Heather Thomas is an actress that is best known for the playing the sexy character of Jody Banks on the hit 1981 series The Fall Guy. She was arguably the main thing drawing the television audience to the show. And she was well aware that this was the case. Heather went on to become a sex symbol of the 1980s as a result of her appearance on the show. As well as her appearances in various magazine pinups. The actress able to become a sex symbol without ever taking her clothes off. And which a choice she made early on in her career. This made the actress all the more angry when her 1982 film debut Zapped! used a body double without her knowledge to make it look as if she appeared nude. Join Facts Verse as Heather Thomas didn’t know she was in R-rated scenes in Zapped!
Zapped! Was One of Heather Thomas’ Only Movies
If you’re one of the many people that have never heard of the movie Zapped!, there’s a good reason for that. The movie would hardly be notable if it weren’t for the fact that it featured a few notable stars early on in their careers. In addition to Scott Baio of Happy Days and Willie Aames of Eight is Enough. The film also proved the big-screen debut of actress Jody Banks. Who rose to prominence as one of the stars of the 1981 television series The Fall Guy.
When Zapped! filmed, the movie intended to be a PG-rated comedy. All of the actors involved in the film told as such before signing on. And not until after all of the main cast had filmed their roles that reshoots done to make the film rated R. This choice made after the massive box-office success of the 1981 comedy Porky’s. Porky’s proved to Hollywood that the way to appeal to the cinema audience was to show them boobs and gross-out humor. And the producers behind Zapped! took this to heart.
Despite the fact that she would go on to become one of the most prominent sex symbols of the 1980s. Heather Thomas decided very early on in her career that she was never going to remove her clothes for the audience. The actress claimed that there was no reason for women to need to remove their clothes in order to be sexy. And her immense success certainly served as proof of this! The moment that Heather Thomas made the decision never to appear nude was when the producers of Zapped! came back to her to ask her if she would be willing to appear nude in the film’s reshoots.
Heather Thomas Made the Decision Not to Go Nude
Heather Thomas apparently thought long and hard about whether or not she would be willing to appear nude in a movie. And she eventually decided that taking her clothes off for the cameras just wasn’t for her. When she told the producers, they understandably upset. However, they thought of a clever way to make it appear as if Heather Thomas was nude in their movie. They hired a body double that looked somewhat like Heather and used her for what intended to be the actress’s nude scenes. The film then went on to released like this, and Heather’s very upset.
Heather Thomas was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, on September 8, 1957. Sometime between Heather’s birth and her high-school graduation, she moved out to Santa Monica, California. After graduating from Santa Monica High School in 1975, Heather would go on to attend UCLA Film School, which she would graduate form in 1980. While attending the school, Heather had been studying with the intention of becoming a writer and director. Though Heather Thomas would get back into writing many years after finding success as a sex symbol in Hollywood. She has never found much success behind the cameras.
Instead, the actress has forced to accept that the main thing that the audience likes her for is her looks. After debuting on The Fall Guy in 1981, Heather’s career showed a lot of promise. The readers of Us Weekly voted the actress their “Favorite Female Newcomer” in the year 1982. Though the release of Zapped! the very same year certainly hurt her career prospects a bit.
Heather Thomas never made any qualms about the fact that she used as eye candy on The Fall Guy. The actress was certainly successful eye candy. And the show likely wouldn’t have been nearly as big of a hit if she wasn’t in it. In addition to Heather, The Fall Guy also starred Lee Majors, who previously known for playing the titular character on The Six Million Dollar Man during the 1970s. While The Fall Guy wasn’t quite as successful as that show. It still a pretty big hit for the actor. And he was certainly grateful to Heather for helping draw in audience members. However, there said to have a time during the filming of The Fall Guy when Lee became concerned about Heather because it appeared that she starting up a substance-abuse habit.
