Remembering Director/Producer David C Anderson….Day 216 of Bond 365

David C. Anderson

Passed away this day in 2013

Second Assistant Director for Dr. No

Assistant Director for From Russia with Love

David C Anderson passed away at the age of 72 after a brief illness two years ago. He came from a family of directors and actors. His father is film director Michael Anderson who is probably best known for work on Around the World in 80 Days (1956), The Dam Busters (1955), The Quiller Memorandum (1966), and the television miniseries The Martian Chronicles (1980). His brother is actor Michael Anderson Jr. (Logan’s Run, The Sundowners), and step-brother to The Walking Dead actress Laurie Holden and actor/director Christopher Holden (Silent Hill, Felicity).

Anderson got his start with Dr. No (1962) as an uncredited second assistant director. I wonder how exciting that must have been to work alongside Terence Young, Sean Connery and Ursula Andress and perhaps a chat or two with Mr. Ian Fleming at afternoon tea? Anderson returned to the franchise for a second time as an assistant director in From Russia with Love (1963), which paired him with Young and Connery again.

From that start with the Bond films, Anderson continued to direct, but he branched out into producing. He also dabbled directing and producing shows for television. In fact, he worked with Sir Roger Moore on the television series The Saint for five episodes in 1964. Some other memorable work Anderson was associated with include: The Man Who Would Be King (1975) starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine; The Deer Hunter (1978); and The Eagle Has Landed (1976) which included Donald Pleasence. He also had a few surprises: Tales from the Crypt (1996), Invasion U.S.A. (1985) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986).

Note: The obituary written by Kimberly Nordyke for The Hollywood Reporter (dated August 16, 2013) mentioned that Anderson had worked on Thunderball (1965), but I did not find a credit for Anderson in his IMDB profile.

© Copyright. Michele Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without written permission.

Birthdays Times Four: Young, Jenkins, Culver, and Cartlidge…Day 167 of Bond 365

Raymond Young

Born this day in 1918

Sierra in Goldfinger

I wasn’t able to find much on English actor Raymond Young when I was researching details about him. He started acting after World War II in a television movie titled She Stoops to Conquer (1949) in which he played ‘Young Marlow’ in the film. Young made a lot of guest appearances on television shows throughout his career of almost 80 credits. His last role as Porter was in the 1991 Jeeves and Wooster series. He passed away in 2011 at the age of 93.

Geoffrey Jenkins

Born this day in 1920

Author of Per Fine Ounce

Originally from South Africa, Geoffrey Jenkins was a journalist and novelist who wrote several stories about his country. He became a news correspondent during World War II and spent the war years in London working for Sunday Times. He met and became friends with Ian Fleming while at the newspaper.

 In 1959, Jenkins wrote A Twist of Sand, his first novel, which later was turned into a movie by the same name. Released in 1968, it starred Richard Johnson and Honor Blackman and was directed by Terence Young.

Jenkins did some research for Fleming for one of his Bond novels, but unfortunately Fleming died before writing the intended novel. After some back and forth negotiation, Gildrose Productions, which later became Ian Fleming Publications, offered Jenkins the job to write the first continuation novel. Jenkins submitted a manuscript titled Per Fine Ounce, but it was rejected. Sadly, only 18 pages of the story survives.

MI6-HQ has a nice biography on Jenkins here. 

Michael Culver

Born this day in 1938

Man in a Punt in From Russia With Love

Vulcan Bomber Crewman in Thunderball

Michael Culver first casting role was as Det. Con. Haywick in the tv series You Can’t Win (1961). While you may not remember him in his two guest appearances in From Russia With Love and Thunderball, if you are a Star Wars fan, then perhaps you remember him as Captain Needa in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. 

Culver has over 100 acting credits to his name, having appeared on the small screen and the silver screen in the intervening years of his career. In addition, he has been active in the theatre scene that rivals his broadcast projects. When he isn’t acting, he engages in activism to promote peace.

William P Cartlidge

Born this day in 1942

Producer for The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker

Assistant Director of You Only Live Twice

Englishman William “Bill” P. Cartlidge has been a writer, producer and director since he got his start in the business as a Third Assistant Director (uncredited) for Follow That Horse! in 1960. He has worked with two James Bond actors: Sean Connery and Roger Moore. In 2002, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Dinotopia (2002) as an Outstanding Miniseries.

© Copyright. Michele Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without written permission.

