Englishman
Martin Benson was originally headed for a career as a pharmacist, however World
War II changed his path. While serving with the Royal Artillery, he was
eventually station in Cairo. While there, he started a stage company, Mercury
Theatre with Arthur Lowe (he would go on to star in Dad’s Army, an English
television series). According to The Telegraph obituary for Benson, “King
Farouk was a keen attender of its Shakespeare productions.”
After the
war, Benson had the acting bug and he got work in the movies. He was often a
supporting character or cast as a villain. He made the cross over between
British and Hollywood; in all, he had 111 appearances in film and television in
a career that spanned over sixty years!
In Goldfinger, Benson played gangster Mr. Solo who refuses to join
Auric Goldfinger. He is shot, stuffed in a car and ultimately crushed by a
car-crushing machine in a junkyard. It was a gruesome way to go and apparently,
some of Benson’s characters had memorable, albeit violent exits.
Benson, like
many others I’ve written about over the intervening days for Bond 365, had
creative pursuits away from the camera lens. For Benson, he was a writer and
director of documentaries, animated films, and commercials. He wrote an
instructional book about acting. And, he was a painter. His portraits of
theatrical actors – John Gielgud and Alec Guinness, amongst others – were part
of a Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. (I looked around for an image of one or
more of his painting, but sadly, I couldn’t find any.)
Richard
“Dick” Crockett worked for 40 years in the industry as an actor and stunt
coordinator, working on several films and television series. His acting, stunt,
production, and directing credits (almost 170!) reads like a history of
television and film. He had a small uncredited role in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), where he also did stunts. Big budget films
seemed to be his niche because he did stunts for some of the ones: Dirty Harry
(1971), Earthquake (1974), The Towering Inferno (1974), The Hindenburg (1975),
and a couple of the Pink Panther films (1976 and 1978).
Interestingly,
Crockett was William Shatner’s double in the episode “Where No Man Has Gone
Before” (1966) and he made two appearances: as the Bald Klingon Brawler in “The
Trouble with Tribbles” (1967) and as Andorian Thall in “The Gamesters of
Triskelion” (1968).
Above is a YouTube clip showing the bar brawl from the original Star Trek series that breaks out. You'll be able to see Crockett in action - he's the bald Klingon that looks to get in a few good swings here and there.
Leonard Nimoy, 1913 - 2015
Please
indulge me as I express a heartfelt sadness at the passing of Leonard Nimoy
today.
At an early age, I remember watching Nimoy in Star Trek when it was in syndication and being broadcast each evening
prior to my dinnertime. Then it was In Search of….where he hosted the show that explored unexplained
phenomena such as the Bermuda Triangle to eventually watching Nimoy and the
entire Star Trek cast when they took to the big screen for several outings.
Although
Nimoy will be long remembered as Mr. Spock in the Star Trek franchise, he did do a little bit of spy genre work.
He was in an episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. titled “The Project Strigas Affair” (1964) in which
he played Vladeck. In fact, another Trekkie guest starred in that episode:
William Shatner. It was their first time working together since that was prior
to Kirk and Spock.In the episode,
Shatner is a reluctant U.N.C.L.E. recruit while Nimoy is an agent for the Iron
Curtain and apparently, not particularly bright. As a side note, you might
recognize His Excellency as Colonel Klink (Werner Klemperer) from a very
popular show from the late 1960s, Hogan’s Heroes.
Nimoy was
also in “The Dead Spy Scrawls” as the assassin Stryker for another spy show, Get
Smart (1966). In the show, he wears large, dark sunglasses for most of the time, but you cannot miss that voice. And
for two seasons, he was cast as an IMF agent, Paris, in Mission:
Impossible (1969-1971).
He continued
to act on the small and big screens, however he was also pursuing other interests.
For instance, he went back to school and studied photography at University of
California, Los Angeles. It was an interest he had since a teenager and one
that he pursued until his death. He also did some directing, including Star
Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) and Star
Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). Both did
very well at the box office and with the critics. He wrote two autobiographies,
I Am Not Spock (1975) and twenty
years later, I Am Spock. And, he
released a handful of albums, but I will remember his voice being sampled for the
80s What’s On You Mind (Pure Energy)
from Information Society (great song by the way!).
