Robert Davi was born in Astoria, Queens, New York City.
Originally, he trained to be an opera singer, but sadly he damaged his voice. I
think though that it was ultimately fortuitous that he studied acting at the
Hofstra University and then studied with acting coaches, Stella Adler and later
Lee Strasberg.
Davi got his first acting part in the Frank Sinatra tv film,
Contract on Cherry Street (1977) in which he played Mickey Sinardos. From
there, Davi worked in both television and on the big screen, playing several
memorable parts: bad guy Jake in The Goonies (1985), as FBI Special Agent Big Johnson in Die Hard (1988), as Det. Sean McKinney in Maniac Cop
2 (1990) and Maniac Cop 3: Badge
of Silence (1993), and strip club owner Al
Torres in Showgirls (1995). He currently has eight projects in the
works and has almost 140 acting credits to his name. He has the distinction of
working on three well-known franchises: Bond, Pink Panther, and Stargate
Atlantis. Davi has even voice acted some
video games!
I met Robert Davi at a Hollywood Collector’s Show that
hosted a Bond reunion. There were probably about 20 Bond alumns and Davi was
one of the guests. All of the Bond alumns were fantastic. They were friendly,
engaging, interested. And Davi was probably one of the warmest of the group.
When we met him at this particular show, he was touring. We were not aware that
he was a singer – a crooner in the vein of Frank Sinatra – and he had his CDs (Davi
Sings Sinatra – On the Road to Romance) on
his table. After chatting with him, getting his autograph in my James
Bond Archives (Taschen), a photo op, and
then he signed one of his CDs and gave it to us! And, you know what? He can
really sing and has a wonderful voice! It’s actually one of my favorite CDs for
that style of music.
Happy Saturday evening everyone! I’m making a departure this
evening, which I hope you don’t mind. Tonight, I’m going to chat a little bit
of a few of my recent acquisitions to my spyfi and superspies collection.
Films
Although I seldom shop at the discount stores, every once in
while the opportunity presents itself and I find myself in either one of those
stores where everything is not over a dollar or the discount stores that
carried discontinued items and test products that did not find a consumer
audience. Well, today I was in a discount store, which had a display of DVDs
and Blu-Ray movies. I found a few copies of Licence to Kill (1989, sorry Mr. Dalton!) and several other titles.
Since I have been researching space horror and alien films, I was quite excited
to find a 2-disc release of District 9 (2009) and Jason X (2002). I have to do a shout out to Kane Hodder who
I met at the first Crypticon in SeaTac, Washington some years ago. For a guy
who has played Jason a number of times, he is truly a kind man.
I did find another spy gem – well, maybe just those of us
who research will – The Man Called Flintstone and is touted as the original 1966 theatrical release. We’ve got Fred,
Barney, Wilma and Betty in their first full length film with the following
tagline you have just got to love: “If he can’t stop the notorious green goose,
everyone could end up a dead duck!” And, here is the blurb on the back of the
DVD:
Meet Fred Flintstone, superspy.
He’s the kind of guy who’d go down in history, except this is the Stone Age and
history hasn’t been invented yet. What, you don’t know him? You will when you
watch the feature-length cartoon spy spoof The
Man Called Flinstone.
Our man from Bedrock takes on
the mission of an injured super agent who looks exactly like Fred. His task:
find the arch-baddie Green Goose and stop his world domination plan. So,
pretending to be on a modern Stone-Age family vacation with Wilma, Barney and
Betty, Fred wings overseas to Eurock for some wild and woolly-mammoth intrigue.
This is one spy caper that won’t be finished ‘til it’s yabba-dabba-done!
And there are gadgets!! How about the Slingshot-Shoe (makes
me think of Get Smart), a Helicopter Hat,
and a Beak-a-phone – well, it is the Stone Age after all! I think what
surprises me, and I know it shouldn’t, is the fact that the influence spy-dom,
James Bond, and the Eurospy films made their way to Fred Flintstone and
Bedrock! I’ll give a full report once I have watched it!
The other film I just picked up today is Kingsman (2015). I didn’t get a chance to see it in the
cinema earlier this year, so I have been (sort of) patiently waiting for this
to arrive in stores. And, yep, I’ve already watched it. Part of my interest in
the film stems from having read Mark Millar’s comic book series titled The
Secret Service. I thought it was a fun film that pulled together a solid
selection of actors to fill the various characters. In particular, I would like
to point out Colin Firth as Harry, Taron Egerton as Eggsy, and Mark Strong as
Merlin. And, I loved seeing Mark Hamill back on the screen! However, while
there are some similarities between the source material and the film, I think I
lean more towards the comics. I might change my mind when I provide a
comparison between the two. For the moment though, if you haven’t read the
series, you can read my review and analysis: Part I and Part II.
