Mary Ann Catrin Stavin was born in Orebro, Sweden and with
her beauty, she found her way into beauty competitions. At the age of 20, she
became Miss World. One would think that she moved right into acting as other
models had, but instead Stavin became in involved in music.
Stavin released “Feeling Good, Being Bad/Headline News” in
1979. And into the 80s, she was featured on two Adam Ant videos: “Ant Rap” and
“Strip.” She also appeared in an exercise video with English footballer, George
Best. Stavin was romantically involved with Best, who had a ladies-man
reputation.
In 1983, Stavin was cast as an Octopussy Girl in Octopussy and then two years later, she was cast as agent
Kimberley Jones in A View to a Kill.
In both, Sir Roger Moore played James Bond. Afterwards, Stavin went on to do
television and films, with her last role back in 2005 as Inga Jones in the
short The Story of Bob. In all,
Stavin as 20 acting credits according to IMDB.
I had the honor of meeting Miss Stavin at a Bond Reunion
held in Los Angeles at one of the Hollywood Collector’s Shows. I had just gotten
my copy of The James Bond Archives book
from Taschen. She signed one of the opening pages of A View to a Kill and we got to converse for a few minutes before the
show got busy. Stavin was quite lovely and sweet and it was such a pleasure
meeting her!
Love her smile! Mary Stavin as Kimberley Jones in A View to a Kill
Honestly, June has been a bit of a heartbreaker with regards
to celebrities who had ties to the spy/espionage world, which has included
Christopher Lee, French actress Magali Noel who was starred in OSS 117 n’est
pas mort (1957) and Italian actress Laura
Antonelli, who starred in Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966). And now this morning came the news that The
Avengers star, Patrick Macnee, passed away
at the age of 93 of natural causes.
Macnee was born in London on February 6, 1922 as Daniel
Patrick Macnee. His father gambled the family’s fortune away early in Macnee’s
life and his mother raised him in an unusual household dynamic for the times:
his mother, who was lesbian, had her female partner/lover living with them.
After graduating from Eton, Macnee was cast as an extra in
the Leslie Howard film Pygmalion (1938).
However, his career was disrupted for the duration of World War II, but he
resumed acting in small parts as he attended a London school of dramatic art.
He didn’t find the kind of roles he was looking for, so
Macnee packed up and headed west to Canada and then the United States. He performed
on Broadway and did some acting in Hollywood, but he still had not hit it big,
but that was about to change.
Patrick Macnee as British secret agent and culture icon John Steed from The Avengers (Google Images)
Macnee return to England in 1959 and within two years, he
found his ticket with secret agent John Steed, a role which he made into an enduring
British icon with the signature bowler hat and umbrella. The series lasted until 1969,
where it was cancelled after 161 episodes. During the series Macnee worked with actors on the show
that would later go on to be cast in some of the Bond films: Honor Blackman,
Diana Rigg, Julian Glover, and Christopher Lee.
Looking through his filmography of 167 acting credits,
Macnee did a lot of guest appearances in television for the various shows that
were popular at the time. A jewel among his credits was of course when Macnee
teamed up with Roger Moore in A View to a Kill (1985), where he was cast as Sir Godfrey Tibbett. He was the very long-suffering
chauffeur and all-around whipping boy to Moore’s Bond, but seeing them perform
together was pure gold. I chuckle just thinking of the various scenes they did
together. The last screen credit for Macnee is listed as Dr. Ballard in The
Low Budget Time Machine (2003), which may
have been when he retired, due to arthritis.
I leave you with a video of Macnee in a Sterling Motor Car
Company commercial from 1989.
This day in Bond history A View to a Kill premiered at the Palace of Fine Arts in San
Francisco, California in 1985, marking the first time a Bond film premiered outside
of the UK according to Wiki. It was the fourteenth Eon Productions’ produced
James Bond film and was Sir Roger Moore’s last outing as the British secret
agent, who matches wits with arch villain Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) who is
targeting Silicon Valley for destruction. John Glen was back at the helm for a
third time, and the theme song was by Duran Duran, which kept true with their
musical style at the time. One of my favorite characters was Patrick Macnee as
Sir Godfrey Tibbett. The exchange between him and Roger Moore was memorable and
humorous. And, there was the young, fresh face of Dolph Lundgren as Venz.
