Lila Georgia Everett Finn Shanley (November 28, 1909November 15, 1996), stage name Lila Finn, was an American

stuntwoman A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

stunt double In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes for another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...

, actress, and athlete. After first working as a stunt double for

Dorothy Lamour Dorothy Lamour (born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for having appeared in the ''Road to...'' movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing C ...

in '' The Hurricane'' (1937), she doubled for many leading Hollywood actresses, including

Vivien Leigh Vivien Leigh ( ; born Vivian Mary Hartley; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. After completing her drama school education, Leigh appeared in small roles in four films in 1935 and progress ...

Paulette Goddard Paulette Goddard (born Marion Levy; June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an American actress and socialite. Her career spanned six decades, from the 1920s to the early 1970s. She was a prominent leading actress during the Golden Age of Hollywood ...

Donna Reed Donna Reed (born Donna Belle Mullenger; January 27, 1921 – January 14, 1986) was an American actress. Her career spanned more than 40 years, with performances in more than 40 films. She is well known for her portrayal of Mary Hatch Bailey in ...

Betty Hutton Betty Hutton (born Elizabeth June Thornburg; February 26, 1921 – March 12, 2007) was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer. She rose to fame in the 1940s as a contract player for Paramount Pictures, appea ...

, and

Sandra Dee Sandra Dee (born Alexandra Zuck; April 23, 1942 – February 20, 2005) was an American actress. Dee began her career as a child model, working first in commercials and then film in her teenage years. Best known for her portrayal of ingénues ...

, appearing in more than 100 films over nearly six decades. She was the founding president of the Stuntwomen's Association of Motion Pictures, established in 1958, and a founding member of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

. She also competed on the

United States women's national volleyball team The United States women's national volleyball team participates in international volleyball competitions and friendly games, and is governed by USA Volleyball. Their last head coach was three-time Olympic gold medalist and retired dominant be ...

from 1955 to 1960 and won a team silver medal in the

1959 Pan American Games The 1959 Pan American Games, officially known as the III Pan American Games and commonly known as Chicago 1959, were held in Chicago, Illinois, United States between August 28 and September 7, 1959. Host city selection One city initially su ...

Early life and family

Lila Georgia Everett was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California, on November 28, 1909. She was the daughter of Elmer E. Everett and Lila G. Baugh. Her father worked in real estate and her mother was a housewife. Growing up in the beachfront community of

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, she often dove for coins from tourists at the Venice Hot Salt Water Plunge. At age 19, she married her first husband, Charles Thornton Finn (born 1899), an American

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

player. She later remarried to Samuel Shanley, with whom she had one son, Barry, an attorney.

Film career

At age 27, the blonde, Shanley was hired as the

for

in '' The Hurricane'' (1937). An expert swimmer, she handled all of Lamour's swimming and diving scenes shot on location in

Pago Pago Pago Pago ( or ; Samoan language, Samoan: )Harris, Ann G. and Esther Tuttle (2004). ''Geology of National Parks''. Kendall Hunt. Page 604. . is the capital of American Samoa. It is in Maoputasi County, American Samoa, Maoputasi County on Tutuila ...

, American Samoa, and Catalina Island. In one scene, Shanley lowered her

sarong A sarong or a sarung (, ) is a large tube or length of textile, fabric, often wrapped around the waist, worn in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, Northern Africa, East Africa, West Africa, and on many Pacific islands. The fabric often ...

and was filmed diving into a lagoon in the nude. After ''The Hurricane'' became a hit, Shanley was hired to double for Lamour in her subsequent films. Shanley went on to double for a succession of leading actresses, including

in ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...

'',

in ''

Reap the Wild Wind ''Reap the Wild Wind'' is a 1942 American adventure film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Ray Milland, John Wayne, and Paulette Goddard, with a supporting cast featuring Raymond Massey, Robert Preston (actor), Robert Pres ...

'' and ''

Unconquered Unconquered or The Unconquered may refer to: Films * ''Unconquered'' (1917 film), a drama film by Frank Reicher * ''Unconquered'' (1947 film), an adventure film by Cecil B. DeMille * ''The Unconquered'' (documentary) or ''Helen Keller in Her Sto ...

'',

in '' It's a Wonderful Life'',

in '' The Perils of Pauline'', and

in '' A Summer Place''. She also doubled for

Jane Powell Jane Powell (born Suzanne Lorraine Burce; April 1, 1929 – September 16, 2021) was an American actress, singer, and dancer who appeared in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals in the 1940s and 50s. With her soprano voice and girl-next-door image, Powel ...

Olivia de Havilland Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British and American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her tim ...

