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1-15 of 15
- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Bruce Lansbury was best known as the producer of cult science fiction TV shows of the 1960s and 1970s. He made his science fiction mark in the 1960s with The Wild Wild West (1965). In 1971, he produced the highly regarded Assault on the Wayne (1971), which, while not science fiction related, captured the imagination of science fiction fans as Star Trek (1966)'s Leonard Nimoy played a troubled sub captain with just a hint of Mr Spock in his performance.
Lansbury also produced the short lived lost-island science fiction series, The Fantastic Journey (1977), which may have only lasted ten episodes but holds an iconic status for some people even today. Lansbury worked on the third season of Wonder Woman (1975) and gave the series a much needed burst of sci-fi storylines which greatly improved the series as a whole. He also worked on the first and best season of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979).- Actor
- Stunts
Young Nelson may never have hit the big time in Hollywood but in recent years his long lost 1970's work for Filmation Studios has finally become available on DVD, so his work now lives on.
Firstly, the Shazam! series, about the flying superhero Captain Marvel. This series was made for Saturday morning kid's television so it took some by surprise that a two-part episode, "The Road Back"/"The Lure Of The Lost", was all about a drug dealer and Nelson played a character named Gary, who worked directly for the dealer. Gary's later change of heart about the whole drug issue was well played by Nelson and the role probably had a good affect on the youth of the day.
Secondly, Nelson had a guest role in another Filmation series titled Ark II. In this episode, "The Tank", Nelson played Zachery, who lives on an earth of the future that has been mostly destroyed. The image of Zachery taking command of a long unused tank is one of the most memorable moments of this short lived series.
Nelson also appeared in two episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man series and when you put this all together you could say that Nelson added something rather special to 1970's TV fantasy.- Director
- Producer
Under-rated producer and director of the 1960s and 1970s.
In the 1960s he directed episodes of several cult TV shows including one episode of The Twilight Zone.
In the 1970s he got caught up in the disaster movie craze by putting out atleast five disaster films, four for TV and one feature (The Concorde...Airport '79).
Horror At 37,000 Feet (1973) combined a flight disaster with supernatural events and wonderful over-acting from William Shatner.
The Runaway Train (1973) may have looked too studio-bound but solid acting from stars such as Vera Miles and Martin Milner held viewers for the whole film.
Adventures Of The Queen (1975), in this film set on The Queen Mary, Rich directed it while Irwin Allen - "The Master Of Disaster" - produced it. The direction of the whole cast seemed very strong and powerful, mainly of Bradford Dillman as the villain.
SST: Death Flight (1977) saw Rich return to an airplane disaster film and the quality acting from Horror At 37,000 Feet is here as well. Also, Martin Milner from The Runaway Train was in this.
The Concorde...Airport '79 (1979) was Rich's first disaster film for theaters and it failed at the box office. In fact, it not only failed but was actually laughed off the screen by many as it was viewed as being just so bad. It ended the Airport movie series.
However, all the above films, including The Concorde...Airport '79, are fun to watch and, unlike some other films of the disaster genre, were never boring. Rich really had a talent for directing actors and getting the most out of them.- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Writer
To fans of 1980s prime time soap, David Paulsen is known as the guy who tried to make Dynasty more human in the last season (1988-89). Or perhaps "the guy who tried to turn Dynasty into Dallas" in the final season.
For a few seasons Dynasty marched along with its so-bad-it's-good method of acting. In 1988, after just leaving several years of Dallas, Paulsen moved onto Dynasty and attempted to replace the show's melodramatic acting with a more happy and realistic tone.
Now, all of a sudden, the Dynasty cast would be seen making light conversation, smiling and making jokes.
Some viewers welcomed the change while many others single out Paulsen as the guy who killed Dynasty.- Actress
Deanna Lund is best known for her role as "Valerie Scott" in the two-season cult series of the 1960s: Land of the Giants (1968), produced by Irwin Allen.
Irwin Allen cast Lund in the series, when he saw her in a recently made motion picture. Lund started out as the bad girl of the series, getting herself (and others) into trouble when she searched for food in the "giant land"; and another time trying to cause a mutiny in the castaway group, in the episode, The Bounty Hunter (1969).
As the 51 episode series moved forward, Valerie became more of a team player in the castaway group. Perhaps her best line in the series came in the episode, Wild Journey (1970), when she turns to the series star and says, "Captain, nobody tells me what I can and can't do".
In 1995, Lund was interviewed about her work on "Land of the Giants" and this interview can be found on the "Land of the Giants" DVD set. In the interview, Lund explains how she "felt so silly" acting in "Giants", as she was often talking to people (aka giants) who were not actually on the set. So she was often talking to nobody at all.