Happy Birthday to the Legendary Mr. Christopher Lee…Day 147 of Bond 365

Christopher Lee

Born this day in 1922

Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun

Count Dracula. Saruman. Francisco Scaramanga. Count Dooku. Lord Summerisle. The list of memorable characters that leave an indelible mark on popular culture by Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ cannot be overstated. At 93, Lee is an actor, singer, author, and truly a living legend.

His background is fascinating. Born in the Westminster district of London, his parents separated when he was four years old and divorced not long after. His mother moved him and his sister, Xandra, to Switzerland and then back to London, where she married Harcourt George St-Croix Rose, uncle of Ian Fleming and consequently, Lee’s step-cousin. He was a passable student and went to Wellington College. While he had engaged in acting prior to going to college, apparently, he did little to no acting during that time.

In 1939, his mother and stepfather separated so Lee was required to go to work to help support the family. Since the summer months were upon him and that’s when employers went on holiday, there were no immediate positions for Lee. He and his sister went to France that summer. He stayed with the Russian Mazirov family and rubbed elbows with exiled royal families for a time until he returned to London, prior to war breaking out.

Scars of Dracula (1970)

Lee volunteered for military service. First with the Finnish forces in 1939 then for the Royal Air Force, because he did not want to follow his father’s footsteps by serving in the Army. Training to pilot did not work out for Lee; he was diagnosed with optic nerve failure (he suffered headaches and blurred vision symptoms). Since he couldn’t fly but wanted to “do something constructive for my keep” he applied with the RAF Intelligence. He was almost killed in the line of duty several times. Being fluent in many languages (9 actually!), Lee was assigned to the Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects. Lee has mentioned that he was attached to the Special Operations Executive and the Long Range Desert Patrol, precursor to the SAS, but he has declined to go into any details of that part of his service.

Dynamic duo - Peter Cushing and Lee

With the war over, Lee returned to London and to a job with more money, but he was restless and wanted to do something else. A relative suggested he become an actor. It seems absurd, but one person in the industry claimed Lee was too tall to be an actor (he’s 6’5”), but Rank Organisation signed him to a seven-year contract. And in 1947, Lee made his film debut in Corridor of Mirrors directed by Terence Young. Thus began a 10-year apprenticeship in which Lee learned the trade, worked with stellar talent – Laurence Olivier, Peter Cushing, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., John Huston, and Buster Keaton – and proved he could act, in spite of his height!

Trio of Horror: Lee, Cushing and Vincent Price

From the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s, Lee worked in the horror genre via the Hammer films. During that time, he re-teamed with Peter Cushing, but he also worked with horror greats Boris Karloff and Vincent Price, among others. Lee became synonymous with the character Dracula and eventually, Lee was ready to break from that character and pursue other roles.

To me, two films stand out from the others of that time when he was seeking to redefine his filmography away from horror. Lee as Scaramanaga in The Man with the Golden Gun was his second shot at starring in a James Bond film. The first was actually Dr. No. Fleming offered the villainous role to Lee, who accepted, however the producers had already chosen Joseph Wiseman. I think either role would have fit Lee. I’m glad he got a second opportunity. My favorite Lee film of this period however is his portrayal of Lord Summerisle from The Wicker Man (1973). Where else will you get to see a charming (and smiling) Lee singing and wearing a kilt? Joking aside, this is a fascinating film with an amazing soundtrack.

Lee moved to America to continue his shift away from being typecast in the horror genre. He did several American films from the late 1970s and on. And, now into the 21^st century, Lee has continued to work in some of the biggest franchises – Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings – and on a number of Tim Burton films.  He has lent his voice to video games and in the music industry, he has contributed from opera to folk to metal to musicals. His single from Charlemagne: The Omens on Death makes him the oldest performer in the history of heavy metal! Rock on and happy birthday Mr. Lee!

Lee as Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man

As Count Dooku

As Saruman

Note: All images found via Google. 

© Copyright. Michele Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without written permission.

Take a Gamble on Domino and Company…Day 116 of Bond 365

Harold Jack Bloom

Born this day in 1924

Additional Story Material for You Only Live Twice

Harold Jack Bloom was a screenwriter for the small screen for a majority of his career. He wrote for Climax! the same CBS series that televised the first TV James Bond as well as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Emergency!

Bloom was hired to work on the You Only Live Twice script when Richard Maibaum was unavailable. Ultimately, Bloom’s script wasn’t used, but his ideas were incorporated into Roald Dahl’s script, hence his “additional story material” credit.

