Stand-in

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A stand-in, sometimes a lighting double, for film and television is a person who substitutes for the actor before filming, for technical purposes such as lighting and camera setup. Stand-ins are helpful in the initial processes of film and television production.

Stand-ins allow the director of photography to light the set and the camera department to light and focus scenes while the actors are absent. The director will often ask stand-ins to deliver the scene dialogue ("lines") and walk through ("blocking") the scenes to be filmed.

Stand-ins are distinguished from doubles, who replace actors on camera from behind, in makeup, or during dangerous stunts. Stand-ins do not appear on camera. However, on some productions the jobs of stand-in and double may be done by the same person. In rare cases, a stand-in will appear on screen, sometimes as an in-joke. For instance, a scene in Heidi (1937) features the title character's grandfather (Jean Hersholt) mistake a stranger for Heidi (Shirley Temple); the look-alike was played by Temple's regular stand-in, Mary Lou Islieb.^[1] In another case, the actress who pretends to be Ann Darrow in the stage show during the final act of King Kong (2005) is played by Naomi Watts' stand-in, Julia Walshaw.

Stand-ins do not necessarily look like the actor, but they must have the same skin tone, hair color, height and build as the actor so that the lighting in a scene will be set up correctly. For example, if the lighting is set up with a stand-in shorter than an actor, the actor might end up having their head in relative darkness. In some cases, a star and stand-in do differ in height: Ann Sheridan's stand-in, Marveen Zehner, was taller than the actress and reportedly worked shoeless,^[2] and actor Tommy Noonan wore three-inch risers in his shoes to stand-in for Tyrone Power.^[3]

Some actors' contracts mandate that they will always have the same stand-in. Famous cases include Pluma Noisom (stand-in for Claudette Colbert), Harry Cornbleth (Fred Astaire) and Adam Bryant (Robin Williams). Myrna Loy wrote in her autobiography Myrna Loy: Being and Becoming about her friendship and working relationship with her stand-in, Shirley Hughes. When Bette Davis walked out on her Warner Bros. contract, she negotiated for her regular stand-in, Sally Sage, to continue to work at the studio.