F is for Friday, Flying, and Ferrymen - Day 9 of Bond 365

Happy Friday! It’s been a tough week struggling to keep a cold from taking hold, but I’m definitely on the losing end at this point. That said, I have probably just about hit the worst of the stuffy head feeling and I hope that after the next 24 hours, my sinuses will have drained and will be on the road to recovery.

Before I get into today’s Bond 365, I have a trivia answer. The Italian director that used the name Anthony Dawson rather than Anthony Daisies was none other than Antonio Margheriti (1930 – 2002). Margheriti dabbled in the spy genre in 1966 with Lightning Bolt starring Anthony Eisley and The Killers Are Challenged starring Richard Harrison. Both are enjoyable films and are decent examples of the Bond knock-off or Eurospy films that were very popular in the 1960s. He was a prolific director who easily adapted to whatever genre was popular at the time and as a result, worked with many established actors that included but by no means limited to: Lee Van Cleef, John Saxon, Yul Brynner, Barbara Steele, Klaus Kinski, Donald Pleasence, and Christopher Lee. The last two were of course Bond alums.

Caron Gardner

The beautiful Ms. Caron Gardner

Born January 9, 1941

Flying Circus Pilot in Goldfinger

Ms. Gardner joined the Bond family when she donned the uniform of Pussy Galore’s Flying Circus group in Goldfinger. She went on to appear multiple times with another Bond, Sr. Roger Moore, in The Saint. Gardner also did some comedy with appearances on Benny Hill and Monty Python’s Flying Circus as well as working in the horror genre on The Evil of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. 

According to IMDB, Gardner's last appearance was on the television show Second Thoughts in 1992, and from what I could find online, she has appeared at autograph shows as recently as 2007.

Mr. Steve Plytas looking every inch the Greek Tycoon

Steve Plytas

Born January 9, 1913

Greek Tycoon in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

Born in the ancient city of Constantinople, Phoklon Stavros Plytas, or Steve Plytas, was of Greek descent who worked in a number of British films, such as A Night to Remember, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, and Revenge of the Pink Panther. On the small screen, he appeared in The Avengers, The Saint, Doctor Who, Fawlty Towers, and intriguing series called Who Pays the Ferryman?

Plytas played a Greek tycoon in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but that was not his only tie to James Bond and Ian Fleming. In 1989 he appeared in a television movie titled Goldeneye. The adventure film follows Ian Fleming (Charles Dance) during his wartime service to crown and country. Plytas passed away in 1994 at the age of 81.