"In My Life" by The Beatles

Tomorrow is the angelversary of my dearest Vanessa Marquez. For that reason I have been preoccupied and cannot leave you with a full blog post today. Instead I will leave you with "In My Life" by The Beatles. I don't know that it was Vanessa's favourite Beatles song, but I know it was one that she loved very much. It is for that reason That I identify the song with her. I think it may have been the most beautiful love song any of The Beatles ever wrote.

The 30th Anniversary of Nowhere Man

(It was thirty years ago today that the TV show Nowhere Man debuted on the newly minted broadcast television network UPN. Along with Star Trek: Voyager and Legend, it was one of three UPN shows I watched faithfully, which was not particularly easy. At the time we did not have a dedicated UPN affiliate, and most of UPN's shows were aired on our local CBS affiliate at 12:30 AM after The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder. The exception was Star Trek: Voyager, which our CBS affiliate showed on Saturday night at 10:30. Anyway, I had to stay up fairly late to watch Nowhere Man. Regardless, I managed to catch the whole run. I later re-watched the entire run more than once on DVD by way of Netflix (when they were still only a  DVD-by-mail movie rental service). Sadly, it doesn't appear to be available on streaming, so I will have to buy it on DVD if I want to see it again. Anyway, in 2006, not long before UPN and The WB merged to form The CW, I wrote a post on the show. I am reposting it here, edited for grammar.).

With UPN and the WB soon to be extinct (the two are merging to form the new network CW), I thought it might be a good idea to write about a series from the early days of UPN. Many of you might remember that when UPN first began, its focus was on hour-long action series with the goal of attracting a young male audience. In its first few months such series as Star Trek: Voyager, Legend, and Marker aired on the young network. Most of those series were forgettable, with two exceptions. One was Star Trek: Voyager. The other was a series called Nowhere Man. Although only running one season, it would go on to become a bit of a cult series. The complete series was released on DVD on December 26, 2005, giving me a chance to see it again nearly ten years after it originally aired.

For those of you who never saw Nowhere Man (which I am taking for granted is most of you), Nowhere Man starred Bruce Greenwood as Thomas Veil. Veil was a documentary photographer who abruptly finds his entire life "erased." His friends and family (even his wife) don't recognise him. The keys to his home and his studio will no longer open any doors in those places. His ATM and credit cards no longer work. In fact, any record of his existence is gone. Veil does not know precisely why this happened, but he suspects that it might have to do with a photograph he took in South America. It seems some secret organisation, a conspiracy with people in high places, wants the negatives of that photograph. And they will do anything to get it from him. As a result, Veil must flee for his life, travelling from place to place in an effort to uncover the truth about the conspiracy and why his life was erased. Effectively, it was a cross between The Fugitive and The Prisoner.  

Nowhere Man was created by Lawrence Hertzog, a TV writer with credits including Stingray and Hart to Hart. He would later work on the USA Network's La Femme Nikita. The series came about after UPN executive Michael Sullivan approached Hertzog about creating a series for the new network. With only a few months before the network debuted, Hertzog was under pressure to deliver a quality series to the network on time. Hertzog apparently worked well under pressure, as Nowhere Man was easily the best show on UPN besides Star Trek: Voyager. Indeed, the series was well received by critics, even getting a sterling review from no less than The New York Times.

In its short run (only 25 episodes were ever made) Nowhere Man produced some of the most remarkable episodes in Nineties series television. In "Something About Her" the Organisation (as the conspiracy was called in many episodes of the show) created virtual memories of a romance that never happened in Veil's mind in an attempt to get information out of him. In "The Spider Webb" Veil finds out that his life after it had been erased is serving as the basis for a cheap, public-access TV series. "You Really Got a Hold of Me" featured another man (played by Dean Stockwell) whose life had been erased and who had been on the run for 25 years. "Forever Young" featured a nursing home that was conducting experiments in the restoration of youth to the elderly. "Stay Tuned (one of two episodes that could be seen as homages to The Prisoner)" centred on a small town where nearly every single resident is entralled with a local politician and his TV show. "Through a Lens Darkly" saw Veil return to Missouri and an old house where he is tormented by memories of his childhood sweetheart.

