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  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 14,331
    April 14th

    1912: Joie Chitwood is born--Denison, Texas.
    (He dies 3 January 1988 at age 75--Tampa, Florida.)
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    Joie Chitwood
    See the complete article here:
    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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    Joie Chitwood
    Born April 14, 1912 | Denison, Texas
    Died January 3, 1988 (aged 75) | Tampa Bay, Florida
    Formula One World Championship career
    Nationality United States American
    Active years 1950
    Teams Kurtis Kraft
    Entries 1
    Championships 0
    Wins 0
    Podiums 0
    Career points 1
    Pole positions 0
    Fastest laps 0
    First entry 1950 Indianapolis 500
    Last entry 1950 Indianapolis 500
    George Rice Chitwood (April 14, 1912 – January 3, 1988), nicknamed "Joie", was an American racecar driver and businessman. He is best known as a daredevil in the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show.

    Born in Denison, Texas of Cherokee Indian ancestry, he was dubbed "Joie" by a track promoter and the name stuck.

    Racing career
    Chitwood started his racecar driving career in 1934 at a dirt track in Winfield, Kansas. From there, he began racing sprint cars. In 1939 and 1940 he won the AAA East Coast Sprint car championship.[1] He switched to the CSRA and won its title in 1942.[1] Between 1940 and 1950 he competed at the Indianapolis 500 seven times, finishing fifth on three different occasions.[1] He was the first man ever to wear a safety belt at the Indy 500.[1]

    Joie Chitwood Thrill Show
    Chitwood also operated the "Joie Chitwood Thrill Show", an exhibition of auto stunt driving that became so successful he gave up racing. Often called "Hell Drivers," he had five units that for more than forty years toured across North America thrilling audiences in large and small towns alike with their death-defying automobile stunts.

    His show was so popular, that in January 1967, the performance at the Islip Speedway, New York was broadcast on ABC television's Wide World of Sports.

    On May 13, 1978, Joie Chitwood Jr.(b. Aug. 31, 1943) set a world record when he drove a Chevrolet Chevette for 5.6 miles (9.0 km) on just 2 wheels. His sons, Joie Jr. and Tim both joined the auto thrill show and continued to run the "Joie Chitwood Chevy Thunder Show" after their father's retirement. The Chitwood show toured the US from 1945-98. His grandson, Joie Chitwood III, is the President of Daytona International Speedway and a former president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    The show was featured during season 3 of CHiPs in an episode entitled "Thrill Show". Joie Jr. did stunts for Miami Vice on several occasions. Joie Jr. (b. 1943) also appeared as a guest challenger on the TV game show To Tell The Truth. Joie Jr. worked in over 60 feature films and national commercials.

    Chitwood's show was credited by Evel Knievel as being his inspiration to become a daredevil when his show appeared in his home town of Butte, Montana.

    Stuntman
    Chitwood was frequently hired by Hollywood film studios to either do stunt driving for films or to act as auto-stunt coordinator. On a few occasions he appeared in a minor role, notably with Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck in the 1950 film about auto racing, To Please a Lady.
    In 1973, Joie Chitwood Jr. is credited as a Stunt Coordinator for the hugely successful James Bond film Live and Let Die, where he was also the stunt driver and acted in a minor part.
    Safety Consultant
    Joie Chitwood Jr. also acted as a car safety consultant, intentionally crashing vehicles for subsequent investigation. He had intentionally crashed more than 3000 vehicles by the time he appeared on the game show I've Got A Secret in 1965. Joie Jr. and Joie Sr. test-crashed guardrails and breakaway Interstate signs for US Steel and aluminum light poles for ALCOA. The highways are safer today because of these tests.

    Retirement
    When Chitwood retired, his sons took over the business. Joie Chitwood died in 1988,[1] aged 75, in Tampa Bay, Florida.

    He was inducted in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1993. He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2010 in the Historic category.[1] Among his contributions to the sport was the supervision of the construction of Pennsylvania's Selinsgrove Speedway in 1945.
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    1917: Richard Wasey Chopping is born--Colchester, Essex, England.
    (He dies 17 April 2008 at age 91--Colchester, Essex, England.)
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    Richard Chopping: Versatile
    illustrator best known for his
    distinctive Bond book jackets
    Wednesday 23 April 2008 00:00
    Richard Chopping is probably best known today as the creator of dust-jackets for the publisher Jonathan Cape's Ian Fleming James Bond novels. From Russia with Love (1957), with its pistol and flower design, the skull and rose for Goldfinger (1959), and the slightly eerie spyhole and Ian Fleming's name-plate artwork for For Yours Eyes Only [sic] (1960) are distinctively Chopping's work.
    The creator of these confections, with their meticulous attention to detail and delicacy of colour, was, however, much more than a book-jacket designer. By the time they appeared, Chopping had established a reputation as a versatile illustrator who was noted for his depictions of natural objects such as butterflies, flowers, insects and fruit, based on close observation, as well as being a sympathetic teacher, busy exhibitor and author.

    Richard Wasey Chopping was born in 1917 in Colchester, Essex – Wasey was an old family name. His father was an entrepreneurial businessman from a milling family, was himself a miller and store owner and eventually became mayor of Colchester. Chopping's twin brother died when young. He also had an older brother, a pilot killed on a Pathfinder mission over Europe in the Second World War.

    - - -

    A 1956 three-man exhibition at the Hanover Gallery, with Francis Bacon as the main attraction and separate rooms given over to pictures by a French aristocrat and Chopping, led to the Bond dust-jacket commissions. Chopping's flower paintings and trompe-l'oeil works were upstairs, as he remembered, "in a little gallery at the back, that was like a kind of long lavatory".
    Bacon took Ann, Ian Fleming's wife, in to see his own work, Chopping recalled. "Then he took her upstairs to see mine, which was very good of him, and Ann went back to Ian and said, 'Well, you ought to get this chap to do your next book jacket.'" They met at one of the Flemings' artistic salons, where Fleming granted Chopping the commission for From Russia with Love.

    Although the first edition jacket announced that it had been designed by the author, Chopping later said:
    He in no way designed it. He did tell me the things he wanted on it. It had to be a rose with a drop of dew on it. There had to be a sawn-off Smith & Wesson. We never discussed the type of revolver we would use. It had to be that one.

    - - -
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    1961: Ian Fleming is inspired to pursue republishing favorite books gone out of print.
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    Ian Fleming, Andrew Lycett, 1995.
    A glance through The Times Literary
    Supplement
    while he was still at the London Clinic suggested another idea.
    In the issue of 14 April he read a leading article which put the case for
    republishing books long out of print. This encouraged him to remind his
    own publisher that he had several times pushed for a reprint of one of his
    favourite novels, All Night at Mr Stanyhurst's by Hugh Edwards, with an
    introduction he would write himself. In putting forward such ideas, Ian
    was thinking about his future. As he told William Plomer, he had again
    almost killed off Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me. He had decided not to,
    but the appropriate time had now certainly come.
    1961: Robert Carlyle is born--Glasgow, Scotland.
    1967: Casino Royale general release in the UK.
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    1980: Moonraker receives an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects.

