On This Day

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  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    I love that second Spanish poster.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,820
    May 14th

    1939: Veruschka von Lehndorff is born--Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany.
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    1964: First two demo recordings of "Goldfinger" are completed, vocals by Anthony Newley. John Barry liked the "creepy" performance. (Newley and Leslie Bricusse agreed it was too strange a tune to be part of for the film version.)
    1993: James Bond video game The Duel (Japan: 007 Shitō) is released by Domark Software.
    Developed by "The Kremlin". 2016: The Bruce Museum's 29th Annual Renaissance Ball at the Greenwich Country Club takes on a James Bond theme. Greenwich, Connecticut. Casino tables, martini bar, and bids for travel packages.
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  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,820
    May 15th

    1918: Joseph Wiseman is born--Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
    (He dies 19 October 2009 at age 91--Manhattan, New York City, New York.)
    1932: John Glen is born--Sunbury-on-Thames, England.
    1965: Bond comic strip On Her Majesty's Secret Service ends its run in The Daily Express.
    (Started 29 June 1964. 1-274) John McLusky, artist. Henry Gammidge, writer.
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  • Major_BoothroydMajor_Boothroyd Republic of Isthmus
    Posts: 2,722
    I love that second Spanish poster.

    It's always been one of my favourites too.
  • Major_BoothroydMajor_Boothroyd Republic of Isthmus
    Posts: 2,722
    May 14th

    1939: Veruschka von Lehndorff is born--Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany.
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    1964: First two demo recordings of "Goldfinger" are completed, vocals by Anthony Newley. John Barry liked the "creepy" performance. (Newley and Leslie Bricusse agreed it was too strange a tune to be part of for the film version.)
    1993: James Bond video game The Duel (Japan: 007 Shitō) is released by Domark Software.
    Developed by "The Kremlin". 2016: The Bruce Museum's 29th Annual Renaissance Ball at the Greenwich Country Club takes on a James Bond theme. Greenwich, Connecticut. Casino tables, martini bar, and bids for travel packages.
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    Dalton looks like Christopher Reeve in that bottom picture of 'The Duel' - and isn't that video game the last image of Dalton that was used in his Bond era?
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    edited May 2018 Posts: 13,820
    May 16th

    1948: Jesper Christensen is born--Copenhagen, Denmark.
    1953: Pierce Brosnan is born--Drogheda, County Louth, Republic of Ireland.
    1966: The Beach Boys' album Pet Sounds is released--its (instrumental) title track was a Bond hopeful.
    (Original name: "Run James Run".)
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    How James Bond became Pet Sounds
    By editor • May 16, 2016
    kuow.org/post/how-james-bond-became-pet-sounds


    "Pet Sounds."


    "Run James Run."


    "Run James Run", 2017.
    1968: Roger Moore is photographed in his dressing room at Elstree Studios, Boreham Wood, England.
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    1985: Michelin Tire ad appears in The Los Angeles Times as part of a Sweepstakes promotion.
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  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    edited May 2018 Posts: 13,820
    May 17th

    1965: Bond comic strip You Only Live Twice begins its run in The Daily Express. (Ends 8 January 1966. 275-475)
    Yaroslav Horak, artist. Henry Gammidge, writer.
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    2012: Skyfall teaser poster revealed.
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    2015: Spectre night filming on the Thames, London, with Craig and Seydoux speeding after a helicopter near Westminster Bridge and Vauxhall Cross.
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  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,820
    May 18th

    1985: Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" charts, eventually reaching #1.
    2008: Amis, Amis and Bond airs again on BBC Radio 4 Sunday, 1:30 pm.
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    Amis, Amis and Bond
    https://bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007spqr
    Martin Amis explores his father's obsessive interest in James Bond and the writing of Ian Fleming, with fellow Bond enthusiast Charlie Higson.

    Release date:
    17 July 2007 - 30 minutes

    Martin Amis explores his father's obsessive interest with James Bond and the writing of Ian Fleming with fellow Bond enthusiast Charlie Higson.

    Last on
    Sun 18 May 2008 1:30 pm
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    2002: Photo call, Die Another Day, Noga Hilton Pier, 55th Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, France.
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  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,820
    May 19th

    1941: Tania Mallet is born--Blackpool, Lancashire, England.
    1948: Grace Jones is born--Spanish Town, Jamaica.
    1978: Christopher Wood completes his Moonraker script.
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    1979: Bérénice Marlohe is born--Paris, France.
    1992: Samuel Frederick "Sam" Smith is born--Bishop's Stortford, England.
    2009: Pierce Brosnan, whale activist, is photographed walking the White House grounds, Washington, D.C.
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  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Brosnan looks his best there.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    edited May 2018 Posts: 13,820
    May 20th

    1917: Major Valentine Fleming is killed during World War I shelling on the Western Front at Gillemont Farm area,
    Picardy, France. Eulogized by close friend Winston Churchill. A fellow officer calls him "absolutely our best officer".
    ‘Absolutely our best officer’: Valentine Fleming (1882-1917)
    https://thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2017/05/19/absolutely-our-best-officer-valentine-fleming-1882-1917/
    Posted on May 19, 2017 by The History of Parliament
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    Major Valentine Fleming, Illustrated London News, 9 June 1917, p. 684., via wikimedia

    In the latest of our blogs on MPs killed in the First World War, Dr Kathryn Rix marks the centenary of the death of Valentine Fleming on 20 May 1917…

    Major Valentine Fleming, Illustrated London News, 9 June 1917, p. 684., via wikimedia

    On 25 May 1917, the obituary of Valentine Fleming, Conservative MP for South Oxfordshire since January 1910, appeared in The Times, following his death five days earlier on the Western Front. Its author – ‘W. S. C.’ – was none other than Winston Churchill, who had known Fleming not only as a fellow MP, but also as an officer in the same yeomanry regiment, the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars. A framed copy of this obituary was one of the most cherished possessions of Fleming’s second son Ian, the creator of James Bond. He was just about to turn nine when his father died.

    Born in Fife in 1882, Fleming had a ‘distinguished and creditable’ career at Eton and at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he excelled at rowing and athletics. He graduated with a degree in History in 1905. His father, Robert, a wealthy financier, had purchased a country estate at Nettlebed, near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire in 1903. Aided financially by his father, Fleming bought his own property in the county at Braziers Park, Ipsden, where he and his wife Evelyn lived after their marriage in 1906.

