Leslie Hoffman

Leslie Hoffman was interviewed for three hours in Los Angeles, CA.  She spoke 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 described 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 spoke in detail about one of her most spectacular stunts, making a 78-foot jump off the "Love Boat " in the series' second episode.  She talked about 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 1980s series as Fantasy Island, Private Benjamin , and Falcon Crest , she talked about her extensive work as Doris Roberts' stunt double during the run of Remington Steele .  Hoffman then talked about her work as a stunt coordinator on such projects as the television after-school special Me and My Hormones , which was Melissa Gilbert's directorial debut.  Finally, Hoffman discussed her work as a stuntwoman and assistant stunt coordinator on the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager .  Hoffman also described 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 defined and described the tools of the trade and other stunt terminology.  The interview was conducted by Gary Rutkowski on March 10, 2003.