    1996: English Heritage establishes a ceramic plaque at 22 Ebury Street, Belgravia, London:
    IAN FLEMING 1908-1964 Creator of James Bond lived here.
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    1999: BBC News reports on a "minor planet" named after James Bond. Maybe asteroid.
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    Sci/Tech
    The name's Bond, James
    Bond
    Wednesday, April 14, 1999 Published at 17:25 GMT 18:25 UK
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    Asteroid 9007 captured on film
    By BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse
    Czech astronomers have named a minor planet they discovered in 1983 after Her Majesty's Secret Agent 007 - James Bond.
    Giving a minor planet a name is one of the privileges given to those astronomers who find them. Mostly, these objects are a few miles across and orbit the Sun in-between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

    When a newly-discovered minor planet has been observed several times, and an orbit for it has been well established, it is given a number.

    At present, there are 10,448 numbered minor planets of which 7,000 have been officially named.

    According to Brian Marsden of the Minor Planet Center at Harvard there are rules about choosing names.

    Naming rules
    No military or political names are allowed until at least 100 years after the event or death of the person concerned.

    No unpronounceable names or those that are obscene or in bad taste. None must be too similar to existing names and none must be longer than 16 characters.

    Following these guidelines, 223 minor planets have just received names - a record.

    They include asteroid 9007 which according to its discoverers at the Klet observatory in the Czech republic, could only be called James Bond.

    Minor planets have also just been named after the writers Iris Murdoch and Arthur Ransome, as well as painters Constable, Holbein and Gainsboroug.

    Star gazing
    There is also Minor Planet DENI which stands for the Department for Education in Northern Ireland.

    But perhaps the most touching name given to a minor planet is 1992 QJ Lewispearce.

    Lewis Percival Pearce was born at Nedlands, Western Australia on 23 January this year.

    He suffered oxygen deprivation during birth and never regained consciousness.

    Twelve days later, he died but not without sharing some experiences with his parents. One of them was observing the stars with his dad, Andrew Pearce.
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    1999: Anthony Newley dies at age 67--Jensen Beach, Florida.
    (Born 24 September 1931--Hackney, London, England.)
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    Obituary: Anthony Newley
    Tom Vallance | Friday 16 April 1999 00:02

    ONE OF Britain's most distinctive talents, Anthony Newley was an actor, singer, composer and writer who had his first starring role in films at the age of 16, composed hit musicals and songs, topped the hit parade himself as a pop star, played everything from romantic leads to quirky character roles in movies, starred on both the West End and Broadway stages, and became a favourite of cabaret audiences from New York to Las Vegas.

    His elongated Cockney vowel sounds made his voice an unmistakable one which people either loved or hated. It served him well on novelty songs such as "Pop Goes the Weasel", but he was also a fine ballad singer. "What Kind of Fool Am I", "Who Can I Turn To" and "Candy Man" were just three of the hit songs he co-wrote. "I'm not a trained musician or singer," he once said, "but I can turn out a song."

    - - -

    With Bricusse, Newley wrote the book and score of Stop the World I Want To Get Off, in which Newley starred as Littlechap, an Everyman figure whose whole life is depicted in the show. Newley said, "The role of Littlechap, surrounded by the type of chorus once used in Greek drama, has presented us with a challenge which any cast would surely enjoy tackling." Directed by Newley, the show opened at the Queen's Theatre in July 1961 and was a smash hit, its songs including "What Kind of Fool Am I", "Gonna Build a Mountain" (a hit record for Matt Monro) and "Once in a Lifetime". Sammy Davis was one of many who recorded the songs - he became a close friend of Newley and a great champion of the Newley-Bricusse catalogue.

    When Newley was asked why most of his songs became hit records for other singers, he replied, "Sammy Davis, Andy Williams, Tony Bennett . . . their records sell in the millions; when I do it, it just trickles. But for the composer and lyricist there's a tidy bit to be made that way too, so I don't really mind." "What Kind of Fool Am I" won the 1962 Grammy Award as song of the year and has been recorded by over 70 vocalists, though Newley's own recording ran into trouble because he sang the word "damn" - he later made another recording which could be played on sensitive radio stations.

    In 1962 Stop the World moved to Broadway where, produced by David Merrick who had bought the American rights while it had been trying out in Nottingham ("I felt no need to wait and see if it would be a hit in London - I had been thoroughly entertained and absorbed by the freshness of conception shown by its authors"), it ran for over 500 performances. Both the London and New York productions were directed by Newley, of whom Merrick was to write, "I have no doubts at all that Mr Newley is going to enjoy widespread and durable success in America. The man does everything - he acts well; he sings with individuality and verve; and most importantly, he is an exceptionally attractive performer. His personality is dynamic and he projects a brilliance of spirit."

    During the show's run in 1963 Newley, who had previously been wed to Tiller Girl-turned-actress Ann Lynn, married Joan Collins. "Like most men of my generation," he said, "I had drooled over pictures of Joan. And there she was, backstage at Stop the World and I could not believe it. Did I ask her for a date? Yes I did." Collins described Newley at the time as "a half- Jewish Cockney git" and herself as "a half-Jewish princess from Bayswater via Sunset Boulevard".
    The following year the Bricusse-Newley team had a big hit with their lyrics to John Barry's music for Goldfinger, sung over the titles of the James Bond film by Shirley Bassey. The next Newley-Bricusse musical, The Roar of the Greasepaint - the Smell of the Crowd, "a comic allegory about the class system in contemporary Britain", had a better score than its predecessor but its 1964 tryout in Nottingham, starring Norman Wisdom and directed by Newley, did not prove satisfactory and it failed to reach London. David Merrick was again impressed, and offered to take it to Broadway if Newley would assume the leading role.
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    2021: Rowman & Littlefield Publisher release an updated version of Jeremy Black's
    World Of James Bond: The Lives & Times Of 007.
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    2048: The first Ian Fleming Bond novel Casino Royale is timed to enter the public domain in the United States.
    (And each of the following 13 years another book will do that.)




  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 14,331
    April 15th

    1947: Lois Chiles is born--Houston, Texas.
    1948: Michael Arnold Kamen is born--New York City, New York.
    (He dies 18 November 2003 at age 55--London, England.)
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    Michael Kamen
    Driven classical and pop composer
    Friday 21 November 2003 01:00

    Michael Kamen, composer: born New York 15 April 1948; married Sandra Keenan (two daughters); died London 18 November 2003.

    The extraordinary musical career of Michael Kamen was a testament not only to his talent and driven ambition, but also to a ceaseless passion and energy for his chosen course in life: following the twin paths of classical and pop music, he seemingly effortlessly balanced work as a composer, collaborator, performer, orchestrator and producer.