Ida Lupino Ida Lupino (4 February 1918Recorded in ''Births Mar 1918'' Camberwell Vol. 1d, p. 1019 (Free BMD). Transcribed as "Lupine" in the official births index – 3 August 1995) was a British actress, director, writer, and producer. Throughout her 48-y ...

Veronica Lake Constance Frances Marie Ockelman (November 14, 1922 – July 7, 1973), known professionally as Veronica Lake, was an American film, stage, and television actress. Lake was best known for her femme fatale roles in films noir with Alan Ladd durin ...

Joan Fontaine Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was an English-American actress best known for her roles in Hollywood films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Fontaine appeared in ...

Frances Dee Frances Marion Dee (November 26, 1909 – March 6, 2004) was an American actress. Her first film was the musical ''Playboy of Paris'' (1930). She starred in the film ''An American Tragedy (film), An American Tragedy'' (1931). She is also known ...

, and

Sonja Henie Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norway, Norwegian figure skating, figure skater and film star. She was a three-time List of Olympic medalists in figure skating, Olympic champion (Figure skating at the 1928 Winter Olympics, ...

. She appeared in more than 100 films. In 1947,

Jerry Fairbanks Gerald Bertram Fairbanks (November 1, 1904, San Francisco - June 21, 1995, Santa Barbara, California) was a producer and director in the Hollywood motion picture and television industry. Biography Fairbanks survived the 1906 San Francisco earthq ...

produced ''

The Stunt Girl ''The Stunt Girl'' is a 1947 American short documentary film produced by Jerry Fairbanks and directed by Robert Carlisle. It recaps the career to date of Hollywood stuntwoman Lila Finn, who began working as a stunt double ten years earlier in the ...

'', a short documentary film highlighting her career to date. Shanley performed a wide range of stunts. In the escape from Atlanta scene in ''Gone with the Wind'', she rode in a horse-drawn carriage through the burning warehouses of the railroad depot. In the graduation party scene in ''It's a Wonderful Life'', she fell into a swimming pool that lay underneath the retractable floor of a high school gymnasium. In ''Unconquered'', she and stuntman

Ted Mapes John Tylor Mapes (November 25, 1901 – September 9, 1984) was an American character actor, who was also a prolific stuntman and body double. Born on November 25, 1901, in St. Edward, Nebraska, he moved to Los Angeles in his mid-20s, and entere ...

rode a canoe on the rapids then jumped out to grasp an overhanging tree limb; she also sustained an attack of "flaming arrows" in the same film. In ''

To Catch a Thief '' To Catch a Thief'' is a 1955 American romantic thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, from a screenplay by John Michael Hayes based on the 1952 To Catch a Thief (novel), novel of the same name by David Dodge (novelist), David Dodge. The ...

'', Shanley leaped from rooftop to rooftop, then rolled down a slanted roof and broke her fall. She had also "jumped out of bombers, been chased by lions, clawed by tigers, and thrown overboard into icy ocean waters at night", and served as the target for a knife-and-hatchet-thrower. Shanley said stair falls were her favorite stunt, explaining, "They are the most rewarding because everyone thinks they look great. They're quite simple, actually". In 1981, the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' said that Shanley, then aged 72, "may be the oldest working stuntwoman in America". It credited her long and injury-free career to her conditioning program, which involved swimming 50 laps daily and playing

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

Volleyball career

Shanley was the manager of the

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

Mariners women's volleyball team, which won several division titles. From 1955 to 1960, Shanley was a member of the

. During this time, the national team competed in two world championships, winning the silver medal in the

. Shanley was the oldest U.S. woman athlete at the 1959 Games.

Memberships and affiliations

Shanley was the founding president of the Stuntwomen's Association of Motion Pictures, established in 1958. She was also a founding member of the

. Shanley was inducted into the Stuntwomen's Hall of Fame. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Film.

Death

Shanley died from heart failure on November 15, 1996, aged 86, at

Saint John's Health Center Providence Saint John's Health Center, formerly St. Johns Hospital and Health Center, is a private not-for-profit, Roman Catholic hospital in Santa Monica, California, United States. The hospital was founded in 1942 by the Sisters of Charity of ...

in Santa Monica.

Selected filmography

* '' The Hurricane'' (1937) * ''

'' (1939) * ''

Typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

'' (1940) * ''

Just Off Broadway ''Just Off Broadway'' is a 1942 Drama directed by Herbert I. Leeds, starring Lloyd Nolan and Marjorie Weaver. This is the sixth of a series of seven that Lloyd Nolan played Michael Shayne for Twentieth Century Fox films. Hugh Beaumont portrayed ...

'' (1942) * ''

'' (1942) * '' Frenchman's Creek'' (1944) * '' It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946) * ''

'' (1947) * '' The Perils of Pauline'' (1947) * '' Scarlet Angel'' (1952) * ''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Run ...

