Here is a presentation of some of actor Gary Conway’s superb art from his Big Sur Collection.

Among his many talents, Gary Conway is a superb artist and you can find many of his art pieces on Gary’s website. Below is a piece of art that Gary has shared with us from his latest Big Sur collection.

Below are links to PDFs that Gary has sent us to showcase some of his art. Feel free to download the PDFs and enjoy Gary’s stunning artwork. To see more of his work, take a trip to Gary Conway’s Website.

Gary Conway’s forty-year dream-journey gazing out upon the mesmerizing mountains of the Santa Lucias.

The Big Sur Collection One

When I first discovered the Big Sur region of Paso Robles in a crash landing it was soon realized that no place on earth possesses these purest and cleanest of colors and haunting hues surrounding the sharpest of horizons. Painting this phenomenon was inevitable – an artist’s paradise! Van Gogh would have truly lost his mind here!
Gary Conway

The Big Sur Collection Two

A trip to the cosmos by way of Big Sur.

The Big Sur Recollections – Current Works

Ever since I started painting at a very early age, I thought of art as more than the pursuit of the exquisite. Art is also a statement of societal values drawing on the power of nature’s beauty that ensures us a sense of life’s purpose.
Gary Conway

The Big Sur Recollections

After years of painstaking research (and yet more pain when a Columbo end credit mis-named him as “Jimmy Pelham”) we have finally managed to identify and verify the actor playing the Day Helmsman in The Poseidon Adventure. His name is Gary Wright and we’re spending a lot of time trying to find out more about him. Identifying uncredited cast in the Irwin Allen shows and movies is an immense task and with the help of a team of fellow fans we’re managing to identify more and more. It takes watching a lot of other movies and shows to find out actor names.

On this occasion (after the Columbo “Dead Weight” end credit debacle) we have finally worked out Gary Wright’s name from the only other verifiable end credit there is for him (the movie Foxy Brown with Antonio Fargas) and a little Columbo clue. Perhaps appropriate as this has taken so much detective work. The clue comes from the Columbo episode “Now You See Him” starring the wonderful Jack Cassidy as illusionist The Great Santini. In the episode, Santini actually calls Gary Wright “Mr Wright”. Normally we wouldn’t think anything of that, but in the episode another Irwin Allen actor, Mike Lally, is given the character name “Michael Lally”.

For completeness, here is Gary Wright’s end credit in Foxy Brown. Note that Don Gazzaniga (giant in the Land of the Giants episode Weird World) also appears in the movie.

Gary Wright also appears very briefly as an engineer in The Towering Inferno.

We’ve developed a deep affection for Gary as we search out more and more credits for him (so far all in the early to mid 70s). One of the funniest is a little known uncredited appearance in a movie called Get to Know Your Rabbit where Gary causes havoc around star Tom Smothers whilst being chased and caught. Have never seen our helmsman move so fast. Normally he is standing very still.

Our deep appreciation goes to everyone sending in names for background characters who don’t normally get named and credited in productions. These characters, plus stunt people and production crew are the unsung heroes of the Irwin Allen productions and we want them to be recognised for their work and to be remembered. Special thanks go to Phil Arnold and Woody Anders for their recent input in trying to get to these long searched for names. This is going to be an endless task as there are still so many more people we have yet to identify.

It is hard to find the words and is with deep shock that we have to bring you the very sad news that actor and star of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, David Hedison, passed away on Thursday 18th July 2019 at the age of 92. This news is heartbreaking for all his family, friends, and his legion of longtime fans around the world. David gave so much pleasure to so many people through his work in the field of entertainment and his career continued with a wealth of public appearances at conventions and signings. So many of our visitors and members have had the opportunity to meet and chat with David. In our small corner of the entertainment universe, the Irwin Allen world, David is fondly and lovingly remembered for his role of Captain Crane in the hugely popular sci-fi series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Voyage in peace, our beloved Captain Crane.

Here are just some of the tributes and obituaries paying homage to David Hedison:

BBC Tribute

Variety

Hollywood Reporter

USA Today

Deadline Obituary

Daily Star

Mirror

It is heartbreaking to have to write the following words and to let you know that on Friday 22nd June 2018, our dear and beautiful friend Deanna Lund passed away. Our hearts go out to all her family and friends at this very sad time. We have promised that we will help to preserve her legacy through her website and beyond and friends and fans around the world are welcome to contribute through the Irwin Allen News Network (IANN) site.

The Land of the Giants cast have all been like family for everyone who has travelled in time with them over the past 50 years. In this 50th Anniversary year of Land of the Giants, this is an even greater loss as we all try to commemorate the show which brought us this inspiring actress, Deanna Lund.

Deanna’s long term fan organisation Friends of Deanna Lund, run by Dr. Fred Eichelman, has prepared a special obituary in Deanna’s memory for her website.

Deanna Lund Obituary

Deanna Lund’s fan organisation Friends of Deanna Lund has just updated her 1992 novel Valerie in Giantland: Valerie Ames Scott’s Diary as part of the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Land of the Giants. The revised book features a new colour cover and an epilogue chapter. Copies are available through Friends of Deanna Lund, at signings and through Amazon.

A very, very sad start to the new year with the passing on Tuesday 23rd January 2018 of one of the most popular stars of Irwin Allen’s television productions, Robert Dowdell, who was best known for his role of Lt. Commander Chip Morton in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Much loved around the globe, Chip was often the straight guy to several other comedic characters in the show, and he played the role superbly. Irwin Allen also featured Robert in two of his made for television movies, City Beneath the Sea (1971) and Outrage (1986). He will be sorely missed by his legion of fans and will live on through his work and the love that engendered. Our thoughts at this time are with all of his family, friends, and fans.

Facebook notice from Robert’s cousin

A memorial to celebrate the life of actress Francine York (who passed away in January) is being held on Sunday 23rd April 2017 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood LA. If you would like to attend, please click the image below for a PDF flyer containing details of the event.

Click here or on image above for PDF of Francine’s Memorial Flyer

Francine York Memorial Celebration

Lawrence Montaigne, a guest in several Irwin Allen TV episodes, passed away on 17th March 2017 at the age of 86. Irwin Allen fans will know him from The Time Tunnel episodes Massacre (as Yellow Elk, 1966) and Idol of Death (as Captain Alvarado, 1967) as well as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode Man-Beast (as Dr. Braddock, 1968) . He also appeared as Dr. Aquila in the City Beneath the Sea presentation reel in 1969. We understand that he has recently been working on revising his autobiography for Jacobs Brown Press based upon his book “A Vulcan Odyssey.”

Hollywood Reporter Obituary

We learned today via Celeste Yarnall of the very sad news that actor Don Marshall passed away on Sunday evening at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.  Don had been due to attend a Land of the Giants reunion at Campbell Con over the weekend, but had to pull out due to a serious health issue, and this sudden news has been very shocking for fans around the world.  We will pay tribute in the coming hours and days on the IANN Giants page and Giants Log site.

New York Times

Variety

Hollywood Reporter