Wilford E. (Bill) Deming; Stunt Pilot Made Films in India

Wilford E. (Bill) Deming, 85, a onetime stunt flier who entered films as a sound technician for Fox Studios before it became a part of 20th Century Fox and in 1930 was sent by Fox to India, where he helped produce the first talking pictures in that country. Deming, who was born in Los Angeles and served as an administrative aide to Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty, went to India to make pictures for domestic consumption in one of Hollywood’s first efforts to explore the foreign film market. He made nine pictures before returning in 1936. Deming, whose father owned $1.5 million worth of downtown real estate early in the century, worked as a stunt pilot, a commercial flier on the Ford Trimotor runs to San Francisco (five hours and two stops) and a Navy career officer before retiring as a lieutenant commander and working for Yorty. In San Diego on Saturday of apparent heart failure.