Jason and the Argonauts
Andrew Hansen 
"Jason" was gay? There been lots of threads about Kerwin Mathews, of "Sinbad" fame, being out and gay, But was Todd Armstrong, who played Jason (in "Jason and the Argonauts") also gay? No wife or girlfriend, committed suicide in 1992 after getting AIDS. Although he got the part by being a "gardener" for a woman (the mother on Dennis the Menace, believe it or not). Any stories?
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 69 | May 27, 2021 1:13 AM |
Stories? If that film is remembered at all, it's remembered for the stop-motion monsters.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 1 | June 29, 2015 4:24 PM |
The film was definitely cool. And a big hit, which is why it's odd the Jason actor never did much after that.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | June 30, 2015 6:02 AM |
I love that old flick.
I wish any of the old pebla stars were gay!
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | June 30, 2015 6:29 AM |
Wasn't his voice dubbed ?
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | June 7, 2016 4:46 PM |
Yes R6, Todd Armstrong's voice was dubbed in, which to him was a bit insulting. I guess I wasn't as masculine as it should have been.
I was a little kid when this came out and remember seeing it in the movie theater when it came out. I knew I was different when I got a crush on bad guy Gary Raymond as Acastus. Even when I see it on television on occasion, my heart (and my dick too) leaps up at the site of Gary Raymond.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | June 7, 2016 5:03 PM |
Big fan of Harryhausen, but wasn't he supposed to have been super conservative? Yet he spoke very highly of Kerwin Matthews. He must have known, they did two pictures together, 7th Voyage and Gulliver. Maybe Harryhausen was one of those conservatives to whom it really didn't matter?
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | June 7, 2016 5:24 PM |
No idea how truthful the comments on this discussion board are but there is one poster on IMDB who says he knew him. He says that he was a member of "the alternative lifestyle" (too coy to say "gay") He contributes this information: "Hello!
My name is Dr. Earl Dean Mitchell. I am a retired psychologist. My area was suicide and psychological and criminal profiling.
Todd was a friend of mine. We were both in the famous 1958 class at Pasadena Playhouse, along with Dustin Hoffman. I am the only person who has "video" on Todd. ie: 8 mm silent film, now video and DVD.
We lost touch in the later years as I lived in Hawaii for 21 years.
1. He was a member of the alternative lifestyle.
2. He lived on a Trust Fund after his parents died.
3. He actually only made that one movie and dozens of small TV roles.
4. His very active personal lifestyle was the most important thing to him.
5. Notice most everything stops in 1982.
6. If I were required to make a honest profile, based on the John "Todd" Armstrong that I knew, I would say that he did (in fact) commit suicide due to either HIV or AIDS. He would not have wanted to live.
He was a wonderful person and I enjoyed his company."
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 10 | June 7, 2016 6:33 PM |
FROM IMDb: Briefly a leading man in the 1960's, formerly trained in drama at the Pasadena Playhouse. 'Discovered' by actress Gloria Henry, while working for her as a landscape gardener. Signed by Columbia and cast in the titular role of Jason and the Argonauts (1963). Thereafter, subsided back into supporting roles.
Gloria Henry was Mrs. Mitchell in "Dennis the Menace" and from the interviews I've seen of her (she's 93 now!) she seems very sweet and giving. I could see her trying to help a fellow actor like Armstrong.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | June 7, 2016 6:51 PM |
Pardon me, but how does a landscape gardener have a trust fund? Som'in ain't right here.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | June 7, 2016 7:21 PM |
Um, maybe his parents were still alive when he was doing the landscaping work.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | June 7, 2016 7:43 PM |
R12 Other posters on IMDb are questioning that post. More than a few of them think it's a work of fiction.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | June 7, 2016 7:53 PM |
A work of fiction on an IMDb board?
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | June 7, 2016 7:58 PM |
Kerwin Mathews was sexy, wasn't he? Handsome man.
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | June 7, 2016 7:58 PM |
Yes Kerwin was handsome. So was Gary.
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | June 7, 2016 8:02 PM |
He should have played in more memorable movies with a face like that.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 19 | June 7, 2016 8:10 PM |
I would have preferred a more butch actor to play Jason, but the whole movie is very homoerotic.
