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Con-tact: The Williamsburg Film Festival 2008
Thursday - Friday - Saturday
The third day: Saturday, March 8, 2008
General comments - the LeGarde Twins
Jacqueline Scott
Richard Herd
Gregory Walcott
Guest star panel: Richard Devon
General photos from the Festival
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Past Thunder Child reports on
the Festival
Williamsburg 2006: Jan Merlin and Frankie Thomas
Williamsburg 2007: Richard Anderson
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| Saturday is a jam-packed day at the Williamsburg Film Festival, because it ends early - in order for the Guest Stars to get ready for the Dinner in the evening.
Jacqueline Scott and Richard Herd each appeared in the Guest Star Theater, and there was a panel with Richard Devon.
The entertainment at this year's Dinner was the LeGarde Twins. I haven't mentioned them yet in this article, but they too were a lot of fun over the last three days. They had an autograph table and had lots of fans, albeit more for their country music singing work than for their role in the "I, Mudd" episode of Star Trek.
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On the left, Ted and Tom LeGarde, the "Herman" series of androids
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Tom and Ted LeGarde |
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Tom and Ted LeGarde |
The LeGarde twins did not have any panels, but they had quite a popular table, and were quite charming.
Their television careers in the US were sparse (no doubt because of their Australian accents) - they also appeared in an episode of Daniel Boone: "The Return of the Sidewinder" (which was shown at the Festival - unfortunately I missed it.
Jacqueline Scott
Jacqueline Scott's episodes shown were "24 Hours at North Fork" episode of Have Gun, Will Travel, and the Twilight Zone episode "The Parallel."
Jacqueline Scott |
After the episodes, Jacqueline Scott came in and talked about her career. I asked her if she had a favorite genre, and she said no.
She shared an anecdote about her time on Planet of the Apes, where she played Roddy McDowall's "girlfriend," Kira. Roddy McDowall played Galen in that 1974 series, as well as in the Planet of the Apes movies.
It took several hours for the ape appliance makeup to be put on each actor, and it was very difficult to eat and drink while in that make up. |
The ape actors also had to face an interesting phenomenon...tourists on set actually treated them like second-class-citizens - pulling on their arms and saying, "Come over here for a photograph," rather than politely asking, and so on.
Richard Herd
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Herd did not have any episodes on offer, instead he had brought a compiltion of his science fiction work - clips of episodes from V and Star Trek: Voyager (but unfortunately, nothing from the Quantum Leap episode "Future Boy," which is his favorite SF role!
He spoke for about ten to fifteen minutes before the clips were shown. He started out (and ended) speaking about life in general - how he'd gotten a letter from the Army telling him they'd lost his records from the 1950s and thinking it was a scam - only for it to turn out to be true, to the country's economic troubles.
In between he talked about his acting career, starting with his first film role, co-starring in FIST with Sylvester Stallone. |
Richard Herd |
He talked about doing a one-man show - as Cecil B. DeMille, which was a great success, and he is now working on putting together a production for a one-man show about John Ford.
Richard Devon
At 1.30 pm, Richard Devon did a Panel with moderator Bill Ruehlman. William Sanderson (most famous as Larry on The Newhart Show, and currently co-starring in the TV series True Blood), was unable to attend the festival because shooting on that series has resumed after the writer's strike.
Devon was asked about his early film role as Molak on Space Patrol, and pointed out that when he asked for a raise, he was summarily fired from the show!
He then went on to share stories about John Wayne and so on. However, I wanted to be present for Gregory Walcott's stint in the Guest Star Theater, so I left early.
Gregory Walcott
Gregory Walcott
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The movie shown was Texas Lady (1955), starring Claudette Colbert and Barry Sullivan. Walcott had a co-starring role as the Deputy of a small town who falls in love with Colbert, who is 30 years his senior. (Although truth to tell, she looked 30 to me!)
Anyway, this movie has a special place in Walcott's heart, as his wife Barbara was pregnant during the filming of it, and gave birth to his eldest daughter a couple of weeks after it finished shooting. |
He spoke about Colbert initially being reluctant to have him as her leading man, because of the age difference, but then getting used to it, and trying to teach him to waltz, and so on. Sweet stories.
After Texas Lady was over, I left the building, and began the drive home to York County. I'd hoped to go through Williamsburg a bit more, but it was a cold, grey day, so I just went home and gloated over all the stuff I'd picked up - from autographed photos of the stars to the first two episodes of the once-lost Captain Z-ro children's science fiction show from the 50s.
Miscellaneous Photographs
A few photos from 4D Man, Lee Meriwether's first feature film
Lesley Aletter and Lee Meriwether
Don Reynolds - actor, animal trainer
Gene Lesser - scriptwriter, playwright, manager
Ironman and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Does he need an introduction????
Dealers Room
Richard Devon
Gregory Walcott and Don Reynolds
Regal Crown Club
And just in case you missed the Media Table...here it is again!
Media Table: Convention Flyers
Fantasmo Cult Cinema Explosion: First Friday of every month, Cult Film Double feature, Chesapeake Library, 298 Ceder Road, Chesapeake, VA
Cincinnati North Hotel, 11911 Sheraton Lane, Cincinnati, OH, 45246
Old Time Radio and Nostalgia Convention, April 11, 2008
Cincinnati North Hotel, 11911 Sheraton Lane, Cincinnati, OH, 45246
Email haradio@hotmail.com for details. (They have no website!)
Pulp Adventurecon #8: March 29, 2008. Ramada Inn, Bordentown, New Jersey.
The Memphis Film Festival: June 5-7, 2008. Whispering Woods Hotel, Olive Branch, Mississippi
31st Annual Western Film Fair: July 16-19, 2008. Clarion Sundance Plaza Hotel, Winston Salem, North Carolina
Slapsticon 2008: July 17-20, 2008. Rosslyn Spectrum Theater, Arlington, VA
4th Annual Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention: September 18-20, 2008. The Clarion Hotel, Aberdeen, Maryland
Media Table: Vendors
Western Collectables - Commercial site: DVDs, books, lobby cards, etc.
Magazines
The Midnight Palace: movie magazine.
Classic Images: movie magazine.
Societies
The International Buster Keaton Society, the Damfinos
Thursday - Friday - Saturday
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Radiation Theater: 1950s Sci Fi Movies Discussion Boards
The Sand Rock Sentinel: Ripped From the Headlines of 1950s Sci Fi Films
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