David Hedison Talks with the Café about Vincent Price, "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", James Bond, and Love in Italy

David Hedison (photo courtesy
of Diane Kachmar).

Although best known as Captain Lee Crane on the classic TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, actor David Hedison has enjoyed a long, successful career in stage, film, and television. Now 85 (but not looking it!), he remains active making personal appearances and contributing to a book on his 1959-60 spy TV series Five Fingers due out in 2013. Mr. Hedison was gracious enough to take a break from his busy schedule and talk with the Café.

Café:  You studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio and won a Theater World Award for A Month in the Country, directed by Sir Michael Redgrave. What are some of your favorite stage roles and why?

David Hedison: A Phoenix Too Frequent--it was one of the few roles I really thought I grasped and did justice to. I also was fond of what I did in Two Gentlemen of Verona. Of course, A Month in the Country launched my Hollywood career, so that role was probably the most important one I ever did.

Café: In your films, you've worked with actors such as Vincent Price (The Fly), Robert Mitchum (The Enemy Below), and Claude Rains (The Lost World). Who were some of the actors you most enjoyed working with in your movies?

Claude Rains and David Hedison
in The Lost World (1961).

DH: Claude Rains was in two of my films. He was probably the most patient person I have ever met. I must have asked him a thousand questions. He would let me hang out in his dressing room on The Lost World. A wonderful man and a very underrated actor. Vincent Price was a good friend, he would recommend art for me to buy and invite me over and cook wonderful dinners with his then wife, Mary. I miss him very much. When I married Bridget, Vincent and Mary gave us an autographed copy of their now famous cook book. We still use it today.

Café: What prompted you to change your professional name from Al Hedison to David Hedison?

DH: That was NBC's dictate in 1959 when I did a series they bought. I thought it was stupid then, but I was under exclusive contract to 20th Century-Fox and had no say in the final decision. So I became David Hedison and now everyone asks me why. It gets tiresome.

Café: Producer Irwin Allen originally offered you the role of Captain Lee Crane in the film Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, but you declined because of other commitments. You once said you agreed to do the TV series because of the opportunity to work with Richard Basehart. Had you met Richard Basehart prior to Voyage or did you know him only by reputation?

Hedison with Richard Basehart in Voyage.

DH: I had never met him, but I admired Richard's work very much. I got his number from the studio. I called him up, and we agreed to meet at his house. He liked my enthusiasm, we hit it off and we worked really well together. We made the show work. Richard and I had real chemistry. He taught me so much about being camera ready when I needed to be. Television filming is so very fast, we always had to keep moving on. Voyage shot in six days--we filmed at a very fast pace.

Café: You’ve listed as a favorite Voyage episode “The Phantom Strikes” (which guest starred Alfred Ryder as a U-boat commander trying to “take over” Captain Crane). Are there any other episodes that you recall fondly?

Hedison as Captain Lee Crane in "The Human
Computer" from the season 1 DVD set.

DH: I thought I did good work in several first season episodes when we had better writing. "The Saboteur," where I was brainwashed by the Chinese to kill Admiral Nelson, "The Enemies" where I went mad and tried to kill the Admiral, "Mutiny" where Nelson went mad and I had to stop him.  Hmmm...do I sense a pattern here? Another episode I enjoyed was "The Human Computer." It was the first episode they let me carry--the episode was me, alone on the Seaview with a Russian saboteur. That was fun to do. I also enjoyed the fourth season episode where I turned into a werewolf from an experiment gone bad. I ran amuck and destroyed everything.

Café: You worked with Irwin Allen on Voyage, The Lost World, and the made-for-TV movie Adventures of the Queen. What was he like?

DH: Allen was an incredible salesman--he could sell the studio almost anything. Irwin was very good to me. He would always hire me, even though we hardly ever agreed on how I was to the play the role. He wanted me to play a straight, no-nonsense hero. Which I could do, but I never found that kind of role interesting to me as an actor. I prefer to play someone more emotional, more connected, someone with flaws. But I always did whatever job I was hired for and Allen knew he could count on me to show up and do it.