The Talos statue gave me a pre-teen boner.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 20 | June 7, 2016 8:20 PM |
Was he so terrible that they bumped him back to supporting roles after Arognauts? I don't get it. Did he piss off the wrong person?
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | June 7, 2016 8:49 PM |
Maybe, he wasn't disgusting enough to become more famous, R21.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | June 7, 2016 8:50 PM |
Gary Raymond in his prime.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 23 | June 7, 2016 8:53 PM |
Maybe he didn't put out 21.
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | June 7, 2016 9:06 PM |
Todd Armstrong's voice was dubbed because the other actors all had British accents, because it wasn't as masculine as it should have been. They dubbed Nancy Kovack as well for the same reason. She played Medea. (She also played Darrin's first girlfriend in Bewitched!) Some web sites have noted that Nancy complained about working with Todd in some interview she did, but I cant find it.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 25 | June 8, 2016 12:39 AM |
Meant to say: "NOT" because it wasn't as masculine as it should have been
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | June 8, 2016 12:40 AM |
Kerwin Matthews was one of the most handsome men to ever grace the screen.
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | June 8, 2016 1:22 AM |
Kerwin Matthews was the poor man's Guy Madison.
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | June 8, 2016 5:24 AM |
I found an archived version of an article about the making of "Jason and the Argonauts". The director Don Chaffey really hated Todd Armstrong who seems to have been difficult on set. Some of his comments about him border on homophobic: "To play Jason and Medea, Columbia assigned two minor stars in their firmament, Todd Armstrong and Nancy Kovack. Armstrong had little experience to prepare him for a major role: a part in Walk on the Wild Side and a Screen Gems series, Manhunt. Kovak's credits were more solid (i.e., Strangers When We Meet), but the role did not call for much depth. 'They weren't good actors, but they looked the parts,' opined Schneer. 'Unfortunately, they sounded too American. Their accents didn't blend well with the British actors, so they had to be dubbed. Nancy Kovack was a lovely and gentle woman, but frankly I wasn't crazy about Todd Armstrong. Nevertheless, Columbia told me to cast him, and after all, they put up the money. In that situation, it was better to let the studio choose an actor whom I didn't like, rather than for me to choose one whom they didn't like. Since his dialogue was kept to a minimum, I knew I could always dub him, so I felt I could live with it.' Said Maslansky, 'Nancy was a doll. In fact, she's a neighbor of mine in Malibu now. She's married to the conductor, Zubin Mehta.'" Regarding his leading lady, Chaffey added, 'Nancy Kovack tried; I'll say that much for her. But that other asshole, I had no time for at all. When we rehearsed the skeleton fight, Todd Armstrong said, weeping, 'Mr. Chaffey, you're an absolute brute! This sword's too heavy for my arm!' I said, with some asperity, 'Mr. Armstrong, you are six-foot, four inchesI - won't say manhood - six-foot, four inches of American shithood!' Observed Schneer slightly more diplomatically, 'He wasn't very athletic and was awkward in many of his moves. We had a difficult time teaching him to be a swordsman. He required a lot of instruction.'
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | June 9, 2016 6:38 PM |
That's some shade thrown there!
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | June 10, 2016 1:48 AM |
Are they implying Todd was weak and nelly?
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | June 10, 2016 1:57 AM |
R29 Translation : Director Don was fucking Nancy not Todd.
| by Anonymous | reply 32 | June 10, 2016 2:00 AM |
I remember not liking his beard.
| by Anonymous | reply 33 | June 10, 2016 2:20 AM |
She didn't like you either R33
| by Anonymous | reply 34 | June 10, 2016 2:33 AM |
34 replies and no mention of DL fave Honor Blackman?
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | June 10, 2016 12:30 PM |
I didn't even know she was in that movie, R35, until you mentioned it.
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | June 10, 2016 11:26 PM |
Thank you R29 for that information. It clears up a lot about what was going on with Todd Armstrong. He seemed like a troubled man. With that kind of behavior, no one will be willing to work with you.
| by Anonymous | reply 37 | June 15, 2016 2:14 AM |
You're welcome R37. BTW: I should give credit to the original author Ted Newsom, a Harryhausen fanatic who wrote a 3 part retrospective which was published in Cinefantastique. It was online but was taken down at some point.