    In January 1907 Fleming was chosen as the prospective Conservative candidate for South Oxfordshire (also known as the Henley division). The chairman of the meeting which adopted him noted his academic achievements, his commercial experience in the City and his involvement as an officer in the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars, which he had joined as a second lieutenant in 1904. He also considered it an important asset that Fleming had ‘a charming wife – who would be of great assistance to him in the campaign, considering the part women now took in politics’. Fleming worked assiduously to cultivate support in the constituency, attending thirty meetings in his first two months as candidate, and also became well-known in the hunting field.

    At the January 1910 election, when he advocated the policies of tariff reform and colonial preference, Fleming won a convincing victory over his Liberal opponent. Giving thanks when the result was declared, he was particularly grateful to Oxfordshire’s under-sheriff for performing the duties of returning officer. As Fleming explained, ‘he has rescued me from the somewhat embarrassing position of being returned by my own father’: as High Sheriff of Oxfordshire that year, Robert Fleming should have acted as returning officer.

    Fleming was re-elected at the December 1910 general election, but in April 1913 decided that he would not stand again when the next election took place. His father was taking partial retirement from the merchant bank of Robert Fleming and Co., which he had founded. Fleming therefore anticipated having to spend more time on business, especially as he would have to make periodic visits to the United States. Churchill’s obituary of him suggested that his decision stemmed also from his dislike of ‘the violence of faction and the fierce tumults which swayed our political life up to the very threshold of the Great War’.

    When war broke out in 1914, Fleming, now a captain, enlisted for service with his regiment. Churchill recorded that Fleming had taken every opportunity to attend training courses as a yeomanry officer, with the result that ‘on mobilization there were few more competent civilian soldiers of his rank’. He fought at the battle of Ypres, was twice mentioned in dispatches and was promoted to the rank of major.

    In the early hours of 20 May 1917, Fleming was one of five members of his squadron killed in a heavy German bombardment, while defending Gillemont Farm, near Epehy in northern France. A few weeks before his death he had sent a final postcard to his son, Ian, writing:
    In the wood where we slept last night were wild boars. I killed a snake but not a poisonous one. A hedgehog came into Philip’s shelter one night. (J. Pearson, The Life of Ian Fleming)
    Philip (1889-1971) was Fleming’s younger brother, who served alongside him in the Oxfordshire Hussars. A talented rower, who had won a gold medal at the 1912 Olympics, he survived the war.

    Posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Order, Valentine Fleming was buried at Templeux-le-Guerard British cemetery in northern France. Churchill remembered his ‘lovable and charming personality’, while a fellow officer wrote that
    The loss to the regiment is indescribable. He was … absolutely our best officer, utterly fearless, full of resource, and perfectly magnificent with his men.

    KR
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    1927: David Hedison is born--Providence, Rhode Island.
    1936: Anthony Zerbe is born--Long Beach, California.
    1941: Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming discusses Operation Goldeneye with other Allied intelligence
    organizations at Lisbon, Portugal. 1977: Roger Moore and Barbara Bach promote The Spy Who Loved Me at the Cannes Film Festival.
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    1998: Wolf Mankowitz dies at age 73--County Cork, Ireland.
    (Born 7 November 1924--Bethnal Green, London, England.)
    2012: The Daily Record claims James Bond was almost a woman played by Susan Hayward.
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    James Bond was almost a woman played by Susan Hayward, filmmakers reveal
    https://dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/tv-radio/james-bond-was-almost-a-woman-played-by-susan-878333
    EXCLUSIVE: THE name was always Bond…but Britain’s top secret agent was almost Jane, not James, when 007 first hit the big screen.
    By Toby McDonald - 08:41, 20 MAY 2012U
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    THE name was always Bond…but Britain’s top secret agent was almost Jane, not James, when 007 first hit the big screen.

    Filmmakers have revealed how Hollywood idol Susan Hayward was first choice for the role.

    But the plot to give Ian Fleming’s suave superspy a sex change was dropped and Sean Connery was cast as the legendary MI6 man.

    Lorenzo Semple Jr, who was hired to write Casino Royale for the big screen, said: “Frankly, we thought that James Bond was kind of unbelievable and, as I recall, even kind of stupid.

    “So we thought the solution was to make Bond a woman, ‘Jane Bond’, if you will.

    “There was even a plan to cast Susan Hayward in the role.”

    Semple, who later wrote Never Say Never Again for Sir Sean, admits that the Edinburgh-born former milkman was ultimately the right choice.

    He added: “What made Bond work was the fact that Sean Connery wasn’t an upper-class David Niven type.

    “That would have been deadly. Sean is working class but has all the required elegance and intelligence.

    “The foundation is rooted in something people could relate to.”

    Semple said that Fleming had sold the film rights for his first novel Casino Royale for just $6000 (£4000) in 1955 – $218,000 (£140,000) at today’s prices.

    But producer Gregory Ratoff, who had bought the rights, and Semple struggled to turn the book into a believable movie.

    After a brainstorming session, they hit upon making Bond a woman instead.

    Semple said: “Gregory announced one day, ‘We’ll get Susie Hayward. I dated her when she was a $75-a-week actress so she owes me one’.”

    But the sultry Oscar-winning actress passed on the role and Sir Sean eventually made the part his instead with Dr No.

    The director Terence Young and co-producers Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli were finally won over by the Scot after he brought such passion to their first meeting.

    They remember a scruffy, tough-talking young actor who repeatedly banged the table or his thigh to make his point.

    Sir Sean had told his acting teacher, Yat Malmgren, a few days before the meeting: “I shall establish myself on overpowering and take the interview like that.

    “That would be a good thing, don’t you think, sir?”

    Malmgren told his pupil to think about cats “because they are very loose”.

    He later said: “I think he walked into that audition very self-assured, very large, very secure.”

    Broccoli said: “It was the sheer self-confidence he exuded. I’ve never seen a surer guy. It wasn’t just an act, either.

    “When he left, we watched him through the window as he walked down the street.

    “He walked like the most arrogant son-of-a-gun you’ve ever seen – as if he owned every bit of the street. ‘That’s our Bond,’ I said.”

