Monday, March 12, 2007

More Than Just An Actor - Reginald Denny

A fascinating connection between Hollywood and aviation can be found in the story of Reginald Denny. Reginald starred in over 200 films during his career. When not acting, he was involved in developing what are known today as UAVs, unmanned aerial vehicles - also known as drones. His drones were used for target practice during WWII and post-war and he also produced and sold model aircraft through his hobby shop.

An extensive web site on Reginald Denny and his pilotless aircraft can be found here. Even if you're not interested in the aviation part, there is plenty of information on Reginald's acting career and family. The Denny Family has provided the site author with beautiful high-res photos and information throughout the site.

And of course all of this has a connection to Robert Montgomery. If my memory serves me well, both were friends. While in the Navy, Bob had worked on the idea of catapulting drones from speedboats - drones that Reginald contributed on. Later on, Bob received of Reginald's Dennyplane models, personalized to him. One of my favorite Bob photos of all time is from this web site and is of him with that plane.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I learn something new every day! Thanks for sharing this info :D!

la peregrina said...

Now that was fascinating. Didn't you have a color photo of Montgomery holding that plane at the top of this site awhile ago? Or was that a different aircraft model?

Carrie said...

Yep, that was the same model (in B&W - I'd love color!)

la peregrina said...

Yep, that's it! :)