Much to the delight of young male viewers of the time, Valerie was often seen wearing sexy outfits in "Giants", and in one episode, Graveyard of Fools (1970), one outfit crossed the line as too sexy, in the eyes of the network.- Del Monroe is probably best known as Seaman Kowalski in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) and the subsequent TV series based on the film, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964), He was thrilled to play a seaman in the big-budget film, but one day on the set he noticed what he believed to be a silly-looking mistake. He pointed it out to producer Irwin Allen, not knowing if Allen would take offense and end Del's career right there. It turned out that Allen didn't take offense at all, and in fact hired Monroe to play the same role in the series, which lasted for four seasons (1964-68).
Monroe has stated that he enjoyed doing the "Voyage" series, no matter what the plot of the episodes he was in--Cold War spies, deadly amphibians, monsters from outer space--he loved them all. He didn't even mind the change in the show's premise from an adult sci-fi series in the first year to a more children-oriented viewpoint in subsequent seasons.
In the third season he had a meaty part in the episode "Deadly Waters", in which his character had to deal with the problems of his troubled brother. The next year saw Del's character as the focal point of another episode, "The Deadly Amphibian", in which he was taken over by a deadly undersea creature. However, in the final season he was given another chance to strut his stuff in "The Return of Blackbeard", in which he was required to behave like a rollicking, devil-may-care pirate, but the episode did not go over well with series viewers.
Irwin Allen also tapped Del for appearances in his other TV series, and Del showed up in an episode of The Time Tunnel (1966), but turned down a chance for a recurring role in Allen's Land of the Giants (1968).
After "Voyage", Del did guest roles such TV series as Wonder Woman (1975). He found time to return to the big screen when he secured a part in Speedway Junky (1999), showing up in the beginning of the film as a grizzled old-timer. In 2004 a few "Voyage" cast members got together (not including Richard Basehart, who had died) for a convention and Del was speechless that so many fans turned out to celebrate a 40-year-old TV series. - Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
The first words heard in the Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea tv series belonged to Dick Tufeld: "This is the Seaview, the most extraordinary submarine in all the seven seas". The first words heard in the Irwin Allen's Lost In Space tv series belonged to Dick Tufeld: "This is the beginning, this is the day, you are watching the unfolding of one of history's great adventures..." Tufeld was also heard at the start of several episodes of Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel: "Two American scientists are lost..."
Tufeld's totally unique energy charged deep voice put viewers in the right frame of mind for what was to come. Irwin Allen tv was about showmanship and Tufeld was a true showman. Tufeld and Irwin Allen had crossed paths long before "The Big Four" Irwin Allen tv shows of the 1960s. However, when Irwin asked Tufeld to do a "Robot voice" for Lost In Space, Irwin found it hard to explain the type of voice he wanted for the robot and Tufeld almost missed out on getting the job because he could not understand what Irwin wanted. However, it all worked out in the end.
By the 1990s, the Lost In Space fan base was big enough to keep Dick Tufeld very busy. He went around the world talking about Lost In Space, in 1996 he even went as far as Australia to talk to fans, and in 1998 he was able to do his "Robot voice" once again in the Lost In Space motion picture...oddly enough he sounded much the same as he did in the 1960s.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Heather Young is best known for her regular role as "Betty Hamilton" in the sci-fi two-season cult series, Land of the Giants (1968), produced by Irwin Allen.
She also appeared in one episode, Town of Terror (1967), of another Irwin Allen sci-fi cult series, The Time Tunnel (1966).
With this sort of history, you would expect Young to have a love of sci-fi, but this is not the case at all, she got these roles because she was one of the last 20th Century Fox contract players and Irwin Allen selected her for this reason.
As well as not being not totally comfortable with Land of the Giants (1968), she never really got a lot to do in the series, however this problem was addressed by series co-star Don Matheson (as explained in the "Land of the Giants" DVD set). Matheson would simply hand some of his lines to Young to give her more to do.
Perhaps she looked most at home in the second season episode, titled The Marionettes (1970). In this episode, Betty helped out a kind giant circus guy, by acting as a singing dancing marionette, to replace a real marionette.
In 1995, the entire living Land of the Giants (1968) cast was interviewed on The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen (1995) TV show, but Young was oddly missing.- Writer
- Additional Crew
Best known for doing three things: for scripting an episode of the cult 1960s series Star Trek (episode title: For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky), for scripting six episodes of the semi-cult 1960s series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. He also did a Batman adventure. However, his constant jumping to various tv genres, and not sticking to the one genre, means that he is a hard man to describe.
