From 1989 until last year when Quantum of Solace was released, Mr. Hedison had the distinct honor of being the only man to play Felix Leiter in two seperate films (Live and Let Die & Licence to Kill). Today, he and Jeffrey Wright share that honor, however, Hedison is still many Bond fans’ favorite Felix Leiter.

If you don’t already own Licence to Kill on home video, I suggest buying the Ultimate Edition DVD or Blu-ray because (1) it’s one of the best James Bond films and (2) it features James Bond’s brother from Langley (although the film shows Leiter liaising with the Drug Enforcement Administration)!

Welcome to…

The David Hedison FLc Interview

Hunter Graybeal: In your extended biography located in chapter two of The Fly at Fifty, it says that you were in the theatre company for the 1951 season at Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia. Being from nearby Bristol, Tennessee, I’d love to know what it was like for you to live there that summer, being a vastly different region than your native New England.

David Hedison: Barter wasn’t my first time living in the South. I spent a year in Jacksonville, Florida in 1945-46 as a seaman second class in the US Navy. I like the South. It may be different than New England, but people are people no matter where you go. I have always enjoyed Southern hospitality whenever and wherever it is offered.

HG: Also in your biography, it says that you appeared in A Month in the Country alongside your own teacher, Ms. Uta Hagen, and under the direction of Sir Michael Redgrave. As a young professional actor, what was it like to be on the stage with such heroes and heroines of the acting world?

DH: I learned a lot. It was great experience. I really could relate to the tutor, Belieav, and that came out in my performance. Hagen believed in my talent, which helped immensely. I gave that part everything I had.

Redgrave was an excellent director. It showed in the reviews we got and in the awards I won. I knew I needed to do well in this part. It was my first real break after almost a year of trying to make it on the stage in New York, so I went for it. And I ended up in Hollywood making movies, but that’s another story!

HG: If another The Fly remake were to be greenlit and produced again, would you be interested in playing a part in it?

DH: Not sure what I’d play now, but if the part was right for me, and they asked me to do it, I’d certainly say yes.

Chris Wright: July 14, 2009 will mark the 20th anniversary of Licence to Kill. Can you tell us what your fondest memory is from filming your second Bond film?

DH: I loved the Key West location. In particular, winding down beside the hotel pool in the evening after a hard day’s work, with my wife, Bridget, and Benicio del Toro, who is a lovely, warm person, nothing like Dario. Del Toro was not well known then, but I could see he had talent. There was a boat there and my wife and I would go out sailing.

CW: What did you think when you read the script and it said your character was going to get married and maimed in the film?

DH: I was coming down to the set from another job – a play called Return Engagements – and my advance script got lost in the mail. So I arrived for my first day of shooting with no script. Barbara Broccoli was kind enough to lend me hers to get me through the day, until they could get me one, so I really didn’t know what I was doing, at first.

CW: Do you wish you had been asked to do more Bond films as Felix Leiter?

DH: I certainly would have played the part if someone had asked me to, but no one did. They took Roger’s Bond in a direction that did not include Felix until his last film and then they decided “Felix” should be an Asian. I never complained about them casting me in the two films they did. Felix in the Fleming books is supposed to be blond and from Texas, and I am neither.

CW: Can you tell us about any of your current or future projects?

DH: I plan to make some personal appearances later this year, but the dates are not announced yet. They will show up on my website, DavidHedison.com, when they are set. I’m still working at the Actors Studio West and I enjoy that very much.

HG & CW: FelixLeiter.com would like to thank you for taking the time to participate in this interview.

DH: My pleasure.

THE FLc INTERVIEW WILL RETURN…

Becoming the fourth official James Bond novelist was not Raymond’s first foray into the world of James Bond. In 1984, he published a non-fiction book called The James Bond Bedside Companion, which extensively discussed the James Bond novels and films. In 1985, he was the designer and writer of the computer game adaptations of Goldfinger and A View to a Kill. A year later, he wrote the role-playing game, You Only Live Twice II – Back of Beyond, and an unproduced stage play adaptation of Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, Casino Royale.

Since his departure from the James Bond literary series, Raymond has published four successful original novels, two novels in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell series, and Metal Gear Solid, the first novelization based on the hit video game series of the same name.

In 2004, CommanderBond.net launched a fantastic four part series of in-depth interviews with Raymond Benson about James Bond. Now Raymond talks to Bond fans about his take on the literary and cinematic versions of our second favorite Fleming character, Felix Leiter. As you probably know, he brought the literary Leiter back in 1998′s The Facts of Death and 2000′s Doubleshot.

Welcome to…

The Raymond Benson FLc Interview

Chris Wright: You were born in Midland, Texas. Since Felix Leiter is a fellow Texan, do you have a greater affinity for him than you do for other Fleming characters?

Raymond Benson: Perhaps. I don’t think I set out as a Bond fan because of the Leiter/Texas connection! Actually, it probably wasn’t until later, when I was an adult and re-read the Fleming novels (for the third or fourth time) that I picked up on the fact that Leiter was a Texan. This was prior to my writing of The James Bond Bedside Companion. Once I realized that, I began to pay more attention to how Fleming actually wrote the character in terms of the way he spoke and stuff.