    Sir Sean shot six 007 films before quitting. But Semple persuaded him out of retirement for one last outing in Never Say Never Again.

    Semple, who wrote the Oscar-winning thriller Three Days of the Condor, said in a US interview that he flew to Marbella to win Sir Sean over.

    He added: “Sean was tough and his wife, Micheline, was even tougher. She was almost like his agent.

    “But I understood how Sean felt. Bond was very special to him and he was very careful about it.

    “In the end he loved the idea of Bond coming back.”

    He was paid the equivalent of £4.5million in today’s money and a percentage of the profits. In the 1983 film Connery, then 52, played an ageing Bond who is brought back into action to investigate the theft of two nuclear weapons by SPECTRE.

    It was released in the same year as Octopussy, starring Roger Moore, and won unanimous good reviews.

    A one-off spoof version of Casino Royale was made in 1967 starring David Niven. But it was remade with Daniel Craig – earning almost £400 million at the box office, the most successful of the franchise.

    Bond’s 23rd outing for filmmakers Eon Productions, Skyfall, is due to be released in the UK in October and stars Craig for the third time.
    2018: Poster designer Bill Gold dies at age 97--Greenwich, Connecticut.
    (Born 3 January 1921--New York City, New York.)
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    Bill Gold, designer. Brian Bysouth, artist.
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    Concept art by Boris Vallejo, as commissioned by Bill Gold.
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  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    A couple of nice reads there.
  • Posts: 1,917
    Roger Moore again shows he is the epitome of suave in those photos as only he can make a leisure suit, that punch line of '70s fashion, look good.

    That's the first I've ever heard of Susan Hayward being considered for a female Bond. Sorry, but that sounds like a load of crap. I just have a hard time believing at that time they'd go for a woman action hero and say a male Bond was "unbelievable" and "stupid."
  • edited May 2018 Posts: 2,918
    Hayward almost being hired on the whim of a stupid Hollywood producer ( "I dated her when she was a $75-a-week actress so she owes me one”) is believable, considering how Hollywood has screwed up so many books. What isn't believable is Semple's added rationale ("we thought that James Bond was kind of unbelievable and, as I recall, even kind of stupid"). It was made decades after the actual event and doesn't even make sense, since the novel he was trying to adapt was the most realistic, believable, and low-key of all the Bond novels. Semple was just trying to praise Connery by putting down the Bond films.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    edited May 2018 Posts: 13,820
    May 21st

    1981: Licence Renewed by John Gardner is published by Jonathan Cape.
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    1987: No Deals Mr. Bond by John Gardner is published by Jonathan Cape.
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    1960: Comic strip From Russia with Love begins its run in The Daily Express.
    (Finishes 1 February 1960. 488-583) John McLusky, artist. Henry Gammidge, writer.
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    1967: The British series The Saint starring Roger Moore debuts in the US on NBC.
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    1967: Kingley Amis confides to Philip Larkin he finished writing his Bond novel.
    1997: Shower scene with Bond and Wai Lin is filmed.
    2009: Daniel Craig offers the opinion he'd like Moneypenny and Q to return.
    2012: Activision releases a trailer for their 007 Legends.
    2012: The first Skyfall teaser trailer comes available.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,820
    May 22nd

    1985: US premiere of A View to a Kill--Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, California.
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    San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein.
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    Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco. More recent photographs.
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  • edited May 2018 Posts: 2,918
    Here's a column by the legendary San Francisco columnist (and Ian Fleming fan) Herb Caen on the premiere:
    San Francisco Chronicle, May 24, 1985

    For Your Eyes Only

    With the enthusiastic cooperation of the Mayor and the police and fire departments, San Francisco is made to look like a loony-bin in the newest and possibly last James Bond film, “A View to a Kill,” an awkward movie with an awkward title. As I recall, author Ian Fleming’s original title for the flimsy short story on which this $30-million bombo is shakily based was “With a View to a Kill,” which scans a little more smoothly. It wasn't Fleming at his best but the movie it inspired may be James Bondage at its worst, except for the all-time stinker, “Casino Royale,” which, oddly, used only the title of Fleming's first historic best-seller.

    It is an article of faith among civic leaders that having a movie made in your town is, by and of itself, A Good Thing. Some mumbojumble about identity, business, tourism, etc., but how many remember that Errol Flynn's classic “Robin Hood” was shot in Chico’s Bidwell Park? San Francisco, of course, has a lot more to offer than Chico, Velveeta jokes aside, and is ruthlessly exploited by every movie and TV maker this side of the Mitchell Brothers who can capture our publicity-crazed Mayor's ear. One can imagine her ecstasy upon learning that a Bond flick would be made in our own backyard, besides which she is said to be keen on Roger Moore, which is understandable.

    In return for her unflagging enthusiasm for the Bond project, what do we get? A series of crashes in which our already shaky Police Dept. is made to look like raving incompetents at best and idiots at worst. Very funny, Chiefie, the way they drive their squad cars up the Lefty O'Doul Bridge on Third at China Basin as it is being raised. It is even funnier when they all slide down into each other. Best of all, the bridge's counterweight crushes the captain's car like an eggshell. Not only THAT, the actor playing the captain is a ringer for Chief Con Murphy! They had all been chasing Bond, James Bond, who had stolen a hook’n’ladder from the firemen fighting a blazing City Hall wherein a city official had just been murdered, and that brings up another point.

    For reasons not entirely clear—but what is in a Bond flick?—the laughable villain, played with understandable embarrassment by Christopher Walken, pulls out a pistol and kills a city executive as he is seated behind his desk, American Flag in the background. It could even be the mayor’s office, or a supervisor’s. Have memories of the Moscone-Milk murders already grown so dim? The Mayor, a woman of fine sensibilities, might have suggested that the killing take place elsewhere—or not at all, since it has nothing to do with the plot. By coincidence, and I realize nobody could have foreseen this, Wednesday, May 22, the day of the world premiere, would have been Harvey Milk's 55th birthday. There were no observances, unless you count this crass scene as one. And as City Hall burned on screen, a few remembered that May 21 was the seventh anniversary of the “White Night” riots during which police cars were set ablaze in the fury that followed Dan White's junk-food verdict.

