Bean. Mister Bean.- Continuing with Bond 365

Let’s jump right in to Day 6….

Rowan Atkinson, CBE

Born: January 6, 1955

Nigel Small-Fawcett in Never Say Never Again

I’m just going to go ahead and admit it right up front: I am a fan of Rowan Atkinson. While I probably saw Atkinson originally in Never Say Never Again (1983) as Nigel Small-Fawcett <I am so shaking my head about that name!>, however it wasn’t until I saw him perform in his Blackadder series that I came to appreciate his comedic style and timing. Since then, I have re-watched this non-official Bond film and can infer even more to Atkinson’s scenes.

Here’s a short scene between Connery and Atkinson in Never Say Never Again.

I do wonder if the spy bug took hold of Atkinson after working on Never Say Never Again because in 1990, he developed his MI7 secret agent personae for a series of commercials for Barclaycard. Atkinson then expanded that character into British spy, Johnny English. His first spy film was released in 2003, written incidentally by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. And in 2011, he followed up with Johnny English Reborn co-starring Bond alum Rosamund Pike as love interest Kate Sumner. Both films, which parody the James Bond films, have done very well, each having budgets of $45M and each grossing $160M.

Rowan Atkinson as MI7 British Agent, Johnny English

I leave you with a short clip of Atkinson when he starred on Not The Nine O’clock News and is one of my favorites. Enjoy!