Thursday, February 12, 2015

Lucky Threes.....Day 43 of Bond 365


I don’t know about you, but boy has it been a week! Exciting news in the world of Bond with the release of the first teaser and official Daniel Craig photo for Spectre. There’s been a lot of buzz around the gun he’s holding in the photo, by the way. And, more generally, the first trailer for The Man from U.N.C.L.E. out and looks like it could be quite a fun movie. We sure have some great watching coming up in the months ahead!


Joe Don Baker (Google)
Joe Don Baker
Born this day in 1936
Brad Whitaker in The Living Daylights, CIA Agent Jack Wade in GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies

Joe Don Baker is one of the few actors to play an ally and a villain in the Bond films.  He was a villain when he played Brad Whitaker, but returned as CIA Agent Jack Wade. In addition, he played opposite two Bonds: Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan.

He had several roles in Westerns and in crime films, usually as a cop. Some of his stand out films included Cool Hand Luke with Paul Newman, Walking Tall as Sheriff Buford Pusser, Mitchell as police detective Mitchell, The Natural with Robert Redford, Cape Fear with Robert De Nire and Nick Nolte, and in 2012, Mud with Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon.


Maud Adams (Google)
Maud Adams
Born this day in 1945
Andrea Anders in The Man with the Golden Gun, Octopussy as the title character, and in briefly as an extra in A View to a Kill

She was born Maud Solveig Christina Wilkstrom, but took the professional name Maud Adams. She originally wanted to be an interpreter (she is fluent in five languages), but was discovered in 1963 when she accidentally fell into modeling when a photo of her was submitted to the Miss Sweden contest. She moved to Paris, then New York City and worked as an internationally recognized model. By the 1970s, she was guest starring in some of the popular American television shows. However, it was as Andrea Anders, that her acting career was solidified. Critics reviewed her performance as “tough but haunted” (Wiki).

Adams was invited back to play Bond Girl Octopussy in the movie with the same title. In this film, she was a mysterious smuggler who surrounded herself with an army of women on her exotic island. Two years later, she appeared briefly in A View to a Kill as an extra in a crowd shot at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, if my memory serves me. Roger Moore played James Bond in all three of the Bond films she appeared in.

She has stayed close with the Bond family over the years. I had the honor of meeting Ms. Adams twice, both at Bond reunions coordinated by the Hollywood Collector Shows in the past few years. She is still very beautiful; a bit reserved which I think maintains that aura of mystery about her.

Aileen Lewis (Google)
Aileen Lewis
Passed away this day in 2014
Chess Tournament Spectator in From Russia With Love

There was not much that I could find regarding Aileen Lewis. Her acting career began in 1959 in The Ugly Duckling and concluded in 1977 with Sweeney! for a total of 12 acting credits. Besides From Russia With Love, Lewis also had supporting roles in war film The Dirty Dozen, which starred another Bond alum, Telly Savalas, and Roman Polanski’s Repulsion. In addition, she appeared in an episode of Doctor Who during John Pertwee’s era. If you have my book, James Bond and Popular Culture: Essays on the Influence of the Fictional Superspy, then you have probably read John Vohlidka’s essay discussing the similarities between Pertwee and Bond titled “Who, Doctor Who: 007’s Influence on the Pertwee Era of Doctor Who.”

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