Ha, yeah Bob Kulp from "I Spy" fame, and Blake had been an actor all his life, from the days of "The Little Rascals" (Spanky and our gang). Also, the great charcter actor, James Gregroy who, had a superb role in "The Manchurian Candidate", and then was later seen as Inspector Luger on "Barney Miller".
PT 109 was big when I was a kid in the 60's also. In Wildwood Crest, NJ (down the shore) they even had a PT boat ride that visited many of the historical WWII emplacements in and around south Jersey. I always thought JFK was the biggest hero of the war. Later he said that most of the book/movie, etc was fiction, but I do think the guy was just being modest.