His Star Trek came in the show's third season when some were saying the series was dropping in quality. However, Vollaerts was able to surprise some viewers as he presented a love story where Dr McCoy was dying. The opening scene of this hour ranks as one of season three's most powerful moments. His touching script put some female viewers into tears.
He remained with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea for six episodes and, for this writer, that is a long period. Vollaerts invaded the submarine Seaview with amphibians, a giant fish that attacks the Seaview, a power-mad General, a human body snatching space brain, a human body snatching Shadowman, and finally, a human body snatching Deadly Cloud.
His Voyage scripts ended up sounding great when acted out by talents such as Richard Basehart (Admiral Nelson), Del Monroe (Seaman Kowalski) Dick Tufeld (space brain), Lloyd Bochner (power-mad General), Jim Mills (Shadowman), etc.
He also scripted a two-part episode of 1960s Batman, done in season one when things were less silly and over-the-top than they would become. His Batman adventure was about a new bad guy called, "The Bookworm", played by Roddy McDowall. Perhaps the most memorable part of the script was the amusing moment when Batman (Adam West) struggles with the idea of fighting with people wearing spectacles.
When you put this all together, you could say that Vollaerts added something special to 1960s tv fantasy.- Writer
- Producer
- Director
A graduate of New York's Columbia School of Journalism, Irwin Allen was a magazine editor, the producer/director of a radio show and the owner of an advertising agency before entering film production in the 1950s. His documentary, The Sea Around Us (1953), won an Academy Award. A successful TV series producer (The Time Tunnel (1966), Lost in Space (1965)), Allen was nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" in the 1970s due to the tremendous success of his two special effects-laden epics, The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974).- Thanks to the recent release of the mid-1970s Shazam! (1974) series on DVD, today John Davey is now being remembered as one of TV's early superheroes, Captain Marvel. He did the role in a total of thirteen TV episodes, eleven times in Shazam! and three times in the spin-off series, The Secrets of Isis (1975).
Jackson Bostwick played Captain Marvel in the first seventeen episodes of Shazam!, but was suddenly replaced by Davey mid-series.
Many fans agree that Bostwick was the best Marvel, some agree Davey was best, but back then all were confused why the change happened at all.
The role of Marvel required some hard action scenes but Davey pulled it off very well. Towards the end of the series in an episode titled Out of Focus (1976), Marvel revealed he had powers never seen before in the series.
In another episode, "Double Trouble", Marvel had to deal with an evil double of him making trouble.
If Shazam! were made today, I am sure a love interest would have happened between Marvel and Isis, but we got none of that, instead he was too busy saving kids from falling off a cliff or driving in a dangerous way, etc.
Davey's Marvel might seem too clean and simple minded to many of today's youth, but to kids of the 1970s Davey played a positive role model in a series that will never be forgotten, Shazam! - Today, sexy Lee Meriwether is best remembered for her roles in a few science fiction/fantasy cult productions made between 1966 and 1969. Batman: The Movie (1966), Star Trek (1966), The Time Tunnel (1966) and Land of the Giants (1968).
Firstly Batman: The Movie (1966), in which she played both evil Catwoman and not-so-evil Kitka, who has a romance with Bruce Wayne (Adam West).
Then came 30 episodes of Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel (1966) series, in which she played a scientist named Dr. Ann MacGregor, where she mostly performed with Whit Bissell (General Kirk), both attempting to help two time travelers who were lost in time. In one episode, The Kidnappers (1967), Ann was taken away from her normal setting and transported into the distant future.
However, Meriwether once reported that she spent a lot of the series acting to a screen in the Time Tunnel complex, a screen that was meant to feature the two time travelers, but in reality featured nothing at all. So she was reacting to nothing a lot of the time.
Then came the Star Trek (1966) episode, That Which Survives (1969), where she played Losira, an alien being who stalks the Enterprise crew and attempts to kill them.
And finally, she was back with Irwin Allen again with the Land of the Giants (1968) episode, Rescue (1969). In this, she played the concerned "giant" mother of kids who were trapped underground and needed to be rescued by the Earth "little people".
Then she appeared as Betty Jones, daughter-in-law and secretary to Barnaby Jones from 1973 t0 1980 (178 episodes) in the series of the same name, "Barnaby Jones."
Meriwether is still working in television to this day. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Marta Kristen was born Birgit Annalisa Rusanen, on February 26, 1945, in Oslo, Norway, to a Finnish mother and a German soldier who was killed towards the end of World War II in Europe. Marta was only two months old when she was left in an orphanage. In 1949, Dr. and Mrs. Harold Soderquist of Detroit, Michigan adopted her, and brought her to America; she was renamed Martha Soderquist.
