Happy centenary, Hugh Beaumont and Whit Bissell!

I'm over a day late, but I wanted to post a happy birthday for Hugh Beaumont, always remembered as Ward Cleaver, Beaver's dad, who would have turned 100 yesterday, Feb. 16, 2009.

Now, does THAT make you feel old?

Of course, we here at Lost Continent fondly remember him for his performance in this memorable sci-fi opus. Listen, much better to be known for this than for The Mole People, true? Hugh was also, sad to say, LC's first cast member to pass away, on May 14, 1982.

But then I remembered that this is also the centennial year for his co-star and doomed scientist, the great Whit Bissell, whose sci-fi credits are almost too numerous to mention. Whit was born Oct. 25, 1909, although for decades he disguised his real birth year, which was listed by most sources as 1914. Weirdly enough, for most of the 80s and into the 90s, most references claimed Whit had died in 1981, when in fact he was very much alive. He died on March 5, 1996. I don't know how that rumor got started but it happened to a couple of people back then (including no less a famed actor than John Mills, whom most reference works insisted had died in 1982, even though he was still making movies and TV appearances into the 1990s!).

Anyway, they made a fun movie together 58 years ago, when they were 42, and who among them would have thought any of us would be talking about Lost Continent well into the next century? Thanks for the memories, and happy 100th to you both -- Hugh a tad late, Whit eight months ahead of schedule. But then, you guys lost an entire missile, so a slightly untimely IMDb post shouldn't matter. Beaumont & Bissell -- the rocket boys.