Before Hollyweird became what it is today, a cesspool of immorality with gay rights, anti American hatred, left wing politics and all that other rot, it was a cool place to work and the people there did their jobs and did them well.
This is actually a first for this blog as I spotlight a book being
written by a John Fredriksen about an actor
that has unfairly been tossed out of the public thought.
Born on June 12th in 1914, William Lundigan was the oldest of four
sons of a shoe salesman. He became fascinated
with radio and was producing radio plays at the age of 16.
He starred in such films as
State Department File 649, Terror Ship,
Serpent Of The Nile, Follow Me Quietly (this is an excellent Film
Noir), Fabulous Dorsey's, and the role he really made an impression
in..
Inferno with the always sexy Rhonda Fleming and the great Robert
Ryan.
These films are pretty well known to genre fans, but his greatest claim
to fame with the short lived but very entertaining TV
show from ZIV called
Men Into Space.
In all 38 episodes he played Col. Edward McCauley and is best
remembered for that role. A good conservative Republican in real life,
Lundigan enlisted in the Marines even though he was draft exempt and
movie mogul Louis B. Meyer, in typical
liberal Democrat fashion was outraged that he would do such a thing
and dropped his contract.
John Fredriksen is writing a book about the TV show Men Into Space
with the help of Lundigan's daughter Stacey. The title
of the book is MEN INTO SPACE and according to Fredriksen the book
should be out about November. Fredriksen is no
stranger to writing books as he completed one of the great show Honey
West starring Anne Francis, and it was a top notch
read from cover to cover.
Fredriksen is currently busy working on a huge book about all the
sci-fi films of the 50's and he took a short amount of time to
talk with me about his book on Lundigan.
OV: I have only seen one episode of Men Into Space and loved it. Why
did this show only last 38 episodes?
JF: Well let me say first I saw this show when I was 6 years old and
it electrified me. Each episode cost around $100,000 dollars and it
bombed because the US Air Force, which had extended cooperation on the
show didn't allow monsters and mad scientists, and that was what was
popular at the time.
OV: Lundigan spoke of his career as one of mistakes. What does that mean?
JF: Bill was a nice guy and took whatever role was offered without
complaint. He was an actor after all.
OV: This show seems to be what he is best remembered for.
JF: It was the first serious Sci-fi show ever to air on TV
OV: How did Lundigan get the job on that show?
JF: He worked for Ivan Tors on the movie Riders To The Stars, and Tors
recommended him to ZIV productions when they
were casting for Men Into Space. Bill was also in the pilot episode
for a show called Science Fiction Theater as well..
OV: It sounds like it will be a great book, and I will look forward to
reading it. Thank you for your time.
JF: Thank You.
