History Main / SleepingDummy

[[folder:Comicbooks]]
* In ''Cigars of the Pharaoh'' {{Tintin}} helps the Maharaja of Gaipajama put a dummy in his bed to take a poisoned dart for him.
* The Invisible Man does this in volume two of ''Comicbook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' in order to [[spoiler: covertly meet with Martian invaders and betray humanity.]]

* In the pilot of ''Series/AmericanGothic'', Caleb builds one at the hospital to fool the Sheriff.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' episode "[[Recap/TheBatmanS3E9CashForToys Cash for Toys"]], Bruce does this to throw off the detective who's been assigned to protect him.

* ''JimmyNeutron'' does it on occasion, but being a boy genius with seemingly unlimited resources, he has a full holographic representation of himself in bed. And it ''[[CantGetAwayWithNuthin doesn't work.]]''

* In ''ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' short "Christmas Caper", Private uses a bowling pin as a dummy. When Skipper discovers it, he slaps and interrogates it.
* In the DonaldDuck WartimeCartoon "The Old Army Game", Donald and a few of his fellow soldiers use dummies to fool Sergeant Pete while they go AWOL.

-->'''Papa Smurf''': [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Oh, that's not even convincing!]]

* Brainy, Hefty, and Clumsy use these to trick Papa Smurf in ''Smurfs: The Lost Village'', with Clumsy's dummy being [[MythologyGag three apples]], with the top one only consisting of the core.

* In ''TheDiscreetPrincess'', Finette makes one after marrying Bel-à-Voir, guessing he might have some problems with her after his EvilPrince brother died because of her. Turns out the brother made him swear an oath to kill her as soon as possible.

* This has been done for more than one jailbreak. The three convicts who escaped from Alcatraz in 1962 went whole hog and made the papier-mache head. Ted Bundy did this in his second escape, and it worked so well that the guards didn't check until noon, by which time he'd already made it to the Denver airport and flown to Chicago. And the two murderers who recently escaped from a maximum security prison in New York also employed. Like the above examples, it gave them a considerable headstart, as their absence wasn't noticed until 530AM the next day.

* The Invisible Man does this in volume two of ''LeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' in order to [[spoiler: covertly meet with Martian invaders and betray humanity.]]

* According to ''[[Literature/TheIcelandicSagas Orkneyinga Saga]]'', Magnus Erlendsson, later better known as St. Magnus of Orkney, employed this trick to escape from being a hostage of King Magnus of Norway. When the king's ship lies off Scotland, Magnus "prepared his bunk so that it looked as if someone were sleeping in it, then slipped overboard and swam ashore." By the time the Norwegians realize Magnus is not actually in his bunk, he has already a good head start.

* ''Film/EscapeFromAlcatraz'' is both a major film example and TruthInTelevision. TheGuardsMustBeCrazy!
** Also subverted in the same film, when a guard reaches through the bars to rouse the figure in the bed and it turns out to be the ''real'' prisoner, not his plaster dummy-head.

* In the movie version of ''Film/DrNo'', Film/JamesBond uses this to trick an assassin into emptying his gun into the bed, leaving him defenseless.

* Appears in ''TheFarSide'', where gecko assassins trying to kill another gecko in his sleep, only to find that it was just his tail in the bed. ''"Idiots! You fell for the oldest trick in the book!"''

* Superman does this in the SilverAge comic "Jimmy Olsen, Clark Kent's Pal" to keep Jimmy Olsen, who is temporarily rooming with his alter ego, from discovering his SecretIdentity. He took it a step further by using [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands super-ventriloquism]] to make it talk.

* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': Murdoch does this to fool a killer after he realises his substitute landlady is trying to kill him in "Convalescence".

* ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'' is possibly the TropeCodifier.

* In ''Manga/{{Otoyomegatari}}'', the twins Laila and Leili are bored to death sitting under a cloth at their wedding, unable to eat or dance or talk to the guests. Eventually, they place pillows under the cloth and sneak out to play with the grooms. Their mother is naturally very angry when she discovers the subterfuge.

* In the ''{{lonelygirl15}}'' video "I'm Going to the Party!", Bree attempts to fool her parents this way.
* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'': "A fluffed pillow? Impossible!"
--> "It's [=f***-ing=] foolproof!"

* They do this all the time in ''AModestDestiny'', and it isn't even to stand in for sleeping people! [[http://www.squidi.net/comic/amd/view.php?ep=2&id=154]]

* In the DonaldDuck WartimeCartoon "The Old Army Game", Donald and a few of his fellow soldiers use dummies to fool Sargeant Pete while they go AWOL.