    Well, as the saying goes, it’s only a movie and a very tedious one. Unlike the first blockbusters—“Doctor No,” “From Russia With Love,” “Goldfinger”—it is strangely slow, witless and charmless. A scene in a tunnel on the San Andreas Fault (?!) is straight out of “Indiana Jones,'” with flood waters pouring through the shaft as the villainous Walken kills dozens with a submachine gun. In fact, there is more randumb violence in this Bond film than in any other, a sure sign of flagging inspiration. As for Roger Moore, he seems a delightful chap but there is no doubt he has passed his prime, unless we're talking about beef, of which he has a bit too much. He hasn’t got whatever made Sean Connery a believable 007, and to his credit, he knows it. Also in the film: Patrick Macnee, who played the suave Steed to Diana Rigg’s Mrs. Peel in the unforgettable “Avengers” TV series; he too has grown beefy. Come to think of it, Patrick McGoohan as “Secret Agent,” Roger Moore as “The Saint” and “The Avengers” may have constituted a TV mini-golden age.

    The premiere Wed. night at the Palace of Fine Arts was the usual embarrassing crush of teenagers screaming from behind barricades (they were screaming for Duran Duran, the rock group, not the movie stars) and cops looking a bit sheepish as limos rolled and cameras flashed. The film's producer, Albert (Cubby) Broccoli, now in his 70s with millions to match, looked weary—a man who has seen it all so many times; his old S.F. friend, Jimmy Flood, with whom he once sailed the Pacific, kept calling him “Mr. Cauliflower,” which drew a wan Broccolian smile. The Mayor made a gung-ho speech, blissfully unaware that whoever selects her clothes (Howdy Dowdy?) had once again betrayed her. Not only that, she has regressed to her short Planet of the Apes haircut. Maybe 007 can have a word with her.

    And so the James Bond era draws to a close. The incredible is no longer credible and, with Britain reduced to a third-rate nation, the idea of a British secret agent saving the world becomes laughable. But I will never forget the excitement of that first novel, which I read in the late 1950s on a plane from London—what better setting?—or the impact of the Bondian theme music, still alive after being copied to death. It got every movie off to a brilliant start, even this one. The descent toward twilight comes later.

    Caen was an early Bond fan and even met Ian Fleming. He wrote about Bond in several of his columns, and Fleming in turn wrote an article praising Caen for the San Francisco Chronicle.
  • Posts: 1,917
    He didn't hold back in his opinions. Of course, he wasn't necessarily incorrect in what he said either, although they were very reflective of the pro-Connery sentiment that was all too common during Moore's era. Interesting he thought it would be the last Bond film.

    And for a guy who knew Fleming you'd have thought he'd know the short story title was "From a View to a Kill," not "With a View to a Kill."
  • Posts: 2,918
    BT3366 wrote: »
    Of course, he wasn't necessarily incorrect in what he said either, although they were very reflective of the pro-Connery sentiment that was all too common during Moore's era.

    Yes, there were a lot of folks from the generation of the first Bond fans for whom Connery was the first and only real Bond--everyone else was an anticlimax. Had I been an adult when Dr. No premiered I'd probably have felt the same way.
    And for a guy who knew Fleming you'd have thought he'd know the short story title was "From a View to a Kill," not "With a View to a Kill."

    Ah well, he was a very busy columnist and probably hadn't re-read Fleming in a decade or two.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    edited May 2018 Posts: 13,820
    May 23rd

    1960: Comic strip Dr. No begins its run in The Daily Express.
    (Finishes 1 October 1960. 584-697) John McLusky, artist. Peter O'Donnell, writer.
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    1983: Comic strip Polestar begins its run in The Daily Express--23 May 1983.
    (Ended 15 July 1983, mid-way through the story. Complete versions eventually published in non-UK media. 625-719) John McLusky, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.
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    1986: Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson complete the script for The Living Daylights.
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    2017: Roger Moore dies at age 89--Crans-Montana, Valais, Switzerland.
    (Born 14 October 1927--Stockwell, London.)
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    Roger Moore dies at 89; debonair British actor played James Bond in 7 movies
    By Steve Chawkins - May 23, 2017 | 7:20 AM

    Sir Roger Moore started acting in the 1940s and continued the craft up to his death.
    http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-roger-moore-snap-story.html

    Roger Moore, the suave British actor who starred in seven James Bond movies and brought a likable, comedic dimension to the unflappable secret agent, has died after a short battle with cancer, his family said Tuesday. He was 89.

    From 1973 to 1985, Moore was Agent 007 in "Live and Let Die," "The Man with the Golden Gun," "The Spy Who Loved Me," "Moonraker," "For Your Eyes Only," "Octopussy" and "A View to a Kill."

    He was often compared with Sean Connery, the Scottish actor who originated the film role and in many ways was the prototypical Bond.

    "I'm often asked, 'Who is the best Bond?'" Moore wrote in his 2012 book, Bond on Bond.

    "Apart from myself?" I modestly enquire. "It has to be Sean."

    "Sean was Bond. He created Bond," Moore wrote. "He was a bloody good 007."

    From 1962 to 1969, Moore starred on TV's "The Saint" as the rakish Simon Templar, a modern-day Robin Hood who targeted wealthy villains. In his later years, he was a globetrotting goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, a job he embraced after his friend Audrey Hepburn cajoled him into it. In 2003, he was knighted for his charity efforts.

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    But he was best known as Bond, James Bond—the dashing British spy who, in Moore's hands, never met a woman or a pun he could resist.

    In private, he had distinctly un-Bondlike qualities.

    He was a hypochondriac. He feared heights and loathed guns, perhaps because a friend accidentally shot him in the leg with an air rifle when he was 15. And he didn't care for vodka martinis, Bond's trademark cocktail; Moore said that if he had just 24 hours left to live, he would order a dry Tanqueray gin martini, with three olives on the side.

    In contrast to Connery's dark, rough-hewn good looks, Moore was fair.
    "I was fortunately always offered jobs because I was so pretty," he told the London Evening Standard in 2003. "Women used to complain about it!"

    Roger Moore to the London Evening Standard in 2003

    Moore was one of seven big-screen Bonds. The others were Connery, followed by George Lazenby, Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig. David Niven was Bond in "Casino Royale[/b]," a 1967 spoof that was not part of Eon Productions' "official" Bond franchise.