Gus Agosti
Passed away this day in 1998
Assistant Director for Thunderball
Gus Agosti is a bit of a mystery since I didn’t have much success
online other than IMDB. He started out as a Second Assistant Director in My
Brother Jonathan in 1948 and from there,
seemed to have a steady stream of films that he worked on up to 1979. During
his career, he worked with David Lean on The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957); Ben-Hur (1959) starring Charlton Heston and Jack Hawkins; Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang (1968) starring Dick Van
Dyke; with John Huston on The Kremlin Letter (1970); and Le Mans (1971) starring Steve McQueen.
Agosti passed away in 1998 in Italy. His age was not known.
English girl Tania Mallet was born in Blackpool as the
country was plunged head long into the Second World War. Mallet attended the
Lucy Clayton’s School of Modelling and began working as a model when she was
just 16 years old.
At the age of 22, she was considered for the role of Tatiana
in From Russia With Love that ultimately
went to Daniela Bianchi. The following year, she was cast as Tilly Masterson in
Goldfinger. Apparently, the role
was an experiment for her. However, she earned a fraction of what she was
earning as a model. IMDB states that she played in a couple of small roles in
other films (they are not listed), but she stayed working as a model where she
could make more money. She quoted as having said, “If you’re only going to make
one movie in life, then why not Goldfinger? Why not indeed?
I met Ms. Mallet at one of the Hollywood Collector’s Shows
when they hosted a Bond Reunion and it was lovely to meet her. She was still
just as beautiful, a little bit reserved, but in a completely charming way, and
quite the proper English lady.
Grace Jones
Born this day in 1948
May Day in A View to a Kill
She was born Beverly Grace Jones in Spanish Town, St.
Catherine, Jamaica, but she and her family moved to New York in 1961. Jones got
her start as a model working with leading designers, appearing on a number of
fashion magazine covers as well as posing for well-known photographers, such as
Helmut Newton.
At the beginning of the 1980s, Jones’ musical career took
off. She had hits occupying the Top 40 charts. In addition, she juggled a foray
into acting with Conan the Destroyer
(1984) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and the following year, with Roger Moore
in A View to a Kill. Thanks to
her unique style of dress, she has influenced Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna,
and others.
Jones was instrumental in getting her then boyfriend Dolph
Lundgren a part in A View to a Kill
where she played May Day, the main henchwoman to Christopher Walken’s Max
Zorin. For her performance in the film, she was nominated for the Best
Supporting Actress category for Saturn Awards.
Berenice Lim Marlohe
Born this day in 1979
Severin in Skyfall
Berenice Lim Marlohe was born in Paris to her Parisian
mother who is a teacher and her father, a doctor, of Chinese and Cambodian
ancestry. She originally wanted to become a pianist and artist. She studied at
the Conservatoire de Paris for ten years, but her path led her towards acting
at some point.
Miss Marlohe got her start in French cinema in 2007, and
made guest appearances on French television. Her break out role was in Skyfall (2012) when she played the mysterious Severin, which
she received a Best Supporting Actress nomination in 2013 from the National
Film Society Awards.
Fortunately, if you enjoyed seeing Miss Marlohe, albeit
briefly in Skyfall, she stars in 5
to 7 (2014) alongside Anton Yelchin, Glen
Close, and Frank Langella. And, she is set to star in Weightless (Terrence Malick) with a who’s who cast that
includes Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, Rooney Mara, Cate
Blanchett, Val Kilmer, Michael Fassbender, Benicio del Toro (a Bond alum), and
Clifton Collins Jr.
It’s a bit light today given that both individuals have been
featured in Bond 365. Both were artists in their own way: Ivor Beddoes a sketch
artist who worked on several popular films such as Star Wars and Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon. I admire his talent and vision – it’s a skill I
wish I possessed.
The other artist, Gerry Crampton, was an artist of stunts.
Yes, I sincerely believe there is artistry to stunts – from choreography to
execution. Again, there is the need for vision, expertise and attention to
detail, especially since one’s life is on the line. I don’t know if starting at
30 years old is late, but he managed to jam 83 stunt credits in a forty-year
span. He was still working at the age of 77 as a stunt coordinator!
Ivor Beddoes, BFI photo
The Bond family and story would not be the same without
Beddoes and Crampton and many other lesser-known individuals who worked on film
or twenty. Thanks to all those people, in front of and behind the camera, for
making Bond experience that much more exciting and memorable.