Books
I have to say that children’s books are becoming more
sophisticated and knowledge of world and popular culture events expected at
younger ages. I guess that if a child doesn’t understand something they read,
they can go Google it quickly and then continue reading.
I came across Stuart Gibb’s books at the local retail
bookstore and picked up the first book, Spy School, which I reviewed recently, found through this link here. I went and
picked up the second and third books in the series, Spy Camp and Evil Spy School. Everyone that was introduced in the first book did
make at least brief appearances in the second book and it is my favorite of the
three stories. I could relate to going to summer camp in some forested area,
expected to engage in participatory activities, albeit not strenuous and
definitely not dangerous as Ben experienced! In the third book, Ben finds
himself expelled from his school and suddenly attending SYPDER’s spy school. I
felt like the pacing slowed in this story because Gibbs chose to limit the
number of students tucked in the evil spy school, and I think that hurt the
momentum. In addition, it cut Ben and us the readers off from the characters we
had to know and like. Once Ben was reunited with the Hales, the story picked up
to a brisk pace that didn’t slow until the very last page. Expect a book four
since Gibbs did leave some loose strings to pick up at a later time.
What I like about Gibb’s books is that he understands the
spy tropes, deconstructs them and pokes fun at them, with the intent to ground
his young spys-in-the-making into a more real world reality. I was disappointed
however in his treatment of Alexander Hale, who is based on James Bond. Gibbs
makes him into a fraudulent spy with accomplishments that were not deserving,
either through his twisting of facts or through his perceived persona of a
capable spy. Instead, Gibbs peels away that shell to reveal a person who has
been a disappointment to a family with a history of spies, especially his
father and daughter. The way they speak and treat Alexander is uncomfortable
and embarrassing to witness during the second book. I think I wish Gibbs would
have handled that aspect of Alexander with gentler hand than he did.
The other book I picked up is Live to See Tomorrow written by Iris Johansen. I picked it up on the
discount rack at the same bookstore when I was I looking for Sir Roger Moore’s Bond
on Bond. Instead of finding Moore’s book, I
found this one. Set in Far East and San Francisco’s Chinatown, Johansen
intertwines Eastern mysticism, spy (CIA agent) and romance into her tale. I
have enjoyed the mysticism and the bit of romantic tension between the leading
lady – a kick ass spy – and a mysterious fellow who is the guardian of a secret
society. I’m nearing the end of the story and will get a write up soon.
Al Overton
was an American sound recordist originally from Connecticut. He got his start
in the film Port of Hell in 1954 and had almost 100 sound credits to his name
before his death in 1985. Overton was nominated for Best Sound in Diamonds
Are Forever, along with Gordon K. McCallum
and John W. Mitchell at the Academy Awards in 1972.
Looking over
his filmography, a couple of credits stand out: It Conquered the World (1956) starring Peter Graves and Lee Van Cleef; The
Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming
(1966) starring Alan Arkin, Carl Reiner and John Phillip Law (swoon!); and The
Shootist (1976) starring John Wayne and
Lauren Bacall.
David
Hedison
Born this
day in 1927
Felix Leiter
in Live and Let Die, Licence to Kill
I met David
Hedison at a Hollywood Collector’s Shows about four years ago. Still the tall,
handsome man at 80-something at the time, it was easy to see how he had made it
through the industry door into acting. His IMDB profile notes that he was
turned onto acting after seeing Blood and Sand (1941) starring several inspiring actors of the time: Tyrone Power,
Anthony Quinn, John Carradine, and George Reeves. The leading lady was the
lovely Rita Hayworth.
I believe I
first saw Hedison in the syndicated Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, which originally aired from 1964 through 1968. He
went onto guest star in several popular television shows during the 1970s and
1980s. Hedison was the first actor to portray Felix Leiter twice and he was the
only actor that played Felix opposite two different James Bond actors, Roger
Moore and Timothy Dalton. Jeffrey Wright was the second actor to have a
recurring role as Felix in two Bond films, Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008) with Daniel Craig playing Bond in both.
Anthony
Zerbe
Born this
day in 1938
Milton Krest
in Licence to Kill
Nicknamed
‘Bug’, Anthony Zerbe is a SoCal man originally from Long Beach, California. I
did not recognize his name on my list, but as soon as I saw his face, I did.
He’s had over 100 acting credits across several genres, but he is probably best
known for his westerns.
He’s definitely one of those solid character actors
does very well in making the main characters do great. I guess is no surprise
that he would pull off a good villain as he did in Licence to Kill where he met a grisly end.
