posted 04-19-2006 08:31 AM
I've been thinking about the mission controllers in "Apollo 13," and how many of them were modelled on real people.Gene Kranz and Glynn Lunney are named in the credits. Sy Liebergot wasn't, but "EECOM White" is called "Sy," so there's never been any doubt who that was! Similarly, "EECOM Arthur" is obviously a composite character, but is called "John" in the movie and is agreed by everyone to be John Aaron.
"FIDO White" is a dead ringer for Jerry Bostick, who was indeed the FIDO on the White Team, and was one of the consultants on the film. And I believe that he was called "Jerry" in the movie.
Here's where it gets a bit hazier. I've always been convinced that "GUIDO White" was meant to be Steve Bales, even though Bales wasn't on the White Team during that mission. The character looks like Steve Bales, sounds like him, and moreover is played by the same guy (Andy Milder) that played Bales in "From the Earth to the Moon". So as far as I'm concerned, that's Steve Bales.
This is all I've got, but I wonder whether there are any more small cameos of this sort. Are all the rest of the mission controllers just anonymous background figures, or were any of them cast with some attention paid to the real people who they would be playing?
posted 04-19-2006 08:31 AM
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