By Paul Miller
American actor Jimmy Durante’s nose became his trademark and so, he insured it at Lloyd’s as a publicity stunt for $140,000.
He was, however, refused coverage in 1954 for a TV performance when he walked into a cage that housed a a lion, six monkeys and a jackass. Whilst the animals were all insured for full mortality, Durante was rejected as too big a risk.
Stunt actors were first insured at Lloyd’s in 1938 when the market agreed to accept them as good risks. After investigating every stunt actor in the industry, Lloyd’s selected 25 daredevils and offered them yearly insurance against “death and dismemberment in the course of their work”. Hospital expenses for injured workers were previously paid by the state from its compensation insurance funds. However, the rates paid by the studios on were so high that many preferred not to use stunt actors. By carrying their own $15,000 policies, the performers could lower the state compensation rate to the studios and in turn, create more work for themselves.
Among the first to make a claim was Betty Danko. She was doubling for the witch in The Wizard of Oz, flying through the air on a broomstick (for the skywriting scene). The broomstick was suspended from the ceiling with invisible wires and Betty was supposed to press a button to release some smoke, but something went wrong and there was an explosion. She cut her arms on wires and busted her back when she hit the cement floor. The following delays in filming were covered by insurers.
In 1959, Audrey Hepburn was filming in Mexico. Despite having a stunt double, she insisted on riding an Arabian stallion herself. Shortly after, the horse was spooked and Hepburn was thrown from it, fracturing four vertebrae. She was flown to hospital on a stretcher, telling paparazzi: “I feel fine, It only hurts when I laugh… so don’t say anything funny!” She was nursed back to health and returned to set six weeks later. Insurer Fireman’s Fund paid a claim of $250,000, one of their largest that year.
When John Wayne had an operation to have a lung removed, it seemed that his career may be over. Months later, he began shooting The Sons of Katie Elder. He still had trouble breathing but would have to fall off horses and jump into cold mountain waters. Wanting to make a statement about his health, he asked to perform the stunts himself. When his producer announced he had taken out a $1 million policy at Lloyd’s on Wayne, he was really telling the world that he was insurable. Albeit, with a high deductible of $25,000 plus 2.5% of the final net insurable cost. The policy was for four months, long enough to finish the film.
Like Wayne, Robert Redford preferred to do his own stunts: “The stunt guys are really necessary and I never do the stunts where a pro can pull it off safer and better. But I do like to do the action where the camera is too close to tell a lie and the movie’s insurance men are back at the office making out policies.”
