data.frame into vector

Hi

I want to extract a row from a data.frame but I want that object to 
be a vector . After trying some different ways I end up always with a 
data.frame or with the wrong vector. Any pointers?

  x <- data.frame(a = factor(c('a',2,'b')), b = c(4,5,6))
I want to get
"a" "4"

I tried:

as.vector(x[1,])
   a b
1 a 4
(resulting in a data.frame even after in my mind having coerced it 
into a vector!)

as.vector(c[1,], numeric='character')
[1] "2" "4"
(almost what I want, except that "2" instead of "a" - I guess this as 
to do with levels and factors)

Thanks for any help

 R.Version()

$platform
[1] "powerpc-apple-darwin6.8"

$arch
[1] "powerpc"

$os
[1] "darwin6.8"

$system
[1] "powerpc, darwin6.8"

$status
[1] ""

$major
[1] "2"

$minor
[1] "0.1"

$year
[1] "2004"

$month
[1] "11"

$day
[1] "15"

$language
[1] "R"