    On one hand, he was the driving force behind such fantastically ambitious projects as the 1994 Great Music Experience at Todaiji Temple in Nara, Japan, in aid of Unesco, to which Kamen not only brought Bob Dylan together with an orchestra for the first time, but also composed and conducted an overture for 350 performers including a symphony orchestra, 200 Buddhist monks, 35 Kodo Japanese drummers, an ancient Chinese orchestra, the Irish folk group the Chieftains and an all-star rock band. Yet, he was also the co-composer of Bryan Adams' 1991 hit "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You", a No 1 single in the UK for four months and for seven weeks in the United States. It was the biggest selling single in the history of A & M Records, and won Kamen one of several Grammy awards.
    The Adams' hit song, which many loved to hate, was taken from the soundtrack of Robin Hood: prince of thieves. The film world readily came to appreciate Kamen's abilities: he could write under pressure and he was fast - it took him just three weeks to come up with the soundtrack for The Three Musketeers in 1993 ("He thought visually," said the film producer Eric Fellner) and he wrote over 30 musical soundtracks, including those for all the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon series, for Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa (1986), The Krays (1990), the James Bond film Licence To Kill (1989) and X-Men (2000); several of these soundtracks were Oscar-nominated.
    "He was a man of many parts, using a very wide brush," said his close friend David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. "He was about the most successful film writer in recent years. He had such a gift for a memorable tune, and a great gift for melody. He also had huge enthusiasm, and a compulsion to keep at it." Gilmour had considerable experience of Kamen's work method. At the instigation of the producer Bob Ezrin, Kamen was brought in to orchestrate the string sections of Pink Floyd's 1979 album The Wall and subsequently moved to London from his native New York. In 1983 he co-produced Pink Floyd's The Final Cut album with the group. Kamen was an ebullient, bouncing bear of a man, with a gregarious personality.

    - - -

    Chris Salewicz


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    Pink Floyd - The Final Cut

    1960: Ian Fleming short story "Risico" (as "The Double Take") ends its serial run in The Daily Express.
    (Started 11 April 1960.)
    1965: Goldfinger released in the Netherlands.
    1969: On Her Majesty's Secret Service films Moneypenny and a new Bond.
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    1978: 007 나를 사랑한 스파이 (007 Love Me Spy) released in the Republic of Korea.
    1988: The Los Angeles Times reports Timothy Dalton will return.
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    MOVIES
    By DEBORAH CAULFIELD
    April 15, 1988 12 AM PT

    Timothy Dalton apparently passed muster as Agent 007--he’ll return as James Bond in “License Revoked,” set to start filming in Mexico City in mid-July, United Artists announced this week. No word yet on whether the Welsh-born Shakespearean-trained actor will again do many of his own stunts, as he did in “The Living Daylights.”
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    2017: Clifton James dies at age 96--Gladstone, Oregon.
    (Born 29 May 1920--Spokane, Washington.)
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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.
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    SUBMITTED PHOTO - Staff Sgt. Clifton James of Gladstone
    served in the U.S. Army for 42 months during World War II.
    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.
    Clifton James The Dukes of Hazzard


    Superman II : Zod Gang vs. Police Officer

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    2021: Paper Idol release their single "James Bond."
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    Electronic indie-pop band
    Paper Idol premieres single “James Bond”
    April 15, 2021 Rock At Night Contributor New Releases
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    Paper Idol
    Rock At Night says: “James Bond is one song that makes you want to get off your seat and dance across the floor. With its retro 70s disco sound, it’s exactly what we need at this time!

    Paper Idol is the genre-bending pop project of LA-based artist and auteur Matan KG. The music weaves dance music and alternative into “something unique and utterly disarming” (Beats per Minute), with storytelling that blurs the line between reality and fantasy, optimism and delusion.

    After graduating university with a Neuroscience degree, Matan left medical-school ambitions behind to pursue music in LA. In under two years, he has released a string of singles and a four-track EP, multiple collaborations with forward-thinking dance artists (Yung Bae, Wankelmut, NASAYA), and has been lauded by BBC Radio 1, Billboard, Under the Radar, and Dancing Astronaut.

    Paper Idol’s live act, featuring former classmate Adam Rochelle (keys), has played alongside Louis Futon and Sam Gellaitry at legendary venues the Fonda Theatre and the Echoplex. With another single in late October and a sophomore EP due early 2021, Paper Idol continues to rally a generation bombarded by reality and desperate for an escape.
    Paper Idol - James Bond (Official Music Video)

  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 14,331
    April 16th

    1917: Barry Nelson (Haakon Robert Nielsen) is born--San Francisco, California.
    (He dies 7 April 2007 at age 89--Bucks County, Pennsylvania.)
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    Barry Nelson, Broadway and Film Actor, Dies at 86
    By STUART LAVIETES | APRIL 14, 2007
    Barry Nelson, an actor who had a long career in film and television, starred in some of the more durable Broadway comedies of the 1950s and ’60s, and achieved a permanent place in the minds of trivia buffs as the first actor to portray James Bond, died last Saturday, his wife said yesterday. He was 86.
    The cause was not immediately known. His wife, Nansi Nelson, said he died while traveling in Bucks County, Pa., The Associated Press reported.
    - - -
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    1918: Syd Cain is born--Grantham, Lincolnshire, England.
    (He dies 21 November 2011 at age 93--England.)
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    Syd Cain obituary
    Production designer behind the deadly gadgets used by James Bond – and his foes
    Kim Newman - Thu 1 Dec 2011 13.29 EST
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    Syd Cain at Pinewood Studios with the model used in the explosive climax to
    On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). Photograph: 007magazine.com
    The production designer Syd Cain, who has died aged 93, was one of many behind-the-scenes professionals elevated to something like prominence by the worldwide interest in the James Bond films. An industry veteran who began work in British cinema as a draughtsman in 1947, contributing to the look of the gothic melodrama Uncle Silas, Cain is credited on a range of film and television projects, but remains best known for his work in various design capacities on the 007 series, from Dr No in 1962 to GoldenEye in 1995.

    Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Cain served in the armed forces in the second world war, surviving a plane crash and recovering from a broken back. Working at Denham Studios in Buckinghamshire in the 1940s and 50s, he moved up from uncredited draughtsman (on Adam and Evelyne, The Interrupted Journey, You Know What Sailors Are and Up to His Neck) to assistant art director (for The Gamma People, Fire Down Below, Interpol, How to Murder a Rich Uncle and The World of Suzie Wong). During this time, he developed a habit of slipping his name on to the screen among documents provided as props. In Carol Reed's Our Man in Havana (1959), where the blueprints for a vacuum cleaner are mistaken for rocket secrets, he is listed on the papers as the designer of the device. His first credit as art director was on The Road to Hong Kong (1962), the British-produced last gasp of the series of Bob Hope/Bing Crosby comedies. Cain also worked on the Hope vehicle Call Me Bwana (1963), best remembered because of an in-joke reference to it in From Russia With Love, where a sniper is concealed behind a billboard advertising the film.