Gerry Crampton, 1956
Ivor Beddoes
Born this day in 1909
Sketch Artist for Diamonds Are Forever
Back on March 14, I did a lengthy entry on Ivor Beddoes to
mark his passing in 1981.
Gerry Crampton
Born this day in 1930
Stunts for Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, You
Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me, A View to a Kill
And, back on Day 24, I spotlighted Gerry Crampton’s passing
in 2009.
It’s the day after an evening in Los Angeles attending a
concert of Rome, Daemonia Nymphe, and Worm Ouroboros that played until about
1:30 AM this morning. A bit of a very late night for me, so I’ve been catching
some short naps throughout the day. Throw in the mix two trips to the local
veterinary clinic for my sick kitty and I feel like I’m going to need at least
another day’s rest in my weekend somewhere.
Back in 1960 this day saw the UK release of Ian Fleming’s collection
of short stories featuring James Bond wrapped up in a Richard Chopping cover (a
brilliant one at that – love the symbolism!) and titled For Your Eyes Only. This was a departure from the full-length novels
that Fleming had been writing, tucking between the release of Goldfinger and Thunderball. The stories included in the collection include “From a View to a
Kill”, “For Your Eyes Only”, “Quantum of Solace”, “Risico”, and “The Hildebrand
Rarity”.The format Fleming
incorporated may be familiar to English Literature enthusiasts: W. Somerset
Maugham.
Fleming originally wrote four of the five stories with the
intent that they would be used for television episodes, but the idea was dropped.
I’m sure that Fleming was disappointed, since he would have still been trying
to realize seeing James Bond manifested on the silver screen. There were some
elements and characters that were used in the various Eon Production films. In
the case of “Quantum of Solace”, only the title was used for the 22 Bond film.
Front Projection Technique (Wikipedia)
Charles Staffell
Born this day in 1915
Optical/Projection Effects for Diamonds Are Forever; Optical Effects for Live and Let Die; Front Projection for Octopussy; Front Projection for A View to a Kill
Carles Staffell’s career in optical and projection effects
spanned five decades and included several critically acclaimed and immensely
popular and influential. In an article covering the celebration of Pinewood
Studios’ 70th anniversary, The Independent had quoted Staffell regarding the development of the
“independent frame” technique. Staffell had worked with V C David Rawnsley and
inspired Staffell in his own visual effects projection techniques to the point
that he was honored with an Academy Award of Merit in 1969. Staffell’s effects
would help Stanley Kubrick recreate the Vietnam War in Full Metal Jacket. In
addition, the British Society of Cinematographers has a visual effects award
named in his honor.
Angela Scoular and George Lazenby in OHMSS
Angela Scoular
Passed away this day in 2011
Agent Buttercup in Casino Royale (1967); Ruby in On Her Majesty’s Secret
Service
She attended the RADA and got her first television acting
credit in the series No Hiding Place in 1963-1964. In 1967, she was cast in the
non-Eon Productions’ Casino Royale as
Buttercup and then two years later, she worked in the Eon Productions’ On
Her Majesty’s Secret Service as Ruby, one
of the ladies at Blofeld’s clinic where she was being cured of her allergy to
chicken.
Scoular also acted in theatre with roles in classical and
contemporary plays. Her last acting credit was on As Time Goes By as Glenys in 1996. Sadly, her death was
self-induced.
This day in
1958, the sixth James Bond book was published by UK publisher Jonathan Cape and
was the first Fleming book to receive negative criticism on a large scale in
its native country. At the time, New Statesmen’s review boiled the novel down to “sex, snobbery, and sadism” when
describing the story, so naturally, Dr. No was received favorably in the US when it was released here. The filmic
version was released in 1962, and Eon Productions kicked off what would become
a popular culture phenomenon on a global scale for the next fifty years and
counting.
The cover of Dr. No was by Pat Marriott.
Amelia
Bayntun
Born this
day in 1919
Mrs. Karlski
in Thunderball
Amelia
Bayntun’s acting career started in 1960 when she was cast as Mrs. Ethel Oakley
on Emergency-Ward 10, a British
television series. She joined the Bond family for her part in Thunderball as Mrs. Karlski, however Bayntun was probably better
known for her roles in the Carry On
movies of the late 1960s and into the 1970s. Her last role was on The
Dick Emery Show in 1973.