I do happen to have one
Nimoy story. I was at the Emerald City Comic Con (Seattle) in 2010 and there was an
extremely long queue waiting to meet him. I was in another line, I think for
Wil Wheaton actually, and if you can imagine, the entire convention floor burst
out in applause when Mr. Nimoy came out to the floor and headed to his signing
table. From afar, I did peek over to his table and watch him as he was talking
with fans – he was all smiles. What an enduring legacy of an amazing talented and respected person.
“A life is a like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but
not preserved, except in memory. LLAP.”
Nimoy’s final tweet in which he shared some of his poetry
It’s
Friday-eve and this week has been busy! And, a busy weekend will follow with
the Long Beach Comic Expo being held Saturday and Sunday at the Long Beach
Convention Center here in Southern California. I’ll be moderating a panel on
the film She Makes Comics, a
Kickstarter-funded documentary that came out a few months ago. Several women in
the comic book industry are featured, covering the historical and contemporary
ramifications of women’s contribution to the industry as creator and consumer.
It should be a fascinating panel.
Carmen du Sautoy charms Bond (Roger Moore)
Carmen du Sautoy
Born this
day in 1950
Saida in The
Man with the Golden Gun
Carmen du Sautoy got her start as a character named ‘Child’ in the television series Play
for Today (1970). It would be four years until she was cast as the Lebanese
belly dancer Saida in The Man with the Golden Gun. From there, de Sautoy went on to work on quite a few tv series that
included Astronauts, Chessgame
and Lost Empires as well guest
appearances on show favorites, Absolutely Fabulous, Agatha Christie:
Poirot and Kavanagh QC.
In between
shows and films, du Sautoy was acting in productions presented by the Royal
Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre and West End (London). In 1979, she
won Best Supporting Actress from the London Theatre Critics’ Award for her role
in Once in a Lifetime.
Screenwriter
of Dr. No and From Russia With
Love; Uncredited as “Man” in From
Russia With Love
At first, I
thought, here is another person who had one acting credit (uncredited at that)
to their name and no other information. Berkely Mather does have one uncredited
role, however, he was better known for his writing. In fact, he had 30 writing
credits according to IMDB. He wrote for film and television. For instance, he
was the writer for one episode of The Avengers (1961) and two episodes of I Spy (1967) as well as two Bond film screenplays.
Mather, a
pseudonym for John Even Weston-Davies, penned 15 published novels and an
anthology of short stories. The Achilles Affair (1959) was his first novel and did rather well. His follow up novel, The
Pass Beyond Kashmir (1960), received high
praise from Ian Fleming. In fact, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman
purchased the film rights to the novel and had planned to have Sean Connery and
Honor Blackman star. Under Columbia Pictures, production began in 1964 in
Britain and in the Far East. Sadly, it was not completed.
I found a
thorough discussion over at Pretty Sinister Books about The Pass Beyond
Kashmir that is worth a read.
Sean Connery and Gert Frobe from Goldfinger
Gert
Frobe
Born this
day in 1913
Auric
Goldfinger in Goldfinger
Gert Frobe
will always be immortalized as the gold lusting arch-villain Auric Goldfinger
in the 1964 Bond film Goldfinger. At
IMDB, he is quoted as having said, “I am a big man [he was 6’ 1 ¼” ], and I
have a laugh to match my size. The ridiculous thing is that since I played
‘Goldfinger’ in the James Bond film there are some people who still insist on
seeing me as a cold, ruthless villain – a man without laughs.” It’s often been
the case when an actor does such a fantastic job embodying a character that
they become forever remembered and typecast in similar roles. Looking a bit
deeper though and one will discover that Frobe’s was a multi-faceted,
intriguing individual.
Here are
some interesting facts about Frobe that has been overshadowed by the Goldfinger
personae:
Frobe’s was
an accomplished violinist who decided to go into the theatre and acting.
