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| 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.
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| 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.
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