Fake Shemp

At the time, the Stooges still had four shorts left to deliver (Rumpus in the Harem, Hot Stuff, Scheming Schemers, and Commotion on the Ocean) under their annual contract with Columbia Pictures.

By this point in the trio's career, budget cuts at Columbia had forced them to rely on stock footage from completed shorts, so they could finish the films without Shemp.

When continuity required that Shemp appear in the new scenes, director Jules White used Joe Palma, one of Columbia's bit character actors, as a body double for him.

Early examples included Shadows of Suspicion in 1919, after Harold Lockwood died of the Spanish flu; Saratoga in 1937 (after Jean Harlow died, having completed most of her scenes and fans lobbied to have the film released),[3] and Return of the Ape Man in 1944, where the illness of George Zucco led to heavyweight boxer Frank Moran's stepping into the role Zucco originated midway through the film.

He was forced to use himself, his longtime friends Bruce Campbell, Rob Tapert, and Josh Becker, his assistant David Goodman, and his brother Ted Raimi as "fake Shemps".

[9] For the 1989 film Back to the Future Part II, the actor Crispin Glover was asked to reprise the role of George McFly.

To achieve this, co-star John Brotherton and Walker's brothers Caleb and Cody were used as Shemps, with computer-generated facial replacement used to recreate his likeness when necessary.

[13] In the 2016 Star Wars prequel film Rogue One, Peter Cushing's face was digitally applied to actor Guy Henry.