An Evening in L.A. with a Distinguished Gentleman!

Derek Partridge. Photo by Brett Homenick.

After attending the Hollywood Show, I had an appointment to meet with actor and television presenter Derek Partridge, whom I mostly know from his role as Aubrey Range in the Rankin/Bass production of The Ivory Ape (1980), directed by Tsugunobu "Tom" Kotani. Mr. Partridge also appears in the James Bond thriller Thunderball (1965) in an uncredited role as the Vulcan navigator, the Star Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren" (1968) as Dionyd (this is the famous episode in which William Shatner kisses Nichelle Nichols), and Star Wars Rebels (2014-18) as the voice of Commander Brom Titus. 

With Derek Partridge.

We met in downtown Pasadena, which I had no idea was an area where parking was so scarce. It didn't help that there was some kind of major event going on, which made finding parking that much more difficult. Luckily, I eventually found a parking garage, so our long national nightmare finally came to an end, but I certainly wasn't expecting that level of difficulty.

Our first idea was to eat at a nearby Cheesecake Factory, but the wait was simply too long, so we took our business elsewhere. We ended up at a Chinese restaurant across the street and enjoyed the fare on offer. We talked about my life in Japan, while I asked Mr. Partridge about his life in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia in the 1970s, which he loved.

I asked Mr. Partridge about working with Tom Kotani on The Ivory Ape, but he didn't remember anything that he hadn't already shared in the interview linked above. Still, it was a great evening with Mr. Partridge, and I'm grateful we were finally able to meet years after the interview. I hope we can meet again soon in the future.

Fall Comes to the Hollywood Show!

With Barbara Wilson.

Saturday, September 6, saw my return to the Hollywood Show in Burbank. There were several guests I was very interested in meeting, and I didn't know exactly which ones I'd meet until I actually got there. (A lot depended on whether there were long lines, how much they were charging, etc.) I ultimately settled on four guests, and I enjoyed meeting each of them.

The first guest I met was Barbara Wilson, a veteran of 1950s and '60s horror and sci-fi films. Her credits include: Captain Fathom (1955) as Carol Barclay, The Man Who Turned to Stone (1957) as Anna Sherman, Roger Corman's Teenage Doll (1957) as Betty Herne, Blood of Dracula (1957) as Linda, Lost, Lonely and Vicious (1958) as Helen Preacher, Terror in the Midnight Sun (a.k.a. Invasion of the Animal People, 1959) as Diane Wilson, and The Flesh Eaters (1964) as Ann. 

I asked Ms. Wilson what she remembered about working with director Jack Curtis on The Flesh Eaters, in which she plays the movie's first victim of the titular creatures, but it turns out that she likely didn't work on the film at all! She has no recollection of appearing in the film, though the actress in the movie is unmistakably her. Her assistant explained that they suspect the filmmakers got their hands on some unused stock footage of Ms. Wilson and spliced it into The Flesh Eaters, which was much easier to do back in the day.

The assistant also pointed out that you can clearly see that they used a body double in a certain scene, which lends even more credence to the idea that Ms. Wilson wasn't directly involved. It was certainly fascinating to hear, but, since I haven't seen The Flesh Eaters since around 2006, I'd have to watch the film again to see for myself. I ended up selecting a still from Blood of Dracula for Ms. Wilson to sign, which I saw on Svengoolie a few months ago. 

With Cathy Moriarty.

The next guest I met was Academy Award nominee Cathy Moriarty, who was nominated for her performance as Vikki LaMotta in Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull (1980). That film, of course, is an all-time classic, but I also enjoyed her turn in the John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd farce Neighbors (1981), certainly one of the most unusual comedies I've ever seen. (While it's not always as funny as it could have been, it's never a chore to watch.)

I brought my Criterion Blu-ray of Raging Bull just in case I decided to meet her, and, after seeing her prices were about what I expected, I got in line. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Ms. Moriarty was quite gregarious and outgoing, which you don't always get from an actress on her level. The main memory of the conversation we had was, when I passed her the Blu-ray sleeve to get signed, she pointed to the face on the Blu-ray sleeve and joked, if I ever get him (Robert De Niro) to sign it, too, he'd probably charge more. It was great to see Ms. Moriarty enjoying herself so much at the show.

With Mary Badham.

Meeting Mary Badham, another Best Supporting Actress nominee at the Academy Awards for playing Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), was probably the afternoon's biggest surprise to me. I started off the conversation mentioning that I'd lived in Japan for a while and that To Kill a Mockingbird is known as Alabama Story there. Amazingly, Ms. Badham told me she was aware of that and that she had also spent quite a bit of time in Japan.

She went on to describe how leaving Japan caused quite a few headaches, as she couldn't simply take her furniture to a secondhand store or have a garage sale. Instead, she literally had to take a sledgehammer to an armoire (!) and leave the pieces out on the street for the garbage collectors to pick up. She also recalled having to get rid of an expensive kimono because there was nothing else she could do with it. She also reflected on visiting temples in Japan and what a spiritual experience it was for her. 

She opened up so much about Japan that I started to feel a bit bad for the person who was waiting behind me, but I wasn't about to stop Scout from talking to me about the Land of the Rising Sun! On a much sadder note, she discussed the recent death of her friend, a Japanese artist named Toshio, who passed away earlier this year. The details of the case are rather shocking, and it's clear to me there's a lot more that needs to come out about it.

To Kill a Mockingbird was a movie I first saw in class in either December 1995 or January '96 after we finished reading the novel in my freshman-year English class. It was a story (and a movie) that just about everybody enjoyed, including myself, even though I was almost exclusively watching Japanese monster movies in those days. By the end of '96, we moved, and I ended up at a different high school, so I repeated the process of reading the book and seeing the movie in class by the end of '96 during my sophomore year. All I can say is, those are great memories from probably the best years of my life.

That's why I made it a point to meet Ms. Badham, and I'm very glad I did. When it was time for me to move on (during which I said my goodbyes in Japanese), she shook both my hands at the same time and gave me and a big, warm smile. Not going to lie, given my history of watching her in Mockingbird during a pivotal time in my life, it was a bit overwhelming. Experiences like that are exactly why I do this sort of thing.

With Luciana Paluzzi.

The last guest I met was Luciana Paluzzi, who played Fiona Volpe in the James Bond thriller Thunderball (1965) and Dr. Lisa Benson in The Green Slime (1968). I hadn't seen Ms. Paluzzi since 2012, so, when she saw me at her table, her jaw literally dropped, and then she jokingly put it back in place with her hand. From the beginning, Ms. Paluzzi insisted I wouldn't be paying for anything, which was an incredible gesture. I asked her to sign my Green Slime Blu-ray sleeve and then pose for the photos in this blog post. She also asked me how long we've known each other, which we have since 2007, though we didn't meet in person until 2009.

I talked about how things have been going since I returned to California and what might be coming up for me, as well. She also commented on how I was maturing, which is a compliment I definitely appreciate! It was also a pleasure meeting her granddaughter, who was assisting her at her table. All in all, it was a joy seeing Ms. Paluzzi again after so many years.

Well, that's about everything. I had much more fun this time around than I did at the last Hollywood Show, and I stayed within budget, too!