He was born Ara Hardesian (he was of Armenian descent) and was billed as Al Hedison early in his career. The only actor in the James Bond series to play Felix Leiter twice. R.I.P. David Hedison.
In 1957's World War II naval drama THE ENEMY BELOW, an American destroyer meets a German U-Boat. Both captains (Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens) are experts, and so begins a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. Al Hedison, who later changed his name to David Hedison made his feature film debut in this picture, as Mitchum’s second in command, Lt. Ware.” Theodore Bikel played "Schwaffer," the second in command of the German submarine. The film also marked the American-film debut of Curt Jurgens. Others who made their film debuts in this production were Doug McClure, former Fox messenger boy Ted Perritt, and Dan Tana, who later opened a famous eatery in Los Angeles.
The destroyer escort U.S.S. Whitehurst, a battle-scarred veteran of World War II that was stationed in Pearl Harbor, HI, was the ship used for the fictional U.S.S. Haynes. Lt. Cmdr. Walter Smith, the skipper of the Whitehurst, served as a technical advisor on the film. The actors spent a month aboard the Whitehurst during filming. Albert Beck, a former German submarine sailor, worked as technical advisor for the U-Boat sequences. The rescue sequence was filmed at Long Beach, CA aboard the U.S.S. Alfred E. Cunningham.
Robert Mitchum fell down one of the ship's gangways while shooting, and was severely injured, requiring him to wear a back brace for the duration of filming. Also, some depth charges fired from the Navy destroyer used in the film were accidentally launched at the same time, causing damage to the ship's rudder and its hull.
Actor Dick Powell directed the film, the sixth of only seven theatrical films directed by Powell. After this film he made THE HUNTERS (1958) and then worked exclusively in television.
In a July 1977 New York Times article, Curt Jurgens stated that "this was an important picture for me because it was the first film after the war in which a German officer was not interpreted as a freak." Other reviews commented that the film was notable because the clash between the captains was not portrayed as black and white or good and evil. Walter Rossi won an Academy Award for Best Audible Special Effects for his work on the production. Leigh Harline's score has been released most recently by Kritzerland.
In the classic 1958 horror film THE FLY, scientist “Andre Delambre” (Al Hedison) has a horrific accident when he tries to use his newly invented teleportation device. Patricia Owens plays the scientist’s wife, “Helene,” and Vincent Price is his brother “François.”
The picture was originally to be produced by Robert Lippert for Regal Pictures. Twentieth Century-Fox replaced Lippert with producer-director Kurt Neumann because the studio feared that Lippert's conflict with the Screen Actors Guild over refusing to pay residuals to actors might hinder production. Even so, Lippert was able to make money from the success of the film. His company, Regal Films, produced SPACE MASTER X-7 (1958) which 20th Century-Fox used as the co-feature for this film.
After the success of Regal's SHE DEVIL and KRONOS, both produced and directed by Neumann and photographed by Karl Struss, Fox decided to produce a horror picture using the budget techniques employed by Regal. According to Fox publicity materials, "Andre's" lab equipment consisted of army and air force surplus. Another part of the laboratory set was Emerac, the computer from Fox's production DESK SET. Andre also wears the same clothes in nearly every scene during the film, with the exception of the night he goes to the ballet.
The effect of the fly was created by fitting a rubber sheath over Al Hedison's head. Once the sheath was in place, a mobile proboscis was attached to a wooden plug which Hedison held in his mouth and wriggled. The first fly eyes were beaded domes, but were later discarded in favor of iridescent domes. Michael Rennie had been offered the title role but declined it because his head would be covered through most of the picture.
Patricia Owens and Al (David) Hedison in THE FLY
The film was critically well received, with the Variety review commenting that "a strong factor of the picture is its unusual believability." THE FLY helped establish Vincent Price's identification as a horror star. Writer Arch Oboler sued the studio, short story author George Langelaan, and Playboy magazine, which published the story “The Fly,” on the grounds that the film was plagiarized from his short story "Across the Gaby," which was broadcast as a radio play in 1937. The outcome of the suit has not been determined.
THE FLY became the biggest box-office hit of director Kurt Neumann's career, grossing $8.6 million, but he never knew it. He died a month after the film’s premiere, and a week before it went into general release.
THE FLY was the first produced screenplay for writer James Clavell. The film’s score, by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter, was first released by Percepto in 2002, and then re-issued by Kritzerland in 2012.
