The week has started on a sad
note for many James Bond fans, and for those who spent entire afternoons
watching many TV series. We learnt that, at the age of 92, David Hedison passed
away. He was the fifth actor to play Felix Leiter in the James Bond films.
Described by Ian Fleming as “the
Texan with whom he had shared so many adventures”, Hedison portrayed this idea
perfectly in Live And Let Die and Licence To Kill. With his appearance in
Bond 25, Jeffrey Wright will break the record playing the role for the third
time after Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, but Hedison concluded
his life being the only actor who could express that friendly link with James
Bond that went beyond work with two different actors that played the same role:
Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton.
He was also the one who had to
represent one of the tensest moments written by Fleming on his second Bond
novel, Live And Let Die, when Leiter
is thrown to a pool full of hungry sharks that mutilate two of his extremities,
something dramatically adapted in Licence
To Kill and the catalyst of 007’s desire of revenge that would take him to
resign to the Secret Service to avenge his friend and his wife Della, killed by
the assailants that were after him.
A descendant of Armenians, Ara
David Hedistian was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on 20 May 1927. He
initiated his artistic career under the name Al Hedison on a number of TV
series before reaching fame after playing the mutant star of The Fly in 1958. He later had a role in
the original 1960 version of The Lost
World and in The Greatest Story Ever
Told in 1965, as he played important roles on TV series of that decade like
Voyage To The Bottom of The Sea,
playing Captain Crane, and the episode ‘Luella’ of The Saint, forming his first friendship bond with Roger Moore.
After an occasional encounter
with director Guy Hamilton, the role of Felix Leiter was proposed to him for Live And Let Die, where his friend would
be Bond for the first time. There was instantaneous chemistry: Hedison was the
Felix who assisted Bond after a “little problem” (the mysterious and surprising
assassination of his chauffeur) and had to tolerate the name-calling of the
furious Mr Bleeker when Bond destroyed his aeroplane to evade Kananga’s hitmen.
He was also the Felix Leiter who shared a tragic destiny who was similar to those
of 007: due to the disgraceful consequences of his profession as a CIA and DEA
agent, his wife is killed hours after the wedding.
“He was married once, but it
was a long time ago”, he had told Della when she was surprised when Bond
disregards references to a possible second marriage in a future.
Stripped of one of his legs,
bruised and solace-less, Leiter manages to raise a smile when listening to his
friend on the phone to inform him that he’ll recover his job at MI6, even after
his rebellious attitude of hunting down drug kingpin Sánchez and his criminal
empire without the proper authorization, when the US justice didn’t dare to
confront him.
Besides his participation in
series like Wonder Woman, Charlie’s Angels and Perry Mason, Hedison teamed up with his
friend Moore in the films North Sea
Hijack and The Naked Face. In
2018 he wrote the foreword for the new edition of The 007 Diaries, which the new Bond had written in 1973 and
remained out of print for years: “Roger welcomed me into the wonderful fold of
his life. He hosted my life for Christmas in Switzerland and summer in the
South of France, always eager to share the spoils of his stardom yet never one
to act with exception or snobbery,” he said remembering the actor who passed away
on 23 May 2017, the day Hedison turned 90.
We just have to hope both of
them are enjoying two Sazeracs watching a choir of angels playing a version of
that Paul McCartney song that marked a generation and attracted an even bigger
audience to that 1973 film, where Bond was turning into the field of comedy but
wasn’t becoming less popular just for that. “Where’s your sense of adventure,
James? This is Heaven, relax!” he would say.
Those who have met him, like
actor Robert Davi, talked about his sympathy and sense of humour. There are
others who didn’t share that luck, but it just takes watching a few seconds of
any of his performances to perceive that warmth and kindness that went through
the screen. He made us feel that, besides being a friend of James Bond, he was
almost a friend of ours. Maybe this is why, despite his advanced age, we are
still surprised and saddened for his departure.
So long, great man!
Goodbye, Felix.
Nicolás Suszczyk
