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David Hedison, Actor Who Found Fame in a Submarine, Dies at 92

By Anita Gates

• July 23, 2019

David Hedison, the tall, dark and handsome actor who rose to fame as the by-the-book submarine captain on the prime-time series “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,” died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 92.

His family announced the death in a statement.

Mr. Hedison was also well known for having played Felix Leiter, Agent 007’s C.I.A. friend, in two James Bond movies, 16 years apart, opposite two different Bonds: “Live and Let Die” (1973), starring Roger Moore, and “Licence to Kill” (1989), starring Timothy Dalton.

But “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,” which had its premiere on ABC in 1964, gave him his star-making role. It went on to become the decade’s longest-running science fiction series with the same characters — as opposed to “The Twilight Zone,” which was an anthology show.

At first, “Voyage” featured story lines about the Cold War and natural disasters; it moved on to mummies, werewolves, extraterrestrials and mutated plankton. All four seasons were set in the future (the 1970s and ’80s, that is).

Mr. Hedison admired his co-star, Richard Basehart , who played an admiral, and professed to enjoy the series experience.

“The memories are, all in all, quite pleasant except some of those shows later, in the fourth year, with the monsters — I didn’t like doing those particularly,” he said in a 1992 interview that appears on his website. “I didn’t mind when I had to turn into one. I thought that was a lot of fun.”

Albert David Hedison Jr. was born on May 20, 1927, in Providence, R.I., where his father was in the jewelry business. His parents, Albert and Rose (Boghosian) Hedison, were both from Armenia, where the original family name was Heditsian.

Their son first became involved in theater at Brown University in Providence, and later studied acting at both the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Actors Studio in New York.

He began his career under the name Al Hedison and made his Broadway debut as a page in a 1952 production of “Much Ado About Nothing.” Four years later, he won a Theater World Award for his role as Belyaev the tutor in an Off Broadway staging of Turgenev’s “A Month in the Country.”

Moving on to Hollywood, he made his television debut on “Danger,” a mystery anthology series, in 1954. His first film was “The Enemy Below” (1957), a naval-battle drama starring Robert Mitchum. His second is probably more vividly remembered.

He was the doomed scientist — the brother of Vincent Price’s character — experimenting with teleportation and getting mixed up (literally) with an insect in the original version of the horror movie “ The Fly ” (1958).

“The lead character spent a lot of time with a cloth over his head,” Mr. Hedison said in an interview, recalling that he really liked the script nonetheless.

He was first billed as David Hedison when he starred as an undercover agent working in Europe in the short-lived drama series “Five Fingers” (1959-60), and as a newspaper reporter on an expedition, complete with angry dinosaurs, in the Irwin Allen film “ The Lost World ” (1960).

After his success on Mr. Allen’s “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,” Mr. Hedison was offered the lead in a forthcoming prime-time sitcom, “The Brady Bunch,” but he said he wasn’t interested.

“I turned it down because after four years of subs and monsters, who needs kids and dogs?” he told one interviewer. ( Robert Reed took the role.)

Mr. Hedison went to London instead, to star onstage in Tennessee Williams’s “Summer and Smoke” opposite Lee Remick . A television movie of the production was shown on the BBC.

During a six-and-a-half-decade career, Mr. Hedison took on more than 100 film and television roles, but he often said that theater was his first love. In the 1990s and early 2000s he appeared in regional theater, often in Massachusetts and Maine.

His wife, Bridget (Mori) Hedison, died in 2016 after 48 years of marriage. His survivors include their daughters, Alexandra and Serena Hedison.

Mr. Hedison had recurring roles on the daytime dramas “Another World” and “The Young and the Restless.” He appeared in seven episodes of “The Love Boat” and six of “Fantasy Island.” His last movie role was in “Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk” (2017). He never claimed to be particularly proud of the acting jobs he did primarily to pay the mortgage.

There are many of his movies that “I avoid like the plague,” he confessed on his website . “And when I know they’ll be on TV, I have a dinner party and invite my friends over — so they can’t see them.”

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Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

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• Robert Dowdell as Lt. Cmdr. Chip Morton
• Henry Kulky as CPO Curley Jones [ 1 ]
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David hedison, ‘voyage to the bottom of the sea’ actor, dies at 92.