Claudine Auger

Born this day in 1941

Domino in Thunderball

The role of Domino was originally going to go to an Italian actress, however Kevin McClory asked Claudine Auger to audition for the role when their paths cross when Auger was on holiday in Nassau. She got the part and it was rewritten to better suit Auger. While she did take English lessons, ultimately her voice was dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl who had often dubbed other Bond women.

Auger’s career took off in Europe; she did do a Playboy spread shortly after playing Domino, but little else came her in the U.S. market. She did work with some of the Bond alums: Ursula Andress in Anyone Can Play, Barbara Bach and Barbara Bouchet in Black Belly of the Tarantula, and Terence Young in Triple Cross and The Killing Game.

Ivana Milicevic

Born this day in 1974

Valenka in Casino Royale

Her family emigrated to the U.S. from Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Ivana Milicevic grew up in Michigan. During high school, she worked as a model, however after she graduated, she move Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Interestingly, she did stand-up and her routine centered on her experiences on being a model.

She made one-shot guest appearances on several television series and got a break in 2006 with her role as Julia on Love Monkey. The same year, she got a meaty role as Mila Yurgorsky in Running Scared and of course as Valenka in Casino Royale.

More recently, she can be seen on Banshee as Carrie Hopewell / Anastasia.

Henry Rowland

Passed away this day in 1984

Dr. Tynan in Diamonds Are Forever

While Henry Rowland, born Wolfram Von Bock, had almost 200 acting credits throughout his career, there was not much written about him. Looking over his credits, he acted in quite a few westerns and war genre films and television shows. Rowland is probably best known for his collaboration with Russ Meyer in three of his films: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Supervixens and Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens.

Bessie Love

Passed away this day in 1986

American Guest in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

Bessie Love enjoyed a lengthy acting career that started during the silent era. She was originally from Texas, but the family moved to Hollywood where her cowboy father became a chiropractor. The family needed money, so her mother sent Love to Biograph Studios. Legendary director D.W. Griffith saw her and put her in several of his films. She became a popular actress and did well in the 1920s. She was even nominated for an Academy Award for her role in The Broadway Melody (1929).

While Love appeared to be able to make the transition from silent to sound films, her IMDB profiles states that her career was over by the early 1930s. She moved to England during the mid 30s. During World War II, she worked for the Red Cross and entertained the troops. By the early 50s, she was cast in acting roles once again, mostly small guest appearances. Her last role was in the 1983 film The Hunger in which she played Lillybelle. She had about 150 credits.

© Copyright. Michele Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without written permission.

The Two Rs: Russia and Rogers….Day 99 of Bond 365

Today in Bond history, From Russia, with Love, Ian Fleming’s fifth James Bond book was published by Jonathan Cape in 1957, sporting the cover art of Richard Chopping. Like the other Fleming books, this one was written during January/February while Fleming was staying at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. The book received positive reviews. However, this novel had the added bonus of being tied to two world leaders: British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden and US President John F. Kennedy. Eden made a visit to the Goldeneye estate and was covered by Life magazine in 1961, while Kennedy listed From Russia, with Love on his top ten favorite books. Fleming stated that in many ways it was his best book.

The novel was eventually made as a film by the same title and was directed by Terence Young. It was the second Eon Productions movie starring Sean Connery and Daniela Bianchi as the main Bond Girl.

Eric Rogers

Passed away this day in 1981

Conductor for Dr. No

Eric Rogers (or Rodgers) was an English composer and conductor during the 1960s and 1970s. He conducted for 22 of the Carry On films over two decades and he was the conductor for Dr. No. However, according to Wikipedia, none of his orchestral tracks appeared on the Dr. No soundtrack that was recorded in June 1962 and released in 1963.

© Copyright. Michele Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without written permission.

My oh Mollie Peters and Don Wolz…..Day 74 of Bond 365

Happy Sunday and welcome to Bond 365 where each day I post about Bond related events, typically marking birthdays or passings, of Bond alums. Today, I’ve got two individuals from the early days of Bond films, special effects artist Don Wolz, and model Mollie Peters, who had a brief acting career. In addition, I’ve added some Bond news links at the end, just in case you haven’t been keeping up with Bond this past week.