Café: You and your wife Bridget will celebrate your 45th anniversary this year. Congratulations! How did the two of you meet?

DH: I was scouting locations for an independent film I made in Italy in 1968. She was dancing with my location manager--they were at this supper/dance club in Positano, Italy. I knew right away she was the one, but Bridget had to be persuaded to date an actor. I asked her to dance with me that night because it was my birthday...and she said yes. It took another year to persuade Bridget to accept my marriage proposal.

Live and Let Die with Jane Seymour,
Roger Moore, and Hedison.

Café: You’re one of the few actors to appear in multiple James Bond films. How did you come to be cast as Felix Leiter in Let and Let Die (1973) and Licence to Kill (1989)?

DH: Tom Mankiewicz (the screenwriter of Live and Let Die) thought I would be a great Felix Leiter. He set up a meeting for me in London and I got the part. I was supposed to do the film with Sean Connery, but he dropped out and then they cast Roger Moore. That made it very easy for me to do the role as Roger and I had been friends for over a decade at that point. They called me back for Licence to Kill. They had an idea that they wanted to re-use a previous Felix. I was at the Bistro Gardens restaurant in Beverly Hills with my wife. Cubby Broccoli was there with his wife, also having dinner. I waved, but didn't go over. Cubby stopped by my table on the way out--we were friends--we talked a bit and he left. A few weeks later, I got a call in Florida (where I was doing a play with Elizabeth Ashley) and was asked to come back--on my day off--for a meeting with the director in Hollywood. I got the part.

Café: Having worked with Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton, who is your favorite 007?

DH: Roger Moore is a great friend of mine, so that is not a fair question. Roger had his way with the role. That worked for him. Timothy brought his own working style to his take on the role. I was able to work easily with both of them. Roger was less work for me, since I knew him so well. Timothy was very serious about the role and worked hard. We talked and found our relationship and everyone likes what we did in that film. Licence to Kill was very gritty and scores very high in polls among the fans, much more now than it did when it came out.

Jeanne Cooper and Hedison on
The Young and the Restless.

Café: You played Jill Abbott’s father on the long-running daytime drama The Young and the Restless. How would you describe that experience?

DH: I loved working with both ladies. We truly became a family, because all three of us believed in it. Jess (Walton) was lovely, so giving, and Jeanne (Cooper) was so into her role as Katherine Chancellor. It was a real pleasure to go work with them every day.

Café: Are there any current projects or appearances you’d like to share with our readers?

With a fan at Crypticon in 2012
(photo courtesy of Diane Kachmar).

DH: I'm doing a Q &A at a screening of Licence to Kill in Glendale, CA on Tuesday, April 2 at the Alex Theatre. It is the first Q &A in a series of five Bond film screenings that month.


For more information on David Hedison, please visit the web site www.davidhedison.net. You can friend David Hedison on Facebook. Unless otherwise noted,
all photos are courtesy of www.davidhedison.net.

Bond Is Forever: “Licence to Kill”

When a rare opportunity to ensnare drug lord Sanchez (Robert Davi) is presented, CIA agent Felix Leiter (David Hedison) is called away on his wedding day, with his best man, MI6 operative James Bond (Timothy Dalton), in tow as an “observer.” Sanchez is captured, and the two men make it to the chapel in time by parachuting. Good cheer, however, is short lived, as the criminal circumvents his route to prison and retaliates by murdering Leiter’s bride and leaving the agent critically injured. An enraged 007 initiates a personal investigation, and when MI6 head M recognizes some of Bond’s handiwork, he demands that Bond handle his officially sanctioned assignment in Istanbul. When Bond threatens to resign, M revokes his licence to kill, but rather than surrendering his Walther PPK, 007 goes rogue. Bond’s legwork leads him to a CIA agent and former Army pilot, Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell), who had been working with Leiter. Targeting Sanchez, Bond and Bouvier receive help from unlikely allies, including Sanchez’ captive but defiant girlfriend, Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto), and weapons expert Q (Desmond Llewelyn), whose recruitment into 007’s unauthorized mission allows him to work in the field.