Ten years after the death of Robin Hood, the bandit of Sherwood Forest and defender of the Crown, the power-mad “Duke Simon Des Roches” (David Farrar) plots to seize the British kingdom from its rightful heir, the boy prince, and only Robin's men stand in his way. Bereft without their leader, the men decide to send for Robin's offspring, “Deering Hood,” who they discover, is now living in Spain. But they are dismayed when Deering proves not to be THE SON OF ROBIN HOOD, but his daughter (June Laverick). So someone is chosen to impersonate Robin Hood’s son—“Jamie” (Al Hedison), the brother of the Regent of England.
Hedison had to have 3 stitches put in a deep cut in his sword hand sustained in a duel with David Farrar, and for much of the film he was hobbling from a foot injury, which he got while rehearsing a fight scene with a stuntman. THE SON OF ROBIN HOOD was the last film in which David Hedison was billed as Al Hedison.
George Marshal produced and directed the 1958 film. Leighton Lucas provided the unreleased score.
With David Hedison under contract to 20th Century Fox, the studio kept him active by casting him in one of its television series. “Five Fingers” was an adventure/drama series set in Europe during the Cold War, loosely based on the 1952 film 5 FINGERS, which had starred James Mason and Danielle Darrieux. Hedison starred as “Victor Sebastian,” an American theatrical agent and counterintelligence officer with the code name "Five Fingers". Luciana Paluzzi played “Simone Genet,” Sebastian's singer client and romantic interest. Paul Burke played “Robertson,” Sebastian's contact man.
NBC premiered the one-hour series on Saturday, October 3, 1959, at 9:30 PM. Unfortunately, the audience for action-adventure during that time slot was already watching CBS’s offerings of “Have Gun—Will Travel” and “Gunsmoke,” the #3 and #1 shows on the air. ABC offered counterprogramming in the form of “The Lawrence Welk Show” and “Ozark Jubilee”. “Five Fingers” could not compete and was cancelled after 16 episodes. Interestingly, in 1961 in the UK, 20th Century Fox used eight episodes of the series as supporting films for circuit releases of their main features, such as NORTH TO ALASKA and VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA.
With his television series ended, David Hedison was free to return to feature work. He appeared in his first Irwin Allen production with 1960’s THE LOST WORLD. When his plane lands in London, crusty old professor “George Edward Challenger” (Claude Rains) is besieged by reporters questioning him about his latest expedition to the headwaters of the Amazon River. After the irascible Challenger strikes reporter “Ed Malone” (David Hedison) on the head with his umbrella, “Jennifer Holmes” (Jill St. John), the daughter of Ed's employer, “Stuart Holmes” (John Graham), offers the injured reporter a ride into town. That evening, Jenny is escorted by “Lord John Roxton” (Michael Rennie), an adventurer and big game hunter, to Challenger's lecture at the Zoological Institute, and Ed invites them to sit with him. When Challenger claims to have seen live dinosaurs, his colleague “Professor Summerlee” (Richard Haydn) scoffs and asks for evidence. So, it’s evidence he wants, eh?
In early 1959, Irwin Allen negotiated with Victor Mature, Robert Mitchum, Peter Ustinov, Trevor Howard and Gilbert Roland to appear in the picture, which, at that time was to be shot in Todd-AO and Technicolor to give it the "blockbuster treatment." Clifton Webb, Orson Welles and Robert Morley were also mentioned as possibilities to star in the picture.
David Hedison was reluctant about making the film, as he didn't think the material was any good. Seeing Jill St. John dressed in a pink outfit with a poodle on set didn't do much to make him think differently. Nevertheless, he applied himself anyway, to the extent that Irwin Allen offered him the lead in his next film, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1961). Hedison turned it down, but would later take a part in Allen's TV series based on the submarine film. Hedison was at the Warner Theatre in New York for the world premiere of THE LOST WORLD on July 13, 1960. He was signing autographs and gaving out free “Lost World” comic books to the children.
David Hedison in THE LOST WORLD
Production on the film, most of which was shot at the Fox studios, was interrupted by the Screen Actors Guild Strike that lasted from 7 March--18 April 1960. The film utilized several large interior sets originally constructed for Fox's 1959 hit JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.
