Hedley Mattingly

Cosmo (and Monkey) from Perry Mason Inspector Sparrow from Get Smart

My awareness of Hedley Mattingly began mostly by association. I loved his interaction with Christopher on Mannix, and after watching Christopher's episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., I realized Hedley was in that too! In the former they are adversaries, while in the latter they are enemy agents together.

It intrigued me that when Christopher's character Mr. Ecks was apparently killed on U.N.C.L.E., Hedley's character Mr. Wye (yeah, I know) seemed to absolutely flip out, whereas prior to that he had actually seemed to have it quite together. He chased Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin and their current companions onto a bus, drew his gun in full view of everyone and tried to shoot the agents, and was kicked off the bus by the episode's Innocent, a retired female spy named Bryn Watson. Later, at his boss Mr. Zed's house, Wye sees Bryn again and comes after her in a deranged state, even blaming her for Ecks' death in the park despite knowing it was Napoleon or Illya who killed him. He seems to be taking out his anger on Bryn because she is the only one around.

Well, that sort of behavior instantly made me feel that Wye had deeply cared about Ecks and instantly made Wye fascinating to me. I started writing some stories about them. And in the process of that, I naturally got curious about the actor and started looking up his other roles.

I had previously seen him on Perry Mason, cuddling a Siamese cat. That certainly helped to endear him to me. And then when I realized he played a member of my extended family on Death Valley Days, well, I was ecstatic. Okay, so the episode wasn't really accurate to what happened regarding the incident of taking an organ across the desert and in real-life the fellow wasn't cheerful and optimistic, but instead quite cynical, but hey, Hedley played him adorably and I was just thrilled.

As I continued to discover his fascinating roles, from a Casanova with a good heart deep down on Route 66 to a Scotland Yard inspector on Get Smart, I liked him more and more. As with all great character actors, he completely steps into every part. Each character is unique and feels real. He had a wonderful talent and it's very sad that I can find so little information about him.

So far I haven't been able to locate one interview with him or about him, nor to find anyone who knew him. But I have seen a picture of his grave on findagrave.com, and the epitaph reads "Loved by all who knew him." And even though I'd like to know a lot more, that is certainly a poignant and powerful gem right there.