Licence to Kill (1989) was director John Glen’s final Bond film. He had directed five consecutive films and also worked in the capacity of editor in the 007 series. Likewise, Licence to Kill was the second and last film for Timothy Dalton as the cinematic spy. Dalton was contracted for a third movie but relinquished the role after a lengthy delay in the series (see GoldenEye for additional information). Others not returning to the 007 series were Robert Brown as M, Caroline Bliss as Miss Moneypenny, title designer Maurice Binder, director of photography Alec Mills, and screenwriter Richard Maibaum, all of whom had worked on previous movies. Binder had died before the subsequent Bond film went into production. Though credited in Licence to Kill, Maibaum left the writing process early due to a WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike.

Licence to Kill was well received critically but performed poorly at the U.S. box office. As of 2011, it remains the weakest of the Bond series in terms of theatrical revenue in the States, though it was successful in other countries. The lackluster audience response is attributed to the break in the discernible Bond format, as 007 becomes a rogue agent and is engaged in what M rightly calls a “personal vendetta.” Without MI6 regulations, Bond will occasionally act on impulse, such as singling out a specific villain directly responsible for a friend’s death and flagrantly shooting a harpoon into his chest.

A closer examination, however, will bring to light familiar Bond terrain, as well as tying together elements of Licence to Kill with the remainder of the series. Though Dalton’s Bond is slightly more unrefined than other interpretations, he retains an elegant quality. In this film, he still wears a tuxedo, masters a casino blackjack table, and orders his martini shaken, not stirred. Comparatively, his female equivalent, Pam Bouvier, deftly infuses style and violence, sitting in a bar with a shotgun under the table and adorned in a shimmering gown with a Beretta strapped to her thigh. Q’s involvement may be off the books (stating he was enlisted to help by a worried Moneypenny), but he arrives with a case of gadgets with which to outfit the agent. Bond additionally focuses on the investigatory aspects of the case, more in tune with Fleming’s novels and films such as Dr. No (1962) and For Your Eyes Only (1981). He studies Sanchez and his men, cautiously impregnates Sanchez’ organization, and tactfully sows the seeds of distrust among the villains.

In the same manner, Bond working on his own does not stray far from the previous Bond movies. At no point in the series is Bond ever made to look like a scrupulous agent. The agent’s persona is based on his penchant for a playboy lifestyle, enjoying the wealth and women associated with his career. This is sometimes at the expense of his assignment, such as his baseless seduction of Solitaire in Live and Let Die (1973). In other movies, 007 is working without MI6’s consent, like in Thunderball (1965), when a simple retreat to a health clinic melds into Bond nosing around the building -- he has to make a request before he is part of the mission. Despite his rank as a Commander of the Royal Navy and his double-0 status, Bond has always given the impression of being a sole agent. When he has found a stable partner, Tracy, in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), he leaves MI6, an act which he had also contemplated -- for the same reason -- in his novel debut, Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale (which likewise carried over to the 2006 adaptation). This reaffirms a carefree existence, that he will remain an agent insofar as it does not affect his personal life.

Licence to Kill is bolstered by a strong cast. Lowell is a phenomenal Bond Girl as Pam Bouvier. She’s vigorous, intelligent and capable, and undeniably beguiling, expertly reciting the provocative line, “Sweet dreams, Mr. Bond,” denying him a second night with her by shutting her bedroom doors. Lowell displays solid chemistry with Dalton, and Pam’s scenes with 007 almost play like romantic interludes. The actress would garner further attention with her role as the Assistant DA for two seasons of the long-running TV series, Law & Order. Davi excels at playing villains and/or tough guy roles. His characters often come across as seasoned and hardhearted, so that the villains are defined by story and not by a shallow performance, and such is the case with his compelling portrayal of Sanchez. Desmond Llewelyn gets more screen time in Licence to Kill than other movies, and it’s a welcome extension. Benicio del Toro has an early role as Dario, a Sanchez henchman, and del Toro makes his mark with an impeccable presence. He had debuted just the year before in Big Top Pee-wee, and he would follow Licence to Kill with award-winning performances in films such as The Usual Suspects (1995), Traffic (2000) and 21 Grams (2003). The only drawback to the otherwise notable performances is Talisa Soto, who is unfortunately squandered in the static role of Lupe.