    Having worked as a draughtsman on Hell Below Zero (1954) and assistant art director on The Cockleshell Heroes (1956), both produced by Albert R Broccoli, he was chosen by Broccoli to work on the Bond films. Though uncredited, he worked with the production designer Ken Adam – in whose shadow he modestly remained for much of his career – on Dr No, taking over as art director when Adam was not available for the immediate follow-up, From Russia With Love (1963). This was the film that introduced the character of Q (Desmond Llewelyn). Cain was responsible for the design of the gadgets issued to Sean Connery's Bond, notably the briefcase with concealed sniper rifle and tear-gas talcum tin. For the villains, Cain also provided Rosa Klebb's shoes, with poison-tipped blade, and the chess-themed decor of Blofeld's lair.

    Later, he was production designer for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). With a new Bond (George Lazenby) and a move away from the gadgets and vast sets of Connery and Adam's later work, Thunderball and Goldfinger, this tried to seem less fantastical – the only contraption issued to Bond is a photocopier. Cain was the supervising art director on Roger Moore's first Bond film, Live and Let Die (1973), then left the series, eventually returning as a storyboard artist for Pierce Brosnan's 007 debut, GoldenEye.
    Arguably more impressive than his Bond associations, Cain worked with a number of notable film-makers throughout the 1960s and 70s, as assistant art director for Stanley Kubrick (Lolita, 1962), art director for Ronald Neame (Mister Moses, 1965) and François Truffaut (Fahrenheit 451, 1966), executive art director for Richard Lester (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, 1966) and production designer for Ken Russell (Billion Dollar Brain, 1967), Alfred Hitchcock (Frenzy, 1972) and Jack Gold (Aces High, 1976).
    Contributing to lasting British pop-culture artefacts, he was also art director on the Cliff Richard vehicle Summer Holiday (1963) and production designer of the revival series The New Avengers (1976). After the popular, action-oriented Alistair Maclean adventure Fear Is the Key (1973), Cain became associated with a brand of high adventure that grew out of the Bond films, working with Peter R Hunt (director of On Her Majesty's Secret Service) on the Moore movies Gold (1974) and Shout at the Devil (1976), both set in Africa, and with the producer Euan Lloyd on a series of boozy, British macho epics – The Wild Geese (1978), The Sea Wolves (1980) and Who Dares Wins (1982).

    Cain retired as a production designer after Tusks (1988), but contributed storyboards to a select run of high-profile films, including Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). His final credit was on the Michael Caine boxing movie Shiner (2000). In retirement, he illustrated children's books, wrote an autobiography (Not Forgetting James Bond: The Autobiography of James Bond Production Designer Syd Cain, 2002) and was a well-liked guest at Bond-themed fan events.
    Cain was married twice. His five sons and three daughters survive him.

    • Sidney Cain, production designer, art director and illustrator, born 16 April 1918; died 21 November 2011
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    Syd Cain (1918–2011)
    Filmography
    Production designer (17 credits)

    1988 Tusks
    1985 Wild Geese II
    1982 The Final Option
    1981 Loophole
    1980 Lion of the Desert
    1980 The Sea Wolves

    1978 The Wild Geese
    1976 The New Avengers (TV Series) (13 episodes)
    - Dirtier by the Dozen (1976)
    - Gnaws (1976)
    - Sleeper (1976)
    - Faces (1976)
    - Three Handed Game (1976)
    - The Tale of the Big Why (1976)
    - Target! (1976)
    - Cat Amongst the Pigeons (1976)
    - To Catch a Rat (1976)
    - The Last of the Cybernauts...? (1976)
    - House of Cards (1976)
    - The Midas Touch (1976)
    - The Eagle's Nest (1976)
    1976 Aces High
    1976 Shout at the Devil
    1974 Gold
    1972 Fear Is the Key (as Sidney Cain)
    1972 Frenzy
    1969 On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    1967 Billion Dollar Brain
    1966 Fahrenheit 451
    1965 The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders

    Art department (27 credits)

    2001 The Fourth Angel (storyboard artist)
    2000 Shiner (storyboard artist)

    1998 Tarzan and the Lost City (storyboard artist)
    1995 GoldenEye (storyboard artist)
    1994 The NeverEnding Story III (storyboard artist)
    1991 Robin Hood (storyboard artist - as Sydney Cain)

    1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (storyboard artist: UK)
    1984 Supergirl (research art director)

    1966 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (executive art director)
    1962 Lolita (associate art director - as Sidney Cain)
    1960 The World of Suzie Wong (assistant art director - as Sydney Cain)
    1959 Our Man in Havana (assistant art director)
    1958 Tank Force (assistant art director)
    1957 High Flight (assistant art director)
    1957 How to Murder a Rich Uncle (assistant art director)
    1957 Fire Down Below (assistant art director)
    1957 Pickup Alley (assistant art director)
    1956 Zarak (assistant art director - uncredited)
    1956 The Gamma People (assistant art director)
    1955 The Cockleshell Heroes (assistant art director)
    1954 Up to His Neck (draughtsman - uncredited)
    1954 You Know What Sailors Are (draughtsman - uncredited)
    1954 Hell Below Zero (draughtsman - uncredited)

    1949 The Interrupted Journey (draughtsman - uncredited)
    1949 Madness of the Heart (draughtsman - uncredited)
    1949 Adam and Evalyn (draughtsman - uncredited)
    1947 The Inheritance (draughtsman - uncredited)

    Art director (10 credits)

    1973 Live and Let Die (supervising art director)
    1966 Fahrenheit 451
    1965 Mister Moses
    1965 McGuire, Go Home!
    1964 Agent 8 3/4
    1963 From Russia with Love
    1963 Call Me Bwana
    1963 Summer Holiday
    1962 Dr. No (uncredited)
    1962 The Road to Hong Kong
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    1922: Sir Kingsley William Amis, CBE is born--Clapham, London, England.
    (He dies 22 October 1995 at age 73--London, England.)
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    Obituary: Sir Kingsley Amis
    David Lodge | Monday 23 October 1995 01:02

    Kingsley Amis was the most gifted of the British novelists who began publishing in the 1950s and were grouped together - by the media rather than by their own volition - as "Angry Young Men". He also proved himself to be the one with the most stamina and capacity for development.

    Amis was a key figure in the history of British post-war fiction, but his originality was not always fully appreciated because it did not manifest itself in any obvious novelty of form. Indeed the literary new wave of the Fifties, in which Amis played a leading role (its poetic wing, to which he also contributed, was known as "The Movement"), was an aesthetically conservative force, consciously setting itself against modernist experimentation. A passage in a review Amis contributed to the Spectator in 1958 is representative in both its sentiments and the down-to-earth blokeishness of its manner:

    The idea about experiment being the life-blood of the English novel is one that dies hard. "Experiment" in this context boils down pretty regularly to "obtruded oddity", whether in construction - multiple viewpoints and such - or in style. It is not felt that adventurousness in subject matter or attitude or tone really count.