Bob
Simmons
Born this
day in 1922
Stunts and
Gun Barrel Sequence, several Bond films
Bob Simmons
as the distinction of being the first person to portray James Bond in the gun
barrel sequence, on behalf of Sean Connery, in Dr. No, From Russia with Love and Goldfinger. Although Simmons was 5’ 9” he had confidence in his stunt skills, and
added with advantageous camera angles, he was able to pull off doubling for
both Connery (6’ 3”) and Richard Kiel (7’ 2”).
Simmons was
cast in a few minor roles, but most of his work for the Bond films was in the
arena of stunt work. Interestingly, he worked with Connery and Moore, but was
not part of the crew for George Lazenby’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, because he was working with Connery on a western
film called Shalako.
In the late
1980s, Simmons co-wrote with Kenneth Passingham a book about his career as a
stuntman titled Nobody Does It Better – My 25 Years of Stunts with James
Bond and Other Stars.
Let’s a take
at his gun barrel sequence from the very first film, Dr. No:
Christopher
Walken
Born this
day in 1943
Zoran in A
View to a Kill
He is
probably one of the most impersonated voices in Hollywood today because of his
unique New Yorker drawl. However, that is not to say that Christopher Walken is
not one of the most talented actors in the business. His distinctive features –
long oblong face, spiky blond hair and deep set eyes –led Walken often being
cast as characters with unbalanced psyches. He won an Academy Award as Best
Supporting Actor for his haunted performance as Nick, a Vietnam veteran in The
Deer Hunter (1978). And, in 1985, he played
Max Zorin in A View to a Kill
starring Roger Moore.
Acting was
not Walken’s initial choice; instead, it was dancing. You will usually see him
dance at some point in most of his roles over the years. Always a fun video
that I like to watch is Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice” that was directed by
Spike Jonze with choreography and dancing by Walken. In fact, Walken won a MTV
Video Music Award for his performance.
Let’s take a
look at Walken having some fun dancing around the Marriott Hotel (now LA Hotel)
in Los Angeles.
Denis Cowles (center)
Denis
Cowles
Passed away
this day in 1970
Brunskill in
Goldfinger
I believe
that Denis Cowles is one of the earliest Bond alum births that I have come
across so far. Cowles was born in 1889 and began his acting career in 1920,
spanning almost 50 years and across the silent films and talkies. He only has
29 acting credits, and his role as Brunskill in Goldfinger came late in his career.
Yeah! The teaser trailer for Spectre released earlier this afternoon. I recognized the
locales that we have been seeing promotional stills and shots of in the past
couple of months. It’s cool to see those items congeal into the semblance of a
forthcoming film. The shots inside the church stood out for me as minimalist
yet intriguing. So, what do you think?
Thunderball
UK book release in 1961 (Jonathan Cape)
I haven’t read this book yet. Given the history behind it,
which I will not go into in this blog (read the Wikipedia entry for more
information on that front), I am anxious to read it. I want to read the eight
leading up to it and then read through this one and see if there are many style
and narrative differences in Thunderball
that were not there in the prior books.
The cover of the book is another Richard Chopping
illustration. I like his covers quite a bit. Sterile, distant, and aloof, yet
textured with layers of meaning and representation. On the Wikipedia page, I liked the pull quote that Fleming wrote to
Chopping: “The title of the book will be Thunderball. It is immensely long,
immensely dull and only your jacket can save it!”
Richard Marner
Richard Marner
Born this day in 1921
Russian Spacecraft Communicator in You Only Live Twice
It was about a week ago that Richard Marner appeared in Bond
365. Let’s take a look at March 18, commemorating his passing in 2004.
Julian Glover
Julian Glover
Born this day in 1935
Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only
Julian Glover came from a BBC family. His mother was a
journalist and his father a radio producer. He attended the Royal Academy of
Dramatic Art (RADA) and honed his acting skills at the National Youth Theatre
and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He became a regular in many of the
television series in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s where Glover often
played sophisticated villains. In face, he is the only actor to appear in these
popular franchises – Star Wars, Bond and
Indiana Jones – and as a villain in all three. And Glover, like a number of
other actors I have been featuring on Bond 365, has acted in a Bond film and in
the Doctor Who franchise.
