Episode 312: “Heather Thomas on The Fall Guy, Activism and The Poster”

“You’re in acting class and you’re studying Chekov or ‘Waiting for Godot’ -- and then you end up doing 80’s tits-and-ass… You caught on pretty quick what it was about and where the power lay.” -- Actress Heather Thomas
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The Conversation

  • WORKING WITH MONKEYS: Clyde, the orangutan from Every Which Way But Loose, was her co-star once: “He thought it was funny to keep grabbing my boob. I thought he was gonna rip it off!” And a stint on BJ and the Bear led to producer Glen Larsen tapping her for the co-starring role in The Fall Guy. 
  • WORKING WITH TV PRODUCERS: “All of them are crazy. You’re not gonna find any normal ones, not in those days. Everyone was nuts. And they still are.”
  • "Smile more": Early on, the ABC network executives were afraid that Heather Thomas wasn’t likable. So they put her in a bikini. “I guess that made up for me not smiling enough.” 
  • STUNT WORK: “Lee Majors almost broke my nose once.” "I was good on rollerskates!"
  • In preparation for a Fall Guy episode, Heather trained with the Los Angeles Thunderbirds roller-derby team: “They showed me how to ‘break my back’ on the rail -- it was really fun!”
  • Ted Lange -- Isaac, the bartender on The Love Boat -- was one of Heather’s favorite directors on the Fall Guy.
  • A GOOD DIRECTOR: For Heather, it was someone who brought her into the filmmaking process. For Lee Majors -- it was anyone who got him home by 5:00pm! 
  • THE POSTER: Once the show was a hit, a poster was the next big step: “It outsold Farrah Fawcett. I bought a house. I was thrilled.”
  • DIS-LIKENESS: Heather’s image has been hi-jacked and used for everything from lighters, to puzzles, to notebook covers -- to a pillow!
  • ON HAVING A FAMOUS BODY: “My body was my living. That’s how I saw it.  So I had to feed it, exercise it -- I couldn’t have an ounce of cellulite. It was part of the gig. But I didn’t care, I was grateful. I was making more money than I ever had in my life. I was a kid.”
  • ZAPPED! -- Teen sex comedy -- or sexual harassment?  “They tried to get me topless, but my contract said uh-uh!  So, they used a body double. There’s a big disclaimer at the end of the movie saying that it’s not my tits.”
  • Activism: “Ever since they said, ‘You can’t climb the tree, the boys can’ -- I was a feminist.”

So join Susan and Sharon -- and Heather -- as they talk fly-fishing, Star Wars, David Letterman,Teen Beat, Shaun Cassidy & Parker Stevenson, “Gabor-lore”, Cliff Robertson’s toupeé, organizing your phone by decade, not complying in advance -- and canoeing with Henry Winkler!

Our Audio-ography

Find Heather Thomas on Twitter at Twitter.com/HeatherThomasAF 

And find Heather Thomas on BlueSky at HeatherThomasAF.bsky.social 

Watch Heather Thomas in The Fall Guy on Peacock, Amazon Prime or Flixfling!

Check DontGetPurged.org to make sure your name has not been purged from voter rolls!

Find out more about CREW at CitizensForEthics.org

VITAL READING

Get Handbook for A Post-Roe America by Robin Marty at Bookshop.org.

Check out Men In Dark Times by Hannah Ahrendt at Bookshop.org.

Read Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson at Bookshop.org.

You can also follow Richardson’s substack.

IF YOU NEED HELP

If you have been a victim of this disaster it can be overwhelming to figure out what to do next.

SUPPORT FOR THE LA FIRES 

- Online at DisasterAssistance.gov

or - On the FEMA App for mobile devices

or - Call the FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-3362

Calls are accepted every day from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. PST.

You can apply for FEMA even if you have insurance. 

More resources at Eaton Canyon Community Relief.

Google List of LA County Resources

AIRBNB is offering temporary free housing for those displaced by the fires. Start here

PLACES TO VOLUNTEER

Google Doc for Wednesday and ongoing.

Volunteer with the Red Cross.

TALK TO SOMEONE

Reach out to friends and family. Take care of yourself:

Pro Bono Therapy for LA Wildfires - Google Doc. 

More mental health resources at LARevive.

DONATING

Master GoFundMe List for LA Fire Victims Google Doc.

Displaced Black families in Altadena Google Doc

Gofundme pages for EATON CANYON COMMUNITY RELIEF

CONNECT

Visit 80sTVLadies.com for transcripts.

Join the conversation at Facebook.com/80sTVLadies.

Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.

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In Honor of President Carter and to learn more about his presidency: Get Susan’s new play about him and his Crisis of Confidence speech: Confidence (and the Speech) at Broadway Licensing.

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SPECIAL MESSAGE

CREDITS

Credits: 80s TV Ladies™ Episode 312.

 

Produced by 134 West and Susan Lambert Hatem. Hosted by Susan Lambert Hatem and Sharon Johnson. Guest: Heather Thomas. Sound Engineer and Editor: Kevin Ducey. Producer: Melissa Roth. Associate Producer: Sergio Perez. Music by Amy Engelhardt. Copyright 2024 134 West, LLC and Susan Lambert. All Rights Reserved.

Transcription