    This is a thinly disguised manifesto for Amis's own early fiction, but it is as obscuring as it is revealing. It is true that Lucky Jim (1954) and its successors dealt with what was then new or neglected social territory (for example, the provincial university) from unhackneyed perspectives (for example, the upwardly mobile young professional who is unimpressed by the values and lifestyle of the bourgeoisie). This is presumably what Amis meant by adventurousness of subject matter, attitude and tone. And it is also true that these novels were very traditional in form - the specific tradition to which they belonged being that of the English comic novel, in which satirical comedy of manners and robust farce are combined in an entertaining and easily assimilable story. Fielding, Dickens, Wodehouse and Waugh are some of Amis's obvious precursors. But it is also true that Amis's novels are triumphs of "style" - a way of using language that, if not obtrusively "odd", is highly original, and wonderfully expressive.

    - - -
    In the late Sixties and Seventies he experimented a good deal with "genre" fiction: science fiction (The Anti-Death League, 1966, and The Alteration, 1976), the James Bond thriller (Colonel Sun, 1968), the classic detective story (The Riverside Villas Murder, l973) and the ghost story (The Green Man, 1969). These forms perhaps attracted him as ways of escaping the constraints of the realistic novel and the expectations of an audience who kept hoping he would repeat Lucky Jim. In some of them he addressed himself to weighty philosophic and religious themes, such as the nature of evil.

    - - -

    This year, Eric Jacobs published a biography, with Amis's collaboration. It revealed (as literary biographies tend to do) a closer correspondence between the life and the fiction than one might have supposed, especially as regards difficulties with women. It also revealed a surprisingly vulnerable person behind the bluff, blimpish public mask, and the poised, sardonic prose stylist: a rather timid man, fearful of flying, unable to drive a car or perform the simplest domestic tasks, needing a regular and repetitive daily routine to keep the black dog of depression at bay: work, club, pub, telly. Work was the most important of these resources. In spite of increasing physical debility, Amis kept writing up till the end of his life. You Can't Do Both (1994) was generally well received and is perhaps the most openly autobiographical of his novels. If The Biographer's Moustache, published earlier this year, was not the biographee's revenge that many reviewers had hoped for, it still had more than a touch of past mastery.

    In That Uncertain Feeling the hero is accosted one evening in the street of a small Welsh town by two lascars, one of whom seems to ask him:
    "Where is pain and bitter laugh?" This was just the question for me, but before I could smite my breast and cry, "In here, friend", the other little man had said: "My cousin say, we are new in these town and we wish to know where is piano and bit of life, please?"
    That is one of my favourite quotations from Amis because it seems to epitomise his art. He did not dodge the pain of existence and his laughter was sometimes bitter, but he always retained the liberating, life- enhancing gift of comic surprise.
    Kingsley Amis, writer: born London 16 April 1922; CBE 1981; Kt 1990; books include A Frame of Mind 1953, Lucky Jim 1954, That Uncertain Feeling 1955, A Case of Samples 1956, I Like it Here 1958, Take a Girl Like You 1960, New Maps of Hell 1960, My Enemy's Enemy 1962, One Fat Englishman 1963, The Egyptologists 1965, (with Robert Conquest) The James Bond Dossier 1965, The Anti-Death League 1966, The Book of Bond, or Every Man His Own 007 1966, A Look Round the Estate 1967, Colonel Sun 1968, I Want it Now 1968, The Green Man 1969, What Became of Jane Austen? 1970, Girl, 20 1971, On Drink 1972, The Riverside Villas Murder 1973, Ending Up 1974, Rudyard Kipling and His World 1975, The Alteration 1976, Jake's Thing 1978, Collected Poems 1944-79 1979, Russian Hide-and-Seek 1980, Collected Short Stories 1980, Every Day Drinking 1983, How's Your Glass? 1984, Stanley and the Women 1984, The Old Devils 1986, (with J. Cochrane) Great British Songbook 1986, The Crime of the Century 1987, Difficulties with Girls 1988, The Folks that Live on the Hill 1990, We are All Guilty 1991, Memoirs 1991[/i], The Russian Girl 1992, Mr Barrett's Secret and Other Stories 1993, You Can't Do Both 1994, The Biographer's Moustache 1995; married 1948 Hilary Bardwell (two sons, one daughter; marriage dissolved 1965), 1965 Elizabeth Jane Howard (marriage dissolved 1983); died London 22 October 1995.
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    1939: Dusty Springfield is born--Hampstead, London, England.
    (She dies 2 March 1999 at age 59--Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England,.)
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    Dusty Springfield
    Dusty Springfield, who has died aged 59, was one of Britain's most successful female pop singers; she had nine Top 10 hits in the 1960s, and with her upswept hair and panda-shadowed eyes was among the emerging pop scene's most readily identifiable stars.
    dusty_springfield_1449704c.jpg
    Photo: GETTY IMAGES
    She was distinguished from her contemporaries both by her choice of material and by the quality of her voice. Dusty Springfield was a fine judge of a lyric, and favoured emotional songs written by the American teams of Burt Bacharach and Hal David and Jerry Goffin and Carole King. Their songs, rooted in the Broadway tradition, were perfectly suited to a voice often described as soulful but whose ideal setting would perhaps have been cabaret.

    Usually backed by lush string arrangements, she sang with a voice that was low and sensual and made her songs sound like confessions of sins she took increasing pleasure in committing. Her voice sounded mature and smooth too, and the assurance of her performances gave her records longer life than the fizzier offerings of such rivals as Lulu and Cilla Black.

    Dusty Springfield was among the first British singers to champion the sound of black America, Motown. She was much influenced by that label's girl groups, and in turn her rich voice surprised them. The singer Mary Wells believed Dusty Springfield must be black before seeing her on television, while Cliff Richard dubbed her "The White Negress".

    When Motown's stars came to London to host an edition of the pop programme Ready, Steady, Go, they invited only one British guest - Dusty Springfield.

    She was born Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien in Hampstead, north London, on April 16 1939. Her father was a tax inspector and she was educated at a convent school in Ealing.

    - - -
    But her star was declining. Although she had had some success with a song from the soundtrack of the Bond film Casino Royale - "The Look of Love", perhaps her definitive vocal performance - her two most recent albums had flopped. She seemed out of step with the mood of popular music as it edged towards rock, psychedelia and more overt rebellion.
    In 1968 she fled London for Memphis. She had long been fascinated by America - she was a considerable expert on the Civil War - and in Tennessee recorded her finest album, Dusty in Memphis (1968). It was supervised by Jerry Wexler - Ray Charles's and Aretha Franklin's producer - who gave her voice more room to breathe, unlike the British producers who had tended to bury it beneath over-elaborate arrangements.

    - - -

    A new generation discovered her music when Son of a Preacher Man featured in the film Pulp Fiction (1994). Then shortly afterwards she began her fight against breast cancer.

    Published March 4 1999
    1*Ze3JxrOUimmmTRDiu5U7vQ.jpeg

    "I Only Want To Be With You"

    "The Windmills of Your Mind"

    "The Look of Love"

    "Six Million Dollar Man"

    1962: Jonathan Cape publishes Ian Fleming's ninth James Bond novel The Spy Who Loved Me.
    VIVIENNE MICHEL writes:

    'The spy who loved me was called
    James Bond and the night on which he
    loved me was a night of screaming
    terror in The Dreamy Pines Motor
    Court, which is in the Adirondacks in the
    north of New York State.