Heather Never Enjoyed Her Fame
According to Heather Thomas, she had begun smoking marijuana during the filming of The Fall Guy. And there were a couple times when she showed up to filming so stoned that she nearly passed out. Heather claims that Lee Majors noticed her nearly passing out and confronted her about it, asking her if she needed help. Heather had no hard feelings about Lee confronting her. And claiming that the star simply seemed very concerned and like he wanted to be supportive.
While Heather Thomas was a big hit with audiences on The Fall Guy. Not much came of her career as an actress afterwards. The Fall Guy lasted from 1981 to 1986. And Heather’s most notable acting appearance following the end of the series was in the 1987 movie Cyclone. Though Cyclone is a minor cult classic, it’s hardly more notable than 1982’s Zapped. When all is said and done, Heather’s status as a sex symbol has greatly outshone her acting talents.
One might assume that Heather Thomas simply didn’t get offered many roles after The Fall Guy came to an end. But it seems that leaving acting behind was a conscious choice by the actress. The main reason that Heather chose to leave acting behind was because her status as a sex symbol started drawing the wrong kind of attention from fans. Heather claims that she had numerous stalkers during the height of her fame. And that she simply didn’t want to deal with them anymore.
According to Heather, there were times when she had to get restraining orders against fans because they would try to get onto her property. By the end of her career in the entertainment industry, Heather had hired a bodyguard to live with her. Besides that fact that Heather simply didn’t want to deal with stalkers herself. Another reason the actress chose to quit the entertainment industry is because she didn’t want to expose her family to this stuff.
Heather Always Wanted a Family
Heather Thomas had always intended to start a family. And her first attempt came in 1985, when she married a man by the name of Alan Rosenthal. This marriage didn’t turn out very successful, as the two were divorced only a year later. Heather has found much more success with her second marriage, as she and her second husband are still together today! Heather’s second husband is a man by the name of Harry Brittenham. The pair married in 1992, and Heather finally gave birth to her first child in the year 2000.
Heather named her first child India, and India remains the only child that Heather has had up until this point. With India, Heather’s dream of starting a family was finally realized. By that point, the actress was completely done with her career in the entertainment industry. The only thing that Heather has appeared in since 1998 is an indie production by the name of Girltrash: All Night Long. It is which the actress likely only appeared in as a personal favor to someone she knew.
Before Girltrash: All Night Long, the last thing that Heather Thomas had appeared in was the 1998 comedy My Giant, which starred Billy Crystal. By that point in Heather’s Hollywood career, her celebrity status had decreased to such a significant degree. And that she was cast in the film as a nameless showgirl. However, this was arguably the way that the actress wanted it, as she has never cared for fame.
Zapped! Would Be Forgotten If Not for Heather
Heather Thomas appeared in so few films. Her role in the movie Zapped! remains one of her only notable appearances on the big screen. Once again, this is one of the only reasons that the movie is notable today. Heather Thomas ended up filing a complaint with the Screen Actors Guild about the producers of the film using a body double to make it look as if she appeared nude. And which went against her rights as an actress. The rules state that an actor or actress must give their permission to filmmakers who wish to use a body double for them. And which the producers of Zapped! certainly didn’t do. As a result, Zapped! had to be edited to include a disclaimer at the end that a body double had been used for the scenes in which Heather appeared to be nude.
Zapped! starred Scott Baio as a high-schooler who develops a potion that gives him telekinetic powers. Heather Thomas plays the stuck-up prom queen at Scott’s character’s high school. And he uses his telekinetic powers to humiliate her at the end in a scene that parodies the climax of Carrie. Most people that watched the movie likely watched it on the off chance that they might see Heather topless. When they saw the disclaimer over the end credits, they likely felt fooled.
Although Zapped! remains notable for being one of the only films that actress and sex symbol Heather Thomas ever appeared in. The film is relatively dismal. Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that actress Heather Thomas made the decision early on in her career to never appear nude. But still got to become a sex symbol anyways? As always, like this video to show your support/. and subscribe and hit the notification bell if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!
