Northeast Oregon TV Weekly
August 1 - 7, 2021 l 3
BY JAY BOBBIN
Robert Hays
OF ‘FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT’ ON A&E NETWORK
Your movie role as substitute pilot Ted Striker in
the classic comedy “Airplane!” would seem to
make you a natural to tell air passengers’ true
stories as the host of “Fasten Your Seatbelt.” How
did you get the job?
(The producers) came to me about it, and as I
thought about it, two of the dearest people I’ve met
were (“Airplane!” co-stars) Peter Graves and Robert
Stack. And both had hosted (reality) things; Peter
did “Biography,” which I used to love, and Bob did
“Unsolved Mysteries.” So, I thought this would be kind
of like carrying on the tradition, and what better way to
do it than with something that has to do with airplanes?
You’re the son of a fighter pilot. Do you feel that
connects to your “Airplane!” legacy?
Ah, my hero! He was the greatest guy. My parents
were the most wonderful couple. My dad was a Marine
who was in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, highly
decorated. He was 6’3“, and my mom was a little 5’2” elf, and everybody loved her. That was like
me and Donna (Pescow) on (the sitcom) “Angie,” the height difference.
I grew up around air bases, seeing all the jet demonstration teams like the Blue Angels and the
Thunderbirds. And Dad was a really great pilot, so I had it in my blood.
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1-800-QUIT-NOW
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How have airline crew members been with you if they’ve recognized you aboard their
flights?
inside
every
Inside Thursday
every
hursday
It happened all the time in the years following the first showings (of “Airplane!”). I used to get
invited up into the cockpit on international flights – you can’t go in on U.S. flights, so as soon
as we’d take off or land, they’d want me to come up and take pictures with them – but on the
international flights, they’d have me come up and sit there for hours, just asking me things and
showing me all this stuff. It was great fun.
BY JOHN CROOK
Secret identity
Questions:
1) “Wonder
Woman”
2) William Daniels
(“St. Elsewhere”)
3) Robin Hood
4) High school
teacher
Answers:
Lynda
Carter
1) In a popular 1976-79 TV series, Lynda Carter starred
as Diana Prince, the secret identity of what formidable
superheroine?
2) What Emmy-winning star of stage and TV once played
Carter Nash, a mild-mannered police department chemist
who could secretly transform himself into a crime fighter
known as “Captain Nice”?
3) In a popular British adventure
series called “Robin of Sherwood,”
Michael Praed starred as young
Robin of Locksley, the alter ego of
what medieval adventurer?
4) In “The Greatest American
Hero,” Ralph Hinkley concealed
his secret identity as a superhero
by working in what occupation?
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