    At 58, when Moore announced that he would finally hang up his Walther PPK, he was the oldest of all the Bonds.

    Moore recalled that when he took his young son Geoffrey to lunch one afternoon in the early 1970s, he endured an interrogation that would rattle even the suavest superspy.

    Asked if he could beat up anybody in the restaurant, Moore said yes, of course he could.

    But Geoffrey persisted.

    "What about if James Bond came in?"

    "I'm going to be James Bond," Moore reminded him.

    "No, I mean the real one," Geoffrey said. "Sean Connery."

    Decades later, Moore delighted in telling the story of his son's unnerving frankness – while noting that he had gone on to star as Bond in seven movies over 12 years, and had so thoroughly distinguished himself from his most celebrated predecessor that the words "shaken, not stirred" never passed his lips.

    Moore later said that Craig had the best build and better acting abilities than the other Bonds.

    The subject has been debated as long as maniacs bent on world conquest have sprung open trapdoors and fed their enemies to the ravenous sharks below.

    Compared to Connery, Moore conveyed "much more of the flavor of the Etonian dropout that Fleming envisaged," wrote Steven Jay Rubin in "The James Bond Films: A Behind The Scenes History."

    He "brought to the role a sophisticated sense of comedy which was not a feature of Connery's style."

    When making love to sexy "Bond girls," Moore managed to toss off one bad double-entendre after another without being thrown out of bed. Confronting the world's most demented thugs, like the steel-toothed, flesh-ripping Jaws (played by the towering Richard Kiel), he could seem almost natural when explaining that his new friend had "just dropped in for a quick bite."

    Moore claimed there wasn't much of a trick to it; he was going for laughs, he said, not high drama.

    "I only had three expressions as Bond," he joked. "Right eyebrow raised, left eyebrow raised, and eyebrows crossed when grabbed by Jaws."

    Critics were sometimes unkind.

    The New Yorker's Pauline Kael likened Moore in "The Spy Who Loved Me" to "an office manager who is turning into dead wood but hanging on to collect his pension."

    Moore himself confessed to feeling too old for the Bond role a couple of years before he gave it up.

    "After 'Octopussy,' I resigned myself to thoughts of retirement," he said. "There are only so many stunts an aging actor can tackle, and only so many young girls he can kiss without looking like a perverted grandfather."

    Born Oct. 14, 1927, in London, Roger George Moore was the only child of police officer George Alfred Moore and his wife Lily Pope Moore.

    As a teenager, he showed some talent for art and landed a part-time job as an animator-trainee at a movie studio that made World War II military training films.

    He also worked as an extra on films in London and, for two terms, attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

    "They taught me to talk 'properly' without a South London accent, the art of mime, fencing, ballet (I wasn't too keen on that) and something called 'basic movement,' which consisted of wearing swimming shorts and bending and stretching whilst swinging my arms," he wrote in his 2008 memoir, "My Word is My Bond."

    One of his classmates was Lois Maxwell, who became the brisk but playful secretary Miss Moneypenny in 14 Bond films.

    Moore struggled like many other actors.

    He picked up jobs in London plays, but also modeled for women's magazines and knitwear ads. In 1953, he appeared on Broadway in "A Pin to See the Peepshow," a play that opened and closed on the same day.

    Still, his performances in early TV dramas brought him recognition from Hollywood, where he signed on with MGM and appeared with Van Johnson and Elizabeth Taylor in "The Last Time I Saw Paris" (1954). Other films followed, including "The King's Thief" (1955) with David Niven, a close friend who cavorted with Moore for decades at their Swiss chalets and in Monaco, where Moore settled to avoid what he felt were excessive British taxes.

    Before Moore's breakthrough role in "The Saint," there were other TV series, including "Ivanhoe" and "The Alaskans." Moore also played James Garner's refined British cousin Beauregarde on the TV western "Maverick."

    After "The Saint," Moore starred with Tony Curtis as playboy-investigators in "The Persuaders!" a 1971 series more popular in Europe than in the U.S.

    "There was no sudden moment when I was famous," he told the York Press, a British newspaper, in 2014. "It was all sort of gradual. It went from one begging letter a month to 400."

    Asked how he dealt with that, he said: "I keep writing them."

    He did many other movies but remained most closely identified with Bond. In 1981, he played a Bond wannabe – in actuality a girdle magnate – in the zany "Cannonball Run" with Burt Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett, Sammy Davis Jr. and other big names.

    Moore took home a best-acting Oscar in 1973—but kept it for less than 24 hours.

    He and Liv Ullman were presenters when Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather declined the award on behalf of Marlon Brando for his title role in "The Godfather." Moore took the statuette to his overnight digs at the home of Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, the Bond producer, where armed guards picked it up the next morning.

    Moore was married to ice dancer Doorn van Steyn; British actress Dorothy Squires; and Luisa Mattioli, an Italian actress he met in Rome while filming "Romulus and The Sabines" (1961). Those marriages ended in divorce.

    In 2002, he married Kristina "Kiki" Throlstrup, a former neighbor on the French Riviera who connected with Moore over their individual struggles with cancer.

    In addition to Throlstrup, his survivors include the children he had with Mattioli: Geoffrey, Deborah and Christian.

    With typical self-effacement and Bondian charm, Moore described all his wives as "lovely ladies with bad taste in men."

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  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    edited May 2018 Posts: 13,820
    May 24th

    1931: Michael Lonsdale is born--Paris, France.
    1949: Roger Deakins is born--Torquay, Devon, England.
    1985: A View to a Kill gets general release in the United States.
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    2007: BBC's Radio 4 airs its first Bond radio drama: Dr. No.
    It stars Toby Stephens as OO7. David Suchet. Dramatized by Hugh Whitemore.
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    https://bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00bfd0d
    Dr No
    Saturday Drama

    A distinguished cast, headed by Toby Stephens and David Suchet, takes part in this 'radio movie' of Ian Fleming's 1958 novel, dramatised by Hugh Whitemore.

    Bond is sent to investigate a strange disappearance on the island of Jamaica, and discovers that the heart of the mystery lies with a sinister recluse known as 'Dr No'. Another chance to hear this classic Bond adventure - the first in Radio 4's ongoing all-star series.