Willis O'Brien, who was credited with technical effects on the film, also worked on the 1925 version of THE LOST WORLD, as well as the 1933 release KING KONG. O'Brien's input was largely restricted to hundreds of conceptual sketches for the dinosaurs. But budget limitations meant that none of them were realized on film. Director Irwin Allen wanted to use stop-motion dinosaurs for this film, but due to budget reasons he had to use lizards--mainly monitor lizards--as dinosaurs. Plastic horns and spikes were attached to them to make them look more like dinosaurs.
According to a 10 June 1960 Hollywood Reporter news item, two different orchestras were used to record the score. One played the conventional background music, while the other played South American music, using native instruments blended with the voice of Gwen Johnson to create the "lost world" sound. Whether this is evident on the 2006 Intrada release of the score by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter, I couldn’t say.
THE LOST WORLD grossed a respectable $7.1 million at the box office.
At the beginning of MARINES, LET’S GO, following combat duty in Korea, a group of United States Marines are given a furlough in Japan. “David Chatfield” (David Hedison), a Boston aristocrat, says goodbye to “Song-Do” (Fumiyo Fujimoto), the native girl he plans to marry, and then joins his buddies in Yokosuka. Also in the company are “Skip Roth” (Tom Tryon), a shrewd fellow known as "the brain," and "‘Let's Go’ McCaffrey” (Tom Reese), a free-wheeling, heavy-drinking soldier who resents David's upper-class background.
Raoul Walsh directed and co-wrote the 1961 film. Charles G. Clarke was the original cinematographer, but soon after he arrived in Kyoto, Japan, for some location shooting, he suffered a heart attack and was sent back to the US. Lucien Ballard replaced him. Irving Gertz provided the unreleased score.
Battle scenes were filmed on Okinawa substituting for Korea. During the filming of the movie, 2000 Marines acting as extras were suddenly pulled because of a crisis in Laos. The film took in a weak $2.5 million at the box office.
In the 1965 biblical epic THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD, David Hedison played Philip, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus. The film was based on a 1949 novel of the same name, which Fulton Oursler published while contributing to Henry Denker’s weekly ABC Radio show about the life of Jesus Christ during its ten-year run from 1947 to 1957. George Stevens directed the film. Alfred Newman's score was released on a United Artists LP, and was most recently released in an expanded format by Varese Sarabande in 2004.
The television series “Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea” was based on Irwin Allen’s 1961 feature film of the same name. The film had been fairly popular, taking in $6.6 million at the box office, and Allen decided that it would make a good candidate to turn into a series, especially given that the movie's sets, costumes, props, special effects models, and sometimes footage, could be used in the production of the television series.
David Hedison in “Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea”
The series starred Richard Basehart as “Admiral Harriman Nelson,” David Hedison as “Captain Lee Crane,” and Robert Dowdell as “Lieutenant Commander Chip Morton.” At first, David Hedison turned down the role of Lee Crane, until he learned that Richard Basehart was signed to play Nelson.
Richard Basehart and David Hedison in “Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea
“Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea” was a science fiction show, set slightly in the future in the 1970s. ABC debuted the series on Monday, 14 September 1964 at 7:30 PM. The hour-long series did not face any strong time-slot competition in its genre. CBS offered game shows during that hour—“To Tell the Truth” and “I’ve Got a Secret” (the #26-rated show that season). NBC programmed the sitcoms “Karen” and “Harris Against the World.” “Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea” had the action-adventure audience all to itself and was renewed for a second season.
Scenes from Allen's feature film THE LOST WORLD (printed in black-and-white) were used in the season’s seventh episode, “Turn Back the Clock.” Actress Vitina Marcus reprised her role as the native girl in that episode.
In season 2 (1965-66), the show’s production switched from black-and-white to color. ABC moved the show to Sunday night, leading off its schedule at 7 PM. There it faced off against some top-30 shows—the #27 “Lassie” on CBS (during “Voyage’s” first half-hour), and the #17 “Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color” on NBC (during “Voyage’s” second half-hour). But the show appealed to a different audience than those series and continued to have success.
Richard Basehart, Robert Dowdell, and David Hedison in “Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea
During the second season, Susan Flannery was considered for a recurring role as Admiral Nelson's secretary, serving both as an on-shore ally to the adventures, and as occasional romantic interest for Captain Crane. The plans were dropped, after demographics showed the series was more popular with children than adults.