Frobe’s was
a member of the Nazi Party from 1929-1937. He used his membership to Jews from
the Gestapo so they get out of the Germany. Because of his wartime past, Goldfinger was banned in Israel until a Jewish family publicly
thanked him for his help.
He is
commemorated on a German stamp.
He was
married five times.
He was known
for reciting lyric poetry, in particular Christian Morgenstern and Joachim
Ringelnatz.
He was in
another film based on Fleming’s writing: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968).
He was
nominated for 10 awards and won 7. In all, he had 111 acting credits in a
career that spanned from 1948 – 1989.
And, he
played the recurring role of Kommissar Lohmann in three Dr. Mabuse films.
Here’s the trailer for the 1960 The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse starring Frobe.
Hasan Ceylan as a Foreign Agent in From Russia With Love
Hasan
Ceylan
Born this
day in 1922
Foreign
Agent in From Russia With Love
Hasan Ceylan
was born in Istanbul and had a robust acting career that began in 1952 and
continued up until his death in 1980. He had 172 acting roles and as far as I
can tell, his role in FromRussia With Love may have been his only English speaking film. Well, if you are only
going to do one, what better production group and franchise is there?
Peter Madden ponders his next move as McAdams
Peter Madden
Passed away
this day in 1976
McAdams in From
Russia With Love
“I’m
generally cast as a baddie because I’ve got such a miserable bloody face. Thank
God I never wanted to be a star,” Peter Madden is quoted as saying about his
roles as villains and bureaucratic types (IMDB). He also had a gravelly voice, so that
may have been another casting reason. Regardless, he had a prolific career as
an actor that started way, way back in 1937 when he played Lawrence Vail in a
television film, Once in a Lifetime.
He did a lot
of television series over the intervening years. Highlights include: as Dr. Jim
Harrison in The Flying Doctor (1959),
Admiral Hobbs in Secret Agent
(1964-1965), various roles in Z Cars
(1962-1968), Inspector Lestrade/Bill McCarthy in Sherlock Holmes (1965-1968), and Doctor Mouraille in Clochemerle (1972). He also made guest appearances in The
Saint and The Avengers where he would have bumped into Bond alums Roger
Moore and Diana Rigg.
Below is a
video clip of Peter Madden as McAdams and Vladek Sheybal as Kronsteen during
the Chess match scene. I liked the mise-en-scene and the tension surrounding
the match. Sheybal steals the scene when he slowly looks up to the waiter when
he set the glass of water down. Kronsteen's meticulous eye gaze to the waiter and the water glass accentuates the tense situation of the game.
Given how quickly Sheybal’s character forces McAdams to concede the match leads
me to believe that Kronsteen was toying with his opponent instead of quickly
winning the game.
John Kitzmiller was born in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1913. He earned a degree in
engineering before serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was part of
the troops that liberated Italy at the end of the war. He received the Victory
Medal as a result of his service in the armed forces.
After the
war, he stayed in Italy and began a career in acting. His first role came in
1947 as Joe in the film To Live in Peace.
His last role before his death was Uncle Tom in Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1965) and he had 50+ credits to his name. In 1957,
he won a Cannes Festival Acting Award for his role in Dolina miru (trans. Valley of Peace).
Unfortunately,
he passed away at the young age of 51 because of a liver ailment. He was
married to Dusia Bejic at the time of his death.
Don
Wortham
Passed away
this day in 2007
Boom
Operator for Dr. No
Don
Wortham’s IMDB profile lists 39 sound credits to his name. He had a lengthy career
that started in 1948’s When You Come Home
(UK) and concluded in 1989 on the television series The Endless Game (UK). In addition to his work on Dr. No (1962), he worked with Stanley Kubrick on Lolita (1962) and 2001: A Space Odyssey, with David Lean on Lawrence of Arabia (1962), with Irvin Kershner on Star Wars:
Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980),
and with Tim Burton on Batman
(1989). He also worked with Jim Henson on three of his films: The
Great Muppet Caper (1981), The
Dark Crystal (1982), and Labyrinth (1986).