    Cast:
    'M' ..... John Standing
    Moneypenny ..... Janie Dee
    James Bond ..... Toby Stephens
    The Armourer ..... Peter Capaldi
    Chief of Staff ..... Nicky Henson
    Airport Announcer/Receptionist ...... Inika Leigh Wright
    Airport Official/Pus-Feller/ Henchman .....Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
    Quarrel ..... Clarke Peters
    Miss Chung/ Sister Lily ...... Kosha Engler
    Pleydell Smith ..... Samuel West
    Miss Taro/ Telephonist/ Sister May/Tennis girl..... Jordanna Tin
    Librarian ..... Lucy Fleming
    Honey Rider ...... Lisa Dillon
    Guard /Henchman/Crane Driver ..... Jon David Yu
    Dr No ..... David Suchet
    Acting Governor of Jamaica ..... Simon Williams
    Voice of Ian Fleming ..... Martin Jarvis

    Original music by Mark Holden and Sam Barbour

    Producer: Rosalind Ayres
    Director: Martin Jarvis
    A Jarvis & Ayres Production for BBC Radio 4.
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    2016: Burt Kwouk dies at age 85--Hampstead, London. (Born 18 July 1930--Warrington, Cheshire, England.)
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    edited May 2018 Posts: 13,820
    May 25th

    1917: Winston Churchill's obituary penned for his close friend--"Valentine Fleming. An Appreciation"--
    is published in The Times.
    1985: Title song "A View to a Kill" tops out at number two in the UK Singles Chart.
    1985: The James Bond 007 Master Trivia Tournament is held at AMC Puente 10 Theaters in Industry, California.
    2018: Bond at Bletchley Park, once the central site for British codebreakers during World War II,
    hosts Illustrations and Inspirations which highlights a Fleming connection.
    Runs through October.
    MAY 2018 - Bond at Bletchley Park: Illustrations and Inspirations
    https://bletchleypark.org.uk/whats-on/bond-at-bletchley-park-illustrations-and-inspirations

    Art exhibition celebrating James Bond
    Friday, 25 May 2018 — Sunday, 14 October 2018
    From 09:30 to 17:00 Free with admission

    New exhibition of contemporary art celebrating James Bond

    This summer James Bond comes to Bletchley Park. On display in Hut 12, a temporary art exhibition celebrates Ian Fleming’s original James Bond series, as well as the most recent 007 continuation novels written by critically acclaimed author, Anthony Horowitz.

    The exhibition includes a special section presenting new research into Fleming’s connection to Bletchley Park, exploring how his work in Naval Intelligence helped to inspire the creation of the James Bond books. When Ian Fleming was assistant to the Head of Naval Intelligence during World War Two he vowed to ‘write the spy story to end all spy stories’ and went on to create Casino Royale.

    The artworks have been newly commissioned by social enterprise Eazl from a carefully selected roster of emerging and mid-career artists from the UK and beyond. Participating artists include Threadneedle Prize finalists David Storey and Tomas Tichy, the Australian painter Marc Freeman, and the prize-winning illustrator Finn Dean. The pieces are each inspired by a specific scene, theme or character from a James Bond novel.

    The exhibition is part of a wider project organised by Eazl, with the kind permission of Ian Fleming Publications. The project will culminate in a charity auction in London, in October 2018.

    The exhibition coincides with the release of the second official Bond novel by Horowitz ‘Forever and a Day’, the follow up to the critically acclaimed ‘Trigger Mortis’.

    1 / 4 — Magnus Gjoen, 'Goldfinger' (2018). Inspired by the novel by Ian Fleming.
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    2 / 4 — Paul Wright, ‘James - On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ (2018), oil on linen.
    Inspired by the novel by Ian Fleming.
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    3 / 4 — David Storey, ‘Bond Arriving at the Devil’s Own Stone Circle’ (2018),
    oil on canvas. Inspired by a passage from ‘Trigger Mortis’ where Bond discovers
    Pussy Galore being painted gold.
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    4 / 4 — Alan Fears, ‘From Breakfast with Love’ (2018). Inspired by the scene
    in ‘Trigger Mortis’, by Anthony Horowitz, where Bond and Pussy Galore share
    an awkward breakfast in Bond’s flat.
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  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    That Duran Duran video is awfully cheesy.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,820
    May 26th

    1909: Richard Maibaum is born--New York City, New York.
    (He dies 4 January 1991 at age 81--Santa Monica, California.)
    2011: Bond novel Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver is published by Hoddder & Stoughton.
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  • My American paperback copy of Carte Blanche fell apart from rain damage shortly after I finished it and is completely unpresentable and largely unreadable.

    And I am very okay with that.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,820
    May 27th

    1922: Christopher Lee is born--Belgravia, London. (He dies 7 June 2015 at age 93--Chelsea, London.)
    1964: From Russia With Love is released in Greece.
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    1967: Comic strip Octopussy ends its run in The Daily Express. (Started 14 November 1966. 264-428)
    Yaroslav Horak, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.
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    1974: Sebastien Foucan is born--Paris, France.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    edited May 2018 Posts: 13,820
    May 28th

    1908: Ian Lancaster Fleming is born--Mayfair, London, England.
    (He dies 12 August 1964 at age 56--Canterbury, Kent, England.)
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    1929: Shane Rimmer is born--Toronto, Canada.
    1944: Gladys Knight is born--Oglethorpe, Georgia.
    2008: Bond novel Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks is published by Penguin OO7.
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    2016: Maxus Movie Walks Ian Fleming Tour starts 5pm from Bank station and ends with drinks 7pm at the Apex Hotel Bar.
    Artistic Licence Renewed
    The Literary James Bond Magazine

    Celebrate Ian Fleming’s Birthday with us!
    009 / April 15, 2016

    Join us to celebrate the birthday of Ian Fleming on May 28, 2016!
    https://literary007.com/2016/04/15/celebrate-ian-flemings-birthday-with-us/
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    edited March 2019 Posts: 13,820
    May 29th

    1920: Clifton James is born--Spokane, Washington. (He dies 15 April 2017 at age 96--Gladstone, Oregon.)
    2017: I came across this nice local piece on the passing of Clifton James and wanted to share it.
    For anyone who's served, his uniform tells an impressive story with the combat infantry badge and overseas service stripes (a total of 7, each indicating 6 months in a combat zone).
    He is awesome.
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    http://pamplinmediagroup.com/pt/9-news/357972-237884-gladstone-hometown-hero-clifton-james-fondly-remembered
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    Gladstone hometown hero Clifton James
    fondly remembered

    Raymond Rendleman - Monday, May 08, 2017
    James, awarded the Silver Star for his bravery in combat in 1945, went on international fame as Louisiana Sheriff JW Pepper in two James Bond films
    Clifton James, Gladstone's hometown hero for his World War II bravery and extensive acting career spanning nearly six decades, died last month at the age of 96.