David Hedison, who starred as Captain Lee Crane on the 1960s ABC submarine series 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,' died Thursday in Los Angeles, a family spokesperson announced. He was 92.

By Mike Barnes

Mike Barnes

Senior Editor

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David Hedison, who starred as Captain Lee Crane on the 1960s ABC submarine series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea , died Thursday in Los Angeles, a family spokesperson announced. He was 92.

The handsome actor also portrayed scientist André Delambre, who got turned into an insect in The Fly (1958) long before Jeff Goldblum ever did, and he played CIA operative Felix Leiter in the James Bond films Live and Let Die (1973) and Licence to Kill (1989).

From 1964 to 1968, Hedison’s character worked aboard the submarine Seaview under the command of Adm. Harriman Nelson (Richard Basehart) on 110 episodes of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea . The show was created by Irwin Allen, based on his 1961 movie of the same name.

Born Al David Hedison on May 20, 1927, in Providence, Rhode Island, Hedison discovered the theater while attending Brown University and studied in New York under Sanford Meisner at The Neighborhood Playhouse and with Lee Strasberg at The Actors Studio.

He worked alongside Uta Hagen and Michael Redgrave in-off Broadway productions by Clifford Odets and Christopher Fry, among others, and made his big-screen debut in the World War II naval drama The Enemy Below (1957), starring Robert Mitchum.

After starring in the original The Fly and Son of Robin Hood in 1958, he signed a contract at Twentieth Century Fox, changing his stage name to David Hedison.

In the 1990s, he played Spencer Harrison on the NBC daytime series Another World.

His wife, Bridget Hedison , a producer on Dynasty and its spinoff The Colbys , died in February 2016. Survivors include his daughters Serena and Alexandra, the wife of Jodie Foster.

“Even in our deep sadness, we are comforted by the memory of our wonderful father,” his family said in a statement. “He loved us all dearly and expressed that love every day. He was adored by so many, all of whom benefited from his warm and generous heart. Our dad brought joy and humor wherever he went and did so with great style.”

A donation in his memory may be made to The Actors Fund .

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Metv toons brings warner bros. classic cartoons together in national weigel broadcasting network, david hedison dies: ‘voyage to the bottom of the sea’ actor was 92.

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David Hedison, an actor who appeared in Off Broadway productions by Clifford Odets and in the original version of horror sci-fi classic The Fly but is best known for his starring role in the popular ’60s adventure series Voyage To The Bottom of The Sea , died July 18 in Los Angeles. He was 92.

His death was announced by his daughters Alexandra and Serena, who were at his side when he “passed away peacefully,” the family reports.

Hedison, who began his career using his given name Al Hedison, was a native of Providence, Rhode Island, and discovered his passion for theater at Brown University. He studied under Sanford Meisner at The Neighborhood Playhouse and Lee Strasberg at The Actors Studio, and was soon performing Off Broadway alongside Uta Hagen and Michael Redgrave (Hedison performed Off Broadway in 1956’s A Month in the Country under Redgrave’s direction).

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In 1958, Hedison appeared, with Vincent Price, in what would become a sci-fi classic, The Fly . That same year, Hedison starred in the swashbuckler Son of Robin Hood.

A year later, Hedison, by then having switched from Al to his middle name David, was put under contract at Twentieth Century Fox. He starred in the spy TV series Five Fingers , and over the next few years had roles in Perry Mason, The Saint and the feature film The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Though many other roles would follow well into the new century, including Dynasty, The Colbys, Fantasy Island, The Fall Guy, Live and Let Die and soaps Another World and The Young and the Restless, it was his performance as the heroic, handsome Capt. Lee B. Crane in producer Irwin Allen’s submarine-set 1964-68 V oyage To The Bottom Of The Sea that secured his place in the collective memory of the Baby Boomer generation.

Said his family in a statement: “Even in our deep sadness, we are comforted by the memory of our wonderful father. He loved us all dearly and expressed that love every day. He was adored by so many, all of whom benefitted from his warm and generous heart. Our dad brought joy and humor wherever he went and did so with great style.”

Hedison is survived by his daughters Alexandra and Serena. His wife Bridget died in 2016.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers donations be made to The Actor’s Fund.