CW: Was it your idea to reintroduce Leiter in The Facts of Death or did Ian Fleming Publications (IFP) want you to bring him back?

RB: That was my idea. I’ve said in previous interviews that there’s nothing wrong with bringing back characters from the Bond universe. I don’t know why some of the hardcore fans complain about it. It’s done all the time in other franchises—comic book superheros, Star Trek, Star Wars, you name it. It’s all part of the universe that ties back to Fleming.

CW: Did you have any of the actors in mind when writing Leiter or did you go strictly off Fleming?

RB: At the time I was writing the books, I would cast Dennis Quaid as Leiter. He’d be perfect. He’s a Texan and he’s smart. He would have made a good foil for Pierce Brosnan’s Bond. But I tried to write Leiter as Fleming’s Leiter. I probably emphasized a bit more of the Texan in him. There were some things Fleming missed. Leiter isn’t a stereotypical “good ol’ boy” from Texas, but there has to be a little bit of that in him. It comes with the territory!

CW: You put Leiter in an electric wheelchair. Tell us about that.

RB: When you think about what happened to Leiter in the Fleming books, we’re talking about a guy who lost a leg (and an arm) back when medical technology wasn’t so great with prosthetics. Granted, my books were updated to the present, and all the characters are not the age they should have been in the late ’90s had we been following a strict timeline. But still, it just made sense to me that Leiter’s leg(s) would have deteriorated in strength. He can still walk, but he does depend on a wheelchair at times. Glidrose liked the idea, too.

CW: In The Facts of Death you gave Leiter a girlfriend named Manuela Montemayor. Did you ever consider using Della Churchill from 1989′s Licence to Kill instead?

RB: The character of Della is owned by EON, not Ian Fleming Publications. In other words, if a character is created by the films, it can’t be used in an original Bond novel.

CW: Was making Manuela Hispanic a comment on the changing demographics in Texas?

RB: Changing? It was always that way!

CW: Is there any particular reason you chose West Lake Hills, an upscale suburb of Austin, as Leiter’s place of residence?

RB: Because it’s a lovely area and I believe it’s where Leiter and Manuela would want to live. It’s far enough from the hustle and bustle of crowded Austin, yet still has an urban feel. It’s close to the lake and the hills.

CW: You gave Leiter a dalmatian named Esmerelda. Where did that idea come from? Do you own a dog?

RB: I love dogs. At the time I wrote the book, I didn’t have one. Got one in the year 2000, but unfortunately he developed cancer when he was seven and passed away a year and a half ago. Having a dog in that area of Austin just made sense.

CW: John Gardner created Cedar Leiter, Felix’s daughter, for For Special Services. Did you ever consider bringing her back as a CIA contact in any of your Bond novels?

RB: No. My directive from IFP (they were called Glidrose when I began working for them) was that I could use or ignore anything from the other continuation authors, as long as I was faithful to anything Fleming wrote. I wasn’t against Cedar—I quite like For Special Services—but I didn’t see a reason to bring her back. I can’t remember if Bond asks about her. Maybe I had it in and Glidrose cut it. I really can’t remember and haven’t looked at the book in a while.

CW: Who is your favorite actor to portray Leiter onscreen?

RB: Rik Van Nutter. He looks like how I envision Leiter. And he seemed to have some of the good ol’ boy quality but with intelligence and savvy. In my opinion, every other instance of Leiter in the films is a miscast.

CW: What did you think of Jeffrey Wright’s portrayal of the character in 2006′s Casino Royale?

RB: He’s fine. Wright is a great actor. He plays the part that’s written for him. But Felix Leiter is not an African American. But if that’s what EON wants to do, then that’s what they’ll do. M was never a woman, either. I’m not saying I don’t like Judi Dench—she’s absolutely brilliant. I guess it’s a matter of how faithful one wants the Bond films to be to the novels.

CW: I recently purchased an Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com’s revolutionary wireless reading device. As an author, what do you think of this device and would you ever consider getting one?

RB: Back in the year 2000, I was commissioned by a company that wanted to publish electronic books. I wrote a serial novel called Evil Hours that was published in parts on their website (and as a full length e-book). They published other books, too—classics, new books, whatever… and the company tanked. (Evil Hours was eventually published in print in 2004). It’s taking a long time for the publishing industry, i.e., the publishers of “real” books, to come around and recognize that e-books might indeed be a wave of the future. Personally, I think it’s too early to tell. No serious writer I know would want to exclusively publish an e-book without having it as a printed book, too.

CW: You released A Hard Day’s Death and Metal Gear Solid this year. What’s next for you?

RB: An anthology of some of my Bond stuff, entitled The Union Trilogy, will come out in October. It will also contain the unpublished (in English) full length version of the short story “Blast from the Past.” I suppose if this omnibus does well, a second volume may come out the following year. The sequel to A Hard Day’s Death is already written and will be published in spring 2009—it’s called Dark Side of the Morgue. We’re talking about the possibility of doing Metal Gear Solid 2 – Sons of Liberty. I suppose just watch my website RaymondBenson.com for news!

CW: Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer my questions!

RB: You’re welcome!

THE FLc INTERVIEW WILL RETURN…

Discuss this interview in this thread on the FelixLeiter.com Forums, the only place dedicated to the discussion of Felix Leiter on the Internet.