ABOUT TWENTY—FIVE years ago, when Lloyd Bridges was snorkeling his way into America’s hearts as the star of Sea Hunt, his eight-year-old son, Jeff did his first stint in front of the camera. The big event, not surprisingly, was a Sea Hunt episode. The young Bridges played a towheaded, all—American lad trapped in an underwater cave. The highlight of this debut was an exciting rescue by his real-life father.
“That’s where my basic training comes from,” Bridges will tell you, looking no less all-American now than he did then. “My father would be doing a scene and he’d say, 'Just talk to me. Make it happen as if it’s happening for the first time.’ Real basic things.”
[…]