Since I
could not find any pictures of Wortham, let’s take a look at one of the films
he worked on, Lawrence of Arabia, which
had an all-star cast and a Bond alum or two to boot.
It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m thinking about the busy week I
have ahead of me. No rest for wicked I presume. Regardless, I hope you have a
spectacular week!
Karin Dor
Karin Dor
Born this day in 1938
Helga Brandt in You Only Live Twice
Originally from Germany, Karin Dor started her acting career
in Europe in 1955. The bulk of her acting credits are European films and
television shows, however she did a handful of English-language films that
included You Only Live Twice (1967) and
Alfred Hitchcock’s Topaz (1969).
As Helga Brandt, she was the first German woman to play a
Bond Girl, well a villainous SPECTRE agent (#11) who decided to sleep with Bond
and kill him later. Of course Bond did not die in the plane crash that Helga
arranged and consequently she failed her directive. When later confronted by
Blofeld in his lair, her “boss” tells Blofeld he had given her strict orders to
kill Bond. She thought she had killed him anyway. As she walks away from
Blofeld’s desk, he triggers the release on the bridge she is walking across,
dropping her into a tank of piranha. What an awful way to go!
And, now, what news came up about Bond this past week?
02/17 – Listen up ladies! 007 fragrances has created a
perfume for the modern Bond Girl. The beautiful Caterina Murino, Solange in Casino
Royale (2006), is the face of the new
scent, which combines spicy black pepper and rose milk in a multi-faceted cut
black bottle simply titled 007 for Women. For the lucky UK ladies, you can nip around to your local Boots, The
Fragrance Shop, The Perfume Shop, Debenhams for this new eau de parfum. The
fragrance will eventually be available elsewhere.
02/17 – The Hollywood Reporter’s Rebecca Ford reported that another injury has plagued Spectre. This time it was Terry Madden, second unit
assistant director, who was injured when a camera truck crashed into a barn.
Madden has been part of the Bond crew for every film since For Your
Eyes Only (1981).
02/17 – AutoBlog posted a video of the new Aston Martin DB10
in action on the set of Spectre at the
gorgeous Blenheim Palace. While I love the sleek, smooth lines of the DB10 from
the side shoots, I am just not sold on the front with a single blocky
bummer/grill section nor the blunted rear end, which are too modern for my
taste.
The second video shows the Range Rover Sport SVR and Land
Rover Defender. The location is stunning, but give me a sweet sports car any
day! Red or silver please!
Bond Girl Monica Bellucci and Daniel Craig at the Forum
02/21 – BBC News reported James Bond production designer Anna Pinnock has been given
a few days off from Spectre so she can
attend the Academy Awards this evening. Pinnock has been nominated twice in the
same category for The Grand Budapest Hotel and Into the Woods.
It is not the first time Pinnock has been in this situation.
In 2013, her work on Life of Pi and Skyfall were nominated for a BAFTA, however she went home
without an award. This is her fourth and fifth nomination in her 30-year
career.
Welcome back for another day of Bond 365. Bill Nagy makes a
return today….
Bill Nagy
Born this day in 1921
Midnight in Goldfinger;
USAF General at Pentagon in You Only Live Twice
About a month ago Bill Nagy was featured on Day 19 (January 19) and Nagy is back again today, in celebration of his birthday. Although he
was born in Hungary, he was raised in Canada and attended a drama school in New
York. His first job was a ballroom dancer and his first role was as an Italian
pedlar in the television series Anne of Green Gables in 1952. Of the 112 acting credits, he appeared to
have steady work straight through to his death in 1973. His last role as a pet
shop owner in Scorpio was
uncredited.
It just so happens that there is another Bill Nagy who was a
professional football player (American) for the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit
Lions. However, he was plagued with ankle injuries and spent much of his time
on the injured reserved list, and he was released in 2013.
Today’s Bond 365 comes from the animated world of James
Bond Jr. I don't know about you, but I find the theme very catchy and it pops right into my mind when I see "James Bond Jr". What about you?
