David Hedison
Encyclopedia
Albert David Hedison, Jr. (born May 20, 1927, Providence, Rhode Island
) is an Armenian-American film, television, and stage actor. He was billed as Al Hedison in his early film work. In 1959, when he was cast in the role of Victor Sebastian in the short-lived espionage
television series Five Fingers
, NBC
insisted that he change his name. It was proposed that he use his middle name and he has been known as David Hedison ever since.
in the film Blood and Sand
. He began his acting career with the Sock and Buskin Players at Brown University
before moving to New York to study with Sanford Meisner
and Martha Graham
at the Neighborhood Playhouse and with Lee Strasberg
at the Actors Studio
.
, directed by Michael Redgrave
, which starred Uta Hagen
, for which role Hedison won a Theater World Award. Hedison toured with Anita Gillette
in Neil Simon
's Chapter Two
and appeared in the West Coast premiere of Forty Deuce. He toured with Elizabeth Ashley
in Come into My Parlour, and was in the world premiere run of Bernard Slade
's
Return Engagements. He appeared at the Cape Playhouse in 1998 in Alone Together with Anita Gillette
. He also starred in the New York City premiere of First Love with Lois Nettleton
. He returned to the Cape Playhouse to appear in Tale of the Allergist's Wife (2002), and his most recent theatrical appearance was at Monmouth University
's Pollak Theatre, in Love Letters
with Nancy Dussault.
, which also starred Robert Mitchum
. He followed that up with the 1958 horror classic The Fly
. Other films in which he appeared include The Son of Robin Hood, Marines, Let's Go
!, The Lost World
, The Greatest Story Ever Told
;
ffolkes and The Naked Face
. Hedison was the first actor to play James Bond
's ally Felix Leiter
in more than one film (Live and Let Die
and Licence to Kill
).
Much of Hedison's acting career has been on television. In 1961, he appeared with Geraldine Brooks (1925–1977) in an episode of ABC
's Bus Stop
with Marilyn Maxwell
, for which Brooks was nominated for an Emmy Award
. He was cast as a counter espionage agent who traveled the world as a Hollywood talent agent in the 16-episode series Five Fingers. He followed that up with a starring role as Captain Lee Crane in the ABC television version of Irwin Allen
's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
with Richard Basehart
. The show ran for four years. He also had a semi-regular role on ABC's The Colbys
.
In 1990, he was the series host for Phenomenal World. He appeared in the television movie A.D. as well as
The Saint
Family
, The Love Boat
, Fantasy Island
, The Bob Newhart Show
, Charlie's Angels
, The A-Team
, Knight Rider, and Wonder Woman
, among many others. He played Spencer Harrison on the American soap opera
Another World
from 1991 to 1996. He followed that up in 2004 with a role on The Young and the Restless
as Arthur Hendricks. His most recent role was in 2005's The Reality Trap. Also appeared in the 2001 movie "Mach 2"
and Serena Hedison. Alexandra Hedison has appeared in L.A. Firefighters
and The L Word
.
|-
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
) is an Armenian-American film, television, and stage actor. He was billed as Al Hedison in his early film work. In 1959, when he was cast in the role of Victor Sebastian in the short-lived espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
television series Five Fingers
Five Fingers (TV series)
For other uses see 5 Fingers Five Fingers is an NBC adventure/drama series set in Europe during the Cold War loosely based on the 1952 film 5 Fingers, starring James Mason and Danielle Darrieux...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
insisted that he change his name. It was proposed that he use his middle name and he has been known as David Hedison ever since.
Early life
Hedison decided he wanted to be an actor after he saw Tyrone PowerTyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
in the film Blood and Sand
Blood and Sand (1941 film)
Blood and Sand is a Technicolor film produced by 20th Century Fox, directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Rita Hayworth, and Alla Nazimova...
. He began his acting career with the Sock and Buskin Players at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
before moving to New York to study with Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner , also known as Sandy, was an American actor and acting teacher who developed a form of Method acting that is now known as the Meisner technique....
and Martha Graham
Martha Graham
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
at the Neighborhood Playhouse and with Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
at the Actors Studio
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street in the Clinton neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded October 5, 1947, by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis and Anna Sokolow who provided...
.