While much of the quality of Nowhere Man was due to its writing, the series was also helped by the quality of its guest stars. Many of them were well-established actors. In the pilot,  Michael Tucker (of L.A.Law) played a psychiatrist. In "You Really Got a Hold on Me" Dean Stockwell played the man who had been on the run from the Organisation for 25 years. In "Father" Dean Jones played Veil's father. Dwight Schultz, of A-Team and Star Trek: The Next Generation fame, guest-starred in the episode "Hidden Agenda." The final episode, "Gemini Man," featured Hal Linden (of Barney Miller fame) as a United States senator. The series also featured actors who would later become stars. Carrie Moss (later to become famous for The Matrix trilogy) guest-starred in "Something About Her." Maria Bello was featured in the episode "An Enemy Within." Nowhere Man also benefited from some of the most talented directors in the business. Film director Tobe Hooper directed the pilot and the second episode, while veteran TV directors James Whitmore Jr., Stephen Stafford, and Ian Toynton all directed episodes.

None of this is to say that Nowhere Man was a perfect TV show. While it produced some truly great episodes and the majority of its run was good at best, it did produce some truly awful episodes as well. "A Rough Whimper of Insanity" attempted to capitalise on both the Internet and Virtual Reality (both fads at the time) and failed in doing either. "It's Not Such a Wonderful Life" featured a Christmas reunion with Veil's wife with the expected results. "Heart of Darkness" is a fairly pedestrian episode dealing with a paramilitary organisation. Fortunately, such episodes were generally few and far between.

As mentioned previously, Nowhere Man received fairly good reviews. It also did well in the ratings given that it was on a brand new and very small network (at least when compared to such major players as NBC and CBS). Sadly, good ratings would not be enough for the show to survive. During its first season on the air UPN saw changes which would result in a decision to focus on urban comedies instead of action series as it originally intended. There were many in the upper echelons at UPN who simply did not like Nowhere Man to begin with. With the series out of favour with many network heads and not exactly reflecting the new direction UPN chose to take (it was hardly an urban comedy), Nowhere Man was cancelled at the end of its first and only season. The bitter irony is that Nowhere Man and many of the other action series which aired on the network in its first year received higher ratings than the urban comedies it would later air. In fact, I have to wonder if much of the failure of UPN (the ultimate result of which was its merger with the WB) was due to its decision to change directions in its first season.

Fortunately, Nowhere Man would not be forgotten and has remained a cult series ever since it first aired. This would, of course, result in the relatively recent release of its entire run on DVD. The DVD set is remarkable for a TV show, especially one that ran only one season. The set features several extras. Many of the episodes have audio commentaries, and sometimes video commentaries as well. There are several featurettes on various aspects of the making of the series. There is even a short featurette on purported CIA mind control techniques on the last disc of the set entitled "Fact or Fiction (I personally found this a bit far-fetched, if interesting--conspiracy theorists may feel free to disagree with me)." Among the best parts of the extras are the scripts for every single episode of Nowhere Man, which one can download to his or her computer.

Although it had its share of bad episodes, Nowhere Man was a remarkable series for its time. In fact, in some ways it was a bit ahead of its time. First, since Nowhere Man first aired there have been several successful, cerebral action series. The USA Network had La Femme Nikita (which Lawrence Hertzog himself would work on). ABC has had Alias and Lost. F/X has The Shield. Nowhere Man would fit in perfectly with all these series. In fact, I rather suspect that had it aired just a few years later, it may have found a home on one of the various cable channels. Second, when Nowhere Man first aired, identity theft was relatively rare. In the ten years since the show originally aired, identity theft has increased dramatically, making the series even more pertinent than it once was. Its questions regarding the nature of identity and the tension between the individual and the group remain as relevant as ever. While it is regrettable that Nowhere Man only lasted one season, it remains one of the most fascinating series of the Nineties and probably will not soon be forgotten.