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    SUBMITTED PHOTO - In the photo circa 1980, Clifton James enjoys the Clackamas River with his family near High Rocks in Gladstone.

    James grew up in Gladstone, a town that he always loved. After studying drama at the University of Oregon, he lived in New York and Los Angeles for most of his life, but his sisters lived in Gladstone, so he would often visit them along with his nieces and nephews. He moved in with his daughter, Gladstone resident Mary James, for the final years of his life before succumbing to diabetes on April 15.
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    SUBMITTED PHOTO - Clifton James as Sheriff JW Pepper plays opposite Roger Moore as James Bond in 1974's 'The Man with the Golden Gun.'
    James' memorial service with full military honors is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 25, at Willamette National Cemetery, 11800 S.E. Mt Scott Blvd., Portland.

    "He almost always played that tough, Southern sheriff type," said James' sister Bev Anslow of his successful acting career that included more than 50 film credits.

    James made his Broadway stage debut as a construction foreman in "The Cave Dwellers" (1958). He was involved in a lot of off-Broadway shows, where he played various roles, including starring with Al Pacino in "American Buffalo" from 1980-81, which was turned into a 1997 film production starring Dustin Hoffman.
    James played a floor walker in the classic film "Cool Hand Luke" (1967). His most famous role was fast-talking Louisiana Sheriff JW Pepper in two James Bond films opposite Roger Moore: 1973's "Live and Let Die" and 1974's "The Man with the Golden Gun." Anslow said an elephant was supposed to knock James' stunt double, not James himself as JW Pepper, into a Southeast Asian river during a memorable scene in "The Man with the Golden Gun."

    Moore paid tribute to James on Twitter: "Terribly sad to hear Clifton James has left us. As JW Pepper he gave my first two Bond films a great, fun character."

    As a character actor, James was called upon to reprise variations on JW Pepper many times. Did he mind being type-cast?

    "It didn't bother him, and he rather liked it," Anslow said. "He was an actor's actor, and he would act whatever part was given to him and genuinely enjoy the work."
    James loved putting on a show throughout his long life. He was a well-known character around Gladstone, often seen with an unlit cigar in his mouth or taking out his false teeth to scare children.

    James' mother taught grade school in Woodland, Washington, and would organize local drama productions, including at the old Gladstone Grade School, which which was K-8 at that time. James went to school in Gladstone through the eighth grade and graduated from Milwaukie High School.

    SUBMITTED PHOTO - Staff Sgt. Clifton James of Gladstone served in the U.S. Army for 42 months during World War II. (Posted above)

    James was one of the last survivors of WWII's 41st Division, composed of National Guard units from Idaho, Montana, Oregon, North Dakota and Washington state. Serving in the U.S. Army for 42 months in the South Pacific during WWII, he was awarded the Silver Star for his bravery in combat on April 21, 1945.

    During the spring of '45, James served as a staff sergeant leading a combat patrol to determine the strength of enemy entrenchments on several ridges on the Philippines' Jolo Island, where previous U.S. attacks had been repulsed. Rather than endanger the whole patrol on April 21, he asked them to stay under cover and watch him try to crawl undetected toward an enemy's trench system. James came under "heavy automatic fire" once he crawled within 20 yards of the trench.

    "Then, with complete disregard for his life, [James] charged the position, killing its occupants," a now-declassified military document says. "Continuing on his mission, he crawled to a vantage point, where he could observe the activity of the enemy on the next ridge. With this valuable information gained, the forthcoming attack was a success."

    More information about James' military service and letters he sent home to family is available in copies of "Gladstone, Oregon: A History" by Gladstone historian Herbert K. Beals available at City Hall. James suffered various injuries during WWII, including the loss of his front teeth. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a drama degree in 1950.

    In 1951, James married Laurie Harper, who died in 2015. He is survived by six children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
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    1929: Shane Rimmer is born--Toronto, Canada. (He dies 29 March 2019 at age 89.)
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    Shane Rimmer, voice of Thunderbirds'
    Scott Tracy, dies aged 89

    https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/mar/29/shane-rimmer-voice-of-thunderbirds-scott-tracy-dies-aged-89

    The Canadian actor had forged a lengthy career in cult TV shows
    and films, appearing in three James Bond movies


    Martin Belam | Fri 29 Mar 2019 10.49 EDT | Last modified on Fri 29 Mar 2019 14.15 EDT

    6022.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=ae3fd2bd5693c8193dc9de56a862fa89
    Shane Rimmer, who has died aged 89, pictured here during a stint in ITV’s Coronation Street during the 1980s.
    Photograph: ITV/REX/Shutterstock

    Actor Shane Rimmer, who voiced the character of pilot Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds, has died. The official Gerry Anderson website carried the news, saying that the death of the 89 year old had been confirmed by his widow Sheila Rimmer. Rimmer died at home in the early hours of 29 March. No cause of death has been given.

    Rimmer, who was born in Toronto in 1929 and moved to the UK in the 1950s, played the leader of the Thunderbirds crew in 32 episodes produced between 1964 and 1966. The actor also contributed his voice to other Gerry Anderson projects including Joe 90 and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, and appeared in person in the Anderson’s live action project UFO. Behind the scenes, Rimmer also wrote episodes of Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, The Secret Service and The Protectors.

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    Scott, Lady Penelope and Virgil in Thunderbirds
    Photograph: ITV / Rex Features
    As well as his work with Gerry and Sylvia Anderson he appeared in over 100 films including Dr Strangelove, Gandhi and Out of Africa. He played three different roles in three different James Bond movies, appearing in Diamonds Are Forever, You Only Live Twice, and The Spy Who Loved Me.