    'This is the story of who I am and how
    I came through a nightmare of torture
    and the threat of rape and death to a
    dawn of ecstacy. It's all true--absolutely.
    Otherwise Mr. Fleming certainly would
    not have risked his professional reputa-
    tion in acting as my co-author and per-
    suading his publisherss, Jonathan Cape,
    to publish my story. Ian Fleming has
    also kindly obtained clearnace for
    certain minor breaches of The Official
    Secrets Act that were necessary to my
    story.'
    FLEMING
    The Adventures of James Bond

    Casino Royale
    Live and Let Die
    Moonraker
    Diamonds Are Forever
    From Russia, With Love
    Dr No
    Goldfinger
    For Your Eyes Only
    Thunderball
    The Spy Who Loved Me

    Non-Fiction:
    Thrilling Cities
    The Diamond Smugglers

    Introduces
    his choice among 'lost' books
    All Night at Mr Stanyhurst's
    by Hugh Edwards
    Jacket design by Richard Chopping
    Dagger by Wilkinson Swords Ltd;
    Ian Fleming 1962
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    Watermarked promotional letter in early editions.
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    Richard Chopping at work.
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    1964: From Russia With Love released in Australia.
    Daybills
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    2021: Helen Elizabeth McCrory OBE dies at age 52--London, England.
    (Born 17 August 1968--Paddington, London, England.)
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    Helen McCrory, British ‘Skyfall’ and
    ‘Harry Potter’ Actress, Dies at Age 52
    ‘GO NOW, LITTLE ONE’
    Cheyenne Roundtree | Entertainment Reporter
    Published Apr. 16, 2021 12:18PM ET
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    Photo: Stuart C. Wilson
    British actress Helen McCrory has died of cancer at age 52 surrounded by family, her husband, actor Damian Lewis, announced Friday. “I’m heartbroken to announce that after a heroic battle with cancer, the beautiful and mighty woman that is Helen McCrory has died peacefully at home, surrounded by a wave of love from friends and family,” he wrote on Twitter. “She died as she lived. Fearlessly. God we love her and know how lucky we are to have had her in our lives. She blazed so brightly. Go now, Little One, into the air, and thank you.” Lewis and McCrory had been married for 14 years, with 14-year-old daughter Manon and 13-year-old son Gulliver.
    With more than 72 acting credits to her name, McCrory was best known for her roles in Peaky Blinders, the Harry Potter franchise, and the James Bond movie Skyfall.
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    Helen McCrory (1968–2021)
    Actress
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0567031/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
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  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 14,331
    April 17th

    1918: William Holden is born--O'Fallon, Illinois.
    (He dies 12 November 1981 at age 63--Santa Monica, California.)
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    William Holden
    See the complete article here:
    330px-Holden-portrait.jpg
    Holden in a publicity photo, 1954
    William Franklin Beedle Jr.
    Born April 17, 1918 | O'Fallon, Illinois, U.S.
    Died November 12, 1981 (aged 63) | Santa Monica, California, U.S.
    Cause of death Exsanguination
    Resting place Ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean
    Nationality American
    Alma mater South Pasadena High School
    Occupation Actor, wildlife conservationist
    Years active 1938–1981
    Home town South Pasadena, California, U.S.
    Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
    Political party Republican
    Spouse(s) Brenda Marshall
    (m. 1941; div. 1971)
    Partner(s) Stefanie Powers (1972–1981) (his death)[1]
    Children 3
    Awards
    Academy Award for Best Actor (1953)
    Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor (1974)
    Military career
    Allegiance United States of America
    Service/branch US Army Air Corps Hap Arnold Wings.svg United States Army Air Forces
    Years of service 1942–45
    Rank US-O2 insignia.svg First lieutenant[2]
    Unit First Motion Picture Unit (USAAF)
    Battles/wars World War II
    William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor who was one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s and 1960s. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film Stalag 17 (1953), and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for the television film The Blue Knight (1973). Holden starred in some of Hollywood's most popular and critically acclaimed films, including Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Wild Bunch, Picnic and Network. He was named one of the "Top 10 Stars of the Year" six times (1954–1958, 1961), and appeared as 25th on the American Film Institute's list of 25 greatest male stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema.

    Early life and education
    330px-William_Holden-Cobb-Golden_Boy.jpg
    With Lee J. Cobb (right) in Holden's first starring role in a film, Golden Boy (1939)
    Holden was born William Franklin Beedle Jr. on April 17, 1918, in O'Fallon, Illinois, son of William Franklin Beedle (1891–1967), an industrial chemist, and his wife Mary Blanche Beedle (née Ball, 1898–1990), a schoolteacher.[3] He had two younger brothers, Robert Westfield Beedle (1921–1944) and Richard P. Beedle (1924–1964). One of his father's grandmothers, Rebecca Westfield, was born in England in 1817, while some of his mother's ancestors settled in Virginia's Lancaster County after emigrating from England in the 17th century.[3] His younger brother, Robert W. "Bobbie" Beedle, became a U.S. Navy fighter pilot and was killed in action in World War II, over New Ireland, a Japanese-occupied island in the South Pacific, on January 5, 1944.

    His family moved to South Pasadena when he was three. After graduating from South Pasadena High School, Holden attended Pasadena Junior College, where he became involved in local radio plays.

    Career
    Paramount

    Holden appeared uncredited in Prison Farm (1939) and Million Dollar Legs (1939) at Paramount.

    A version of how he obtained his stage name "Holden" is based on a statement by George Ross of Billboard: "William Holden, the lad just signed for the coveted lead in Golden Boy, used to be Bill Beadle. [sic] And here is how he obtained his new movie tag. On the Columbia lot is an assistant director and scout named Harold Winston. Not long ago he was divorced from the actress, Gloria Holden, but carried the torch after the marital rift. Winston was one of those who discovered the Golden Boy newcomer and who renamed him—in honor of his former spouse!"[4]

    Golden Boy
    Holden's first starring role was in Golden Boy (1939), costarring Barbara Stanwyck, in which he played a violinist-turned-boxer.[5] The film was made for Columbia who negotiated a sharing agreement with Paramount for Holden's services.

    Holden was still an unknown actor when he made Golden Boy, while Stanwyck was already a film star. She liked Holden and went out of her way to help him succeed, devoting her personal time to coaching and encouraging him, which made them into lifelong friends. When she received her Honorary Oscar at the 1982 Academy Award ceremony, Holden had died in an accident just a few months prior. At the end of her acceptance speech, she paid him a personal tribute: "I loved him very much, and I miss him. He always wished that I would get an Oscar. And so tonight, my golden boy, you got your wish".[6][7]

    Next he starred with George Raft and Humphrey Bogart in the Warner Bros. gangster epic Invisible Stripes (1939).[8]

    Back at Paramount he starred with Bonita Granville in Those Were the Days! (1940) followed by the role of George Gibbs in the film adaptation of Our Town (1940), done for Sol Lesser at United Artists.[9]

    Columbia put Holden in a Western with Jean Arthur, Arizona (1940), then at Paramount he was in a hugely popular war film, I Wanted Wings (1941) with Ray Milland and Veronica Lake.