Frankly, I think if you cost the producers money and time and you are not a star, then you are in the toilet. Plus "Jason and the Argonauts" was not the huge hit it later became on its first release - it became a cult movie later.
| by Anonymous | reply 38 | June 15, 2016 8:17 PM |
I found this comment from a 2007 interview with Ray Harryhausen from Cinefantastique regarding Armstrong's dubbing: "LAWRENCE FRENCH: That’s true, because if you didn’t know that Todd Armstrong’s voice was dubbed in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, you’d never give it a thought. But when you know his voice is dubbed, it becomes much more noticeably, even though it’s dubbed very well.
RAY HARRYHAUSEN: Yes, we had some very good dubbing for Jason, but the reason for that was because Todd Armstrong’s American accent was a little too strong for all the British accents we had in the picture. So we got an actor (Tim Turner) who narrated a British TV series, A Look at Life to do the voice of Jason. Did you know we also had to dub Gia Golan’s voice in THE VALLEY OF GWANGI?"
A lot of European actresses were dubbed in Hollywood movies: notably a lot of the Bond girls - Ursula Andress in "Dr. No" and Daniela Bianchi in "From Russia with Love". Also Angela Lansbury dubbed Ingrid Thulin in "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" with Glenn Ford. Andress was also dubbed in the Hammer remake of "She" as well. I don't when she first was allowed to use her own voice. But I think it worked against the actor.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 39 | June 15, 2016 8:54 PM |
Thank you again for sharing that link Rona. I grew up on those Harryhousen films. Loved everyone of them.
| by Anonymous | reply 40 | June 15, 2016 10:59 PM |
If someone like him can't find a reason to live what chance do the rest of us have?
| by Anonymous | reply 41 | June 16, 2016 1:04 AM |
R41 we know so little about John/Todd Armstrong at the time that he took his life. We have speculation but no concrete data on his state of health, physical or mental (no proof he was HIV+). A lot of men who depend on a lot on their looks to make their way through life - gay men in particular - handle aging badly. Todd it seems got a lot of early breaks which he may have squandered - he had a chance at a career which went nowhere. Maybe there was a relationship which failed or he went through people without making a significant connection. We just don't know. I think we have all had situations of people who look good from the outside who take their own lives. We aren't in those person's shoes and really don't know the issues they face.
| by Anonymous | reply 42 | June 16, 2016 4:08 PM |
BTW: Compare Armstrong's attitude about the physical exertions required of an action film with another gay actor, Kerwin Matthews. From Matthews' obituary: "In a 1987 interview with Starlog magazine, Mathews said that filming the famous sword fight with the skeleton in "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad," a low-budget film shot in Spain, was "an exciting experience for me."
"I believed I was making as valid a contribution to the world of theater as if I had been playing Hamlet," he said. "We shot that sword fight in a cave in Majorca. We started filming one night at sundown and worked straight through for 24 hours, because they could only afford the cave for one night."
In a 1989 Starlog interview, "Sinbad" director Nathan Juran said Mathews never complained.
"When we finally finished the sequence, I noticed that his sword hand was covered with blood," Juran said. "He had worked so hard that he had scraped off the skin on that hand. I marveled that he did all that sword fighting and never said a word about the pain he was in. Kerwin was the epitome of a professional. He gave a hell of a performance."
I do believe that Don Chaffey was exaggerating in his description of Armstrong "weeping" and calling him "an absolute brute" when complaining that the sword was too heavy for his arm (if the sword is too light it looks like a toy and not a real weapon).
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 43 | June 16, 2016 10:18 PM |
Wow, I couldn't find any information where he was buried; but the last place he lived was Butte City, California -- small down NE of San Francisco.
| by Anonymous | reply 44 | February 19, 2018 8:38 AM |
I thought the leading lady was glamorous when I was little....I wanted a golden fleece, like hers!
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 45 | February 19, 2018 11:22 AM |
My late partner knew Nigel Green, the actor who plays Hercules in the film. They worked together. Green tended to play military or MI5 types. My partner mentioned that Green had the biggest cock he had ever seen ( he’d seen a few ). They used to work out at the same gym together. That was back in the day when there were very few gyms and very few people using them.
Useless, superficial information I know but as I always liked older men and as I thought Green handsome it just made him more intriguing.