From the set of Diamonds Are Forever

Don Wolz

Born this day in 1915

Special Effects for Diamonds Are Forever

Originally from Denver, Colorado, Don Wolz worked on less than a dozen films from 1958 through 1977. In all of the films, his work on special effects went uncredited, so perhaps there were other projects he worked on that have not been recorded.

Terence Young, Mollie Peters and Sean Connery

Mollie Peters

Born this day in 1942

Patricia Fearing in Thunderball

Mollie Peters was an English blonde bombshell who was a model and had a fleeting acting career, apparently due to a falling out with her agent. Probably her most memorable role was as Patricia Fearing, a nurse/masseuse at the Shrubland Health Club in Thunderball. She was discovered by Terence Young and has the distinction of being the first Bond Girl to remove her clothing onscreen. She was featured in the November 1965 issue of Playboy as part of “James Bond’s Girls,” a pictorial essay by Richard Maibaum.

And, now some Bond news:

03/15 – The Telegraph has a slide show of photographs from the various Spectre sets.

03/15 – Wales misses opportunity to host James Bond in iconic Welsh building, and the assembly members were apparently not consulted according to BBC News.

03/15 – Apparently, a country’s reputation costs in the neighborhood of $20M. Mexico is offering Eon Productions up to that amount to have Mexico portrayed in a positive light in the upcoming Spectre. They have asked that Mexico’s modern cityscape be featured in the shots, that the villain is not Mexican, and that a Mexican actress be cast as a Bond Girl….

Beauty Stephanie Sigman has been added to Spectre cast

03/10 - ….Mexican actress Stephanie Sigman was added to the Spectre cast as a Bond Girl according to Variety. She is the first Mexican Bond Girl in the film franchise’s history. She may be familiar to you: she has appeared in “The Bridge” and “Narcos.”

Daniel Craig, wild for Comic Relief

03/13 – Daniel Craig and other Bond cast and alums have stepped up to support Comic Relief, a seven-hour show. According to the MI6 article, if you are in the UK, you’ll have access to it on BBC iPlayer, found just a little under two hours into the programming.

© Copyright. Michele Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without written permission.

Ah, Miss Moneypenny! ....Day 45 of Bond 365

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.

© Copyright. Michele Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without written permission.

Two Sides of a Camera

Welcome back to Day 8! Today features two men, whose careers span about the same amount of time, were both born in the UK and interestingly, died the same day of the same year. A little bit of trivia for you: which Italian director also went by the name of Anthony Dawson rather than Anthony Daisies, which was the English translation of his Italian last name? I’ll post the answer tomorrow.

Anthony Dawson as Professor Dent none to happy with his next task in Dr. No

Anthony Dawson

Passed Away January 8, 1992

Professor Dent from Dr. No; Blofeld in From Russia With Love, Thunderball

Born in Edinburgh in 1916, Anthony Dawson made his film debut in They Met in the Dark (1943). His break came when he received a call from Alfred Hitchcock and was asked to play C.A. Swann/Captain Lesgate in Dial M for Murder. He went on to work on Curse of the Werewolf (1961), a Hammer Horror film and of course a year later as Professor Dent in Dr. No. Dawson was in two additional Bond films – From Russia With Love and Thunderball – in which he provided a physical presence to Ernst Blofeld. Eric Pohlmann voiced the faceless villain.

In 1967, Dawson rejoined Young for Operation Kid Brother, also known as O.K. Connery. The film starred Sean Connery’s younger brother Neil Connery in this Italian knock-off, or Eurospy. Adolfo Celi (Enilio Largo in Thunderball), Daniela Bianchi (Tatiana Romanova in From Russia With Love), Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny) and Bernard Lee (M) also appeared. If you are curious to see how the younger brother did as a spy, you can find the film being riffed in Volume 25 box set of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

John Winbolt

Passed Away January 8, 1992

Camera Operator for Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball

John Winbolt passed away the same day as Anthony Dawson. While Dawson appeared in front of the camera, Winbolt worked behind the lens as a camera operator. Winbolt got his start in 1945 as an uncredited clapper loader for Ealing Studios’ Dead of Night, a horror film directed by Alberto Cavalcanti. After working on the Bond films, he re-united with Terence Young on Mayerling (1968) and worked on an “anti-Bond” film, Michael Anderson’s 1966 The Quiller Memorandum. Winbolt also operated a camera for the small screen. According to IMDB, his last job was as a Second Unit Cameraman for four episodes of the Australian television series, Captain James Cook, in 1988.