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Contact Info
Home Town Santa Paula, California
Last Address Born on the 4th of July 1925 - Santa Paula, California and died: 28 September 1966 - Huallaga River, Tingo Maria, Peru. His body was donated to the University of San Marcos, Lima, Peru, he was buried in the grounds of the university.
Eric Fleming, aka Edward Heddy, Jr. WWII CB/master carpenter
Date
Not Specified
Last Updated: Jan 23, 2014
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EARLY LIFE Eric Fleming was born Edward Heddy Jr. on July 4th 1925 in Santa Paula, California, an area renowned for its oil refineries. His father, an oil worker, mercilessly beat his only child, so severely on one occasion that he was unable to get up for two days. In 1934 aged eight, Eric held a revolver to his sleeping father's head, in an attempt to kill him. The revolver misfired, and Eric ran away from home. He made his way to Chicago, where he lived rough, begging for food and running errands for gangsters. He committed petty thefts and delivered liquor and drugs, before being hospitalized following a gang fight. As he was only eleven, the authorities returned him to his mother, who by this time had separated from his father (they were divorced in 1936). Eric returned to school, but dropped out during the depression years, and worked in various jobs including newsboy, miner, ambulance driver, waiter, stagehand and hod carrier. At the age of 15/16, Eric joined the Merchant Marines, serving in the Pacific, before enrolling in the US Navy during WW2. He qualified as a Master Carpenter, serving as a SeaBee in a naval construction battalion. By the age of 17, he was working in a Seattle Foundry, when a 200 pound block of steel slipped from a hoist and shattered his face. As a result, he underwent extensive plastic surgery, involving at least four operations to rebuild his face.
CAREER After Eric's discharge, he took acting lessons, and went into theatre, appearing on stage in Chicago and Broadway, followed by a ten year stint in New York. He then diversified into film and TV, moving to Hollywood and appearing in several low-budget films, including "Fright", "Curse of The Undead" and the cult classic "Queen Of Outer Space", starring Zsa Zsa Gabor.
