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The Joseph Wiseman appreciation thread

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Comments

  • LeChiffreLeChiffre
    Posts: 1,548
    Ludovico wrote: »
    LeChiffre wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote:
    The idea for this thread came to me when I saw that the "Jew Bond" thread was closed. It struck me that:

    1)Joseph Wiseman was Jewish
    2)He was a fellow Montrealer
    3)He set the benchmark to Bond's villains with Dr. No.

    We owe Joseph Wiseman a lot. Because a movie is only as good as his villains, and a Bond movie even moreso. So let's talk about Joseph Wiseman and what he brought to the series.

    Who cares if he is Jewish? What does that matter?

    Don't get on your high horse. I said this because I don't think it was mentioned on the Jew Bond thread which is now closed. And he contributed in an important way to the franchise.

    I'm not Jewish. I'm actually a practicing Christian. I just don't an actor's faith is relevant. I can't believe anyone would open a thread in the first place to highlight this.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    edited March 2015 Posts: 15,154
    LeChiffre wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    LeChiffre wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote:
    The idea for this thread came to me when I saw that the "Jew Bond" thread was closed. It struck me that:

    1)Joseph Wiseman was Jewish
    2)He was a fellow Montrealer
    3)He set the benchmark to Bond's villains with Dr. No.

    We owe Joseph Wiseman a lot. Because a movie is only as good as his villains, and a Bond movie even moreso. So let's talk about Joseph Wiseman and what he brought to the series.

    Who cares if he is Jewish? What does that matter?

    Don't get on your high horse. I said this because I don't think it was mentioned on the Jew Bond thread which is now closed. And he contributed in an important way to the franchise.

    I'm not Jewish. I'm actually a practicing Christian. I just don't an actor's faith is relevant. I can't believe anyone would open a thread in the first place to highlight this.

    And I am neither Christian nor Jewish. I was actually not talking about his faith as it's not necessarily his faith (his parents were Orthodox Jews, he obviously was not very practicing when he had his career). I am talking about it as his cultural origins, as it is for sure part of his cultural background. So it is relevant to what shaped him as an actor and an artist, regardless of his actual beliefs or disbeliefs.

    Joseph Wiseman also played in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, based on the book by Mordecai Richler, also a a Jewish Montrealer, a story set in the Jewish community of Montreal. His origins and the fact that he was born in the very city certainly played a role in this particular casting. Now, I don't think for a second it played a role in his casting of Dr No, but I do think just like the rest of his background it brought him a perspective that served him as an actor.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    His Dr No was a template for the unseen Blofeld. That is how I feel anyway.

    I agree. In fact the only thing I regret about Joseph Wiseman playing No is that he never had the occasion to play Blofeld. He would have been perfect.

    I am quite certain it was him and not Eric Pohlman who voiced Blofeld in Thunderball. i know he is not credited for it, but that means little.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    His Dr No was a template for the unseen Blofeld. That is how I feel anyway.

    I agree. In fact the only thing I regret about Joseph Wiseman playing No is that he never had the occasion to play Blofeld. He would have been perfect.

    I am quite certain it was him and not Eric Pohlman who voiced Blofeld in Thunderball. i know he is not credited for it, but that means little.

    Any newcomers that have any information on this? Or an opinion?
  • ToTheRightToTheRight
    Posts: 16,182
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    His Dr No was a template for the unseen Blofeld. That is how I feel anyway.

    I agree. In fact the only thing I regret about Joseph Wiseman playing No is that he never had the occasion to play Blofeld. He would have been perfect.

    I am quite certain it was him and not Eric Pohlman who voiced Blofeld in Thunderball. i know he is not credited for it, but that means little.

    I read that as well. Don't recall if it was in the John Brosnan book or the Benson Bedside Companion book. I always thought the voice in THUNDERBALL sounded more like Wiseman than the Pohlman voice of FRWL.
    It would be nice if there was definitive word on this.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited February 2018 Posts: 18,297
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    His Dr No was a template for the unseen Blofeld. That is how I feel anyway.

    I agree. In fact the only thing I regret about Joseph Wiseman playing No is that he never had the occasion to play Blofeld. He would have been perfect.

    I am quite certain it was him and not Eric Pohlman who voiced Blofeld in Thunderball. i know he is not credited for it, but that means little.

    Any newcomers that have any information on this? Or an opinion?

    Haven't heard this before. I doubt that it's true personally but I will be researching it! Charles Gray appeared as a voice actor in TSWLM, for instance, so I suppose there could be something there.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,154
    Wiseman as Blofeld now that would have been interesting. Say in TSWLM if they'd never have the legal issue with the character.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,297
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Wiseman as Blofeld now that would have been interesting. Say in TSWLM if they'd never have the legal issue with the character.

    Indeed it would have been interesting but he'd have been too connected with the Dr. No role in people's minds I'd imagine.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Wiseman could have been Bond when younger.
    745331373652647.gif
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,297
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    Wiseman could have been Bond when younger.
    745331373652647.gif

    True, and he was in a very strange episode of The Twilight Zone too.
  • TracyTracy
    Posts: 1,710
    Kerim wrote: »
    So a Jewish Canadian guy played a Chinese guy. Big deal. As others said, he did an amazing job with what little screen time he had and je set the bar for future Bond villains.

    "but he was gay !" (random silly comment about Ogden Stiers on tmz , lmao)
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