well with heat, so when the show was filming in desert settings, it separated into blue and yellow colors, and the makeup crew had to keep re-applying it. And then there was his hairpiece — a wig made of yak hair.

Yak hair is actually used pretty commonly in wigs, but not because your average person wants a spiky ‘do like the Hulk’s. It turns out that yak hair (harvested from the ox-like mammal found in the Himalayas) behaves somewhat like human hair, so much so that it can be styled by hair stylists. Who knows — maybe you’ve worn a yak hair wig or two in your life.

Needs More Gopher

For such a beloved movie, the plot of Caddyshack is really all over the place. That probably has something to do with the fact that the original cut of the movie was four hours long. It was cut down considerably, and because of that, the entire focus of the film was shifted. The biggest focus ended up being on Bill Murray’s character trying to take on a gopher.

A Bizarre Origin

From watching the original, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, you’d know the Oompa Loompas as small, orange-faced people with green from the fantastic Loompaland. And if you read a copy of the book this film was based on, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, you might get a similar impression. However, that’s only an edit that was made after the film came out. In the original print of the book, the Oompa Loompas were African pygmies, brought to Wonka’s factory for slave labor. You can see why this was changed in the film adaptation.

The Wrong Bum

In The Wicker Man, there’s a scene where Britt Ekland’s character, Willow, attempts to perform a seductive dance to get the detective, Sgt. Howie, to give up his investigation. Ekland was famous for her roles as a seductress by this point in The Man With The Golden Gun and Get Carter. She had become rather particular about her appearance in these roles. So much so, that she actually refused to have her own butt appear in this scene. Instead, a local stripper acted as a body dancer. And her performance was just a little bit upsetting to Ekland.

Batgirl Does Her Own Stunts

Yvonne Craig joined the Batman tv series in its third season, portraying the famous character of Batgirl. While she was beautiful, she actually brought a physicality to the role that truly drew the attention of viewers. That’s because she did her own stunts, unlike Adam West and Burt Ward. She had experience as a ballet dancer, and that training was integral to the producers allowing her to jump around on camera, herself.

The Fourth Gidget

Sally Field is one of the most famous and critically acclaimed actresses of her generation. But before all that she was Gidget. She was actually the fourth actress to portray the role, following Sandra Dee, Deborah Walley, and Cindy Carroll. THe character was inspired by real-life surfer girl Kath Kohner, who got the nickname Gidget as a portmanteau of “girl” and “midget”.

Jacqueline Bisset Got Shot By Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers was a brilliant comedic actor, but a loose cannon that could be hard to work with. On the set of the Bond spoof, Casino Royale, the animosity between Sellers and Orson Welles was well-documented. However, Welles got off easy in comparison to Jacqueline Bisset. In her first scene with Sellers, he shot her. It was with a prop gun that fired blanks, but it wasn’t a bullet that hurt her. The burst from the blank had briefly blinded her and burned her skin. What made this even more egregious was that Sellers shooting Bisset at this point wasn’t in the script.