Godspeed TV Producer and Studio Executive Frank Price

Frank Price, who served as a producer on shows such as Matinee Theatre, The Tall Man, and The Virginian, and later served as the head of Columbia Pictures, died on August 25 2025 at the age of 95.

Frank Price was born on May 17 1930 in Decatur, Illinois. When Frank Price was growing up, his father moved frequently for work so that he lived in eight different cities before he even began attending college. Eventually his family moved to Glendale, California. While he was there, his mother worked as a waitress in the Warner Bros. commissary, so that young Frank Price spent a good deal of time on the back lot. He even got autographs from such stars as Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, and Errol Flynn, which he kept his entire life.

He attended three years of high school in Flint, Michigan. There he was the editor of the Central High School newspaper and worked as a copy boy at The Flint Journal. He was also president of the Central High drama club. He served one year in the United States Navy and then attended Michigan State University. He transferred to Columbia University in New York. It was after he got a job as a reader in the CBS-TV Story department that he dropped out of college.

Frank Price serves as a story editor at CBS-TV in New York City from 1951 to 1953. Among the shows on which he worked were Studio One, Suspense, and The Web. Afterwards he moved to Los Angeles and became a story editor and analyst at Screen Gems from 1953 to 1957. He worked on such shows as Ford Theater, Father Knows Best, Playhouse 90, and Circus Boy. He served as a story editor and a producer for Matinee Theatre for NBC. In 1959 Frank Price moved to Revue Productions, would become Universal TV after MCA took over Universal in 1962. He served as a producer on the TV series Overland Trail and then The Tall Man. In addition to being a story editor and producer, Frank Price was also a writer. It was before he produced Matinee Theatre that he sold a story to the CBS television series, Casey, Crime Photographer. In the Fifties, he wrote three episodes of Matinee Theatre and then episodes of The Rough Riders and Shotgun Slade.

Frank Price continued to produce The Tall Man into the Sixties. In the Fifties, it was Frank Price who proposed to Screen Gems that they make a show based on the classic novel The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains. A half-hour pilot was made, but it failed to sell. When NBC lost Revue's hit Western Wagon Train to ABC, it was then The Virginian that wold take its place. Unlike the Screen Gems pilot, wich was only a half-hour, MCA's The Virginian would be television's first ninety minute Western. Frank Price was appointed executive producer of the new show. Frank Price remained with The Virginian until 1967. At Revue/Universal Television, in the Sixties, Frank Price also served as a producer on Convoy, It Takes a Thief, and Ironside, as well as the TV movies The Doomsday Flight, Sullivan's Empire, Split Second to an Epitaph, and Lost Flight. He wrote episodes of Frontier Circus, Tales of Wells Fargo, and The Tall Man.

Frank Price was named the head of Universal Television in 1973. It was while he was in charge at Universal Television that the studio produced such mini-series as Rich Man, Poor Man and Centennial. It was in June 1978 that he moved from Universal to Columbia. In March 1979 he became president of Columbia's motion picture division. He later became the studio's chairman and CEO.

It was on Frank Price's watch at Columbia that the studio made such films as Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), The Blue Lagoon (1980), Gandhi (1982), Tootsie (1982), Ghostbusters (1984), and The Karate Kid (1984). It was in 1983 that Frank Price returned to Universal, where he became the chairman of the MCA Motion Picture Group. While he was there the studio made such films as Back to the Future (1985) and Out of Africa (1985). Unfortunately, the massive critical and box office failure of Howard the Duck (1986) lead to Mr. Price left Universal. It was in 1990 that Sony acquired Columbia Pictures, and Frank Price was asked to return to the studio as its chairman.

In his second time at Columbia, Frank Price greenlit the movies Boyz n the Hood (1991) The Prince of Tides (1991), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), and Groundhog Day (1993). In 1991 Frank Price left Columbia and founded his own company, Price Entertainment. He served as a producer on such films as Gladiator (1992), The Walking Dead (1995), Circle of Friends (1995), Getting Away with Murder (1996), and Zeus and Roxanne. He also produced the critically acclaimed TV movie The Tuskegee Airman.