    He did another Western at Columbia, Texas (1941) with Glenn Ford, and a musical comedy at Paramount, The Fleet's In (1942) with Eddie Bracken, Dorothy Lamour and Betty Hutton.[10]

    He stayed at Paramount for The Remarkable Andrew (1942) with Brian Donlevy then made Meet the Stewarts (1943) at Columbia. Paramount reunited him and Bracken in Young and Willing (1943).

    World War Two
    Holden served as a second and then a first lieutenant in the United States Army Air Force during World War II, where he acted in training films for the First Motion Picture Unit, including Reconnaissance Pilot (1943).

    Post War
    Holden's first film back from the services was Blaze of Noon (1947), an aviator picture at Paramount directed by John Farrow.

    He followed it with a romantic comedy, Dear Ruth (1947) and he was one of many cameos in Variety Girl (1947).[11]

    RKO borrowed him for Rachel and the Stranger (1948) with Robert Mitchum and Loretta Young, then he went over to 20th Century Fox for Apartment for Peggy (1948).

    At Columbia he did a film noir, The Dark Past (1948) and a Western with Ford, The Man from Colorado (1949). At Paramount he did another Western, Streets of Laredo (1949).

    Columbia teamed him with Lucille Ball for Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949) then he did a sequel to Dear Ruth, Dear Wife (1949). He did a comedy at Columbia Father Is a Bachelor (1950).
    330px-Gloria_Swanson_and_William_Holden.jpg
    With Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
    His career took off in 1950 when Billy Wilder tapped him to play a role in Sunset Boulevard, in which he played a down-at-heel screenwriter taken in by a faded silent-screen star, played by Gloria Swanson. Holden earned his first Best Actor Oscar nomination with the part.[12]

    Getting the part was a lucky break for Holden, as the role was initially cast with Montgomery Clift, who backed out of his contract.[13] Swanson later said, "Bill Holden was a man I could have fallen in love with. He was perfection on- and off-screen."[14] And Wilder commented "Bill was a complex guy, a totally honorable friend. He was a genuine star. Every woman was in love with him."[14]

    Paramount reunited him with Nancy Olson, one of his Sunset Boulevard costars, in Union Station (1950).

    Holden had another good break when cast as Judy Holliday's love interest in the big screen adaptation of Born Yesterday (1950). He made two more films with Olson: Force of Arms (1951) at Warners and Submarine Command (1951) at Paramount.

    Holden did a sports film at Columbia, Boots Malone (1952) then returned to Paramount for The Turning Point (1952).

    Stalag 17 and Peak Era of Stardom
    Holden was reunited with Wilder in Stalag 17 (1953), for which Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor. This ushered in the peak years of Holden's stardom.[5]

    He made a sex comedy with David Niven for Otto Preminger, The Moon Is Blue (1953), which was a huge hit, in part due to controversy over its content. At Paramount he was in a comedy with Ginger Rogers that was not particularly popular, Forever Female (1953). A Western at MGM, Escape from Fort Bravo (1953) did much better, and the all star Executive Suite (1954) was a notable success.[15]
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    With Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina (1954)
    Holden made a third film with Wilder, Sabrina (1954), billed beneath Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart.[16] Holden and Hepburn became romantically involved during the filming, unbeknown to Wilder: "People on the set told me later that Bill and Audrey were having an affair, and everybody knew. Well, not everybody! I didn't know."[14]:174 The interactions between Bogart, Hepburn, and Holden made shooting less than pleasant, as Bogart had wanted his wife, Lauren Bacall, to play Sabrina. Bogart was not especially friendly toward Hepburn, who had little Hollywood experience, while Holden's reaction was the opposite, wrote biographer Michelangelo Capua.[17]

    Holden recalls their romance:
    Before I even met her, I had a crush on her, and after I met her, just a day later, I felt as if we were old friends, and I was rather fiercely protective of her, though not in a possessive way.[18]

    Their relationship did not last much beyond the completion of the film. Holden, who was at this point dependent on alcohol, said, "I really was in love with Audrey, but she wouldn't marry me."[19] Rumors at the time had it that Hepburn wanted a family, but when Holden told her that he'd had a vasectomy and having children was impossible, she moved on. A few months later, Hepburn met Mel Ferrer, whom she would later marry.[20]
    He took third billing for The Country Girl (1954) with Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly, directed by George Seaton from a play by Clifford Odets.

    It was a big hit, as was The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), a Korean War drama with Kelly.[21][22]

    In 1954, Holden was featured on the cover of Life. On February 7, 1955, Holden appeared as a guest star on I Love Lucy as himself.[23]

    The golden run at the box office continued with Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), from a best-selling novel, with Jennifer Jones, and Picnic (1955), as a drifter, in an adaptation of the William Inge play with Kim Novak.[24][25] Picnic was his last film under the contract with Columbia.

    A second film with Seaton did not do as well, The Proud and Profane (1956), where Holden played the role with a moustache.

    Neither did Toward the Unknown (1957), the one film Holden produced himself.

    The Bridge on the River Kwai
    Holden had his most widely recognized role as an ill-fated prisoner in David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) with Alec Guinness,[26] a huge commercial success.

    He made another war film for a British director, The Key (1958) with Trevor Howard and Sophia Loren for director Carol Reed.[27] He played an American Civil War military surgeon in John Ford's The Horse Soldiers (1959) opposite John Wayne, which was a box office disappointment.[28] Columbia would not meet Holden's asking price of $750,000 and 10% of the gross for The Guns of Navarone (1961); the amount of money Holden asked exceeding the combined salaries of the stars Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn.[29]

    Holden had another big hit with The World of Suzie Wong (1960) with Nancy Kwan that was shot in Hong Kong.

    Less popular was Satan Never Sleeps (1961), the last film of Clifton Webb and Leo McCarey; The Counterfeit Traitor (1962), this third film with Seaton; or The Lion (1962), with Trevor Howard and Capucine. The latter was shot in Africa and sparked a fascination with the continent that was to last until the end of Holden's life.
    Holden's films continued to struggle at the box office however: Paris When It Sizzles (1964) with Hepburn that was shot in 1962 but given a much delayed release; The 7th Dawn (1964) with Capucine and Susannah York, a romantic adventure set during the Malayan Emergency produced by Charles K. Feldman; Alvarez Kelly (1966), a Western; and The Devil's Brigade (1968). He was also one of many names in Feldman's Casino Royale (1967).
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    Holden in The Revengers (1972)
    In 1969, Holden made a comeback when he starred in director Sam Peckinpah's graphically violent Western The Wild Bunch,[5] winning much acclaim.