Licence to Kill was plagued with production problems. It was originally set in China, but having to film in Mexico to save money forced the narrative to shift to South America. While filming in Mexico, the crew endured what they described as a “haunted” stretch of road, burdened by numerous accidents (though one of them, in which a semi-truck slammed into another, looked good enough to work into the storyline). There was also the aforementioned WGA strike that took place while scripting the film, and producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli became ill while visiting the set in Mexico and had to return to the U.S.

David Hedison was the first actor in the Bond series to reprise his role of Felix Leiter. He had initially portrayed the character in Live and Let Die with Roger Moore. Interestingly, the manner in which Leiter is injured in Licence to Kill was taken from Fleming’s novel, Live and Let Die, a scene that was dropped from the 1973 adaptation. Though Licence to Kill was the first Bond film to not use an Ian Fleming title, it continued using the author’s work as a source. In addition to the Live and Let Die plot device, the 1989 movie features the villain, Milton Krest (Anthony Zerbe), who, along with his yacht, Wavekrest, appeared in Fleming’s short story, “The Hildebrand Rarity”, from the collection, For Your Eyes Only. In the same story, Krest punishes his wife by whipping her, similar to Sanchez’ punishment of Lupe in Licence to Kill.

The original title of Licence to Kill was Licence Revoked. According to the director, MGM requested the change, fearing that U.S. audiences would not comprehend the meaning of “revoked.” On the other hand, some have suggested that viewers in the U.S. would associate a revoked license with loss of driving privileges.


The title song was reportedly based in part on “Goldfinger” and consequently sounds derivative and a little bland. Gladys Knight’s vocals, on the contrary, are superb and enhance the opening credits sequence. The song was a Top Ten hit single in the UK and Germany.

In the film, Bond meets M at the Hemingway House in Key West, leading to a joke from 007 when he is told to hand over his weapon (“A farewell to arms,” he says with a smirk). In the same scene, M is introduced without his face shown and surrounded by cats, a knowing allusion to Bond’s multi-movie nemesis, Blofeld.

Davi and Grand L. Bush, who plays a DEA agent in Licence to Kill, had appeared together the previous year in John McTiernan’s popular Die Hard, as Special Agent Johnson and Agent Johnson (“No relation”). Composer Michael Kamen, who worked on Licence to Kill, also wrote the score for Die Hard.

Director Glen has stated that he wanted to implement a “harder edge” in Licence to Kill. He more than accomplished his goal, with a somewhat bloodthirsty 007 more inclined to destroying evidence out of spite than collecting it to warrant a conviction. Some have questioned the MI6 agent’s motivation in Licence to Kill with a lack of an established relationship between Bond and the man on whose behalf he is seeking vengeance. Such a criticism not only neglects the two characters’ close ties originated in Fleming’s novels, but also overlooks what the film is addressing: Bond’s apathy in dealing with deaths in previous films. It’s refreshing to see 007 take something personally, to react violently and only consider the consequences afterward. Most importantly is the correlation between Leiter’s marriage and Bond’s own to Tracy, directly (and subtly) acknowledged in Licence to Kill. All of it instills within the spy a human quality with which to garner viewers’ sympathy.

After repeated viewings, Licence to Kill has become one of my favorite Bond films. I urge others to watch it even if they have already done so, as it is an exceptional entry in the 007 series.

Bond Is Forever will return next month with Octopussy (1983).