Jeff Cramer: Here with Flash Gordon himself, Mr.Sam Jones. So how did you get started in the industry?
Sam Jones: Yeah, excuse me, a little out of breath, been doing pushups at the Monstermania. The way I got started in the movies?
JC: Yeah, the movies.
SJ: Let me see. Well, the first film was Ten with Bo Derek.
JC: Right, you were Bo Derek’s husband.
SJ: Yes. And then after that, we did the audition for DeLaurentis’ Flash Gordon, and that was 1979 that I got the part, and here we are, about 46 films later.
JC: Now, were you familiar with Flash before you got the part?
SJ:Well, absolutely. Yeah, the comic books and then, of course, the Buster Crabbe black-and-white serials.
JC: In one scene, you fight the future Mr. James Bond before you two become friends. Did you have any idea Timothy Dalton would become James Bond?
SJ: Yeah. Timothy Dalton who played Prince Barin went on to become James Bond. We had no idea, but he’s very well trained and a great actor.
JC:You mention you did 46 roles between Flash Gordon and Ted. Out of those 46 roles, what was your favorite?
SJ: I don’t know. I guess – the TV series Highwayman in which I was the Highwayman, I liked a lot. Of course, Ted was a blast.
JC: Let’s talk about Ted.
SJ: Well, I mean, basically, I played myself as Flash Gordon, and I did a parody of that sort of over the top. The main characters were friends of Flash Gordon in Ted, so it just enhanced my character a lot. I had a great time. It was a blast, fun.
JC: What was it like working with Mark Walhberg and Seth MacFarlane?
SJ: Very good people, very humble people, and I think Seth did a great job for his first time directing.
JC: What’s next after Ted?
SJ: Well, we have a couple projects in development that I can’t talk about now, but they are in development.
JC: Is there anything else you do besides acting?
SJ: Well, I also run security operations in high-risk environments, primarily Mexico, so I live in San Diego, and we run security ops into Mexico on a daily basis, and we protect executives and high-value assets from kidnapping and assassination.
JC: Right, okay. Thank you, Sam.
SJ: Thank you.
One Response
I got the chance to meet Sam that day as well. Great guy. Flash is my fave movie. Nice blog entry!