EXCLUSIVE: 'I was Hasselhoff’s Baywatch body double thanks to his
chicken legs’: LA lifeguard who helped inspire hit show reveals its
secrets and shares hilarious never-before-seen 'teaser tape'
- Trained lifeguard Michael Newman was childhood pals with Baywatch creator Greg Bonnan
- He starred in the 'teaser tape' Bonnan made to sell the show and reveals it for first time to MailOnline
- Newman got a key role on the show and was also Hasselhoff's leg stand-in
- He also taught Pamela Anderson how to run on the beach like a real lifeguard
- Baywatch is now being turned into a Hollywood movie with The Rock
Real life Baywatch hunk Michael Newman has given a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of the 1980s TV hit.
The
former LA lifeguard starred in a never-before seen 'teaser tape' that
was used to sell Baywatch to TV chiefs, which today he unveils to
MailOnline.
Now
59, Michael was a regular stand-in for David Hasselhoff because of the
star’s ‘chicken legs' - and even taught Baywatch bombshell Pamela
Anderson how to run on the beach.
Stand-in: Michael Newman with Baywatch
star David Hasselhoff. Newman's legs were used to cover up The Hoff's
'chicken legs', he says
Chicken
legs: Professional lifeguard Michael Newman (right) said he often stood
in for 6ft 4ins tall David Hasselhoff (left) due to his skinny legs
Michael
- affectionately nicknamed Newmie - said: 'There were many times when
Alex Daniels, who was David’s stunt double on the show, and I filmed
dangerous scenes together, and I would be driving a powerful race boat
and Alex would be having to jump down into the boat going at some 60mph
from a 70ft cliff edge and not land in the ocean, then he has to trust
me to the right place at just the right time.
‘Most
of the time, when you saw Hasselhoff’s legs, you were often looking at
my own legs. Hasselhoff always had very skinny chicken legs!'
Newmie
also worked as a technical advisor on Baywatch and admitted that
although slender, many of the actors weren't fit enough for the show -
so he had to put them through his own training camp.
I'd
teach the actors to run with the lifeguard can...so that when Pamela
Anderson ran with the can, it didn't look like she was holding a purse!
- Michael Newman
He
said: 'I’d teach them how to run with the lifeguard can and how to swim
with your head up and get the basics down, so that when Pamela Anderson
ran with the can it didn’t look like she was holding a purse!’
‘I was technical consultant on the show and was constantly asked by the writers about every action scene we shot.
'The
head writer on the show would call me up and say: "Ok Mike, what kind
of equipment would we use in this scene? What kind of radio equipment
would the actors use? What would the traffic sequence be? What would
they be saying on the radio?" And I would dictate all this information
to these guys and they would repay me by writing me some good stuff in
the show.’
The
show never did win an Emmy as Newmie says: 'It’s so hard to remember
all the storylines, but one thing I will say about the scripts is that
we used to laugh because they they would adapt stories from all over the
place and make them work for Baywatch.
‘There
was an episode with an electric eel that was attacking one of our guys
in a cave, and so we used defibrillator patterns, the heart shocking
device, to shock the eel and kill it, but it was a rubber eel. It was
the stupidest thing I had ever seen!'
You get the idea: Michael Newman
starred in a 'teaser tape' for what his childhood buddy and fellow
lifeguard Greg Bonnan would use to sell his idea for Baywatch to TV
chiefs
Co-stars: Michael Newman with Baywatch bombshell Pamela Anderson. The professional lifeguard trained Pam and other show stars
Baywatch
was the brainchild of his schoolpal and fellow lifeguard Greg Bonnan,
who got him on board to film a trailer on Santa Monica beach - complete
with the now famous slow-motion running.
Bonnan,
Newmie said, had long dreamed of making a show about lifeguards,
telling his pal: ‘You know, if that piece of s**t show CHIPS can be so
popular, why can’t we make a television show about lifeguards?’
After a
busy day on the Santa Monica shore, Newmie said: ‘We’d had one of those
days where we’d had lost kids and rescues and fights and drunks and
people breaking into cars and umbrellas stabbing people - it was just a
crazy chaotic day.
‘And so we decided to go and have a beer after work and think some more about it.’
Fate
dealt a hand when Bonnan rescued the 13-year-old son of TV executive
Stu Erwin in 1978. When asked how he could repay him, Bonnan asked for
help with his TV idea, which the pair worked on for 10 years.
Fun in the sun: Greg Bonnan's tape of course included glimpes of bikini-clad girls on the beach
Eighties-style: Baywatch became a byword for scenes of scantily-clad girls
A smash hit: Baywatch was axed by NBC
after its first season in 1989 - but Hasselhoff and the show's creators
teamed up with producters FreemantleMedia to turn it into a syndicated,
international hit
Newmie
also reveals that fate again stepped in when Bonnan’s sister married a
successful TV writer called Doug Schwartz, who ended up becoming a
producer on Baywatch.
Greg sold the show to NBC after showing them the tape and the show launched in 1989.