Frank Price later produced Texas Rangers (2001) and Mariette in Ecstasy (2019). Frank Price also served as the chairman of the board of councilors at the USC School of Cinematic Arts from 1992 until 2021.

Frank Price was a remarkable man. While he was not prolific as a television writer, he wrote some of the best episodes of Tales of Wells Fargo and The Tall Man. He produced shows of some quality, including The Tall Man, The Virginian, and Ironside. He certainly knew quality when he saw it. As a studio executive and producer he was responsible for movies from Gandhi to Ghostbusters to Back to the Future to The Tuskegee Airman. He gave both Universal and Columbia considerable success. Both television and movies would certainly be different without him.

Canción de la Raza: An Early American Telenovela

For much of the Fifties and Sixties, Mexican Americans were absent from American television screens outside of Westerns. This began to change in the latter half of the Sixties when locally produced Chicano public affairs programs began appearing on public television stations. Among these shows were ¡Ahora! on KCET in Los Angeles, Fiesta on KUAT in Tucson, and Periódico on KLRN in San Antonio. An exception was Canción de la Raza, which aired on KCET in Los Angeles. Canción de la Raza (Song of the People) was not a public affairs program, but instead a telenovela. It was KCET's first television show directed towards the Chicano community. 

Canción de la Raza can be traced back to Chuck Allen, programming manager at KCET in 1969. His master's thesis at the University of Denver was titled "Feedback from Advancement" and dealt with the idea of assembling a group of actors, directors, and producers for a Spanish-language soap opera. Chuck Allen's master's thesis then formed the basis for Canción de la Raza. Chuck Allen submitted the idea for Canción de la Raza to the Ford Foundation, which then gave KCET a grant of $600,000 to fund the show.

Canción de la Raza debuted on October 14 1968 It was a half-hour program that aired twice daily, once at 3:00 PM and again at 7:30 PM, five days a week. The show was set in East Los Angeles and followed the lives of the fictional Ramos family. At a time when many American shows tended to be escapist in nature, Canción de la Raza dealt with the issues of the day. The very first episode dealt with the Chicano student walkouts of 1968. Canción de la Raza also dealt with such issues as police brutality, education, and labour abuse. Unlike other dramas on American television at the time, viewers were able to provide feedback on Canción de la Raza. From 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM, viewers could call a "Linea Abierta (open line)" to let KCET know what they thought of the show. Each Monday night there would be a special panel that would discuss both viewer feedback and issues of concern to the Chicano community. KCET made an effort to let the Chicano community in Los Angeles know about Canción de la Raza and that they could leave feedback about the show. Viewer feedback would actually be used to help in writing the show.

The Ramos family and other roles on Canción de la Raza were portrayed by both professional and amateur actors. Unfortunately, there seems to be very little information on the cast. It is well known that Emilio Delgardo, now best known as Luis on Sesame Street, appeared on the show. Other members of the cast included Robert De Anda, Priscilla Garcia, Robert Yniguez, Mike De Anda, and Tina Menard. Among the directors on the show was Victor Millan, an actor who had appeared in The Ring (1952), Giant (1956), and Touch of Evil (1958), and would appear in the movie Boulevard Nights (1979). Another director was Lamar Caselli, who had directed episodes of such shows as Lamp Unto My Feet and Insight. Actor Abel Franco was Executive Producer and a writer on Canción de la Raza. He had guest-starred on such shows as I Love Lucy, Mister Ed, Death Valley Days, and The High Chaparral. He would go on to appear in the movie Zoot Suit (1981). Among those who worked behind the scenes on Canción de la Raza was Jesús Salvador Treviño who directed documentaries on the Chicano movement, including Chicano Moratorium Aftermath (1970), The Salazar Inquest (1970), Yo Soy Chicano (1972), among others, and later episodes of such shows as Babylon 5, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Bones, and others.

After 65 episodes, Canción de la Raza ended its run in January 1969. The show would air outside of the Los Angeles area. According to the January 28 1969, issue of Tucson Daily Citizen, reruns of Canción de la Raza began a 13-week run on KUAT on February 3 1969. It also aired on KQED in San Francisco, KRLN in San Antonio, WVIZ in Cleveland, and other public stations in 1969.

