Was wandering around on IMDB looking at various entries, as I often do, and after getting curious about something, I discovered that George E. Elliott, Jr. passed away last year. Name doesn't ring a bell, you say? Not surprising. :-)
Elliott was a radar operator stationed in Honolulu on the morning of December 7, 1941 -- he's the guy who, when working at his radar station, was the first one to spot the incoming fighters. The blips he spotted were mistakenly identified as a fleet of American bombers, which, of course, they weren't. This is a little trivia thingie for World War 2 buffs such as myself.
In my case, though, there's an extra interesting item. Both of my parents were actors, as some of you may know, and as it happens, they were both living in Honolulu at the time that the World War 2 film Tora! Tora! Tora! was being filmed (I was a wee tot at the time). They both tried out for the film; my mother didn't get a part, since there are very few female roles in that film. My father, however, did get a small role: none other than George E. Elliott, Jr., the radar operator (he isn't actually named in the film, but it's the same guy).
My father has only two lines in the film, IIRC, and he isn't even named in the credits, but it's still kind of a neat little bit of trivia.
Posted by Zathras at November 12, 2004 05:15 PM