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• Episode aired Nov 14, 1965

A research team are taking measurements of an underwater eruption. They discover a fissure that appears to lead all the way to the Earth's core. While the discovery is exciting, what exists ... Read all A research team are taking measurements of an underwater eruption. They discover a fissure that appears to lead all the way to the Earth's core. While the discovery is exciting, what exists in that fissure could lead to deadly consequences. A research team are taking measurements of an underwater eruption. They discover a fissure that appears to lead all the way to the Earth's core. While the discovery is exciting, what exists in that fissure could lead to deadly consequences.

• Harry Harris
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• David Hedison
• Karen Steele
• 8 User reviews

• Admiral Nelson

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• Trivia This is the first episode in which the Flying Sub makes an appearance in the opening credits.
• Goofs When Dr. Sterling grows to giant size near the end, the shirt under his sweater changes from a light tan to a darker flannel.

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Deepest blue hole in the world discovered, with hidden caves and tunnels believed to be inside

Scientists have yet to reach the bottom of the Taam Ja' Blue Hole in Mexico's Chetumal Bay, which new measurements hint could be connected to a labyrinth of submarine caves and tunnels.

Mexico's Taam Ja' Blue Hole is the deepest known underwater sinkhole in the world, researchers have discovered — and they haven't even reached the bottom yet. 

New measurements indicate the Taam Ja' Blue Hole (TJBH), which sits in Chetumal Bay off the southeast coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, extends at least 1,380 feet (420 meters) below sea level. 

That's 480 feet (146 m) deeper than scientists initially documented when they first discovered the blue hole in 2021, and 390 feet (119 m) deeper than the previous record holder — the 990-foot-deep (301 m) Sansha Yongle Blue Hole, also known as the Dragon Hole, in the South China Sea. 

"On December 6, 2023, a scuba diving expedition was conducted to identify the environmental conditions prevailing at the TJBH," researchers wrote in a study published Monday (April 29) in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science . During the expedition, the researchers took measurements with a conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) profiler — a device with a set of probes that read and transmit water properties to the surface in real time via a cable. The data revealed that the Taam Ja' blue hole is "the world's deepest known blue hole, with its bottom still not reached," the researchers wrote in the study. 

Related: Colossal cave in Mexico that formed 15 million years ago is even more enormous than we thought  

The profiler also highlighted different layers of water within the blue hole, including a layer below 1,312 feet (400 m) where the temperature and salinity conditions resembled those of the Caribbean Sea and nearby coastal reef lagoons. This suggests the TJBH may be connected to the ocean via a hidden network of tunnels and caves, according to the study.

Blue holes are water-filled vertical caverns, or sinkholes , found in coastal regions where the bedrock is made of soluble material, such as limestone, marble or gypsum. They form when water on the surface percolates through the rock, dissolving minerals and widening cracks, which eventually causes the rock to collapse. Famous examples include Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas, the Dahab Blue Hole in Egypt and the Great Blue Hole in Belize. 

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Initial measurements of the TJBH were taken using an echo sounder — an instrument that sends sound waves down to the bottom of the water and measures the speed they come back to calculate distance. However, there are limitations to echo sounding techniques in blue holes due to fluctuations in water density and the unpredictable shape of each hole, which may not be perfectly vertical.

"Confirmation of the maximum depth was not possible due to instrument limitations during the scientific expeditions in 2021," the researchers wrote in the study.

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The CTD instrument used for the recent work did not find the bottom of the blue hole either, as it could only operate down to depths of 1,640 feet (500 m). Scientists lowered the profiler down to that depth, but the cable it was attached to may have drifted on underwater currents or bumped into a ledge that stopped the device in its tracks 1,380 feet down, according to the study.

Next, the scientists plan to"decipher TJBH's "maximum depth and the possibilities of forming part of an underwater intricate and potentially interconnected system of caves and tunnels," the researchers wrote.

"Within the depths of TJBH could also lie a biodiversity to be explored," they added.

Sascha is a U.K.-based trainee staff writer at Live Science. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Southampton in England and a master’s degree in science communication from Imperial College London. Her work has appeared in The Guardian and the health website Zoe. Besides writing, she enjoys playing tennis, bread-making and browsing second-hand shops for hidden gems.

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