It’s a Bond Bonanza! …Day 21 of Bond 365

I am running out of time this evening, so let’s get right into today’s group. Since its a full house, I thought Bond Bonanza would be a fun title for today's post.

Charles Dorat

Born this day in 1906

French Adaptation of Goldfinger

French actor Charles Dorat worked on Goldfinger by creating the French adaptation. According to IMDB, Dorat was a jack-of-all-trades it seemed. He worked in sound, as a second unit director, writer as well as an actor. Since I don’t read French, I was unable to ascertain any other information about Dorat.

Telly Savalas

Born this day in 1922

Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

I am going to hold my comments about Telly Savalas for the moment since tomorrow he’ll be featured again, for having passed away in 1994. So, please stop back by and read my comments about Savalas tomorrow.

Gilbert Chomat

Born this day in 1931

Stunt Pilot for You Only Live Twice

Chomat was a helicopter pilot and worked on a handful of films prior to dying tragically during the filming of Zeppelin, which took the life of a camerman and the director. I found a fascinating article from the Daily Mail that included a section in which the great actor Peter O’Toole talked about his friend with Chomat when they worked together on Murphy’s War.

Michael G. Wilson

Born this day in 1943

Cameo roles and various Eon Production staff positions

Michael Wilson had a cameo role in Goldfinger, but didn’t immediately join the Eon Productions family. He studied engineering and law and practiced law for a time in Washington D.C. However, he eventually joined the production company’s legal department and later as an executive producer. He even pulled duty as a screenwriter.

In addition to all of his work behind the camera, as I mentioned above, he had a cameo appearance in the third film. From 1977 to the present, he has had a cameo in each Eon Production films. According to his Wiki profile, he is “second only to Desmond Llewelyn in terms of repeat appearances in the series.” Typically, they are non-speaking roles and usually uncredited. I wonder what his cameo role will be in Spectre?

Jack Lord

Passed away this day in 1998

Felix Leiter in Dr. No

Jack Lord will forever be remembered for this leading role of Steve McGarrett in the American television series Hawaii Five-O. He joined the Bond family when he portrayed Felix Leiter in the very first Eon Production’s Bond film, Dr. No. He cut quite a figure in the film and I think he was an exceeding good choice.

In my research, I found out that Lord was an accomplished artist. By the age of twenty, two of his paintings had been acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum of Modern Art. Along with his brother, they established the Village Academy of Arts. It had been his dream to be an artist. How different television could have been shaped if Lord had pursued his artistic dream instead.