MovieChat Forums > Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964) Discussion > The Monster's Web: Basehart disappears p...

The Monster's Web: Basehart disappears part way through

posted 17 years ago by darthquincunx
13 replies | jump to latest

I think Richard Basehart disappears part way through the filming of this episode.

All the flying sub scenes were filmed in one go, so you see Basehart in those scenes but you don't see his face in any other scenes. When you see Basehart enter the flying sub, it is someone else with a cap on his head to hide the fact that it isn't Basehart. Also the scenes, where his head is heavily bandaged. Its his voice but they dubbed that in later.

Basehart wasn't in the following two episodes, the Menfish nor the Mechanical Man.

I think he may have been taken ill.

Basehart despite being the lead character never appeared in every episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Only Crane did.

[–] double_c 17 years ago

He had fallen ill, sadly as a result of heavy drinking.Basehart, who thought he was signing up for a serious show and found himself fighting Menfish and Lobstermen, was taking out his frustration with the bottle. After the show was over and he had his drinking under control, he wrote formal letters of apology to all the cast and crew for having caused them so much trouble.

Elvis is DEAD

[–] haristas 17 years ago

I've been watching the show on DVD, mastered from great looking 35mm elements, and you can see that Richard Basehart sometimes looks like he has the "shakes." He also looks puffy in the face.

[–] charel196 17 years ago

I believe Mr. Basehart had a drinking problem....

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] ytsejammer 17 years ago

Apparently Basehart injured his back during filming of one second season episode, which resulted in his absence from a couple episodes.
Whether or not he hurt his back as a result of his drinking, I don't know.

[–] Jetfire59 16 years ago

You're right about Mr. Basehart hating his job. In the later sillier episodes its quite evident in his acting. Admiral Nelson gets more irritable every episode it seems. The thing is, Voyage was rather like Lost In Sapce in that its first season wasn't all that silly. But as it went on it got campier.

Many UFO/ghost skeptics are actually afraid it's all true and don't want it to be.

[–] edwstraker 16 years ago

I agree that VTTBOTS went the way of LOS but never reached the depths of the LOS "talking carrot" episode. The downfall of Irwin Allen TV projects was that they didn't have legs given the constraints of TV writing in the 60s. The initial offerings, especially the pilots were superb. The same can be said for his 70s disaster which suffered the same fate as his TV projects. They started out awesomely with the first two then.... This is not a criticism of Irwin Allen. When I think of him I think of Dan Curtis and the "great bird of the galaxy" both like Mr. Allen now dead and missed. Irwin Allen had some fantastic ideas for single viewing entertainment projects. He just didn't seem to realize that his set-up pieces did not have enough depth to sustain repeated visitations.

Mr. Basehart, I know you can't hear me now but I seek out your films on DVD and TCM. You are one great actor who I probably wouldn't have known except for VTTBOTS

[–] Jetfire59 16 years ago

You're right, edwstraker (You don't work for a guy named "Barlow" do ya?) Voyage never got to where I regretted being a fan like Lost did. One thing I will say is that even though its well known that Guy Williams and June Lockhart hated the third season of Lost, it was never evident in their acting. This is rather impressive when you consider that they were suspended for 2 episodes after expressing their opinions of the crap they were being asked to perform.

BTW, Mr. Basehart was in at least 1 Twilight Zone Episode, maybe 2. And I think he was in the pilot film for the original Knight Rider.

Many UFO/ghost skeptics are actually afraid it's all true and don't want it to be.

[–] edwstraker 16 years ago

No, I work for S.H.A.D.O. Something else I thought of. Basehart returned to Allen for City Beneath the Sea and Time Travellers. Just wanted to work I guess. Liked your post about Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Headed over there now.

[–] mlaughlin22 15 years ago

Basehart was on voyage because of a nasty divorce and needed steady
money to pay the bills. It does look like he was taking out his frustrations out on the other castmembers in some shows though.

[–] 1shado1 15 years ago

Ah. A fellow UFO fan. Cool!

Now if that bastard so much as twitches, I'm going to blow him right to Mars.

[–] ddc300 15 years ago

Coulda also been a hangover as it was no secret that Basehart liked his 'three martini' lunches. You will notice many fourth season episodes where Basehart mumbles his lines......he was an excellent actor who -- for good or bad -- enjoyed his drink.

[–] 15 years ago

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