How Much Are Dolly Parton's Breasts Worth?

Aug. 19, 2005 -- -- Hospitals haven't seen as many stars in one week since the last season of "ER" finished shooting.

Madonna started the trend, as usual, when she was in the hospital with several broken bones after being thrown by a horse on her birthday. Then, Eva Longoria visited the hospital after hitting her head on the set of "Desperate Housewives."

Both are recovering from their injuries.

While most people have health insurance to cover medical costs, celebrities -- who have so much riding on their physical appearance -- often have extra insurance policies, sometimes just on specific "assets."

Betty Grable started the trend of insuring individual body parts when she insured her legs for $1 million in 1940. Since then, celebs from dancer-actor Fred Astaire to singer-actress Dolly Parton have had one body part or another covered by a policy.

The trend of insuring one part of the body has faded in favor of insuring the entire person, but there are several celebs who have put a premium on one particular part in the past:

• Astaire insured his legs for $75,000 apiece and his wrists and arms for $20,000
• Parton's breasts are insured for $600,000
• Former baseball player Mark McGwire's ankle was insured during his record-setting season
• Model Heidi Klum's legs were insured for a one-shot ad
• Musicians who reputedly insured their voices: Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen (for $6 million) and the Beatles

While there are no estimates on how much a policy on Longoria's head might be, a representative from Accordia Insurance estimated a premium for the "Desperate Housewives" star is probably around $15,000 a year. That figure is to protect the production company from the loss of services of the actress, because it can cost between $75,000 (TV movie) and $400,000 (feature) to rearrange a shooting schedule.

The Accordia representative said that amount skyrockets when a show goes into syndication, because the financial stakes of a long-running show are much higher.