'' (1955) * ''

The Court Jester ''The Court Jester'' is a 1955 American historical musical comedy film starring Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury and Cecil Parker. The film was written, produced, and directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama for ...

'' (1956) * '' The Ten Commandments'' (1956) * '' A Summer Place'' (1959) * ''

Spartacus Spartacus (; ) was a Thracians, Thracian gladiator (Thraex) who was one of the Slavery in ancient Rome, escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major Slave rebellion, slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Historical accounts o ...

'' (1960) * '' The Spiral Road'' (1962) * ''

Incident in an Alley ''Incident in an Alley'' is a 1962 American neo noir crime film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Chris Warfield, Erin O'Donnell and Harp McGuire. The film's premise rests on a legal precedent that police may use force against fleeing su ...

'' (1962) * '' The Poseidon Adventure'' (1972) * ''

Blazing Saddles ''Blazing Saddles'' is a 1974 American satirical postmodernist Western black comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, who co-wrote the screenplay with Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg and Alan Uger, based on a story treatment by Be ...

'' (1974) * ''

The Towering Inferno ''The Towering Inferno'' is a 1974 American disaster film directed by John Guillermin and produced by Irwin Allen, featuring an ensemble cast led by Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. It was adapted by Stirling Silliphant from the novels '' The ...

'' (1974) * ''

Earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

'' (1974) * ''

Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

'' (1976) * ''

Heartbeeps ''Heartbeeps'' is a 1981 American romantic-comedy and science fiction film about two robots who fall in love and decide to strike out on their own. The film was directed by Allan Arkush, written by John Hill, and stars Andy Kaufman and Bernade ...

'' (1981) * '' Surf II'' (1984) * ''

The Goonies ''The Goonies'' is a 1985 American adventure comedy film directed and co-produced by Richard Donner from a screenplay by Chris Columbus based on a story by Steven Spielberg and starring Sean Astin, Josh Brolin (in his film debut), Jeff Cohen ...

'' (1985) * ''

Out of Bounds In sports, out of bounds (or out-of-bounds) refers to being outside the playing boundaries of the field. The legality of going out of bounds (intentionally or not), and the ease of prevention, vary by sport. Sports that use this term include Am ...

'' (1986) * ''

Legal Eagles ''Legal Eagles'' is a 1986 American legal romantic comedy thriller film directed by Ivan Reitman, written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr. from a story by Reitman and the screenwriters, and starring Robert Redford, Debra Winger, and Daryl Hanna ...

'' (1986) * ''

License to Drive ''License to Drive'' is a 1988 American teen comedy film written by Neil Tolkin and directed by Greg Beeman in his feature film directorial debut. It stars Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Heather Graham, and Carol Kane. The film was in produ ...

'' (1988) * ''

Tango & Cash ''Tango & Cash'' is a 1989 American buddy cop action comedy film starring Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Jack Palance, and Teri Hatcher. The film follows the titular pair of rival police detectives who are forced to work together after a crim ...

'' (1989) * '' Police Academy 6: City Under Siege'' (1989) * ''

Predator 2 ''Predator 2'' is a 1990 American science fiction film, science fiction action film written by brothers Jim and John Thomas, directed by Stephen Hopkins (director), Stephen Hopkins, and starring Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Ruben Blades, Rubén Bla ...

'' (1990) * '' Repossessed'' (1990) * ''

RoboCop 2 ''RoboCop 2'' is a 1990 American science fiction superhero action film directed by Irvin Kershner and written by Frank Miller and Walon Green. It stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Belinda Bauer, Tom Noonan, and Gabriel Dam ...

'' (1990) * '' The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear'' (1991) * '' The Rocketeer'' (1991) * '' Goliath Awaits'' (1991) * ''

Suburban Commando ''Suburban Commando'' is a 1991 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Burt Kennedy, produced by Howard Gottfried, and written by Frank Cappello. The film stars Hulk Hogan, Christopher Lloyd, Shelley Duvall, and Larry Mil ...

'' (1991) * ''

Folks! ''Folks!'' is a 1992 American comedy-drama film directed by Ted Kotcheff, written by Robert Klane and starring Tom Selleck as a selfish yuppie who takes in his parents after their house burns down. It was panned by critics, earning Selleck a Raz ...

'' (1992) :Sources:

References

Sources

* * *

External links

*
Women Volleyball Panamerican Games 1959 Chicago (USA) - 29.08-06.09 Winner Brazil
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shanley, Lila 1909 births 1996 deaths American stunt performers Women stunt performers American film actresses 20th-century American actresses American women's volleyball players Volleyball players at the 1959 Pan American Games Actresses from Los Angeles Volleyball players from Los Angeles Pan American Games competitors for the United States 20th-century American sportswomen