They Seldom Used Body Doubles— And Payed the Price
The Three Stooges were no strangers to physical comedy, often injuring themselves or each other to trigger a laugh. However, during one short, the trio flat out refused to participate unless they received stunt doubles for a certain scene. While filming “Three Little Pigskins,” the group is meant to be tackled by a group of football players while taking paparazzi photos. Fearing they would receive grave injuries from professional athletes, Larry pleaded with the director to hire doubles for the scene. Their decision to opt out of filming was reinforced by the fact that Larry and Curly had already suffered injuries on set (a lost tooth and broken leg) and didn’t want to further risk more harm.