What is "body double"

n. 1 A film stand-in for an actor, in scenes not involving the face, especially during scenes of nudity, or of dangerous activity. 2 A http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/political%20decoy; a person employed to impersonate a politician, in order to draw attention away from the real person or to take risks on their behalf.

Body Double is a 1984 American erotic thriller film co-written and directed by Brian De Palma and starring Craig Wasson, Melanie Griffith, Deborah Shelton and Gregg Henry. The original musical score was composed by Pino Donaggio.

The film was a direct homage to the films of Alfred Hitchcock, specifically Rear Window (1954) and Vertigo (1958), taking plot lines and themes (such as voyeurism and obsession) from both of them.

Body Double is a 2004 novel written by Tess Gerritsen, the fourth book of the Maura Isles/ Jane Rizzoli series.