It's always annoying when you watch a film and you're amazed to hear an actor's singing voice, impressed by how well they can hold a tune, only to find out that it isn't them at all, and they've been dubbed. Billie Burke, in the role of Glinda, had the opposite problem.
Burke sang every line of every number she recorded, but viewers of the film were for some reason convinced that a singing double had done it. There was no Google back then, so no way to easily clear up the mystery. Burke had a high pitched, very well-spoken voice - very dissimilar to the voice she sang in - which may have explained the confusion. Burke had actually worked with Judy Garland before, playing her mother in the ironically titled 'Everybody Sing', which had been released only a year earlier.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.