He was born Colin Francis Le Messurier in Essex, but went by
C. Le Mesurier. He got his start as part of the dubbing crew (uncredited of
course) for Maniacs on Wheels (1949),
starring Dirk Bogarde as Bill Fox, a blue-collar factory worker who becomes a
successful motorcycle racer.
Diana Lee Hsu
Le Mesurier had 33 sound department credits, with his
project on the film Zeppelin in 1971. I can only assume that he retired from
the industry since his passing was over 20 years later, in 1995.
Diana Lee Hsu
Born this day in 1961
Loti in Licence to Kill
Seattle native Diana Lee Hsu was no stranger to the limelight:
She ran track and was on her high school’s gymnastics team. She was also an
accomplished musician who performed Mozart with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
Hsu earned a bachelor’s degree in modern dance and became a Playboy Playmate
for May 1988. She did several Playboy videos and got her first acting break as
Loti in Licence to Kill (1989), a Hong
Kong narcotic agent, partnered with Kwang, played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal
Kombat).
Bond Trivia: She was one of the silhouette dancers in the
opening sequence of Licence to Kill.
Director of Photography on The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill
Camera Operator in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, The
Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, and Octopussy
Englishman Alec Mills was well established behind the camera
lens by the time he began working with Eon Productions in the late 1960s. In
fact, he had already worked Sir Roger Moore on The Saint for two years, prior to On Her Majesty’s
Secret Service and then worked with Moore
when he became Bond. The last two Bond films he worked on starred Timothy
Dalton and Mills graduated to the position of DP.
He wrote an autobiography of his experiences working on the
Bond films entitled Shooting 007 and Other Celluloid Adventures, published last year. It is available on Amazon.
John McLaren
Passed away this day in 1970
Brigadier in Goldfinger
Originally from Canada, John McLaren got his acting start in
Welcome, Mr. Washington in 1944. The
majority of his credits were for one-off guest parts in television shows fairly
consistently up until his death. Unfortunately, there was little written that I
could find.
John P Austin
Passed away this day in 1997
Set Decoration in Diamonds Are Forever
Oscar nominated American set decorator John P Austin started
working on sets for the 1947 film, A Double Life. He worked on 100+ sets for just over 30 years and was nominated for
an Academy Award for his work on Gambit (1966), which starred Shirley MacLaine and a very young Michael Caine.
I was unfamiliar with most of Austin’s sets with the exception of Touch
of Evil (1958), What’s Up, Doc? (1972) and Westworld (1973). I did like the sets in Diamonds
Are Forever, especially Willard Whyte’s
(played by Jimmy Dean) home where Bond fights Bambi and Thumper.
For living in SoCal, it was anything but warm and sunny
today. I had to pull out a sweater and a long-sleeve shirt to wear while out
and about. I made a stop at Barnes & Noble because I was told that they had Roger Moore’s Bond on Bond book in the clearance section for ten dollars. Unfortunately the bookstore in Orange did not have it. I was a bit bummed
because I have wanted to pick it up.
In lieu of Moore’s book, I left the store with a couple of
pre-teen spy oriented books. The first is Stuart Gibbs’ Spy School (#7 on the Children’s Best Sellers List) and it is the
first book of an ongoing series that also includes Spy Camp and the recently released Evil Spy School. The book series is geared for kids ages 8 – 12.
The
second book I picked up is Judith Viorst’s Lulu’s Mysterious Mission and it is written for kids 6 – 10 years old. Kevin
Cornell beautifully illustrates it throughout. I actually read the Lulu story
this afternoon, so expect a review shortly!
Young Armendariz
Pedro Armendariz
Born this day in 1912
Kerim Bey in From Russia With Love
Pedro Armendariz, born in Mexico City, lost his parents by
the time he was ten years old. His uncle stepped in, caring for Armendariz
before he went off to Polytechnic Institute of San Luis Obispo. Armendariz
studied business and journalism, graduating in 1931. He returned to Mexico City
and secured work in a number of industries.
Director Miguel Zacarias discovered Armendariz while he was
reciting Hamlet to an American tourist. It was start of a career in Mexico that
led him to the US and Europe. His good looks, green eyes, fluency in English,
and refinement endeared him to directors and co-stars. IMDB has his first role
listed in the 1935 film Rosario in which
he played Enrique, and Armendariz kept busy with roles up into his death in
1963.
Armendariz in From Russia
From Russia With Love,
in which he played Kerim Bey, was his last role. Armendariz had found out he
had cancer, which was attributed to radioactive exposure during the filming of The
Conqueror (1956), starring John Wayne and
Susan Hayward. Production was shifted in From Russia With Love so Armendariz could finish shooting his scenes so
his family could receive his earnings. He shot himself on 18th of
June 1963 in Los Angeles. He was only 51 years old.