Kath Soucie
Kath Soucie
Born this day in 1967
Voices of Barbella, Goldie Finger and Tiara Hotstones from James
Bond Jr.
Kath Soucie has had a “who’s who” type of career as an actor
and as a voice actor. She started in 1979 as Becca from The Incredible
Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel and currently
has a whooping 321 acting credits on her IMDB profile! This year so far she’s
working on two television series, Star Wars Rebels as Maketh Tua and Mira Bridger and in Lalaloopsy as Tiny Might.
For this blog, it was in 1991-1992 that she lent her voice
to three major characters and numerous uncredited “additional voices” as
children followed the adventures of James Bond Jr. Sourcie is listed as having
worked in 18 of the 65 series episodes. However, if you have a few minutes,
take a look at all the projects she has been involved with over the years. I
should not have been surprised, but she has worked on several video games, not just
animated shows.
Since YouTube isn't letting me share the video, I've done a link so you can "see" Soucie in action as Barbella from James Bond Jr.
Fifty days into Bond 365! I feel as though every day is an
opportunity to “meet” someone new that I had not known about before. Today is
no different. I continue to be amazed and in awe of the experience that each
person associated with the Bond franchise brought to the table or
alternatively, learned from the film that they carried with them throughout the
rest of their career. Let’s have a look at three truly talented men that passed
away this day.
Wally Veevers at work
Wally Veevers
Passed away on this day in 1983
Visual Effects for Diamonds Are Forever
Wally Veevers worked in visual and special effects from 1939
up to his death in 1983. He worked on several well-known films over his lengthy
career. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Superman (1978), Excalibur (1981), and The Keep (1983) were a few examples of his visual effects
projects. In fact, he was part of the visual effects team that won a BAFTA in
1979 for Superman.
Richard
III (1955), The Guns of Navarone (1961), Sodom and Gormorrah (1962), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned
to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), Battle
of Britain (1969), and The Rocky
Horror Picture Show (1975) were some of the
special effects movies he completed.
Adolfo Celi, scene from Thunderball
Adolfo Celi
Passed away on this day in 1986
Largo in Thunderball
Adolfo Celi (pronounced Chell-lee) was born in Sicily in
1922 and had over 100 acting credits to his name. He began acting at the age of
24 and had a larger supporting role in Un Americano in vacanza (1946) as Tom. He often played villains but
occasionally he did play a protagonist. Celi was fluent in several languages in
addition to his native tongue (Italian): English, Spanish, French, German, and
Portuguese, however he was usually dubbed because of his thick Sicilian accent.
In his best known role as Emilio Largo in Thunderball, Robert Rietty (see February 8). Two years later, he
joined Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell in the Bond knock-off, Operation
Kid Brother, that starred Sean Connery’s
brother, Neil (I really want to see this film!).
I want to mention that Celi also starred in Mario Bava’s Danger:
Diabolik in 1968 and is definitely worth a
watch. It starred the handsome John Phillip Law and gorgeous Marisa Mell and
the story was based on the Italian comic character Diabolik, an anti-hero who
steals from criminals.
David Watkins (r)
David Watkins
Passed away on this day in 2008
Cinematographer: Title Sequence for Goldfinger
David Watkins was a pioneer when it came to experimenting
with light in his cinematography. For instance, he would hide light sources
from a distance so there was a consistency in the level of light on the subject
that was being filmed instead of an intense light source that would wash out
the subject. The technique was called “Wendy-Light” after Watkins who used the
name Wendy. His abilities to work with light have been compared with the Dutch
artist Vermeer and I think his work compares with Stanley Kubrick’s Barry
Lyndon, another film that has “painting”
like qualities.
In his 30+ year career, he created many memorable scenes in
cinematic history. For example, the running sequence from Chariots of Fire to the music of Vangelis (1981) and the opening
title sequence for Goldfinger,
which was one of his credits, and I think still one of the most beautiful and
competently done sequences of the Bond films.