In 1959, the family moved to L.A. and she attended Santa Monica High School for a year; she later graduated from Hollywood Professional School. Producer/director James B. Harris discovered the pretty, petite aspiring actress; he arranged for her to get an agent, and she was quickly booked for TV programs, such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and The Loretta Young Show (1953) (aka "The New Loretta Young Show"). In 1963, Marta met a graduate student and, 6 months later, they got married. Her career took off and she made a splash as the mermaid "Lorelei" in Beach Blanket Bingo (1965). She would be best-known and remembered, however, for her signature role of "Judy Robinson" in Lost in Space (1965). However, the show was not as great as expected. Marta later said in an interview, "The show had so much promise. When it started to be silly, we all began to look at each other and say, 'We're in an episode with talking vegetables?' Five years of the Actors Studio, and I'm doing this?" Even worse, the show did not feature her prominently -- in the most popular episode, The Sky Pirate (1966), in which actor Albert Salmi (like Marta, of Finnish descent) guest-starred, she had only one word of dialogue (she gets to say "good-bye" to the pirate).
Offscreen, Marta tried to find her roots, but it was not until 1969, pregnant with her first child and traveling alone through Europe looking for her long-lost relatives, that Marta was able to find her biological mother in Finland; she also met her older sister for the first time, whom she didn't know about. Later that year, Marta returned to the USA, and her daughter Laura was born. Marta concentrated on raising her daughter, and instead of doing television or films, she appeared in over 40 TV commercials, which required less time away from home. Marta and her first husband divorced in 1973. In 1974, she met Kevin Kane, an attorney; they were married until his death in 2016.
Marta has remained moderately active in TV and movies, even appearing in the big screen version of Lost in Space (1998). And she discovered more family members in 1997, half-siblings -- a younger brother in Australia and a sister in Finland -- about whom she had known nothing.
Having always put her family ahead of her career, Marta revealed, in an interview, that she was "co-parenting my daughter's child, Lena. I used to do a lot of theater and traveled a lot. But those things are out of the picture for the next couple of years".- Writer
- Producer
Known to some vintage television fans as the writer/producer of some famous and not so famous TV western hours, but known mostly as the writer of 25 Lost In Space episodes.
Little is known about the private life of Packer but it would seem he was partly interested in making Lost In Space a space western rather than a science fiction series. Almost right from the word go Packer introduced guest characters who seemed like they had just walked out of a farm rather than another galaxy (note episodes: "Welcome Stranger", "Return From Outer Space", "The Space Croppers", "Blast Off Into Space" and "A Visit To A Hostile Planet"). Packer seemed to have little knowledge of science, which was obvious from his very first Lost In Space episode: "The Derelict".
He never lived to see Lost In Space turned into a massive budget 1990s motion picture, but if Packer wrote it, he probably would have ended it with "The Space Western Is Just Beginning" flashed across the screen. Rest In peace Peter Packer.- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Little is known about how William Welch started in Hollywood. This under-rated and totally misunderstood style-over-logic writer is mainly known, to some, as the guy who scripted many highly entertaining, and totally way out, color episodes of Irwin Allen's adventure series, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964) (1964-68).
Welch invaded the submarine Seaview with ghosts (The Phantom Strikes, The Return Of The Phantom, The Haunted Submarine, Cave Of The Dead) and a surprisingly amusing time traveler named Mr Pem (A Time To Die, No Way Back). Welch was able to keep these crazy situations semi-real by giving Admiral Nelson (Richard Basehart) realistic reactions to these Seaview invaders. Welch and Basehart actually made some viewers, more male viewers than female viewers, think that a mermaid, a mummy, ghosts and a time traveler could exist at the bottom of the sea. Logic was sometimes missing in these scripts but the highly entertaining style came in truck loads. Welch always made Richard Basehart sound so good, like no other Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea writer could. But many others would say the Welch-less black and white episode scripts were the best. Take your pick.
William Welch also did some highly regarded script work for the Irwin Allen's Lost in Space (1965) (1965-68) episode The Hungry Sea. Welch made the Robinson family, Don West, Dr Smith, and The Robot all seem so interesting.
Welch wrote one of the best episodes of Irwin Allen's time travel series -- The Time Tunnel (1966) -- episode title End Of The World. Welch gave General Kirk (Whit Bissell) attention grabbing lines that stole the hour. Once The Time Tunnel (1966) was axed in 1967, Welch simply shifted the time travel premise into three well scripted episodes of Irwin Allen's Land of the Giants (1968) (1968-70) series.
According to the IMDb, about 99% of Welch's lifetime work was for Irwin Allen and nobody else. Welch died of health problems a year or so after getting his name in the production credits of Irwin Allen's The Towering Inferno (1974). Rest in peace, William Welch.