If you say you weren't the least bit afraid of the Wicked Witch of the West, you're a liar. We're still a little bit afraid of her, and we stopped sleeping with a nightlight ages ago. The flying monkeys were terrifying, and how bad did she have to be if she was in charge of them?
Margaret Hamilton was totally the type to suffer for her craft, though, and while there were a whole bunch of missteps and accidents that would have today's stars calling their lawyers, hers ranks right at the top. When the witch makes her exit from Munchkinland, she drops through a trap door, and jets of flame spit up from the spot she "disappeared" from. The first take went perfectly, but the ever-vigilant director Victor Fleming wanted another take, just in case. On that one, Hamilton's hat and coat caught on fire, burning layers of skin off her face and hands. Bad, right? It gets worse. Did you forget she was covered in green paint? The only way to get the paint off her raw, burned skin was with alcohol. You cringe just thinking about it.
She left the set for six weeks and returned before she had even completely healed. Since they couldn't reapply the green paint, she wore gloves for the rest of filming. Not surprisingly, she had lost a bit of faith in the special effects department and refused to do any more fire-related acting. They still had that famous skywriting sequence to film, and that required an actress who was willing to sit on a broomstick that wasn't a broomstick: it was a pipe. It was also filled with fire. Also? It exploded.
Hamilton's stunt double, Betty Danko, was hospitalized for 11 days. Presumably she never worked with fire again either.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunCAkG9taWejqb%2BiusaeZK2gmaO0tHnHmqepnZ6asW6%2FxK1ksKGqlr%2Blec6zZg%3D%3D