"Fantasy Island" aired on ABC from 1977—1984. Ricardo Montalbán played the mysterious Mr. Roarke, who granted the fantasies of wealthy visitors; however, every fantasy came with a price. And the moral of the story was...
The house with the bell tower seen in the opening credits, where Tattoo (Herve Villechaize) rings the bell, is the Queen Anne Cottage, located in the Los Angeles County Arboretum in Arcadia.
The plane, "arriving" with the guests, was filmed in the lagoon behind the Queen Anne Cottage. Elias Jackson (“Lucky”) Baldwin’s Queen Anne Cottage was constructed in 1885-86, probably as a honeymoon gift for his fourth wife, sixteen- year-old Lillie Bennett (yikes). Actress Amanda Kruger accompanied me on my first visit to the Arboretum.
You can almost hear Tatoo now: "De plane! De Plane!"
Here's a vintage shot from January 1959 of the Cottage:
A closeup of the truck and some guests peering into the windows. And a duck. Why a duck? I don't know. You'll have to ask Groucho.
See more Los Angeles Arboretum photos at my main website.
2 comments:
Very cool to see this. For some reason I always assumed it was on Universal's back lot, I didn't know it was a real house, let alone near a real body of water.
Bryan you need to check it out!
Post a Comment