Sandra Gimpel

In her three-and-a-half-hour interview, Sandra Gimpel talks about growing up in Los Angeles and the influence her father, a gymnast, had on her, including inspiring her early interest in fitness and dance. She talks about beginning her professional career as a dancer, and how she came to dance in fifteen Elvis Presley movies. Gimpel describes the experience of working with Elvis, including the time that the casts spent together off-set. She then discusses how she came to work in stunts, first as Bill Mumy’s stunt double on Lost in Space, and then as a Talosian and the "Salt Vampire" on episodes of the original Star Trek series. For Star Trek, she talks about working with William Shatner, how she functioned in the costumes for both parts, and the on-going fan reaction to her role, especially as the "Salt Vampire." She then discusses working on The Bionic Woman as Jennifer Darling’s stunt double, including a typical day on the set and a few notable stunts she performed on the show. She talks about being the stunt coordinator on Mrs. Columbo, and how she also became second unit director on that series. Gimpel goes into detail about the work second unit directors and stunt coordinators do, and shares stories from various projects she has worked on, including The Truman Show, Norbit, Airplane! (the famous Girl Scout fight), and Seinfeld. She talks about near-misses and accidents on set, and gives her opinion on the fatal accident on the set of the 1983 Twilight Zone movie (though she did not work on that project). Throughout, she emphasizes the importance of safety on set, the work she does to prevent accidents, and the important safety lessons she has learned throughout her career. She concludes by giving advice to aspiring stunt performers and sharing her proudest career achievement. Stephen J. Abramson conducted the interview on August 22, 2019 in Los Angeles, CA.