Canción de la Raza would have a lasting impact. It was viewer feedback on Canción de la Raza that would lead to the creation of ¡Ahora!, the Mexican American public affairs program on KCET. Many who worked on Canción de la Raza would go on to bigger careers, including Emilio Delgado Ricard Yniguez (who appeared in Boulevard Nights), and Jesús Salvador Treviño, among others. It seems quite possible that Canción de la Raza inspired others to go into film or television, or to become politically active. Although it is not well known today, Canción de la Raza certainly left a mark.

The 1994 ER Fall Promo

In my post on vintage television promos I made last Thursday, I forgot to include one promo that I remember well, a promo for a show that would be significant in my life, although at the time I didn't realise it. This is the 1994 fall trailer for ER. I am not absolutely certain, but I believe the announcer on this promo is none other than the legendary Don LaFontaine, who did a lot of the "next week on ER" spots. I must admit that this promo was probably a lot of the reason I checked the first episode of ER out. Fortunately, the hyperbole in this promo was not unwarranted. At least for its first few seasons, ER would be one of the best shows on the air. Of course, for me, it would later become even more significant because my dearest Vanessa Marquez played Nurse Wendy Goldman on the show.

Sweet 15 (1990): A Mexican American Focused Episode of WonderWorks

From the late Eighties into the Nineties, there was a cycle in movies centred on Chicanos that included such films as La Bamba (1987), Stand and Deliver (1988), and Mi Vida Loca (1993). Despite this, there was still very little in the way of Chicano content on American television during the same period. A notable exception aired on PBS in early 1990. Although most often described as a TV movie, Sweet 15 (1990) may be better described as a two-part episode of the TV series WonderWorks. For those either too young to remember or who were never aware of it, WonderWorks was an American children's anthology series that aired on PBS from 1984 to 1993. Sweet 15 (1990) aired in two parts on WonderWorks on January 13 1990 and January 20 1990. It was the first episode of the sixth season of WonderWorks. For myself, Sweet 15 (1990) is also notable because it features my dearest Vanessa Marquez in a small role.

Sweet 15 (1990) starred Karla Montana, best known as Claudia in Stand and Deliver (1988), as Marta Delacruz, a fourteen year old Mexican American girl looking forward to her quinceañera, the celebration held when a girl turns 15.. Marta's chances of having the quinceañera of her dreams are complicated when she discovers that her father migrated to the United States illegally years before. It is set in the final days of the amnesty for illegal aliens that had come about due to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Sweet 15 (1990), featured some well-known names in its cast, including Tony Plana as Marta's father Samuel, Jerry Stiller as his boss Mr. Waterman, Liz Torres as Gloria Diaz, and Jan Merlin as one of Samuel's old employers. 

The teleplay for Sweet 15 (1990) was written by Sharon Weil, who also served as a co-producer. She later wrote the novel Donny and Ursula Save the World, as well as several non-fiction books. It was directed by Victoria Hochberg. She had earlier directed music videos for The Eagles, an ABC Afternoon Special, and the TV movie Jacob Have I Loved. She would go on to direct episodes of such shows as Touched by an Angel; Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman; and Melrose Place. Its casting director was Toni Livingston, who had earlier cast Stand and Deliver (1990). This perhaps explains the presence of Karla Montana and Vanessa Marquez in the film. Its cinematographer Hal Trussell had worked on the feature film Bachelor Party (1984)  and episodes of the show Downtown. Afterwards, he would direct episodes of CBS Schoolbreak Special and the TV movie Family Business.

Upon its debut on PBS, Sweet 15 (1990) received largely positive reviews. John Voorhes in The Seattle Times wrote, "Sweet 15 is a charming, funny, intelligent drama about a Latino family living in contemporary Los Angeles." He described Karla Montana as "...a delight as Marta." Lynne Heffley in The Los Angeles Times gave a more restrained,  but still positive review of Sweet 15. She described it as "...a predictable but well-acted drama about a Mexican American girl's coming of age." She noted that "The telling could be shorter" but "...a smooth ensemble makes it all worth while." John J. O'Connor in The New York Times also gave Sweet 15 (1990) a good, if somewhat restrained review, noting, " plot logistics are patly contrived, but Sweet 15 provides unusual glimpses into ordinary Hispanic-American lives."

