The Fly: Interview with Star David Hedison
Posted by dominie in Films, Interviews on October 20th, 2008
The Fly: Andre Delambre (David Hedison) is a devoted husband, a loving father and a brilliant scientist. When his body is found in his laboratory with his arm and head crushed by a hydraulic press, his wife Helene admits to having killed him. Believing Helene incapable of such a crime, Andre’s brother slowly uncovers the truth - that an experiment with Andre’s new teleportation device went horribly wrong and Andre persuaded Helene to assist him in suicide.
Famous Monsters: I read in the foreword that you always know when October arrives because your phone starts ringing. You have done a lot of work, great work besides The Fly (review), do you think you are remembered more for your role as Andre Delambre or for the large body of work you have contributed to the acting profession?
David: Both actually. Andre Delambre, Lee Crane and Felix Leiter (in two James Bond films - Let and Let Die and License to Kill) are the roles I am best known for - all over the world. I also did a National Tour of Chapter Two (the Neil Simon play) in 1979-80. Those are roles I consider my best known work out of the over 100 roles I’ve assayed in my 60 year career.
Famous Monsters: Does it amaze you at all that The Fly remains so popular and ingrained in the hearts of horror fans given the big budget, special effect extravaganzas we are bombarded with today?
David: Not at all. It tells a story. A good story, tragic and heartfelt, about this fantastic discovery — teleportation — that can change the world, but we as human beings don’t have the discipline or the knowledge to use it wisely. It’s a classic tragedy. I loved playing the part of the doomed scientist.
Famous Monsters: I make sure I watch three movies and one TV show every Halloween…It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, The Fly, Dracula with Bela and John Carpenter’s Halloween. What are your favorite Halloween movies?
David: Psycho — the 1960 Hitchcock version — is my favorite horror film. They don’t come any better than that.
Famous Monsters: What was the most enjoyable part you ever played?
David: A BBC TV version of Summer and Smoke was the best review I ever got. A PBS play by Oliver Hailey called For the Use of the Hall that aired in January of 1975 was the most fun I ever had doing a part. Lee Grant directed me and she was marvelous.
Famous Monsters: The least enjoyable.
David: The movie Undeclared War. I was in Poland. The Director, Ringo Lam, assured me I was far enough away from the explosion I wouldn’t have to worry. It went up, blew out all the glass windows in the entire block and shredded the suit I was wearing. There was no second take after that fiasco.
Famous Monsters: I really enjoyed how you talked about the special effects for the fly transformation and having an eyeball fall out, I think that would have been great. Can you imagine in that time period the screams you would have gotten from the audience?
David: I sat in back row of the Westwood Theatre in 1958 and I can assure you that the audience I was watching my film with was screaming …
I totally agree with you, however, that my ideas for progressive makeup for my character would have much more effective in scaring that audience than the mask the studio went with.
Famous Monsters: A little off the Fly topic but one interesting tidbit I really enjoyed is that you believed in true love like your parents and some friends had and that you only wanted to marry once. You met Bridget Mori, married her and are still together. Can you expound on what life is like with your one true love?
David: I knew when I saw her across the room in 1967, she was the one. Two lovely grown daughters later, she is still the one. You just know and you work at it and you always listen. It worked for me.
Famous Monsters: In closing, I find most of today’s horror / sci-fi to be, to put it kindly not very good. Today’s movies show everything no matter how disgusting and leave nothing for the audience to imagine. In other words, to me The Fly is magic and it seems to me that there is not much magic left in today’s cinema as compared to movies like The Fly. What are your thoughts?
David: Whatever happened to telling stories? Effects, no matter how good, cannot carry a film. You have to care about the characters, what their problems are. You want to root for them to be successful. One recent movie I saw that was violent and still had a story was No Country For Old Men, so they still can make them. I’m a big fan of Javier Bardem.
David Hedison
10/18/2009