According to IMDB, Glover audition for the role of James
Bond in the 1960s and then in John Glen’s memoirs, had suggested Pierce Brosnan
for the Bond role. Glover is still acting. If you happen to watch a little show
called Game of Thrones, he plays Grand
Maester Pycelle.
Talisa Soto
Talisa Soto
Born this day in 1967
Lupe Lamora in Licence to Kill
Talisa Soto has been successful as a model where her
beautiful face and body have graced such magazines as Glamour, Sports
Illustrated, Mademoiselle, and Vogue. She started appearing in films in 1984’s The
Pope of Greenwich Village. Her third acting
credit was for Lupe Lamora in Licence to Kill starring Timothy Dalton and Carey Lowell. It seems
that for the most part, she was cast in films, however she did guest star on a
handful of television series, however Soto’s is probably also remembered for
her role as Kitana in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Most recently, you might have seen her in Elysium.
Sean Connery and Gerry Duggan
Gerry Duggan
Passed away this day in 1992
Hawker in Goldfinger
Irish actor Gerry Duggan got his start in The Flying
Doctor as Fred Winter in 1959. He went on
to act in a mixture of television series and films through an acting career
that lasted over thirty years.
As a Bond alum, he was cast in Goldfinger as Hawker, James Bond’s caddy as Bond plays a round
of golf with Auric Goldfinger. Let’s see Mr. Duggan in action:
Peter Diamond
Peter Diamond
Passed away this day in 2004
Stunts in A View to a Kill
Peter Diamond was a versatile individual. According to his
IMDB profile, he was an actor, stuntman, fight coordinator, sword master, and
second unit director/assistant director. Diamond started in the business in the
1954 television series The Three Musketeers
as M. de Jussac, but he also was a fight arranger for two episodes. He worked
on a lot television series as well as movies. In all, he had 74 acting credits
and 121 stunt credits in a career that spanned half a century, which is an
incredible length of time.
Bill Weston as Blayden Butler in The Living Daylights
Bill Weston
Passed away this day in 2012
Stunts for You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret
Service, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, Never Say Never
Again, and The World Is Not
Enough
Stunt Double: Christopher Walken/Stunt Team on A View to
a Kill
Blayden Butler in The Living Daylights
Bill Weston’s career as a stunt performer spanned
approximately 40 years in almost one hundred projects that ranged from
television to film. Interestingly, he worked on several Eon Productions (and
one non-Eon) Bond films, yet his Wikipedia entry spotlights his work in Saving
Private Ryan, Titanic and Raiders
of the Lost Ark. All three are stunt heavy,
but so are the Bond films!
Special note, Weston even worked on the Alex Rider:
Operation Stormbreaker (2006) movie that
starred a young Alex Pettyfer as Alex Rider, based on the novel by Anthony
Horowitz. I read the book and found it to a fun, young James Bond oriented
book.
Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you Bond aficionados!
Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny
Lois Maxwell
Born this day in 1927
Miss Moneypenny, Bond films 1962 – 1985
She was born Lois Ruth Hooker in Ontario, Canada. Like many
teenage girls, she started earning money from babysitting jobs, but she was
looking for something more. She landed a job as a waitress at a ritzy summer
resort called Bigwin Inn, however, Maxwell was still restless. At 15, she
joined the Canadian Women’s Army Corps and became part of the Army Show and was
eventually stationed in the United Kingdom. After the war, she enrolled at the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where she met a fellow Bond alum, Roger Moore.
Maxwell moved to Hollywood when she was 20 and won a Golden
Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her role in That Hagen Girl in 1947. She shared a Life photo shoot with another
promising actress, Marilyn Monroe. She was in a series of B films and decided
to move to Rome where she continued as an actress, where at one point, she
starred with another up-and-coming star, Sophia Loren.
In 1957, Maxwell married Peter Marriott. They moved to
London. She worked in television on such shows such as Danger Man with Patrick McGoohan, The Saint and The Persuaders! both starring Roger Moore. Interestingly, Maxwell
lobbied director Terence Young for a role in Dr. No. Her husband was in ill health and they needed the
money. Young offered her either Miss Moneypenny or Sylvia Trench. She was not
interested in the scene in which Trench would have to reveal skin, so she chose
the secretarial role. And, Maxwell wore her own clothing for the two-day shoot.