Sweet 15 would also win some awards. Even though it aired in primetime, Sweet 15's director Victoria Hochberg won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Directing - Special Class. As writer and co-producer, Sharon Weil won the Women in Film Lillian Gish Award for Best Children's Film. 

Oddly enough for a WonderWorks episode that received positive reviews and awards upon its debut, Sweet 15 (1990) has received overly negative reviews from viewers on various websites. At IMDB it is rated a pathetic 4.1 out of 10. On Rotten Tomatoes, it does even worse, with a 28% on the Popcornmeter out of 500 ratings. Much more realistic is its rating at Letterboxd, where it receives a respectable rating of 2.7 out of 5. I think I have an explanation for why Sweet 15 (1990) has received such negative reviews on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. Just as Stand and Deliver (1988) has often been shown in high school mathematics classes, Sweet 15 (1990) was apparently shown in Spanish classes. Unfortunately, while many math students recognised the greatness of Stand and Deliver (1990), Spanish students simply resented having to watch Sweet 15 (1990).

Vanessa Marquez

Indeed, while I would not say that Sweet 15 (1990) is a classic waiting to be discovered, it is not a bad movie either. As critics pointed out when it was first released, it does benefit from a good cast. Karla Montana does a very good job of playing Marta. Tony Plana also does a good job of playing her father, Samuel. Both Jerry Stiller and Liz Torres deliver the quality performances one would expect of them. Most of the rest of the cast also does well. As to my dearest Vanessa Marquez, she played a small, but somewhat significant part as Marta's friend Lupe. Lupe is similar to Vanessa's other early juvenile roles, a sweet girl who at times takes up for Marta and can be determined when doing so. Sweet 15 (1990) also has good direction, and looks more like an independent movie with a good budget than an episode of a television series.

Of course, I do think Sweet 15 (1990) has some flaws. The one thing I do have to agree with its critics on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes is that I think Panchito Gómez was miscast as Marta's romantic interest  Ramón. According to IMDB, Panchito Gómez was born in 1963, which would have made him 26 years old in 1989. While I suspect his character is supposed to be much younger (I am guessing anywhere from 16 to 18), Panchito Gómez looks his age. It is at times hard to suspend disbelief, so that instead of viewing Ramón as a teenager wooing a fellow teenager, the viewer might well view him as an adult grooming a teenager. Of course, here I must point out that Karla Montana and, for that matter, Vanessa were several years past 14 when they appeared in Sweet 15 (Vanessa would have been 21 and I believe Karla Montana was born before Vanessa was). The difference is that both Karla Montana and Vanessa Marquez could realistically pass for 14 or 15.

Another legitimate criticism of Sweet 15 (1990) is one that was expressed in The Los Angeles Times review from 1990. Quite simply, Sweet 15 (1990) could have been shorter. At nearly two hours in length, it is simply too long. Of course, here I must point out that it was made to fit the time slot occupied by WonderWorks, which was one hour. I have to think that Sweet 15 (1990) might have worked better in a more flexible format than an episode of a TV show, such as a feature film.

Regardless of any flaws that Sweet 15 (1990) might have, it broke new ground on American television. In 1990, it was rare to see Mexican Americans on television, and rarer still for viewers to be exposed to their culture. For many viewers, Sweet 15 (1990) may have been the first time they had ever hard of quinceañeras. I also have to think that in 1990 it was rare that one saw sympathetic portrayals of undocumented immigrants and also rare that one heard immigration law discussed in a TV show episode to any extent. Although it might not be particularly famous now, Sweet 15 (1990) was in many ways a pioneering work, exposing television viewers to a Mexican American family years before American Family or George Lopez. 