Late in the filming of the second season, Richard Basehart fell ill during the filming of the episode "The Monster's Web", and was unable to complete that episode, and work on the next two. "The Monster's Web" was re-written to minimize the part of his character, Admiral Nelson (knocked out of action in the first act), with a stand-in used for many shots with his face hidden and lines dubbed. The next episode, "The Menfish", had Nelson away, and his lines reassigned to guest character Admiral Park (Gary Merrill). The following episode, "The Mechanical Man", had Nelson still away, and reassigned his lines to Captain Crane (David Hedison) and Crane's lines to Commander Morton (Robert Dowdell). Basehart returned in time to appear in the season finale, "The Return of the Phantom".
Season 3 (1966-67) saw the show move its setting forward even further, into the 1980s. “Lassie” dropped out of the top 30 shows and “Disney” slipped to #19, but otherwise, ratings held steady and “Voyage” was renewed for a fourth season. In season 4 (1967-68), “Lassie” edged back up to the #30 spot, “Disney” slipped further to #25, and a new competitor, “Gentle Ben” beat everyone, coming in at #19 on CBS during “Voyage’s” second half-hour. “Voyage” had never cracked the top 30 shows, and going against three such shows was enough for ABC to throw in the towel on the series.
“Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea” was cancelled after four seasons and 110 episodes. The show would prove to be Irwin Allen’s longest running series, and was the decade's longest-running American science fiction television series with continuing characters.
Richard Basehart, David Hedison, Del Monroe, Robert Dowdell, and Terry Becker in “Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea”
The series' main theme, "The Seaview Theme", was written by Paul Sawtell. A new darker, more serious theme composed by Jerry Goldsmith was introduced at the beginning of the second-season episode "Jonah and the Whale", but this was quickly replaced by the original version. A version of the Goldsmith theme re-orchestrated by Nelson Riddle was heard as incidental music in the episode "Escape From Venice", and the original Goldsmith music was used as incidental music throughout the rest of the series. The series' main composer, supervisor and conductor was Lionel Newman, who for the second season composed a serious sounding score for when the episode credits (episode title/guests/writer/director) were shown just after the theme song, which would be used by many episodes (starting with "The Left Handed Man") thru the second and into the early third season. Other guest composers included Lennie Hayton, Hugo Friedhofer, Alexander Courage, Morton Stevens, Leith Stevens (who wrote the music to nine episodes), and Sawtell, who worked on the show for a while in the first season.
GNP Crescendo issued a soundtrack album in 1997 as part of its series tying into the documentary “The Fantasy Worlds Of Irwin Allen,” featuring Sawtell's theme from the series and his score for the pilot episode "Eleven Days To Zero" (tracks 2–6) and Goldsmith's work for "Jonah and the Whale."
The onscreen credits read: "Roger Moore as James Bond--007 in Ian Fleming's LIVE AND LET DIE.” So began the first of Moore’s seven forays into film superstardom. Moore had been the producers’ original choice to play Bond when the films began in 1962, but he was at that point committed to the British television series “The Saint,” in which he starred from 1962 to 1969. Moore was 45 when he made his debut as 007, making him the oldest actor to do so.
David Hedison made his first appearance as “Felix Leiter,” James Bond’s CIA contact, in this film. It is the only Roger Moore Bond film in which Bond meets Leiter.
David Hedison in LIVE AND LET DIE
In an interesting bit of prescience, David Hedison had appeared with Roger Moore in an episode of “The Saint” (Luella, 1964). At the end of that episode, at the behest of “Simon Templar” (Moore), a woman is looking for a flat for Hedison's character, “Bill Harvey.” Approaching Simon, "Miss Hill" (Jean St. Clair) says she found a flat and has the key. She tells Simon she is ready for her next assignment after getting "the F.B.I. Agent” a flat. "I just can't wait for my next assignment... me...me, working for 'James Bond'. I'm really excited," she continues. "You weren't just teasing me, were you? You really are 'James Bond'." Simon shakes his head 'no', looks up, and his halo appears. Miss Hill smiles with understanding.
Roger Moore and David Hedison in “The Saint”
Director Guy Hamilton was a jazz fan, so screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz suggested that he film in New Orleans. Hamilton did not want to use Mardi Gras as a background, since THUNDERBALL featured Junkanoo, a similar festival. So after more discussions with the writer, and location scouting with helicopters, Hamilton decided to use two well-known features of the city--the jazz funerals and the canals. Reviews of the film were generally positive, with most critics describing Moore as smooth and sophisticated, but lacking the wit and appeal of Connery. George Martin's score for the 1973 film was last released by Capitol/EMI in 2003.
