Betty Gilpin Recalls Being Left in a Body Bag While Filming a Law & Order Scene

Actress Betty Gilpin revealed that, while filming her appearance on Law & Order, she was left in a body bag as the other actors went to lunch.

By Charlotte Walsh Aug 26, 2022 9:52 PMTags
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Betty Gilpin's Law & Order experience will have you saying, "Dun Dun!"

The GLOW actress recently recalled a less than pleasurable experience she had during one of her early appearances on the NBC procedural. (For the record, Gilpin has appeared on three Law & Order series, in four different roles.)

Specifically, Gilpin recounted one particular experience on set, when she was zipped into a body bag—and left there.

"I was shot and left in an oil barrel, and then put in a body bag," she shared on Deadline's 20 Questions podcast on Aug. 26. "Basically, at the beginning of the scene, I'm zipped up in the body bag, and then a scene happens in front of the body bag, and then they all walk away. I heard 'zip'—the scene happens—'Cut. That's lunch!' Van doors close, I hear the vans drive away, footsteps getting farther and farther away on gravel."

But Gilpin recalled how one PA remembered she was left in the body bag. 

"I hear, 'Oh my God!, then gravel footsteps closer and closer, and [they] unzip the side of my face," she said. "It was terrifying and thrilling." Whoops. 

But, lucky for that PA—Gilpin said she "wasn't gonna tell anyone" because the role was one of her first jobs in the industry. 

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Though Law & Order was one of her first gigs, Gilpin said that the role was still a memorable one, as she had a special connection to the NBC drama.

"My parents [Jack Gilpin and Ann McDonough]—as New York actors, they've both been on Law & Order," she shared. "It was always on in my childhood home. My parents were always like, 'There's Dave. There's Kelly.' It's all theater actors from the 80s and 90s."

Will Hart/NBCU Photo Bank

Gilpin is currently promoting her book, All the Women in My Brain: And Other Concerns, which comes out Sept. 6. The essay collection is her first foray into authorship, though Gilpin certainly references her varied acting career. 

"I feel like a million selves," she writes in the book's intro. "With a raised eyebrow and a soul-scalpel, I'd like to tell you how I got this way. Because maybe you feel this way too."

Law and Order is now available to stream on Peacock. 

(E! and NBC are part of the NBCUniversal family.)

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