His peers have acknowledged Watkins for his mastery on
multiple occasions. He won an Academy Award, a BAFTA, British Society of
Cinematographers’ Best Cinematography Award and several others for Out of
Africa (1985) that included challenging
night and interior shots. He also won Best Technical/Artistic Achievement for Memphis
Belle (1990) from Evening Standard British
Film Awards, and Watkins received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Camerimage
in 2004. And, he has had just as many nominations for some of his other work
including Chariots of Fire, The
Three Musketeers (1973), and Help! (1965).
In case it has been awhile, here’s another chance to have a
look at Watkins’ open title sequence for Goldfinger:
It’s been a longer day and I got home a little late, so I’m
keeping this a short post today.
Sadanoyama, during tournament
Sadanoyama Shinmatsu
Born this day in 1938
Japanese Sumo Wrestler in You Only Live Twice
Sadanoyama Shimatsu made one appearance and that was as
himself in You Only Live Twice. He was a
professional wrestler, having made his debut in January 1956. I’ll be honest,
I’m not familiar with the sport, but from what I read, he did very well up
until a surprise loss to a Hawaiian wrestler named Takamiyama. Sadanoyama
announced his retirement thereafter in March 1968 and became a coach and an
elder until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 in 2003.
I was hoping I could find a video of Sadanoyama against
Takamiyama, but there wasn’t one posted on YouTube. However, as I was watching
some of the wrestling videos, it started to make sense about the various
fighting styles. According to Wiki, Sadanoyama was apparently known for pushing
and thrusting but he was also good with a grip technique and a throw.
Below is
a short National Geographic video on sumo wrestling that I think provides an introduction and shows examples of the various techniques.
I hit my 100th post on Spyfi & Superspies
with this blog entry! At the rate I was going last year, I seriously figured it
would take me three years to reach 100! And with my Bond 365 in high gear, I’m
on course to get to over 400 this year! Okay, now that I’m beaming, let’s get
to it…..
Marc Lawrence
Marc Lawrence
Born this day in 1910
Slumber Inc. Attendant in Diamonds Are Forever; Rodney in The Man with the Golden Gun
Marc Lawrence had an amazing long career with 220 acting
credits to his name. He started back in 1932 in If I had a Million as the henchman for Mike the Gangster and finished
with Looney Tunes: Back in Action
in 2003. Born as Max Goldsmith, he was often cast as gangster types throughout
his acting career, in part due to his appearance.
Lawrence was called before the House Un-American Activities
Committee. He admitted he had once been a Communist Party member and he
provided names of other members. He was blacklisted and moved to Europe. He
continued making films and when the committee was disassembled, Lawrence
returned to the States and resumed his career.
Denise Richards
Denise Richards
Born this day in 1971
Christmas Jones in The World is Not Enough
Denise Richards was born and raised in the Chicago area then
relocated with her family to Oceanside, California when she was 15. At 19, she
was cast in her first role as Camille in Life Goes On in 1990. From there, she guest-starred in several
television shows through most of the decade. She had a breakout role as Lt.
Carmen Ibanez in Starship Troopers
in 1997. She followed it up, for better or worse, as Dr. Christmas Jones in The
World Is Not Enough two years later. In
all, she has 64 acting credits to her name.
Richards won a Golden Raspberry for Worst Supporting Actress
at the Razzie Awards in 1999. It was the first time that a Bond series had been
nominated for the awards. In addition, Richards and Brosnan was nominated for
Worst Screen Couple. Entertainment Weekly “criticized as not being credible in
the role of a nuclear scientist” (Wiki: The World Is Not Enough) and Richards was ranked as one of the worst Bond
girls. Personally, I do not think she was the worst or even one of the worst,
but I think the casting could have been better.
Ian Fleming began writing Casino Royale
This day in 1952
The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating
at three in the morning. Then the soul-erosion produced by high gambling – a
compost of greed and fear and nervous tension – becomes unbearable and the
sense awake and revolt from it.
