15/05/2026
THE NIECE of a member of the crack stunt team who worked on Moby Dick says she is thrilled that the movie is being celebrated by Fishguard’s Ar Ymyl y Tir/On Land’s Edge Fes-tival in September – 70 years after its cinematic release.
Francesca Bosenius fondly recalls some of the escapades of her late “Uncle Ted” – Edu-ardo (‘Ted’) Palmieri – an accomplished horse rider and stuntman who worked on several top films.
He was immortalised in a famous scene from John Huston’s classic 1956 Moby Dick movie for his portrayal of the doomed lookout who loses his footing and plunges into the ocean from the Pequod’s top mast, never to re-surface.
Speaking after witnessing the scene for the first time, Francesca laughed as she said: “That was some drop!
“But then that's just the sort of thing uncle Ted would do!"
Another stuntman on Moby Dick was John Sullivan, who would go on to have a small, but memorable speaking role in the 1964 classic movie Zulu as the commander of a cavalry troop fleeing the disaster at Isandhlwana.
During several months of filming in dangerous sea conditions off Fishguard, Sullivan worked alongside other uncredited stuntmen including Joe Powell, who would also appear in Zulu as Sgt Windridge.
According to local legend it was Sullivan who dived head-first from the top mast of the Pe-quod into the waters of Fishguard Bay in order to win a bet struck with Huston on the last day of filming.
However, other sources claim a local man named Texas Jones also made the leap!
Mae nith aelod o'r tîm styntiau gwych a weithiodd ar Moby Dick wrth ei bodd bod y ffilm yn cael ei dathlu gan Ŵyl Ar Ymyl y Tir/On Land’s Edge Abergwaun ym mis Medi – 70 mlynedd ar ôl ei rhyddhau.
Mae Francesca Bosenius yn cofio'n annwyl rai o anturiaethau ei diweddar “Ewythr Ted” – Eduardo (‘Ted’) Palmieri – marchog ceffylau a styntiwr dawnus a weithiodd ar sawl ffilm o'r radd flaenaf.
Cafodd ei anfarwoli mewn golygfa enwog o ffilm glasurol John Huston, 1956, Moby Dick, am ei bortread o'r gwyliwr truenus sy'n colli ei afael ac yn plymio i'r cefnfor o fast uchaf y Pequod, heb ailymddangos.
Ar ôl gweld yr olygfa am y tro cyntaf, chwarddodd Francesca wrth iddi ddweud: “Roedd hwnna’n gwymp a hanner!
“Ond dyna’r math o beth fyddai ewythr Ted yn ei wneud!
Styntiwr arall ar Moby Dick oedd John Sullivan. Byddai’n mynd ymlaen i gael rôl siarad fach ond cofiadwy, yn y ffilm glasurol Zulu ym 1964 fel cadlywydd milwyr marchoglu oedd yn ffoi o'r drychineb yn Isandhlwana.
Yn ystod sawl mis o ffilmio mewn amodau peryglus ar y môr mawr oddi ar Abergwaun, gweithiodd Sullivan ochr yn ochr â styntwyr eraill heb gredyd, gan gynnwys Joe Powell, a fyddai hefyd yn ymddangos yn Zulu fel Sgt Windridge.
Yn ôl y chwedl leol, plymiodd Sullivan â'i ben yn gyntaf, o fast uchaf y Pequod i Fae Abergwaun, er mwyn ennill bet ar ddiwrnod olaf y ffilmio.
