Freeman's Exit...

One of the things that had bugged me about the later shows in the UFO series since I was a kid, was the unexplained disappearance of George Sewell's character. Not until I purchased the 2 A&E boxed sets of UFO did I find out that his role of Freeman was dropped before filming the second "batch" of shows because American audiences didn't find him "handsome" enough (but Vladek Sheybal was?)! Leave it to us Americans to screw up a good thing! I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for my fellow Americans' boneheadedness in this regard (I wasn't involved).

The departure of Peter Gordeno (Captain Carlin) has also troubled me over the years. Sylvia Anderson makes vague allusions to his leaving being "political" in the commentary of "TImelash" with Wanda Ventham. Does anyone here have a more definitive explanation for his ousting from the show?

Jeff


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> his role of Freeman was dropped before filming the second
> "batch" of shows because American audiences didn't find him
> "handsome" enough

Actually, when George Sewell answers this question, his
answer is different than Sylvia's -- he says that when
filming resumed on UFO, he *was* asked back, but he
was already busy working on other projects.

> The departure of Peter Gordeno (Captain Carlin) has also
> troubled me over the years.

That was purely his agent's doing -- his agent wanted him
to get some experience working on a TV show, but didn't
want him to get "typecast" as a science fiction actor,
as he already had a successful dancing career.

Marc

Thanks for clearing that up for me Marc. It's still a shame that George left the series (sniffle). Having no idea how Peter Gordeno's career went after leaving UFO, I wonder if he regrets that decision.

(I'm sure you don't need ME to tell you this, but) your UFO website is FANTASTIC!

Jeff

Marc Martin <[hidden email]> wrote:

> his role of Freeman was dropped before filming the second
> "batch" of shows because American audiences didn't find him
> "handsome" enough

Actually, when George Sewell answers this question, his
answer is different than Sylvia's -- he says that when
filming resumed on UFO, he *was* asked back, but he
was already busy working on other projects.

> The departure of Peter Gordeno (Captain Carlin) has also
> troubled me over the years.

That was purely his agent's doing -- his agent wanted him
to get some experience working on a TV show, but didn't
want him to get "typecast" as a science fiction actor,
as he already had a successful dancing career.

Marc


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Some of us happen to think Vladek was very handsome :o)

I understood Peter Gordeno wasn't contracted to do more than a few episodes
because he was a singer/dancer and not really an actor - it something long
those lines anyway. Actually I have one of his LPs :o)

Cheers,
Lesleyxx

> One of the things that had bugged me about the later shows in the UFO
series since I was a kid, was the unexplained disappearance of George
Sewell's character. Not until I purchased the 2 A&E boxed sets of UFO did I
find out that his role of Freeman was dropped before filming the second
"batch" of shows because American audiences didn't find him "handsome"
enough (but Vladek Sheybal was?)! Leave it to us Americans to screw up a
good thing! I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for my fellow
Americans' boneheadedness in this regard (I wasn't involved).
>
> The departure of Peter Gordeno (Captain Carlin) has also troubled me over
the years. Sylvia Anderson makes vague allusions to his leaving being
"political" in the commentary of "TImelash" with Wanda Ventham. Does anyone
here have a more definitive explanation for his ousting from the show?
>
> Jeff

I was also puzzled by the departures of cast members over the two seasons of UFO. All was explained in the commentaries or in some of the posts I have read over the past several months. I recently aqcuired the full run of Star Trek the original series. If you watch them in sequential order it was never the same cast except for the big 3. Spock was the only one in every episode. Acting at that time was a very risky business. Very few shows in the US that were sci fi lasted more than one season. During hiatus you could be offered a better part or your show could be canceled . Lots of actors during this time found other work. bsl Lesley <[hidden email]> wrote:

Some of us happen to think Vladek was very handsome :o)

I understood Peter Gordeno wasn't contracted to do more than a few episodes
because he was a singer/dancer and not really an actor - it something long
those lines anyway. Actually I have one of his LPs :o)

Cheers,
Lesleyxx

> One of the things that had bugged me about the later shows in the UFO
series since I was a kid, was the unexplained disappearance of George
Sewell's character. Not until I purchased the 2 A&E boxed sets of UFO did I
find out that his role of Freeman was dropped before filming the second
"batch" of shows because American audiences didn't find him "handsome"
enough (but Vladek Sheybal was?)! Leave it to us Americans to screw up a
good thing! I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for my fellow
Americans' boneheadedness in this regard (I wasn't involved).
>
> The departure of Peter Gordeno (Captain Carlin) has also troubled me over
the years. Sylvia Anderson makes vague allusions to his leaving being
"political" in the commentary of "TImelash" with Wanda Ventham. Does anyone
here have a more definitive explanation for his ousting from the show?
>
> Jeff









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