Theatre
His work on the New York stage includes the off-Broadway production of A Month in the CountryA Month in the Country (play)
A Month in the Country is a comedy in five acts by Ivan Turgenev. It was written in France between 1848 and 1850 and was first published in 1855...
, directed by Michael Redgrave
Michael Redgrave
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author.-Youth and education:...
, which starred Uta Hagen
Uta Hagen
Uta Thyra Hagen was a German-born American actress and drama teacher. She originated the role of Martha in the 1963 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee...
, for which role Hedison won a Theater World Award. Hedison toured with Anita Gillette
Anita Gillette
Anita Gillette is an American actress, most notable for her work on Broadway and as a celebrity guest on various game shows....
in Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
's Chapter Two
Chapter Two
Chapter Two is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon. The plot focuses on George Schneider, a recently widowed writer who is introduced to soap opera actress Jennie Malone by his press agent brother Leo and her best friend Faye. Jennie's unhappy marriage to a football player has dissolved...
and appeared in the West Coast premiere of Forty Deuce. He toured with Elizabeth Ashley
Elizabeth Ashley
Elizabeth Ashley is an American actress who first came to prominence as the ingenue in the Broadway play Take Her, She's Mine, which earned her a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Play.-Early life:...
in Come into My Parlour, and was in the world premiere run of Bernard Slade
Bernard Slade
Bernard Slade is a Canadian playwright and screenwriter.Born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Slade began his career as an actor with the Garden Center Theatre in Vineland, Ontario. In the mid-1960s, he relocated to Hollywood and began to work as a writer for television sitcoms, including Bewitched...
's
Return Engagements. He appeared at the Cape Playhouse in 1998 in Alone Together with Anita Gillette
Anita Gillette
Anita Gillette is an American actress, most notable for her work on Broadway and as a celebrity guest on various game shows....
. He also starred in the New York City premiere of First Love with Lois Nettleton
Lois Nettleton
Lois June Nettleton was an American actress of film, stage, and television. She was Miss Chicago of 1948 as well as a semifinalist at that year's Miss America Pageant.-Early years:...
. He returned to the Cape Playhouse to appear in Tale of the Allergist's Wife (2002), and his most recent theatrical appearance was at Monmouth University
Monmouth University
Monmouth University is a private university located in West Long Branch, New Jersey, United States.Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956, and later Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its charter....
's Pollak Theatre, in Love Letters
Love Letters (play)
Love Letters is a Pulitzer Prize for Drama nominated play by A. R. Gurney. The play centers on just two characters, Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III...
with Nancy Dussault.
Film
After his role in A Month in the Country, Hedison signed a film contract with 20th Century-Fox. His first movie with them was the classic war film The Enemy BelowThe Enemy Below
The Enemy Below is a 1957 war film which tells the story of the battle between the captain of an American destroyer escort and the commander of a German U-boat during World War II. It stars Robert Mitchum, Curt Jürgens, David Hedison and Theodore Bikel. The movie was directed and produced by Dick...
, which also starred Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
. He followed that up with the 1958 horror classic The Fly
The Fly (1958 film)
The Fly is a 1958 American science-fiction horror film, directed by Kurt Neumann. The screenplay was written by James Clavell , from the short story "The Fly" by George Langelaan...
. Other films in which he appeared include The Son of Robin Hood, Marines, Let's Go
Marines, Let's Go
Marines, Let's Go is a 1961 CinemaScope colour Korean War film about three Marine buddies on shore leave in Japan and at war in Korea. It was produced and directed by Raoul Walsh who also wrote the story. Walsh had previously had successes with films about the U.S...
!, The Lost World
The Lost World (1960 film)
The Lost World is a 1960 science fiction adventure film based on the novel of the same name by Arthur Conan Doyle and directed by Irwin Allen...
, The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told is a 1965 American epic film produced and directed by George Stevens and distributed by United Artists. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ, from the Nativity through the Resurrection. This film is notable for its large ensemble cast and for being the last...
;
ffolkes and The Naked Face
The Naked Face (film)
The Naked Face is a 1984 film written and directed by Bryan Forbes, based on the book by Sidney Sheldon. It stars Roger Moore, Rod Steiger and Elliott Gould.The film was nominated for "Best Film" at Mystfest, a film festival.-Plot:...
