Fake Shemp

How do you run across stuff like this?

It amazes even me. The internet is a neverending jack-in-the-box.

Check out the bottom of the cast for Darkman. I saw an interview of Bruce Campbell once, where he said "you wouldn't believe some of the roles I took".

Oh, there are LOTS of fake Shemps.

I know that doubles are often used (and sometimes it's really obvious), but I've never heard the term Fake Shemp before.

In the absolutely terrible move Plan 9 from Outer space, Bela Lugosi was listed as a star, but he had died years before the movie was made and the producer used some old clips of him. As Lugosi himself never had any connection with the movie, would he be considered a Fake Shemp?

No in this case Tom Mason was the fake Shemp.

I don't get the connection between Plan 9 and Tom Mason.

It was a test for you.  You failed.

Wikipedia wrote:

Shortly after Lugosi's death the story and screenplay for Grave Robbers from Outer Space were written and finalised, with Wood planning to use the unconnected, unrelated footage of Lugosi as a means of putting a credit for him on the picture. Though Wood's actions were driven in part by the desire to give his film a 'star name' and attract horror fans, the Lugosi cameo was also meant as a loving tribute and farewell to the actor, who had become fast friends with Wood in the last three years of Lugosi's life. Wood hired his wife's chiropractor, Tom Mason, as a stand-in for Lugosi, even though Mason was taller than Lugosi and bore no resemblance to him.[2]

Yeah, you got me. There is an actor named Tom Mason, but he's too young to have been a fake Shemp for Lugosi. I don't know why I didn't think of looking for chiropractors named Tom Mason. It seems so logical now.

Turns out there's a third actor named Tom Mason, born just a year after Ed Wood's Tom Mason. There's a surfeit of Tom Mason, actors.

How can there be multiple Tom Masons? SAG only allows one actor per name.
For example, Michael Keaton's real name Is Michael Douglas, which he was not allowed to use because it was already taken. Michael J. Fox had to add a middle initial because there was already a SAG member named Michael Fox (Michael J. Fox's middle name is Andrew, btw).

At least one of those Tom Masons was never a member of SAG.

The Spine Adjustment Guild?

Chiropracty joke, I see what you did there.

One seldom has a chance to make a Chiropracty joke, I thank you for the opportunity.

Damn straight.

Fake Shemps and deep fakes. It's a brave new world out there.

Will Smith's new movie, due out October 11, has him playing two roles: one at his present age, and one age-regressed by a couple decades.