Standing in the Spotlight for a Star : Employment: By taking the place of the actors on the set, the substitutes free them from hours of tedious work.

Ernest-Frank Taylor sits at a table in Murphy Brown’s FYI newsroom, pretending to eat fried rice with chopsticks. He wears a placard on his chest that reads “GRANT” in giant black letters.

Taylor would much rather be in the greenroom memorizing lines. That’s where Grant is--Grant Shaud to be exact, who plays FYI executive producer Miles Silverberg on the TV show, “Murphy Brown.”

Taylor is a stand-in--a job that liberates actors while their counterparts are positioned like chess pieces during tedious hours of lighting and camera blocking. It’s the next best thing to residuals for many actors seeking work in their profession.

“Jealousy? As a fellow actor? Never!” said Taylor in response to a question about the dozen years he has stood in for the likes of Bill Cosby, Christopher Lee--even Olivia De Havilland. “Well, maybe once. There was this young actor who took 20 takes to get his line right. ‘Who does this guy know?’ I asked myself.

“We’re also there to protect and take care of actors we replace--by showing them any blocking changes. It really saves them time.” Taylor also acts in commercials and has performed small parts in several films.

During the 1950s and ‘60s, cinematographers required stand-ins to be virtual body-doubles with the same height, weight, hair and skin color as actors. Today, some stand-ins wear heels or lifts to add extra inches. Others tote around an apple crate to achieve that elusive 6’2”.

Wigs are sometimes used, especially in the case of stand-ins for characters with big hair, such as Peg Bundy on “Married With Children.” Lighting that many moussed locks requires an exact substitution.

Most stand-ins consider their jobs as full-time careers, although it’s a thankless task requiring little creativity. The attraction is steady employment. Stand-ins work three days a week during the eight or nine months TV shows are in production at area studios, a job that pays about $20,000. During down times, many collect unemployment or work as stand-ins on pilot shows.

There’s also the hope that years of dedication and networking will pay off in money-making bit parts--perhaps even capturing the role of a recurring character who actually speaks .

After Taylor worked for one year as a Murphy Brown stand-in, writers created an office worker character for him named Marz. The “caring, intelligent” role, in Taylor’s words, has been upgraded to appear weekly on the show and has been given the gift of speech on six episodes.

Stand-ins negotiate higher wages for bit parts like Marz, or when they read from scripts for absent actors. Those who stand-in for actors on feature films are usually more expendable, since only one camera is used. TV productions use at least three or four cameras, complicating the job of blocking and lighting.

Stand-ins, also called the “second team,” begin their day by noting blocking directions in scripts as actors rehearse scenes. Their heaviest workload comes on day two as they block scenes with camera crews, a process that can take up to 12 hours for a half-hour show. Crew members mark their movements on the floor with tape, a different color used for each stand-in. Various numbers are used for different movements.

“Sometimes you look down at the floor and it looks like an Arthur Murray dance routine,” said Irene Sale, a stand-in for the TV show, “Designing Women.” “You really have to pay attention. The choreography of all the movements is very precise.”

Blocking an eight-minute scene using stand-ins can take up to three hours to accomplish, as directors study lighting effects and camera angles. During downtime on the set, boredom is staved off by reading, doing crossword puzzles, knitting--even writing screenplays.

“Stand-ins can’t have strong egos, opposite from extras who love to get in front of the camera,” said Murphy Brown production manager Bob Jeffords. “They have to be team players who pay tremendous attention to detail. Crews don’t think of them as props. They’re given the same respect as a grip or electrician.”

Although standing-in for films can be more tedious than TV work, the opportunity for nose to nose star contact can be alluring. “I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know who Barbra Streisand was, and suddenly here I am with this icon , being told to put my arms around her or cradle her in my lap,” said Neil Tadken, who stood in for Nick Nolte during the filming of “The Prince of Tides.”

Although Tadken also worked with Streisand’s stand-in, he said Streisand often double-checked lighting and camera angles on herself. “You’ll notice in the movie that it looks like she’s lit by God in every shot,” said Tadken, who has acted in the soap opera, “Ryan’s Hope” and on the TV show, “Life Goes On.”

Both stand-ins and extras belong to the Screen Extras Guild, or SEG, which mandates $86.32 per 8 hours for extras; stand-ins usually negotiate for at least $10 over that rate.

Stand-ins receive time and one-half pay for work more than eight hours, and double-time pay kicks in at 12 hours. For work more than 16 hours, also called “golden time,” the regular eight-hour check is received for each hour worked.

“Golden time is like winning again and again in Las Vegas,” said Jeff Lawrence, a business representative for SEG, formed in 1945. Adds Sale: “That’s really where we make our money, during those long-hour days.”

After nearly 50 years of representation, SEG will be replaced on July 1 by the Screen Actors Guild as the union for extras and stand-ins. The change comes after 10 years of efforts by members who weren’t satisfied with SEG contracts, said SAG Director of Communications Mark Locher.

Stand-ins will still be able to negotiate for compensation above their new SAG day-rate of $90. But extras will receive a mere $65, compared to their previous rate of $86.32. “With the rate change, we’re going to see a lot more extras trying to find stand-in work,” said Lawrence. “It’s already become a very popular job for out-of-work actors.”

How easy is it to get a job as a stand-in? Lawrence gives the time-worn reply: “It depends on who you know. But first you have to register with a casting office and become a member of SAG--that’s $904 to join and then about $50 in dues every six months.”

Sale got her job on “Designing Women” six years ago after a previous contact, cinematographer Leonard South, recommended her for the show, which pays $120, the highest stand-in day rate in town.

“It’s like a big, happy family here--we go on picnics, bowling and to birthday parties with the cast and crew,” said Sale, who stood in for actress Delta Burke. But in soap-opera fashion, Burke’s character, Suzanne Sugarbaker, was permanently shipped off to live with her mother in Japan after Burke’s heated disagreements with the show’s producers.

Sale now stands in for Burke’s replacement, Jan Hooks, who plays the character of Carlene Dobber. Sale has also played thousands of “silent bits” on the show, a job that requires a reaction from someone in the background.

A former airline stewardess, Sale began her career in the early ‘60s with a small role on a Warner Bros. film, “Palm Springs Weekend.” Between marriage and raising two children, she danced and played bit parts in six Elvis Presley films.

“We’re all very grateful to have these jobs,” said Sale, who lives in North Hollywood. “Stand-in jobs used to be the pits because of the hard work and low pay. New contracts over the years have made it more lucrative, but we still wish it paid more money.

“They’re really the only steady entertainment jobs in town these days.”