gIliane Aldam began her career as a professional stuntwoman at the age of twenty-two. It was the 1960s, and she had just spent a few years working for a private investigator and as a model. But she has always loved adventure, including car racing, climbing and acrobatics.
“I enjoyed anything athletic or tomboyish,” said Aldham, now 83. “I started doing stunts after I met a stuntman, and I made a name for myself straight away — there were only two other girls doing stunts at school.” time.”
Aldham has since enjoyed an illustrious career spanning six decades. She doubled for Mary Orr in Where Eagles Dare and for Sharon Tate in The Wrecking Crew (both released in 1968), and has performed in six James Bond films including Skyfall (2012).
The contributions of Aldham and other British stunt artists to the film and TV industry are being celebrated this week with a donation from BSR, a UK-based professional body, to the British Film Institute.
The BSR is offering a rare first edition of its early members’ guide from 1973 to the BFI Reuben Library. It features the biggest names in stunt work, like Aldham, along with the likes of Reg Harding (Indiana Jones), Sid Child (The Avengers), Richard “Dickie” Graydon (James Bond), and Joe Powell (The Man Who Would Be). King) and Jim Dowdall (Saving Private Ryan).
“The stunt business has changed dramatically since I first started,” Aldham said. “Then, you were just asked if you could do the job. You signed a blood strip to say you were responsible for your accidents. There were no wires or protection.”
According to Dowdall, much of the progress in the stunt profession is due to the founding of the BSR by performers in 1973.
Before that, stunt artists worked as extras in films, and were paid extra for performing a “gag” such as falling down a flight of stairs, getting hit by a car, or participating in a fight scene. The business often attracted former military personnel, professional horse riders, show divers, circus performers, boxers and wrestlers. Work often comes through verbal introductions.
But the guide created a community of stunt professionals and helped provide better safety protections. These days, to join the register and become a BSR-qualified stunt performer, you need qualifications across at least six different sporting disciplines in four of the following groups: fighting (mandatory), tumbling, riding and driving, agility and strength, or water. .
“There has never been health and safety before,” said Dowdall, a former chair of the BSR committee. “Now things have tightened up a lot. The equipment has improved, the personal pads are better. We are landing on airbags instead of cardboard boxes.”
His own career has been one long rollercoaster ride. Before entering stunt work, he worked in the circus for a black trainer and acrobat, was an armorer for films, and spent time in the Parachute Regiment. He doubled for Harrison Ford in Force 10 of Navarone (1978) and Hanover Street (1979), Roger Moore in Octopussy (1983) and Pierce Brosnan in GoldenEye (1995) and Die Another Day (2002).
“In Octopussy, I was running and fighting on top of the train,” said Dowdall, now 75. “In Die Another Day, I was in an Aston Martin on ice.” Many of these stunts were extremely dangerous. Dowdall nearly broke his neck when he fell into the well once.
Aldham, as Tate on Where Eagles Dare, said she once had to “exit a moving cable car 70 feet into nothing but 8 feet of water.” She also recalled doubling as Deborah Kerr in the 1967 Bond spoof Casino Royale, when she had to escape the castle wearing Wellington boots, a black negligee and nightgown. “I went out on a tube swinging 80 feet up.”
Aldham has had her fair share of serious injuries. During a sequence for The Wrecking Crew — in which she and a co-star had to land a helicopter at 40 mph on the back of a container truck on a freight car — she fell and broke her back in three places, as well as her collarbone. A shoulder and six ribs.
“The telephone cable snapped and cut around my throat. I slid backwards as the container truck rolled out from under me, and I remember seeing the ground and hitting it with my shoulder. They had to draw 400cc of blood from my punctured lung. “I was 2cm away from being paralyzed from Waist down.”
Fourteen weeks later she returned to work. Only now is she willing to slow down.
In 2023, Aldham will star in the films Wicked Part 2, Blitz, Old Guy and the TV spy thriller Slow Horses within a few months. “So you could say I’m going off on a high,” she said with a laugh. “My daughter is an intensive care consultant, and she’s horrified that I’m still working at this age. She says: ‘I’m the one who holds them together, mum.’
The BFI said the gift of evidence came from a relationship that developed during the recent Art of Action film season. The 1973 catalog will be cataloged and digitized for access and preservation as part of the Rubin Library’s Ariston Collection.
Stunt artists hope this will be the beginning of a new era of respect and appreciation for their work. Despite the artistry and risks involved in professional stunts, for example, there is still no special category at award ceremonies such as the BAFTAs and the Oscars.
“All the other departments are recognized: wardrobe, hair, makeup, sound, but we’re not,” Dowdall said.
Aldham added: “We deserve our own category, especially when people like Tom Cruise are doing stunts now. Everyone I’ve worked with has always done their best. The least we deserve is a little appreciation.”