Bond Trivia: His son, Pedro Armendariz Jr., was cast as
President Hector Lopez in Licence to Kill
(1989) starring Timothy Dalton.
Hauser and Amelia Bayntun as Mr. and Mrs. Karski
Philo Hauser
Born this day in 1915
Mr. Karlski in Thunderball
Born in Vienna, Philo Hauser got his first acting role in
the Ealing Studios’ Against the Wind (1948),
a spy story set in Europe in which he played Joseph. Checking some of the 47
acting credits, Hauser was in quite a few war and spy oriented films and
television series, including a couple of episodes of The Saint, once in 1964 and again in 1967. He also had an
uncredited role as a Night Porter in the anti-Bond film, The Quiller
Memorandum (1966).
There was little to be found on Hauser on the Internet. He
passed away in 1970 at the age of 55.
Finney as Kincade in Skyfall (2012)
Albert Finney
Born this day in 1936
Kincade in Skyfall
Albert Finney has had a long and successful acting career
that spans stage, film and television. He got his start on stage acting in a
number of Shakespearean productions during the 1950s. Starting in the 1960s,
Finney transitioned to films. Over the years, he has received many acting
nominations and he has taken home about a dozen or so awards. And,
interestingly, he turned down offers of the CBE and Knighthood, stating the
honors “perpetuate snobbery”.
For a brief period of time, Sean Connery was considered for
the role of Kincade that eventually went to Albert Finney (n.d.,
Cinemas-Online.co.uk). It would have been a first to have a former Bond cast as
a different character in another Bond film, but Sam Mendes decided it would
have been “distracting” to have Connery on board. I don’t know, I think it
could have been fun, especially since the film included a changing of the guard
with regards to M. I think it was a missed opportunity to at least ask Connery,
although I’m thinking he probably would have said no.
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.
As I was researching and writing today’s entry, I found
myself being reminded of the Calla Lily. Both ladies have a graceful elegance
about them so that how my title came about for Day 42 of Bond 365. And, Calla
Lilies are so much more feminine than making a reference to Douglas Adams’ TheHitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Kikko Matsouka, who was cast in a dual role for The Living Skeleton
Kikko Matsouka
Born this day in 1947
Diver Girl in You Only Live Twice
Kikko Matsouka, who also went by Kimiko Matsouka, began her
acting career at the young age of 16 in the film Bushido (1963). She became part of the Bond family when she
was cast as a Diver Girl in Sean Connery’s You Only Live Twice in 1967. She is probably best remembered as the
emcee in the television series 11pm,
which she did from 1968-1985. Her last role was in Takeshi’s Castle, a
television show that aired in 1986. The series was formatted as a “surreal
gameshow” and she was guest star in which she gave verbal support to General Tani (played by her real
life husband Hayato Tani).
While researching Matsouka, I came across a new term: gravure
idol. A person could equate a gravure
idol as the Japanese equivalent of a pin-up girl in her late teens into her
twenties. She would usually model bathing suits, school uniforms, and/or
kimonos, but she would have never been presented as fully nude. Matsouka was one such idol and it would have
been a way for her to launch her career, or in this case, probably assist her blossoming acting career. She would have been featured in
mainstreams magazines and photobooks.
James Bond (Timothy Dalton) and Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell) in Licence to Kill
Carey Lowell
Born this day in 1961
Pam Bouvier in Licence to Kill
Prior to her teens, Carey Lowell and her family moved around
a lot before settling down in Denver, Colorado. She attended the University of
Colorado at Boulder (literature) and then moved to New York to pursue modeling.
She worked with Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, among others.
In 1986, Lowell broke into
acting with her roles as Julie in Dangerously Close and as a fashion model in
Club Paradise. I actually remember seeing her as Maxine in a rather steamy ‘so
80s’ thriller released the following year called Down Twisted. After her role as Pam Bouvier in Licence to Kill in
1989, Lowell went onto a few television series: A League of
Their Own,Law & Order and more recently, Six Degrees.
Lowell returned as Pam in 007 Legends
Lowell did return as Pam Bouvier in the 007 Legends video game in 2012. She lent her likeness as well as
her voice to the project. In the section of the video game that re-imagines Licence
to Kill, Bouvier got to take a much more
active and pivotal role in the plot. Although there were many issues with the game,
in this case, the creators did a Bond Girl some justice and brought her into
the 21st century by giving her more to do, besides looking good in a
dress.
Sadly, Lowell has been in the news in the last year or so
because she and her third husband, Richard Gere have separated after 10+ years
of marriage. They have one child together, James.