The television series “Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea” was based on Irwin Allen’s 1961 feature film of the same name. The film had been fairly popular, taking in $6.6 million at the box office, and Allen decided that it would make a good candidate to turn into a series, especially given that the movie's sets, costumes, props, special effects models, and sometimes footage, could be used in the production of the television series.
David Hedison in “Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea”
The series starred Richard Basehart as “Admiral Harriman Nelson,” David Hedison as “Captain Lee Crane,” and Robert Dowdell as “Lieutenant Commander Chip Morton.” At first, David Hedison turned down the role of Lee Crane, until he learned that Richard Basehart was signed to play Nelson.
In terms of performances for the series, actor David Hedison shines in three season 1 episodes: "The Human Computer" (it is a one-man show: alone aboard the Seaview and watched) "The Saboteur" "The Enemies"
David Hedison spent the remainder of the 1970s in television, doing a few TV movies, but mainly appearing as a guest star on various series. Hedison’s second film with Roger Moore, and Moore’s second film with director Andrew V. McLaglen, was 1980's ffolkes (aka NORTH SEA HIJACK). In the film, Moore stars as the title character, an eccentric anti-terrorism expert who volunteers his unique commando unit to stop terrorists who have taken over two oil rigs and threatened to explode them. Anthony Perkins is "Kramer," the leader of the terrorist group, Michael Parks co-starred as "Shulman," Kramer's right hand man, and David Hedison is “Robert King,” a stressed out oil rig official.
The advertising poster for ffolkes (below) tried incorporating Bondian elements, and somewhat resembled DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, made about nine years prior. Both posters feature an oil rig, an explosion, and the hero character enlarged, standing tall over a dwarfed oil rig with bikini-clad women grasping him. This film's poster shows four women wearing bikinis grasping at star Roger Moore. He is also holding a champagne glass, typical of Bondian martini drinking. These two elements were not indicative of Moore's character in the movie, as ffolkes drinks whiskey and is a misogynist. Moore is also seen wearing a Naval Commander uniform in the poster, something that James Bond is occasionally seen wearing in Bond movies, e.g., in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967) and THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977).
Michael J. Lewis released his score for the film on a promo CD in 1999.
David Hedison made a rare appearance in a western with 1983’s THE GAMBLER: THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES. Starring Kenny Rogers, this made-for-television film was a sequel to 1980’s THE GAMBLER, which was based on Rogers hit song from 1978. In the film, “Brady Hawkes” (Rogers), “Billy Montana” (Bruce Boxleitner), and “Jeremiah Hawkes” (Charles Fields) are on a train bound for a huge gambling event when the train is taken over by a gang of vicious killers in search of money. David Hedison had a supporting role as “Carson.” Dick Lowry directed the film, which aired on CBS on 28 November 1983. Larry Cansler provided the unreleased score.
David Hedison’s third film with Roger Moore was 1984’s THE NAKED FACE. Moore plays “Dr. Judd Stevens,” a Chicago psychoanalyst whose patient and secretary are murdered. He soon becomes the police's prime suspect despite his claims that someone is trying to frame him. David Hedison plays “Dr. Peter Hadley,” Stevens' good friend (and brother-in-law).
This film was made only because The Cannon Group had wanted for some time to make a movie with Roger Moore in order to cash in on his James Bond popularity. Moore, who was always looking for roles away from Bond, was able to persuade them to back this film of Sidney Sheldon's 1970 novel, and to hire two of his best friends, writer and director Bryan Forbes and actor David Hedison. The movie was made on-location in Chicago with the supporting cast mostly obtained (very inexpensively) from the ranks of local theater actors, some of whom were making their first film.
Production was mostly smooth, thanks to Bryan Forbes, but when Roger Moore's mother fell ill in England, Forbes granted him a week off to go visit her. When he returned to the shoot, he discovered that producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, the heads of The Cannon Group, had blasted Forbes for his kindness. From then on, the studio treated cast and crew poorly. Moore and Forbes, however, remained friends up until Forbes' death in 2013.
This was Forbes’ final feature film as director. Michael Lewis’ score for the film appeared on a composer promo disc.