James Bond suddenly knew that he was tired. He always
knew when his body or his mind had had enough and he always acted on the
knowledge. This helped him to avoid staleness and the sensual bluntness that
breeds mistakes.
Fleming had been telling friends that he wanted to write a
spy story and today in 1952, he sat down at his desk at his Goldeneye estate in
Jamaica. With his nuptials pending, Fleming’s internal muse was probably
aroused and pushed into action. He wrote 2,000 words a day, not looking back,
not editing what he had already written. About a month later, he had completed
he first novel. It was a pattern he would follow in his subsequent novels each
year.
Like all writers, Fleming was not enamored by his effort,
however William Plomer, his friend and later editor, shared the story with the
publishing company, Jonathan Cape. Fleming’s older brother, Peter, was
influential in getting the publisher to take a chance with Casino Royale. And, the rest is history.
Dolores Keator’s only onscreen role was as Mary Trueblood,
secretary to John Strangeways in Dr. No.
According to James Bond 007 Wiki,
her back story was that she was a former Chief Officer WRNS and was stationed
in Jamaica. Early in the film, she is killed by the Three Blind Mice as she
prepares to report into the London headquarters because Strangeways has
information regarding Crab Key and Dr. No.
Keator’s Jamaica home was used as Strangeways house in the
film. Wiki contradicts itself by stating
that Keator’s character is the first Bond girl to appear on the screen in the
first official EON Productions Bond film. However, she did not share the screen
with Bond nor was she romantically involved with Bond, so I would argue that
Keator was not a Bond Girl. I believe that honor still goes to Eunice Gayson’s
Sylvia Trench.
Ricou Browning
Ricou Browning
Born this day in 1930
Second Unit Director/Underwater Director: Underwater
Sequence in Thunderball; Underwater
Sequence Director on Never Say Never Again
Writer. Director. Camera and Electrical Department.
Producer. Second Unit Director or Assistant Director. Miscellaneous Crew.
Actor. Stunts. Special Effects. This is renaissance man was born in Florida, so
perhaps it was not a surprise that Ricou Browning ended up with a career in
which water was prominent in his life. Prior to scuba gear, he had learned how
to breath through an air hose when he first started diving for local water shows.
Browning worked on the Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) completing all of the underwater sequences.
He went on to work on the sequels: Revenge of the Creature (1955) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956). He wrote, directed and produced the original
Flipper series in the 1960s. He
even did some acting in the series as well.
He originally joined the Bond family in 1965’s Thunderball and then worked on Never Say Never Again in 1983 as
the Underwater Sequence Director. For Thunderball, Browning specifically was “responsible for the
staging of the cave sequence and the battle scenes beneath the Disco
Volante and called in his specialist team
of divers who posed as those engaged in the onslaught” (Wikipedia: Thunderball).I
think it is interesting that Browning worked on the two Bond films that were
tied together via the McClory-Fleming legal dispute that lasted from 1961 –
2006.
And now to highlight Bond news from this past week:
Can I test drive?? Pretty please???
02/10 – Designboom
reported that Spectre will
feature the sporty Jaguar C-X75 supercar hybrid version (man is it sweet!) as
well as a Range Rover Sport SVR.
02/12 – Geeks of Doom
report their first look at Spectre,
plus video!
02/14 – Louis Jourdan, who played Kamal Khan in Octopussy passed away at the age of 93 in his Beverly Hills,
California home. A lengthly obituary write up from Variety.
02/16 – The Guardian
reported that the Arciconfraternita di Carita verso I Trapassati has denied the
Spectre crew from filming at the
2,000 year old Verano Cemetery. It is anticipated that Mendes will film at the
Museum of Roman Civilisation in Rome instead.
Idris Elba
02/16 – Pierce Brosnan weighed in on the question of whether
Idris Elba would make a good James Bond. Brosnan said the 42-year-old would
make a good Bond. Elba’s stance regarding the rumors has fallen to both sides:
no validity to the rumors to yes, he would take the role if it was offered to
him. With Bond 25 at least a couple of years out, I wonder if Elba would have
reached that tipping point of being too old by then?