Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all who enjoy Irwin Allen’s work. Here’s a little festive Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea treat from talented artist G Foulds.

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.

The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen by Jeff Bond with foreword by Lost in Space star Bill Mumy is now shipping and is the ultimate Irwin Allen coffee table book. This beautifully presented hardback book runs at 600 colour pages with many never before seen photos, storyboards and blueprints.

The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen covers all of Irwin Allen’s productions with chapters dedicated to each of the hugely popular sci-fi series. Through this book, we gain knowledge on the production of both the early movies and the later disaster movies, culminating in a final chapter which illustrates how the productions continue thrive for new generations including the exciting Netflix Lost in Space. Available exclusively at www.creaturefeatures.com.

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

Irwin Allen’s wife Sheila spoke fondly of her desire for there to be a coffee table book on producer Irwin Allen and his career, and finally that dream is coming true with Jeff Bond’s new book The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen with a foreword written by Lost in Space star, Bill Mumy.

Book announcement from Jeff Bond

Creature Features in association with Synthesis Entertainment and Legendary Pictures presents THE FANTASY WORLDS OF IRWIN ALLEN, the definitive coffee table book more than two and a half years in the making!

This deluxe 600+ page limited edition hardback is the first and only book of its kind to take a visual journey through the mind and career of legendary producer Irwin Allen, the “Master of Disaster”—the man behind some of the most popular television programs of the 1960s and the visionary who invented the special effects movie blockbuster format with his 1970s hits The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno.

Authored by Jeff Bond with the full participation and cooperation of the Irwin Allen Estate, THE FANTASY WORLDS OF IRWIN ALLEN follows the ambitious icon from his early days as a Hollywood agent and radio personality to his lengthy stint at 20th Century Fox, where he produced movies such as The Lost World and Five Weeks in a Balloon and the popular television shows Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants.

Allen employed the studio’s sprawling lot and soundstages, its library of movie footage, costumes and props, and its veteran special effects craftsmen to bring vivid color and movie-quality action, miniature effects and visuals to television viewers accustomed to low-budget, black and white programming. Allen’s flare for action and visual punch gave audiences some of the 1960s most popular and iconic figures: Admiral Nelson and Captain Crane of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea; the Lost in Space Robot and Jonathan Harris’ nefarious Dr. Zachary Smith; Will Robinson and the Robinson family of space travelers; the pop art kaleidoscope of The Time Tunnel; the Jupiter 2, the Seaview, the Flying Sub, the Spindrift.

Before George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, Irwin Allen broke box office records with two of the biggest movie blockbusters of all time: The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. Wooed to Warner Bros. at the height of his power with the offer of a building named in his honor and one of the most generous studio contracts ever given a producer, Allen faced his biggest challenge: topping himself with The Swarm, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, When Time Ran Out, and a series of ambitious projects for television.

Illustrated with more than 2,000 images including concept and production artwork, storyboards, blueprints, design sketches, miniatures and behind-the-scenes photographs, many of them never before published, THE FANTASY WORLDS OF IRWIN ALLEN is the ultimate guide to Allen’s famous productions, from his documentaries The Sea Around Us and The Animal World to his spectacular TV-movie City Beneath the Sea, plus fascinating unproduced projects, all explored in detail for the first time.

This hardbound masterwork will be offered in a standard edition of 1000 copies, and a deluxe signed edition of 250 copies autographed by author Jeff Bond and actor Bill Mumy, who penned the foreword.

Pre-orders begin on a first come, first served basis exclusively at www.creaturefeatures.com on Friday, April 19th at 12 noon Pacific Standard Time.

The book is slated to arrive at our door in mid-July and begin shipping immediately, though shipping schedules are always subject to change.

PLEASE NOTE: Creature Features is the only authorized source for new copies of this book and will not be offering it thru Amazon or any other retail sellers.

Sample pages from the book The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen

Actress Olivia de Havilland (star of Irwin Allen’s The Swarm) celebrates her 100th birthday, today 1st July 2016.

Daily Mail – Timelessly Elegant at 100

The Guardian – Happy birthday Olivia de Havilland!

The Independent – Olivia de Havilland turns 100

Variety

Several Irwin Allen related items including Lost in Space and Land of the Giants costumes are up for auction in the Profiles in History Hollywood Auction 74 (30 September and 1 October 2015).

The 1961 movie version of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is to be released on Blu-Ray on both sides of the Atlantic this Autumn. The Blu-Ray version will be available in the USA from 8 October 2013 and in the UK from 4 November 2013.

Alex Karras, former American footballer and actor, died at the age of 77 on 10th October 2012. Alex Karras starred as Tiny Baker in Irwin Allen’s volcanic movie When Time Ran Out.

New York Times

Daily Mail

Los Angeles Times

Huffington Post

Ernest Borgnine, star of The Poseidon Adventure, Fire, When Time Ran Out, and Alice in Wonderland has passed away aged 95. Up until very recently he had been attending signing events with other members of The Poseidon Adventure cast and will be much missed by Irwin Allen and movie fandom.

BBC Tribute

Los Angeles Times

Time Entertainment