Lana Wood: Well, I did a show with Richard Dreyfus before Richard was well known.  It was called Felony Squad.    Richard was a lot of fun and he could tell some wonderful stories, he was great to listen to.  But that whole show, it was called "The Last Man in the World" (aired December 18, 1968), and I played the bad girl.  Richard played a bell hop at a hotel who helps me escape with all the money.  At the end he gets shot and is lying in the street dying.  The police have me handcuffed and are about to haul me away and they say "He's asking for you."  So I go over there and lean over him and say "I wouldn't have gone with you if you were the last man in the world."  I was such a nasty character it was a lot of fun.

Lana Wood takes time out to sign some OO7 memorabilia.

DS: You were also a regular on the television series Peyton Place (1966-67).  You played...  

LW:  Sandy Webber.  Sandy was a waitress who was madly in love with Rodney Harrington (played by Ryan O'Neil).  She was just poor trash and just did not fit in.  She was married too.  She didn't tell anyone that, but you found out later on in the season.

DS:  Tell me about O'Hara, U.S. Treasury (1971) with David Janssen?

LW: O' Hara was a terrific series to work on.  David and all the people involved with the show were a lot of fun too.  There was a lot of joking and all kinds of nonsense that went on.  When you work on a movie set and you have a lot of time on your hands, everyone becomes pals.  David and I (Lana played the part of Fran Harper) would shoot very late and at one point David said, "I don't suppose you like older men, do you?"   

They teased me mercilessly on that show because at one point we were sitting around and David said to me, "Have you ever had a high colonic?"  And I said, "No, I don't drink."  That was my Jessica Simpson moment because I did not know that a high colonic was an enema and I got teased relentlessly for that.

DS:  Of all the roles you have played which is the one you are the most proud of?

LW:  Averi Trent in the series The Wild Wild West.  The episode was called "The Night of the Plague" (1969).  I got to show a sense of humor which I never get to do in anything.  I'm usually playing the sexpot or the bad girl.  But I really adored that role.  Robert Conrad, who played secret agent James West, was a family friend.  I've known Bobby since I was in junior high school and I use to come on the Warner Brothers lot with my big sister Natalie and a couple of girl friends.  We would go visit some of the TV series on different stages and get some photos.  So I knew Bobby Conrad from way back when he was working on his first TV series "Hawaiian Eye" (1959).  So when I did The Wild Wild West episode, it was like seeing an old friend again.  He was lovely to me, took good care of me.  I loved that show.

Lana co-starred on the last episode of The Wild Wild West in 1969.

DS: The mini-series QB-VII?

LW:  I loved playing Sue Scanlon in "QB VII" (1974).  I loved working with Ben Gazzara, he was absolutely fantastic.  Everyone on that set was very giving and very supportive (Editor's note: OO7 Alumni Joseph (Dr. No) Wiseman, Julian (Kristatos) Glover, Vladek (Kronsteen) Sheybal, Geoffrey (Frederick Gray) Keen and Shane (Commander Carter) Rimmer were also in this series).

DS:  That was an epic for it's time.

QB VII is available on DVD from Amazon.com

DS:  What is your opinion of the most recent James Bond films.

LW:  I think Pierce has done a terrific job.  But in my opinion, Sean Connery was the only really great Bond.  He had a wonderful blend of everything that James Bond should be.  He wasn't just a good looking guy, he wasn't a pretty guy.  He was handsome, he was masculine.  He's a man's man, he's a lady's man.  He's suave and sophisticated, and rough and tough.  And that's a tough combination to find again in someone else.  And I think only Sean could personify all those things.  But, I like them I think they are fun.  Escapism is good for the soul. 

DS: Tell me about The Searchers with John Wayne and Jeffery Hunter.  Did acting on a Hollywood movie as a child seem strange?

LW:  My whole world was Natalie who acted and went on a set, and other people who memorized dialogue and pretended to be these characters.  And a Mom who was not around a lot because of a sister who had to do these things, and a Dad who worked and I read books.  So to me this was just another extension of my life.  These were people who did that and I was going to do it too.  But I was very nervous doing it.  I was really uncertain of myself and stiff.  I was a shy child, very shy.  I think I am still, I just cover it up by being loud and very talkative.

Everyone on the set of The Searchers were very dear to me.  I was very impressed with Jeffery Hunter who was very dear to me.  He was the only one who would get down on his knees and on eye level with me (Lana was 8 years old).  He would say, "How did you sleep?  Do you know your lines?  How are you feeling?  He was such a sweet man.

John Wayne, who did not talk to me a lot, but he would come up and stand next to me.  And he would reach into his pocket and pull out a tin of Allenbury's Black Current Pastilles, which he always had with him.  And he would open the lid and pass one over to me and I would say "Oh, thank you." and then pop it into my mouth.  Then he would go off but he would do this every day.  He was such a dear man.

DS:  What is your opinion of Hollywood now compared to Hollywood back in the 1960s.