. Hedison was the first actor to play James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
's ally Felix Leiter
Felix Leiter
Felix Leiter is a fictional CIA agent created by Ian Fleming in the James Bond series of novels and films. In both, Leiter works for the CIA and assists Bond in his various adventures as well as being his best friend. In further novels Leiter joins the Pinkerton Detective Agency and in the film...
in more than one film (Live and Let Die
Live and Let Die (film)
Live and Let Die is the eighth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman...
and Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond series and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming novel. It marks Timothy Dalton's second and final performance in his brief tenure in the lead role of James Bond...
).
Television
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Bus Stop
Bus Stop (TV series)
Bus Stop is a 26-episode drama which aired on ABC from October 1, 1961, until March 25, 1962, starring Marilyn Maxwell as Grace Sherwood, the owner of a bus station and diner in the fictitious town of Sunrise in the Colorado Rockies...
with Marilyn Maxwell
Marilyn Maxwell
Marilyn Maxwell , born Marvel Marilyn Maxwell, was an American actress and entertainer.Noted for her blonde hair and sexually alluring persona, she appeared in several films and radio programs, and entertained the troops during World War II and the Korean War on USO tours with Bob Hope.-Career:She...
, for which Brooks was nominated for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
. He was cast as a counter espionage agent who traveled the world as a Hollywood talent agent in the 16-episode series Five Fingers. He followed that up with a starring role as Captain Lee Crane in the ABC television version of Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen was a television and film director and producer nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. He was also notable for creating a number of television series.- Biography :...
's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV series)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a 1960s American science fiction television series based on the 1961 film of the same name. Both were created by Irwin Allen, which enabled the movie's sets, costumes, props, special effects models, and sometimes footage, to be used in the production of the...
with Richard Basehart
Richard Basehart
John Richard Basehart was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson.-Career:...
. The show ran for four years. He also had a semi-regular role on ABC's The Colbys
The Colbys
The Colbys is an American prime time soap opera, which originally aired on ABC from November 20, 1985 to March 26, 1987. The Aaron Spelling-produced series was a spin-off of Dynasty, which had been the highest rated series for the 1984-1985 U.S. television season...
.
In 1990, he was the series host for Phenomenal World. He appeared in the television movie A.D. as well as
The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
Family
Family (TV series)
Family is an American television drama series that aired on ABC from 1976 to 1980. Creative control of the show was split between executive producers Leonard Goldberg, Aaron Spelling and Mike Nichols...
, The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...
, Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:...
, The Bob Newhart Show
The Bob Newhart Show
The Bob Newhart Show is an American situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired 142 original episodes on CBS from September 16, , to April 1, . Comedian Bob Newhart portrayed a psychologist having to deal with his patients and fellow office workers...
, Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
, The A-Team
The A-Team
The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
, Knight Rider, and Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman (TV series)
Wonder Woman is an American television series based on the DC Comics comic book superhero of the same name. Starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor, the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979....
, among many others. He played Spencer Harrison on the American soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Another World
Another World (TV series)
Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
from 1991 to 1996. He followed that up in 2004 with a role on The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
as Arthur Hendricks. His most recent role was in 2005's The Reality Trap. Also appeared in the 2001 movie "Mach 2"
Personal life
His parents were Albert David Hedison (Heditsian), Sr. and Rose Boghosian. He and wife Bridget were married in London on June 29, 1968, and they have two adult children, actress/director Alexandra HedisonAlexandra Hedison
Alexandra Hedison is a contemporary photographer who lives and works in Los Angeles. She is the daughter of actor David Hedison, and is a former actress who appeared on television series such as Showtime's The L Word.She attended the State University of New York at Purchase and University of...
and Serena Hedison. Alexandra Hedison has appeared in L.A. Firefighters
L.A. Firefighters
L.A. Firefighters, also known as Fire Co. 132, is an American drama television series starring Jarrod Emick. The series premiered June 3, 1996, on Fox.-Cast:*Jarrod Emick as Captain Jack Malloy*Christine Elise as firefighter Erin Coffey...
and The L Word
The L Word
The L Word is an American co-production television drama series originally shown on Showtime portraying the lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their friends, family and lovers in the trendy Greater Los Angeles, California city of West Hollywood...
.
External links
- Mi6.co.uk Interviews David Hedison
- Official Web Site
- Professional Website
- David Hedison at FelixLeiter.com
|-