Meeting David Hedison

Above, Armand with David Hedison.

A year ago, I did an email interview with actor David Hedison for G-FAN magazine. I worked out the arrangement with author Diane Kachmar.

In the interview, I covered different movie genres that Hedison appeared in. Most notably, The Lost World, James Bond epics Live and Let Die and License To Kill, the television series Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea and, most importantly, The Fly.

Above, David Hedison as Capt. Lee Crane in "Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea."

Yesterday, I attended the second annual Monsterpalooza show. Besides seeing the show, I had one goal I wanted to accomplish: meeting David Hedison.

When I got to Hedison's table, he was gone. I found out later that he had gone to a neighboring hotel for what he thought would be a "five-minute interview" that turned out to be over an hour long. He was a little annoyed at the time it took and some of the questions that were asked of him. But he laughed it off.

I caught up with him in the foyer of the Marriott's Convention Center and introduced myself. We headed off to his table and chatted about the G-FAN interview. He asked if everyone liked it and I told him that I received a lot of compliments on it.

It is amazing that this white-haired and white-bearded gentleman was Andre Delambre, Lee Crane and Felix Leiter, each of which had jet-black hair. But the voice was unmistakable. That was definitely the voice of David Hedison! Although in his early 80s, his voice did not sound like a voice of an old man's. He had a steady stride and still had a lot of hustle in him!

At his table, I did pick up a copy of Kachmar's book The Fly At Fifty.

Above, "The Fly At Fifty."

Luckily for me, David Hedison had three copies of the book left. After he autographed the book, I asked him for the price. He said $40.00. After he said that, I hesitated a second because, minutes before, I donated a dollar for photographing a display in the room and it just dawned on me. That left me exactly $39.00 in cash in my pocket.

Above, the autograph.

He laughed and asked, "Were you surprised at $40.00?" I told him, "Oh no, I've been to a lot of conventions before. Would you take a check?" He said yes. (It would've been no problem anyway, as the convention center has an ATM machine.) I figured it would be around $40 anyway as the price on the book is $21.95 (that's an odd amount) and celebrities charge $10-20 for autographs. This reminds me, I should ask the bank for the original check (they just give print-outs of cleared checks these days) after it clears, so I can have two Hedison autographs.

After I handed him my check, he laughed, "Who do I contact if this bounces?" I reassured him that there's no chance of that (my mom left me with some money after she died in January plus The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan is doing well). After this, we posed for a photo in front of a life-size figure of him as The Fly.

Mission accomplished! I got to meet David Hedison.

To reach David Hedison's website, go here.