A memorial service will be held later this month in Culver City for circus acrobat and pioneering Hollywood stuntwoman Paula Dell, who died at the age of 90.
Dell was a charter member of the Stuntwomen’s Association of Motion Pictures and was active in the group until a few years ago.
The group released a statement calling Dell “a true stunt legend in a day when women didn’t really even have a chance to do stunts.”
“If you are a working stuntwoman today, you owe part of your career to her!” the statement says. “She was a genuinely kind person and she loved the legacy that is SWAMP. RIP to a legend who helped pave the way for every stuntwoman out there.”
Dell, who died Monday at her Santa Monica home, attended Santa Monica High School and USC and was a schoolteacher when she wasn’t doing stunt work, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Dell’s acrobatic talents, honed with the Dewayne Bros. Circus, were utilized in the 1967 film “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” The 5-foot-2 performer was shot out of a cannon onto a stage as a double for the much-taller Carol Channing, according to the industry trade publication.
She was Julie Andrews’ double on “Star!” and for Jaclyn Smith on the ABC television series “Charlie’s Angels.”
Her film stunt work credits included “Camelot,” “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Earthquake,” “The Towering Inferno,” “Logan’s Run” and “Airplane!”
Dell was inducted into the U.S. Sports Acrobatics Hall of Fame in 2003 and was featured in a 2015 book, “Stuntwoman: The Untold Hollywood Story,” by Mollie Gregory.
The memorial service is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Jan. 25 at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church. In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to the church.