Connery was angry at Maxwell for appearing with his brother
in Operation Kid Brother in 1967.
Bernard Lee appeared in the spoof as well (I wonder if Connery was pissed at
him too?). In 1971, Maxwell was almost re-cast when she wanted more money. And
when Roger Moore took over for Connery in Live and Let Die (1973), Maxwell stayed on through A View
to a Kill (1985), which happened to be
Moore’s last outing as well. She asked that Broccoli kill off Miss Moneypenny,
but he re-cast the role with Caroline Bliss.
Maxwell did not let grass grow under her feet. Besides
acting, she wrote a column for Toronto Sun, penning under the name Miss
Moneypenny. She also worked in the textile industry while living in Canada.
Eventually, she moved back to England to be closer to her daughter, retiring to
Somerset. In 2001 she moved to Australia to be with her son and his family. She
was working on her autobiography when she died in 2007.
After her death, Moore expressed his disappointment that Broccoli did not
promote Moneypenny to the role of M (hey, she had the right letter for goodness
sakes!). I think I read somewhere that she also had wanted to play M. It is too
bad, especially since in Craig’s era of Bond, we have gotten a small glimpse of
the new Moneypenny having worked in the field prior to taking to the desk as
M’s assistant.
If you did not get enough of Miss Moneypenny in the films,
there is a trilogy of books collected under the title The Moneypenny Diaries written by Samantha Weinberg, edited by Kate
Westbrook (a pseudonym of Weinberg). They are published by Ian Fleming
Publications and are easily purchased as electronic copies through Amazon and
iTunes.
James Bond
Passed away this day in 1989
Ornithologist, Bond namesake
Have a look at January 4 in which I wrote an entry about
Bond's namesake.
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.”
Voice of Emilio Largo in Thunderball, Tiger Tanaka in You Only Live Twice and as the Casino Baccarat Official in On
Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Robert Rietti had an incredible gift at memorization. It was
a skill that his father, Vittorio, discovered when the young Rietti was only 8
years old. The elder Rietti ran an acting school at the time and his son join.
Although very young, Rietti was a much sought after actor by David O. Selznick
and Alfred Hitchcock. There were stringent laws about schooling requirements
for child actors and Rietti was unable to accept roles that were being offered
to him. However, his father found a way to work around the laws and hence
Rietti already had 22 film credits before he was even 10 years old.
Robert Rietty
With the onset of World War II, Rietti’s world shattered
when Italy joined with Germany.Along with his father and brother, he was detained in a camp for eight
months. He was released to organize a group of actors to entertain the troops.
It was around this time, he changed the spelling of his last name to Rietty, to
sound less Italian.
Over the years, Rietty performed in radio, television,
stage, and film. He worked with Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud,
Stewart Granger, and Gregory Peck. In all, he has 248 acting credits to his
name over a span of over 80 years. He did not however stop at acting. He
continued to act, but he shifted his focus to post-production, specifically
through dialogue direction where he re-dubbed many voices, including the James
Bond films. According to his IMDB profile, he was the only actor other than
Sean Connery who acted in both Thunderball (1965) and Never Say Never Again
(1983). Rietty was the voice of Emilio Largo and was the Italian Minister
respectively.
In 2009, he wrote his autobiography A Forehead Pressed
Against a Window with a foreword by
legendary actor Christopher Lee, and in 2012, he received an honorary Doctorate
of the Arts from the University of Florida.
Doug Robinson
Doug Robinson
Born this day in 1930
Stunts for multiple James Bond films
He came from a family of wrestlers and body-builders so it
was probably not a huge surprise that Doug Robinson would become a stuntman in the
movies, although he did do some acting as well. He acted in one Bond film as
the “Thug at Stacy’s House” in A View to a Kill. However, what stands out is that he was part of the stunt team for 9
of the Bond films spanning the latter 1960s through the 1980s.
He and father Joseph worked together as stunt arrangers and
together with Honor Blackman, co-authored Honor Blackman’s Book of
Self-Defence (1965, Andre Deutsch). In the
book, Blackman shows how to get out of a variety of situations that a woman may
find herself in while the father and son assisted as the goons.
Doug Robinson thrown down the stairs in A View to a Kill
Post Script: I'll be bringing the round of up news tomorrow, so please check back.
