Leslie Hoffman

In her three-hour interview, Leslie Hoffman speaks about her training at Paul Stader's gym in the 1970s, which launched her into her first job as a stuntwoman on the feature film Two-Minute Warning. Hoffman describes her work on various television series of the 1970s, including Police Story, Emergency, Laverne & Shirley, M*A*S*H, Charlie's Angels, Columbo, and The Love Boat. She recalls in detail one of her most spectacular stunts, making a 78-foot jump off the "Love Boat" in the series' second episode. She discusses being the first stuntwoman elected to the Board of Directors of SAG, the AFTRA Los Angeles Local Board, and AFTRA National Boards in the 1980s. In addition to describing her stunt work on such 1980's series as Fantasy Island, Private Benjamin, and Falcon Crest, she talks about her extensive work as Doris Roberts' stunt double during the run of Remington Steele. Hoffman then describes her work as a stunt coordinator on the television after-school special Me and My Hormones, which was Melissa Gilbert's directorial debut. Finally, Hoffman discusses her work as a stuntwoman and assistant stunt coordinator on the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. Hoffman also recounts her work in several feature films including I Wanna Hold Your Hand, 1941, Airplane!, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!. Throughout the interview, Hoffman defines and describes the tools of the trade and other stunt terminology. Gary Rutkowski conducted the interview on March 10, 2003 in Los Angeles, CA.