Happy Friday all you Bond aficionados! We made it through
another week and it is time for the weekend! To get you started, let’s have a
look at Day 65!
Bauer's American Diplomat look |
David Bauer
Born this day in 1917
American Diplomat in You Only Live Twice and as Mr. Slumber in Diamonds Are Forever
David Bauer was born in Chicago shortly before America would
enter the First World War of the modern era. His first acting credits were in
1958 as Frank/Head Waiter in Kraft Theatre
and Lt. Fletcher in Decoy. Both
were television series. By 1961, he had migrated to the UK after becoming
embroiled in the anti-Communism hysteria that washed across the US and shook
Hollywood in the early to mid 1950s.
Bauer's Mr. Slumber persona |
He played American gangster types in the English television
series of the 1960s and 1970s including The Avengers and The Saint. Beyond playing in two Bond films, Bauer was in a couple of other high
profile films of interest. He was the Young Judge in The Spy Who Came
in from the Cold (1965) and as Lt. General
Harry Buford in Patton (1970).
Bauer passed away in 1973 at the age of 55.
Lewis Gilbert
Born this day in 1920
Mat at St Mark’s Square (uncredited) in Moonraker
Director of You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker
Lewis Gilbert is an interesting fellow, who I sadly, always
think has passed away only to remember he is alive and well and 95 years young.
Gilbert was born in London to a family of music hall performers. Prior to his
first on-stage role at the age of 5, he would watch from the wings as the shows
delighted and entertained audience-goers. After his father died when he was 7, he
eventually became the breadwinner for the family.
Gilbert reached an important crossroads when
director/producer Alexander Korda offered Gilbert the opportunity to attend the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. However, Gilbert took a different path. He
studied direction and became an assistant to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1939 Jamaica
Inn.
Barbara Bach and Lewis Gilbert |
The Second World War broke out and Gilbert joined a film
unit for the Royal Air Force, where he served under William Keighley, who was
an American film director known for his direction on The Prince and the
Pauper and The Adventures of
Robin Hood.
After the war, Gilbert continued to gain directorial
experience by writing and directing documentaries for Gaumont British. He did
well in the 1950s and 1960s, usually filling the shoes as director, writer, and
producer. He became known for films that explored personal drama, such as Alfie (1966), Educating Rita (1983), and Shirley Valentine (1989). However, those are not films that
necessarily scream possible Bond film director in the making, but Harry
Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli saw something in Gilbert. They were able to
persuade Gilbert to direct not one but three Bond films!
In 1997, Gilbert was awarded the CBE and in 2001, he was
made a Fellow of the British Film Institute. And, in 2010, Reynolds & Hearn
published All My Flashbacks: The Autobiography of Lewis Gilbert Sixty Years
a Film Director.
© Copyright. Michele
Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are
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