But
even though it featured the star of Knight Rider, Baywatch was axed
after one season, prompting Hasselhoff and the producers to sell it to
FreemantleMedia which sold the show internationally and created a
syndication deal.
It
went on to become the most watched TV series in the world, running up
until 2001, and Hasselhoff, who played Mitch Buchannon, is believed to
have made $70 million from the series.
Key player: Michael Newman with Baywatch star Alexandra Paul, who played Lt. Stephanie Holden
Today:
Michael Newman, now aged 59, is battling Parkinson's Disease. A trained
lifeguard and firefighter, he ended up being the technical advisor on
Baywatch and appeared in 159 episodes
Despite
his long history on Baywatch - Newmie appeared on 159 episodes - he
would never quite make it to stardom - or achieve the same pay as the
show stars.
He
says: ‘The ratings went up, and then the ratings came down. And as the
ratings came down, their way of fixing that problem was by firing
everybody and getting a whole new crew, and one of the best ways to do
that is to get the hell out of town, so that’s when they took the show
to Hawaii.'
And
he smiles: ‘To give you an idea of the kind of money I made, I bought a
property next door to my house and renovated it and sold it.
‘I
made more money building that one spec house than I made in all the
years that I worked on Baywatch. If I hadn’t been wasting my time on
Baywatch and had been building spec houses instead, I would have made
some real money.’
Fit: Michael Newman, a trained
firefighter and lifeguard, subjected all new cast members to his boot
camp as he says none of them were fit enough for the series!
Star: Pamela Anderson had her breakout
role on Baywatch as C.J. Parker. Michael Newman says his show pay rate
was 'quite a bit less' than hers
He
continued: ‘The way I was treated on Baywatch, they didn’t give me a
lot of respect and it would have been real easy for them to thank me,
but for the seven years I was a screen actor, I got paid the absolute
legal minimum, which when I started was like $350 per day.
‘I
have no idea what it is now, and it’s obviously gone up since then, but
just the stinginess and the lack of grace on the show wasn’t great.
My
rate was quite a bit less than Pamela’s. I have no idea what she was
on, she may have been up at the $60-80k mark, where other girls on the
show were on $1,000 an episode, so that could be seen as quite
disrespectful, but it didn’t really have to be that way.’
Similarly, he says, some of the actresses would only end up making $50,000-a-year, when the taxman took his slice.
After Baywatch, Newmie became of one of Hollywood’s leading water star trainers.
Copied: The final scene on the
Baywatch teaser tape shows Newman standing against the sunset - an image
copied on Baywatch's titles
He trained Ashton Kutcher in The Guardian, Kevin Costner and Tom Hanks for his role in Angels and Demons.
However, Newmie, married to his wife Sarah with two children, is now battling Parkinson’s Disease.
He
was diagnosed in 2011 after seeking help for a tremor in his leg and is
retired, dividing his time between homes in Hawaii and the Pacific
Palisades, California.
He
says: ‘I suffer with the shaking and get tremors, I also don’t walk
very well due to an accident I had a few years before I got Parkinson’s
and although I had the foot treated it was always weak, and now the
Parkinson’s just makes worse.
He
adds: ‘But as soon as I step into the ocean, I don’t feel like I have
Parkinson’s. I can still swim, surf and enjoy the life I love and
know.'
Action: Michael Newman and pal Greg
Bonnan taped their teaser on Santa Monica beach - with the lifeguard on
duty turning a blind eye
Reboot: Michael Newman says about the
upcoming Hollywood movie: 'It better show some respect towards the
profession of lifeguards in some way. I'm not asking for much'
Asked
about the Hollywood Baywatch reboot, Newmie said: ‘My first feeling
about The Rock being confirmed to star in the new Baywatch movie is that
I'm available for some swimming lessons!
‘He's
definitely majestic, generally angry, so they'll have to have some fun.
I don't want him to be serious. I would want him to play the role
tongue-in-cheek.
If
they want to do comedy, then they can do comedy. But if they're going
to do a lifeguard movie, it better show some respect towards the
profession of lifeguards in some way. I'm not asking for much.’
Newmie’s
charity work is done with the Cedars Sinai Regenerative Medicine
Institute and he works closely with Dr Clive Svendsen, PhD, who is the
Director of Regenerative Medicine Institute.
He will attend a fundraiser for the Regenerative Medicine Stem Cell Lab on December 2.
My husband was diagnosed of Parkinsons disease 2 years ago, when he was 59. He had a stooped posture, tremors, right arm does not move and also a pulsating feeling in his body. He was placed on Senemet for 8 months and then Siferol was introduced and replaced the Senemet, during this time span he was also diagnosed with dementia. He started having hallucinations, lost touch with reality. Suspecting it was the medication I took him off the Siferol (with the doctor’s knowledge) him on PD natural herbal formula we ordered from TREE OF LIFE HEALTH CLINIC, his symptoms totally declined over a 3 weeks use of the TREE OF LIFE HEALTH Parkinson's disease natural herbal formula. He is now almost 61 and doing very well, the disease is totally reversed! (w w w. treeoflifeherbalclinic .com)
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