Bumper Month to Celebrate Bond!

Last weekend, I found an application for my iPad called “Remind mii” that allows me to input significant dates and it, in turn, will display timely reminders of birthdays, anniversaries, and other events. I’ve had to tweak the categories but since downloading the app, I have been adding Bond franchise related dates partly for personal interest, but also to identify milestones that warrant a word or two from yours truly.

Already, June is a rather busy month for commemorating movie premieres, various book releases, and even birthdays of a couple of directors!  Last week was the 30^th anniversary of Roger Moore and Maud Adams’ Octopussy (1983). Today marks the UK release of You Only Live Twice (1967) and 1985’s A View to a Kill. Tomorrow Licence to Kill (1989) will celebrate its release, 24 years ago.

While I unfortunately do not have any autographs of any stars from You Only Live Twice (not yet anyway!), I do have a few photographs from the other three films to commemorate the occasion.

Octopussy (1983) Maud Adams

In honor of its 30^th anniversary, my boyfriend and I rewatched the 1983 Octopussy last week. It had been several years since I had watched what would be Roger Moore’s second to last outing as James Bond. While there were a few witty lines, more often the one-liners were cheesy and over the top. The Tarzan yell sound effect when Moore swings through the forest via a hanging vine made me groan out loud – didn’t they learn anything about leaving out silly sound effects with Thunderball? The nod to Fleming’s short story “The Property of a Lady” was a nice touch. And honestly, it was an entertaining movie to revisit.

A View to a Kill (1985) Roger Moore and Tanya Roberts

My boyfriend and I had the pleasure of meeting Tanya Roberts (Stacy Sutton) a couple of times over the past few years, both occasions were at the Hollywood Collector’s Shows, in the summer of 2009 and again this past January.

Diana Lee Hsu (Loti) was at the collector’s show in January. You will remember her role of Loti who met her demise late in the movie. However, did you know that she is also the dancer in the opening Bond song?

Licence to Kill (1989) Diana Lee Hsu

And, also at the January show was Robert Davi (Franz Sanchez). He was an incredibly jovial person and very engaging with all those who stopped at his table. Since I have the uncommon spelling to my name, occasionally celebrities will misspell my name after I’ve spelled it out. It happens and it’s interesting to see how different stars go about fixing the error:

Licence to Kill (1989) Timothy Dalton and Robert Davi

One of the things I noticed is that a lot of the celebrities at the collector's show were congratulating Mr. Davi on his singing by comparing him most favorably with Frank Sinatra. Well, come to find out, he had an album out titled “Davi Sings Sinatra – On the Road to Romance.” And you know what? He can really croon like Ol’ Blue Eyes himself. If you like the Brat Pack music of the 50s/60s, pick up Mr. Davi’s CD or catch one of his performances.

Robert Davi and Bond fans

Editor's Note: All photographs except the last photo are pages from The James Bond Archives edited by Paul Duncan (Taschen, 2012).