The Centenary of Honor Blackman's Birth

It was 100 years ago on this date that Honor Blackman was born in Canning Town, Essex. At least in the United States, I am guessing that she is probably best known as Pussy Galore in the James Bond movie Goldfinger. As for myself (not to mention the United Kingdom), she may be best remembered as John Steed's partner in fighting crime, Mrs. Cathy Gale, on the classic TV show The Avengers. Of course, long-time readers of this blog know that The Avengers is my favourite TV show of all time. While I would not see Honor Blackman in The Avengers until I was an adult (series three and four of The Avengers weren't available in the US until the Nineties, it is primarily because of that role that she numbers among my favourite actresses.

As to the first place I probably ever saw Honor Blackman, it was also the first movie I can remember watching all the way through, Jason and the Argonauts (1963). In the movie, Honor Blackman played the goddess Hera, who plays a game of wits against her husband Zeus (Peter Ustinov) with regard to the hero Jason (Todd Armstrong, dubbed by Tim Turner). Honor Blackman impressed me as a four-year-old in the role and she impresses me still. While others have played the role of Hera, when I picture her in my head it is still Honor Blackman I see.

While I have fond memories of Jason and the Argonauts (1963) from my childhood, I also have fond memories of Goldfinger (1964). Even as a kid I was a big fan of spy dramas, having watched shows like The Avengers and The Man From U.N.C.L.E., so I was naturally drawn to the James Bond movies. As a kid, my favourite was Goldfinger, in part because of Honor Blackman. It was Honor Blackman's talent that made Pussy Galore one of the coolest women in a Bond movie ever. She was smart. She could fight. She could fly a plane. Although I didn't realise it at the time, in many respects Pussy Galore was Cathy Gale transplanted from The Avengers to a James Bond movie.

As a kid, I also remember Honor Blackman in the Columbo episode "Dagger of the Mind." In the episode, she plays Lillian Stanhope, one half of a Shakespearean acting duo with Nicholas Frame (Richard Basehart). 'Dagger of the Mind" is one of the weakest Columbo episodes and has more than its share of flaws, but I do enjoy Honor Blackman and Richard Basehart as Lillian Stanhope and Nicholas Frame. I will admit that they were over the top, but it seems fitting given they are actors who are apparently always acting and are both off their trolleys. 

I wouldn't see A Night to Remember (1958) until I was a teen or a young adult, but I was impressed with Honor Blackman as Mrs. Liz Lucas in the film. It is not a big part, but Honor Blackman does well with it, playing a passenger on the Titanic who does not want to leave her husband when the ship is sinking. Honor Blackman plays the part well, and grants Liz Lucas the sort of dignity one might expect of an upper-crust British woman of the time.

I would be an adult when I first saw the second and third series of The Avengers, and while Mrs. Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) remains my favourite of John Steed's partners, I have adored Mrs. Cathy Gale ever since I first saw her. Indeed, there would not be an Emma Peel without Cathy Gale. There also wouldn't have been a Honey West of the TV show of the same name. While Honey West was based on the novels by Gloria and Forest Fickling, the television version of Honey was inspired by Cathy Gale on The Avengers. Quite simply, Cathy Gale was the first female action hero in the history of either British or American television. She held a doctorate in archaeology, was an expert photographer, and was skilled in both the use of firearms and the martial art of judo. Cathy Gale would prove enormously popular with audiences, and it would be her partnership with John Steed that would make The Avengers a success.

I have no doubt that this was because of Honor Blackman's enormous talent. She was entirely convincing in the role. She endowed Cathy with intelligence, class, and charm. She made it fully believable for Cathy Gale to be at home serving tea or fencing. When Honor Blackman died five years ago, in the United Kingdom it was always the role of Cathy Gale that was cited in the headlines and ledes of new stories, and it was with good reason. She was remarkable in the role.

Of course, Honor Blackman played many more roles throughout her career. She appeared in movies from The Secret of My Success (1965) to To the Devil a Daughter (1976) to Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) and TV shows from Danger Man to The Saint to Midsomer Murders. Honor Blackman had an enormous talent and could play a wide array of roles. She was Cathy Gales, Pussy Galore, and Hera, but she was also so much more.