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    Shane Rimmer with James Bond actor Roger Moore on the set of 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me.
    Photograph: Danjaq/Eon/Ua/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
    Rimmer was also regularly cast in science fiction and fantasy projects, having appeared in William Hartnell era Doctor Who story The Gunfighters, as well as in Space: 1999, and having minor roles in Star Wars and Superman movies. He also played two different characters in British soap opera Coronation Street – in 1988 as shopkeeper Malcolm Reid, and between 1967 and 1970 as Joe Donnelli, an American GI who had murdered an army colleague and eventually shot himself.

    Rimmer had continued to work in his later years, and as recently as 2017 was supplying a voiceover in cult kids’ TV show The Amazing World of Gumball.

    https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/mar/29/shane-rimmer-voice-of-thunderbirds-scott-tracy-dies-aged-89
    He told the Washington Times in 2017 that it was his Bond work he was most proud of. “That was crazy. I have no idea how it happened. I did Diamonds Are Forever first. It wasn’t much. I just came on and got into a bit of a slanging match with Sean Connery, who slangs very well. Then I did You Only Live Twice. They got rid of me up in space in that one. The third, The Spy Who Loved Me was a good one all around. It was Roger Moore’s favourite of all the ones he did. You just get a kind of intuitive thing about a movie. It worked very well.”
    1967: Comic strip The Hildebrand Rarity begins its run in The Daily Express.
    (Finishes 16 December 1967. 429-602) Yaroslav Horak, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.
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    2008: Penguin Books publishes Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories.
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  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,820
    May 30th

    1963: Bosley Crowther's review of Dr. No goes to print in The New York Times.
    (The Screen: 'Dr. No,' Mystery Spoof; Film Is First Made of Ian Fleming Novels Sean Connery Stars as James Bond.)
    2017: Molly Peters dies at age 75. (Born 15 March 1942--Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk, England.)
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,820
    May 31st

    1907: Robert Peter Fleming is born--Mayfair, London, England.
    (He dies 18 August 1971 at age 64--Black Mount, Scotland.)
    1927: Joe Robinson is born--Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England.
    (He dies 3 July 2017 at age 90--Brighton, East Sussex, England.)
    1956: Ian Fleming begins an exchange of letters with arms expert Geoffrey Boothroyd.
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    The strange tale of the man who armed James Bond
    https://scotsman.com/news/the-strange-tale-of-the-man-who-armed-james-bond-1-558731

    THE expert behind the guns used by James Bond has been revealed as a Glaswegian whose world-class knowledge of firearms earned him the role of the Armourer in the 007 books.

    Geoffrey Boothroyd, who worked for ICI in Glasgow, wrote to the author Ian Fleming shortly after reading Casino Royale in 1956, pointing out that the gun Bond used, a .25 Beretta, was inappropriate for the character.

    The strength of his argument persuaded Fleming not only to incorporate his suggestions, but also to adopt Boothroyd as a paid adviser on arms-related matters in the Bond novels.

    Fleming used Boothroyd’s persona as the Armourer in Dr No, describing him as Major Boothroyd, "a short slim man with sandy hair" with "very wide apart, clear, grey eyes that never seemed to flicker".

    The character of Boothroyd makes a dramatic entry in Dr No: "M bent forward to the intercom. ‘Is the Armourer there? Send him in.’ M sat back. ‘You may not know it, 007, but Major Boothroyd’s the greatest small-arms expert in the world." Not surprisingly, the major had a rather acerbic view of Bond’s Beretta. When asked as to its use, Boothroyd replied in a clipped manner: "Ladies’ gun, sir."

    Correspondence between Fleming and Boothroyd, which is to go under the hammer at Bloomsbury Auctions, the London specialist saleroom for books and manuscripts, reveal how far the author took on board the latter’s technical advice. Fleming frequently asked Boothroyd for more information on weapons and even borrowed his Smith & Wesson to be painted by Richard Chopping for the dust-jacket of From Russia with Love.

    Academics and archivists hope the correspondence will not be broken up but kept together and deposited in a library where scholars can use it. Bloomsbury is to offer it as one lot with a pre-sale estimate of 15,000-20,000.

    The collection of 30 previously unknown letters, written between 31 May, 1956, and 30 September, 1963, demonstrate Fleming’s passion for guns and attention to detail, coupled with Boothroyd’s intense knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject. From that first letter on, Bond was never without the correct firearm and his enemies were suitably equipped in return.

    Potential problems over legally holding guns arise in the letters. Fleming assures Boothroyd that, as the Deputy Commissioner of Scotland Yard is "a close personal friend, we should have no complications over firearms certificates."

    The two men’s dry sense of humour often comes through in the correspondence. In a letter dated 3 January, 1962, Fleming writes: "I feel safe in wishing you a Prosperous New Year, and if the tax man becomes too difficult, I suggest you shoot him."

    Boothroyd was paid for his technical advice. In a letter to him, Fleming wrote: "I propose to pay you 25 per cent of all revenue I get from this piece and I suggest we needn’t draw up any legal contracts as my secretary, Miss Griffie-Williams, is an extremely honest person and will see that you get your due!" Fleming even signed himself in 1962 as "Comptroller of the Boothroyd Privy Purse".

    Boothroyd, who was born in Lancashire but lived in Glasgow from the age of three, became one of the greatest authorities on the history and development of the sporting gun and was a regular contributor to the Shooting Times. He wrote several books, including A Guide to Guns in 1961 and The Handgun in 1988. He died in 2001.

    A series of first edition 007 books from Boothroyd’s library are also to be sold by Bloomsbury. Fleming signed very few books and, consequently, there is a large premium for signed and presentation copies. As Boothroyd played such a key role in shaping the character of Bond, two of the books are likely to fetch new world records.

    A copy of From Russia with Love is dedicated by Fleming "To Geoffrey Boothroyd - herewith appointed Armourer to J. Bond from Ian Fleming." The inscription in Dr No reads, "To Geoffrey Boothroyd - alias The Armourer from Ian Fleming". Each is expected to make up to 5,000.

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    Boothroyd even did duty as Armorer for S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel universe.
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    2018: Anthony Horowitz’s second James Bond novel Forever and a Day is published by Jonathan Cape.
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