Eric Fleming Remembered

It’s up for pre-order already on KL Studio Classics site and is released October 6th.

This is not the best of Eric’s movies, but it is an interesting one. Besides the obvious ‘Vampire Western’ genre mash-up, which was pretty rare in the 1950s, its origins as a script were also way ahead of its time.

From 50 Westerns From The 50s blog:

“The story goes that writer-director Edward Dein and his wife Mildred wrote a screenplay as a lark — a satire about a gay vampire gunslinger biting the young men of a small Western town. Its title: Eat Me Gently. The Deins passed their gag script around their circle of friends, and it eventually wound up in the hands of Joseph Gershenson. A music supervisor and sometime producer at Universal-International with a list of credits as long as your arm, Gershenson saw a real movie in there somewhere, and the Deins set to work refashioning their screenplay into what would become Curse Of The Undead.”

In terms of the final product, it’s a cheap 1950s B Movie packed full of tropes, cliches and none of the actors finest entries on their resumes but it’s a solidly enjoyable horror-esque romp with some interesting themes.

I wish I had a baby photo to share, but they just don’t seem to exist. So here’s the earliest photo I’ve managed to find from November 1948. Eric is just 23 years old and attending the wrap party for the movie “Massacre River” with friend and one of the movie’s stars, Carole Mathews. Fleming wasn’t even an actor yet, instead working behind-the-scenes at Paramount as a gaffer, grip, and/or carpenter (depending on the source).

After his training, the newly minted actor now “Eric Fleming” (but still Ed to his friends), Carole, Jack Kelly - star of “Maverick” and brother to Grace Kelly - and a friend, hopped in an old car and headed off on a road trip across the States. The friends had dreams of finding stardom on New York’s Broadway, but within months Eric was the only one still doggedly pursuing that dream. Of the actors, Jack Kelly had headed back to LA, and Carole Matthews - who already had an established career - was back working on movies in the US and abroad. 

Eric continued undeterred, and would continue to do so for the next decade, despite suffering disappointments with several short lived plays and one notoriously expensive flop. The young actor was also supplementing his work with modelling, including dipping his toes into the world of westerns for the first time.

The comic cover above is from 1949, making Eric just 24 years old, and just look at that baby face!

He also modelled for commercials, including the Schaefer Beer ad below; the brand still exists today.

IMAGE CREDIT: The Billy Rose Theatre Collection, NYPL.

Not to mention TV commercials and infomercials for Chevrolet, including this bizarre moment, circa 1950.

Eventually though, Eric did manage to carve out a career on Broadway, with several hit plays under his belt, as well as guest appearances in many NY shot tv shows, and a short foray back to California and Paramount studios to star in movie “Conquest of Space” in 1954.

Eventually the actor would head back permanently to California, to star in two more movies, “Queen of Outer Space” and “Curse of the Undead” in 1958. But disillusioned with acting and a career that while it supported him, wasn’t finding the success he clearly craved, Eric intend on heading for a quieter life in Hawaii. On the way through Los Angeles he landed the lead role of Gil Favor in the pilot for Rawhide. The show had a bumpy start but it would go on to a long run of success, keeping Fleming in California for the next 8 years. But the island life never stopped calling, and once his time was up on Rawhide, Fleming made his long held dream a reality, moving to Hawaii in early 1966.

Eric’s biggest, unfulfilled wish was to have children, something he’d begun to open up on his anxieties about, stating he would not marry unless he was ready, and could become a father. He seemed both scared and determined not to repeat the pain of his own childhood, vowing, “I would never want children unless I could give them not only whatever money can buy, but my own presence whenever and wherever it is needed”.

Fleming would sadly never have children, but there are generations of fans born since his death, who continue to be enamoured by both his acting talents and personal story.