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Hank's best-known
movie role was as "Gudger Larkin," the bumbling captain of the high
school track team, in Disney's comedy classic, "Blackbeard's Ghost,"
starring Peter Ustinov, Dean Jones, Elsa Lanchester, and Suzanne Pleshette.
When filming this scene as he was flying on "the Mary Poppins wires"
high above the Disney soundstage, the wires broke. Hank fell right on
top of poor Sir Peter, bleeding all over his expensive pirate costume!
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Walt Disney himself
cast Hank in "Blackbeard's Ghost." But it was to be Walt's last film:
sadly, he died during the first days of shooting in 1966.
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Another
"Hank & Dean:" Hank with Dean Jones in "Blackbeard's Ghost."
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In
his long career, Hank got a chance to work with some of the best character
actors in the business such as Jim Backus, Herschel Bernardi, Edgar
Buchanan, Terry-Thomas, Spring Byington, Lee J. Cobb, Hermoine Gingold,
and Arthur O'Connell. Here Hank and Dean Jones are with Richard Deacon
in "Blackbeard's Ghost."
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Here's Hank in a series of
photos from his favorite movie, "Blackbeard's Ghost." Walt Disney, who
personally produced the film, would get angry if anyone called him "Mr.
Disney:" it was always, "Uncle Walt." Hank showed up faithfully for work
each morning at the corner of Goofy Lane and Dopey Drive to film these
memorable scenes. |
Hank
made eight films for Disney Studios, among them "Herbie Rides Again"
and "The Shaggy D.A." Here he is with John Davidson in "The One & Only
Original Family Band."
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Working
at Disney in the 60s and 70s was like being at summer camp. Here are
Hank and John Davidson just shooting the breeze in between takes of
"Family Band."
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Hank
singing and dancing up a storm with Wally Cox in "Family Band." Hank,
Wally, and Richard Deacon rehearsed four weeks prior to shooting to
be able to handle the dance numbers in this, one of Hollywood's last
old fashioned big musicals.
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Disney
films always had great casts: here is Hank with Buddy Ebsen, Lesley
Ann Warren, John Davidson, and the legendary Walter Brennan. If you
look closely, you can spot a young chorus girl in the background in
her first movie role: she was billed then as "Goldie Jeanne Hawn."
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Disney's
"Cat From Outer Space" gave Hank a chance to play against his usual
nerdy type as a power-mad young army officer.
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Hank
with Ken Berry and the fabled title-role character in "Cat From Outer
Space."
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Hank
gives McLean Stevenson a hard time in "Cat From Outer Space."
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Hank
giving police-officer static to a tar-and-feathered Tim Conway in "Shaggy
D.A."
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Hank
as a befuddled cop who has just crashed into a truckload of bananas
in a long-forgotten Disney epic.
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Hank
with a young Kurt Russell in Disney's "The Barefoot Executive," taking
his first flying lesson over Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 with Jeff
Donnell in 20th Century Fox's oscar-winning "Tora-Tora-Tora", as "Sir
Lancelot," the wimpy auto-racer in Disney's "Herbie Rides Again," and
with future soap-star Deidre Hall as "Adam and Eve."
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