Louis swam onscreen
with teen idol Troy Donahue
and a Star Trek actress

Louis Edmonds is primarily remembered for his TV work, but the actor did appear in a few films. In fact, he won a movie role just before his casting meeting with the producer of Dark Shadows.

LEFT: Andrea Dromm on Star Trek, and Troy Donahue on a beach. BELOW: Andrea and Troy in a still from Come Spy With Me.

“I met with Dan Curtis and he wanted me for the part—he seemed to, right off the bat—and I said, ‘Well, this is very flattering, but I have a film to make.’ I was dying to say that,” he said with a laugh, “but it was true.”

Louis accepted the part on DS, but first he had to head to Jamaica to appear in Come Spy With Me, starring Troy Donahue and Andrea Dromm. Louis played a European villain named Gunther, who stalked Donahue’s character.

“It was sort of a fifth-rate James Bond-type of movie, with so many pretty young girls—and boys—lounging around a swimming pool,” Louis recalled. “It was a fun part because I was a hired assassin, and I had a German accent and carried a gun. Eventually my character was drowned by Troy in a grotto.”

Louis said the former teen idol seemed to enjoy making the movie. “Troy was happy,” he said. “He didn’t take his assignment too seriously. I mean, he wasn’t playing Chekhov or Shaw. But he did all right.”

Troy shot to stardom in the early 1950s, starring in a string of beach movies that gave him a chance to show off his young, toned physique. By the time Come Spy With Me was filmed, he was only 30, but he was clearly a bit out of shape. The bathing-suit scenes were left to other actors—including Louis.

Though his billing isn’t prominent, Louis’ part in Come Spy With Me is fairly substantial. In one scene, he wears a bikini and a mesh sweater, showing off a toned frame as he sneaks into and searches a hotel room. Later, he cuts an elegant figure in a sport jacket and ascot as he faces off against the film’s heroine, as she holds a gun on him. (An image from this scene is featured on one of the movie’s lobby cards.)

Released by 20th Century Fox, Come Spy With Me has a groovy soundtrack and lots of on-screen dancing. The Motown group Smokey Robinson and the Miracles sang the film’s title track.

The spy caper premiered in January 1967 to harsh reviews. Variety’s critic could barely find enough negative terms to describe it, calling the film “a slap-dash quickie, awkward, clumsy, amateurish, inept, and banal.”

Louis was spared comment, but the reviewer went on: “Extensive, and corny, narration is used to cover the clumsy scripting, acting, and direction.” The only thing the reviewer could stomach was the imaginative opening titles, which featured silhouetted dancers; it was downhill from there.

Directed by Marshall Stone, the film had a running time of 85 minutes. As soon as Louis completed his work in Come Spy with Me, he returned to New York to take on the role of Roger Collins on Dark Shadows.