Full Circle Comes 65 Years Later for UK Voice Actor

June 24, 2008

Derek Partridge was only seven years old when he was pulled off a flight with his caretaker leaving from Lisbon in 1943 so that a celebrated British actor, Leslie Howard, could jump on the plane headed for Bristol, UK with his manager, a flight that was destined never to arrive as it was shot down over the Bay of Biscay by a squadron of 6 Luftwaffe Ju88 fighter-bombers with the loss of all on board.

Partridge’s father, who was in the MI6, similar to the CIA in the US, was one of the first people to hear of the tragedy and spent twenty-four agonizing hours trying to figure out how he would tell his wife that their child had been killed. Soon thereafter, the news reached him that Derek was in fact safe and as one of the least significant members of the flight manifest had been removed from his seat so that the actor Leslie Howard could make haste and return quickly to the United Kingdom.

Sixty-five years has passed since then and there have been four books and a plethora of conspiracy theories surrounding the mystery of Flight 777, including a recent documentary in need of a presenter.

Coming around full circle, Partridge, who had emigrated to the US, received an e-mail from Tom Hamilton, a British writer-director, asking if he was the very same Derek Partridge who was removed from the plane and, if so, if an interview could be arranged for his documentary “The Mystery of Flight 777”?

After learning that Partridge was a TV presenter and former documentary scriptwriter the two then collaborated on Hamilton’s script. In March Partridge flew to London to host and narrate “Leslie Howard: A Quite Remarkable Life” and “The Mystery of Flight 777”.

Filming took place at many locations including sequences at Leslie Howard’s former 5,600 sq ft home at Dorking in Surrey, a few miles from Partridge’s childhood home at Limpsfield in Surrey, an historically preserved mansion which had been built around 1350.

People interviewed included Howard’s daughter Doodie Stirling, co-star Olivia de Havilland, people who had worked with him, relatives of the other passengers and crew who had lost their lives, as well as scholarly experts who had studied and researched Howard’s life and untimely death.

Partridge relates, “Probably the most interesting interview was with Ben Rosevink, son of Engbertus Rosevink, the flight engineer on the ill-fated Dakota. He had done an enormous amount of research, had scrapbooks filled with news cuttings and pictures and, most importantly, had spent a week at the home of the German Squadron Commander, Colonel (then Oberleutnant) Herbert Hintze. As far as I’m concerned, he finally provided irrefutable proof and answers to the 65 year-old mystery of why the plane had been shot down… a mystery which had spawned a plethora of different conspiracy theories, at least 4 books, as well as radio and TV plays and discussions.”

For a 5 minute, preview trailer of “The Mystery of Flight 777”, please visit this link: