David Hedison

Best-known for playing CIA operative Felix Leiter in two James Bond movies, David Hedison also enjoyed memorable leading roles in sci-fi classic "The Fly" (1958) and submarine adventure "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (ABC, 1964-68). Born to Armenian parents in Providence, RI in 1927, Albert David Hedison first began performing with Brown University's Sock and Buskin Players and later honed his acting talents in New York at both the Actors Studio and Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. After treading the boards for several years, most notably in Broadway production "A Month in the Country," Hedison bagged a movie deal with 20th Century Fox and made his big screen debut playing Lt. Ware in WWII tale "The Enemy Below" (1957). A year later he appeared as a scientist who accidentally transforms himself into a human-fly hybrid in seminal sci-fi horror "The Fly" (1958) and landed the leading role of Jamie in swashbuckler "The Son of Robin Hood" (1958). After changing his credited name from Al to David, Hedison took top billing as counterintelligence officer Victor Sebastian in short-lived espionage drama "Five Fingers" (NBC, 1959), appeared as journalist Ed Malone in Amazonian adventure "The Lost World" (1960) and co-starred alongside Tom Tryon and Tom Reese in Korean war movie "Marines, Let's Go" (1961). Hedison landed his defining small screen role when he was cast as Captain Lee Crane in underwater sci-fi "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (ABC, 1964-68). Following its cancelation, Hedison appeared in mind control thriller "Kemek" (1970), briefly relocated to Britain where he starred in televised play "A Kiss Is Just A Kiss" (1971) and was cast as CIA operative Felix Leiter in Roger Moore's first 007 outing, "Live and Let Die" (1973). Hedison spent much of the 1970s appearing in TV movies such as "The Cat Creature" (1973), "Adventures of the Queen" (1975) and "The Art of Crime" (1975) and guesting on primetime hits including "Family" (ABC, 1976-1980), "Cannon" (CBS, 1971-76) and "Barnaby Jones" (CBS, 1973-1980). In the following decade, Hedison played several characters on "Fantasy Island" (ABC, 1977-1984), "The Fall Guy" (ABC, 1981-86) and "The Love Boat" (ABC, 1977-1986), reunited with Roger Moore on oil rig actioner "North Sea Hijack" (1980) and psychological thriller "The Naked Face" (1984) and bagged the recurring roles of procurator of Porcius Festus in biblical miniseries "A.D." (NBC, 1985) and British diplomat Roger Langdon in soap spin-off "The Colbys" (ABC, 1985-87). After reprising his role of Felix Leiter in Timothy Dalton's final Bond movie "Licence to Kill" (1989), Hedison played senior government figures in action movies "Undeclared War" (1990), "Fugitive Mind" (1999) and "Mach 2" (2000) and enjoyed lengthy soap opera stints as wealthy businessman Spencer Harrison and Judge Arthur Hendricks in "Another World" (NBC, 1964-1999) and "The Young and the Restless" (CBS, 1973-), respectively. He largely focused on the stage during his latter years, although he did show up in direct-to-DVD movies "Spectres" (2004) and "The Reality Trap" (2005), making his final screen appearance in dramedy "Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk" (2017). Hedison passed away in 2019 at the age of 92.