04 Dionyd
and Eraclitus
carp from
the sidelines,
in “Plato’s
Stepchildren.”staff came aboard and told us to get off
the plane and make way for two others,”
Partridge says. “I have a dim memory of
seeing two men standing outside on the
tarmac as I came down the steps.”
Th at was Howard and his agent,
who took over the seats. Th e plane took
off , and shortly after was attacked by
a squadron of German fi ghter planes.
Riddled with cannon shells and tracers,
the aircraft exploded in mid-air and
plunged into the sea. All 17 people
aboard, including Howard, perished.
“Th e passengers had been graded
from the most important, VIPs, to the
lower level passengers,” recalls Partridge,
“and in that pecking order, it meant
Howard got on and we had to get off
the plane.” Many years later, Partridge
narrated and was one of the producers of
the 2016 award-winning documentary
Leslie Howard: Th e Man Who Gave A
Damn, in which he also appears.Telling the Tale
Some would be tempted to jump
to conclusions about their life after
being spared by such a quirk of fate,
but Partridge sees it diff erently. “It’s
interesting to speculate on, but no, it
was just one of those things. As a boy,
I was lucky to have been taken off that
plane, and consequently, I lived to tell
the tale.”
Meanwhile, Star Trek lives
on, even on his website (www.
derekpartridge.com), where he has
a photo of Michael Dunn standing
by one of the giant chess pieces from
the episode. “I must say, I am utterly
amazed by the fan mail I still get
from the fans, asking for autographs,
even from youngsters and teenagers,”
he remarks. “Th ere are thousands of
actors who have had much bigger
roles than I ever had on Star Trek. It
is truly astonishing.”BromTitusintheCGIanimated
seriesStarWarsRebels. Healsohad a
smallroleinanotherfamousfranchise,
playing,aptlyenough,a Vulcan
bombercrewmaninthe 1965 James
BondmovieThunderball. Butnone of
it wouldhavebeenpossiblewithout
thathauntingnearmissin1943...
A FatefulFlight
Astheyoungsonofa diplomat in the
BritishForeignServiceat theheight
ofWorldWarII,Partridgewas about
tofly withhisnannyfromLisbon,
PortugaltoBristol,UK.Hisflight,
777,wasreadytotakeoffwhen fi lm
legendLeslieHoward– oneof the
starsof1939’sGonewiththeWind
- whowasanxioustogetback to
America,persuadedofficialsto make
theyoungboygiveuphisplane seat.
“I wasseatedwithanadult
companionandjustbeforetakeoff , the
04BEAM ME UP
BRIEF ENCOUNTERS WITH STAR TREK