David Hedison Felix Leiter in two James Bond films, "Live and Let Die" and "Licence to Kill". Hedison decided he wanted to be an actor after he saw Tyrone Power in the film "Blood and Sand". Hedison enlisted in the United States Navy in 1945, but the war ended before he completed basic training. He served 18 months, then mustered out. He began his acting career with the Sock and Buskin Players at Brown University before moving to New York to study with Sanford Meisner and Martha Graham at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and with Lee Strasberg at the
David Hedison with Tom Tryon in "Marines, Let's Go" (1961). Hedison worked regularly on TV, guest starring in "Perry Mason", "The Saint" (starring Roger Moore who became a great friend), and "The Farmer's Daughter". He was one of many stars in "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965). Allen offered Hedison the lead role in the TV series of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", co-starring with Richard Basehart, which ran from 1964 to 1968. When the series ended Hedison moved to London. "I liked London very much," he later said. "I just wanted to go and spend a couple years there...