Stunts of Steele with Living Legend Debbie Evans

Could you be a stuntwoman? Find out what it takes.
Susan and Sharon are honored to talk with legendary award-winning stuntwoman Debbie Evans Leavitt. In a career spanning six decades, Debbie has risked life and limb in classic television shows and massive blockbuster movies. She talks doubling Stephanie Zimbalist on Remington Steele and what that moment between take-off and crash-landing feels like. Debbie has flipped and fallen and raced in Charlie’s Angels, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Vega$, ChiPs, The A-Team, Hill Street Blues, Magnum, PI, Cagney & Lacey, CSI, NCIS: Los Angeles, Fear the Walking Dead, Major Crimes, and Criminal Minds.

Her many feature films include The Jerk, 1941, Jagged Edge, Heaven’s Gate, Witches of Eastwick, The Ring, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Fight Club and Pineapple Express as well as Matrix: Reloaded and Matrix: Resurrection, this year’s The Batman -- and eight of the ten Fast & the Furious movies including the upcoming “Fast X”.

As one of the few women to survive and flourish in one of Hollywood’s most notorious boys' clubs – the world of stunts – Debbie Evans has navigated a treacherous career filled with challenges not limited to high-falls, fist fights and car chases. She takes Susan and Sharon over the hurdles and around the curves of a life that has been fast, furious, deeply rewarding – and never less than thrilling.

So buckle-up and grab your crash strap – here we go!

THE CONVERSATION
Remembering 37 episodes of “Remington Steele” including
Learning to run “like Laura Holt”
Falling from a burning building!
Jumping Laura’s VW Rabbit into a pond!
Stunting for the guys! Using a fat suit and bald cap to double as Remington and Laura’s nemesis Norman Keyes – and getting punched by Pierce Brosnan!
Riding motorcycles with her dad and her first time on a bike (she crashed)
Building a Honda 55 step thru piece-by-piece at age 8 (took a year)
Having fun on the set of “The Fast and the Furious” films with Michelle Rodriquez
Getting her first movie gig with Roger Corman on the aptly named “DeathSport”
Being mentored by “stunt mom” and veteran stuntwoman Jeannie Epper
Doing her first car flip on “ChiPs”
Doubling Stepfanie Kramer on Hunter.
Taking the wheel of the Cody Coyote on Hardcastle & McCormick.
Playing cowboys and guitar with Kris Kristofferson on the set of Heaven's Gate.
Being inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2003 – a dream come true.
Susan, Sharon and Debbie talk about crashing, flipping, speeding and Gosling! (Ryan, of course…) as Debbie explains the subtle art of giving people “the respect they don’t deserve”…

AUDIOGRAPHY
Debbie Evans Official website.
Learn more about women working in the field of stunts at WomenInStunts.com --
BOOKS
Stunts: The How-To Handbook: Secrets From an Award-Winning Hollywood Stunt Woman by Angela Meryl - Get it on Amazon.
THE STUNTWOMAN: The True Story of a Hollywood Heroine by David L. Robb and Julie Ann Johnson - On Amazon - Paperback - Kindle.
Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story (Screen Classics) by Mollie Gregory - On Amazon - Kindle.

MOVIE
Check out the Stuntwoman movie directed by April Wright. Watch on Amazon.

For more information or to download a transcript of this podcast, visit our website - 80sTVLadies!
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