Sadly, he died of an overdose at 47.
| by Anonymous | reply 46 | February 19, 2018 12:27 PM |
Todd Armstrong's father was a well known architect in the St. Louis area Harris Armstong, awarded a silver medal at the 1937 Paris Exposition of Art and Technology and other accolades; Harris Armstong died in 1973, There is a photo of a young Todd Armstong with his father in this link below.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 48 | February 19, 2018 8:19 PM |
i alway thought Talos was kinda hot.
| by Anonymous | reply 49 | February 20, 2018 1:22 AM |
Gary Raymond was tres joli in this movie. Lithe and smooth. He's still alive!
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 50 | March 23, 2019 6:16 AM |
[quote] Nancy Kovack as well for the same reason. She played Medea. (She also played Darrin's first girlfriend in Bewitched!)
People might better recall Nancy from this.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 51 | March 23, 2019 6:57 AM |
Yes, Nancy Kovak had the distinction of being on the worst episode of "Star Trek" ever made!
I don't believe I've ever seen her in anything but "Trek" and "Jason", but then, if I'd seen her playing a normal human being and not a female drag queen in a huge black wig, I probably wouldn't recognize her.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 52 | March 23, 2019 7:05 AM |
From R48's link:
[quote] it’s known that he married a pianist and settled down in the Virgin Islands.
| by Anonymous | reply 53 | March 23, 2019 7:14 AM |
[quote]Yes, Nancy Kovak had the distinction of being on the worst episode of "Star Trek" ever made!
Not to divert from the subject of this thread, but there's a lot of other contenders for that distinction besides 'A Private Little War.' ;)
| by Anonymous | reply 54 | March 23, 2019 7:21 AM |
[quote] if I'd seen her playing a normal human being and not a female drag queen in a huge black wig, I probably wouldn't recognize her.
You wouldn't. She was attractive but really just one more starlet. That's why I picked the Trek photo to post.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 55 | March 23, 2019 8:32 AM |
This Dr. Earl Dean Mitchell is full of shit. Armstrong was in 10 movies, not just the one. His conjecture that Armstrong killed himself because of AIDS is just that, conjecture. He was heavily addicted to pain killers due to a previous accident when he took his own life.
| by Anonymous | reply 56 | March 23, 2019 9:29 AM |
WHET NATURAL hourglass figures? How lovely R55.
| by Anonymous | reply 57 | March 23, 2019 1:54 PM |
Blessings on you, DL. This movie was such a vital part of my psycho-sexual development--I had SUCH a crush on Todd Armstrong, and the whole homoerotic atmosphere of that movie turned me on deeply.
I do have one question. Many years ago I owned a straight porno magazine that I bought because the bearded man on the cover caught my eye--he had a very strong resemblance to Todd Armstrong. Does anyone know if this WAS Todd Armstrong? Did he do porno? Only on DL could someone possibly have an answer to my question. I'm still sorry I threw that magazine away.....
| by Anonymous | reply 58 | March 23, 2019 3:08 PM |
Gary Raymond looked gayer than Todd Armstrong
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 59 | March 23, 2019 3:18 PM |
Gary and Todd are classic Mid-century solid bedrock names for young gay studs.
| by Anonymous | reply 60 | March 23, 2019 3:21 PM |
My late partner knew Nigel Green, who played Hercules. Said he had one of the biggest cocks he’d ever seen.
| by Anonymous | reply 63 | March 23, 2019 4:05 PM |
R63...oops, realised I’d already posted that. But it’s worth mentioning again as he was a great looking man.
| by Anonymous | reply 65 | March 23, 2019 4:10 PM |
[quote]He was heavily addicted to pain killers due to a previous accident when he took his own life.
Why sentence structure matters.
| by Anonymous | reply 66 | March 23, 2019 4:14 PM |
Oooh, those "countless screaming Argonauts."
| by Anonymous | reply 67 | March 23, 2019 6:17 PM |
[quote] Pardon me, but how does a landscape gardener have a trust fund? Som'in ain't right here.
Not all trust funds automatically bestow wealth on a person. Some are set up like an allowance, e.g. with monthly or annual disbursements. Maybe he still had to do some type of work.
| by Anonymous | reply 69 | May 27, 2021 1:13 AM |