    Also in 1969, Holden starred in director Terence Young's family film L'Arbre de Noël, co-starring Italian actress Virna Lisi and French actor Bourvil, based on the novel of the same name by Michel Bataille. This film was originally released in the United States as The Christmas Tree and on home video as When Wolves Cry.[30]

    Holden made a Western with Ryan O'Neal and Blake Edwards, Wild Rovers (1971). It was not particularly successful. Neither was The Revengers (1972), another Western.

    For television roles in 1974, Holden won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his portrayal of a cynical, tough veteran LAPD street cop in the television film The Blue Knight, based upon the best-selling Joseph Wambaugh novel of the same name.[31][5]

    In 1973, Holden starred with Kay Lenz in a movie directed by Clint Eastwood called Breezy, which was considered a box-office flop.[32]

    Also in 1974, Holden starred with Paul Newman and Steve McQueen in the critically acclaimed disaster film The Towering Inferno,[33] which became a box-office smash and one of the highest-grossing films of Holden's career.

    Two years later, he was praised for his Oscar-nominated leading performance in Sidney Lumet's classic Network (1976),[34] an examination of the media written by Paddy Chayefsky, playing an older version of the character type for which he had become iconic in the 1950s, only now more jaded and aware of his own mortality.

    Around this time he also appeared in 21 Hours at Munich (1976).

    Final Films
    Holden made a fourth and final film for Wilder with Fedora (1978). He followed it with Damien: Omen II (1978) and had a cameo in Escape to Athena (1978).

    Holden had a supporting role in Ashanti (1979) and was third-billed in another disaster movie with Paul Newman for Irwin Allen, When Time Ran Out... (1980), which was a flop.[35]

    In 1980, Holden appeared in The Earthling with popular child actor Ricky Schroder,[36] playing a loner dying of cancer who goes to the Australian outback to end his days, meets a young boy whose parents have been killed in an accident, and teaches him how to survive.

    After making S.O.B. (1981) for Blake Edwards, Holden refused to star in Jason Miller's film That Championship Season.[37]

    Personal life
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    Matron of honor Brenda Marshall (left) and best man William Holden,
    sole guests at Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan's wedding in 1952
    Holden was best man at the wedding of his friend Ronald Reagan to Nancy Davis in 1952; however, he never involved himself in politics.

    While in Italy in 1966, Holden killed another driver in a drunk-driving incident. He received an eight-month suspended sentence for vehicular manslaughter.[38]

    Holden maintained a home in Switzerland and also spent much of his time working for wildlife conservation as a managing partner in an animal preserve in Africa. His Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki (founded 1959) became a mecca for the international jet set.[39] On a trip to Africa, he fell in love with the wildlife and became increasingly concerned with the animal species that were beginning to decrease in population. With the help of his partners, he created the Mount Kenya Game Ranch and inspired the creation of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation.[40] The Mount Kenya Game Ranch works to assist in Kenya with the wildlife education of its youth.[41] Within the Mount Kenya Game Ranch is the Mount Kenya Conservancy, which runs an animal orphanage as well as the Bongo Rehabilitation Program in collaboration with the Kenya Wildlife Service. The orphanage provides shelter and care for orphans, injured and neglected animals found in the wild, with the aim of releasing these animals back into the wild whenever possible. The conservancy is home to the critically endangered East African mountain bongo, and aims to prevent its extinction by breeding.[42][43]
    Marriage and relationships

    Holden was married to actress Ardis Ankerson (stage name Brenda Marshall) from 1941 until their divorce 30 years later, in 1971.[5] They had two sons, Peter Westfield "West" Holden (1943–2014)[44] and Scott Porter Holden (1946–2005).[45] He adopted his wife's daughter, Virginia, from her first marriage with actor Richard Gaines. During the filming of the film Sabrina (1954), costar Audrey Hepburn and he had a brief but passionate affair. Holden met French actress Capucine in the early 1960s. The two starred in the films The Lion (1962) and The 7th Dawn (1964). They reportedly began a two-year affair, which is alleged to have ended due to Holden's alcoholism.[46] Capucine and Holden remained friends until his death in 1981.

    In 1972, Holden began a nine-year relationship with actress Stefanie Powers, and sparked her interest in animal welfare.[1] After his death, Powers set up the William Holden Wildlife Foundation at Holden's Mount Kenya Game Ranch.[47]

    Death
    According to the Los Angeles County Coroner's autopsy report, Holden was alone and intoxicated in his apartment in Santa Monica, California, on November 12, 1981, when he slipped on a rug, severely lacerating his forehead on a teak bedside table, and bled to death. Evidence suggests he was conscious for at least half an hour after the fall. He likely may not have realized the severity of the injury and did not summon aid, or was unable to call for help. His body was found four days later. The causes of death were given as "exsanguination" and "blunt laceration of scalp."[48] Rumors existed that he was suffering from lung cancer, which Holden himself had denied at a 1980 press conference. His death certificate made no mention of any cancer.[39][48] He had dictated in his will that the Neptune Society cremate him and scatter his ashes in the Pacific Ocean. In accordance with his wishes, no funeral or memorial service was held.[49]

    Ronald Reagan released a statement, saying, "I have a great feeling of grief. We were close friends for many years. What do you say about a longtime friend – a sense of personal loss, a fine man. Our friendship never waned." [5] For his contribution to the film industry, Holden has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1651 Vine Street.[50] He also has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.[51] His death was noted by singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega, whose 1987 song "Tom's Diner" (about a sequence of events one morning in 1981) included a mention of reading a newspaper article about "an actor who had died while he was drinking". Vega subsequently confirmed that this was a reference to Holden.[52]

    Filmography
    Film
    Year . . . Title . . . . Role . . . . Notes
    1938 Prison Farm Prisoner Film debut
    Uncredited
    1939 Million Dollar Legs Graduate Who Says 'Thank You' Uncredited
    1939 Golden Boy Joe Bonaparte
    1939 Invisible Stripes Tim Taylor
    1940 Those Were the Days! P.J. "Petey" Simmons
    1940 Our Town George Gibbs
    1940 Arizona Peter Muncie
    1941 I Wanted Wings Al Ludlow
    1941 Texas Dan Thomas
    1942 The Fleet's In Casey Kirby
    1942 The Remarkable Andrew Andrew Long
    1942 Meet the Stewarts Michael Stewart
    1943 Young and Willing Norman Reese
    1947 Blaze of Noon Colin McDonald
    1947 Dear Ruth Lt. William Seacroft
    1947 Variety Girl Himself
    1948 Rachel and the Stranger Big Davey
    1948 Apartment for Peggy Jason Taylor
    1948 The Dark Past Al Walker
    1949 The Man from Colorado Del Stewart
    1949 Streets of Laredo Jim Dawkins
    1949 Miss Grant Takes Richmond Dick Richmond
    1949 Dear Wife Bill Seacroft
    1950 Father Is a Bachelor Johnny Rutledge
    1950 Sunset Boulevard Joe Gillis Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor
    1950 Union Station Lt. William Calhoun
    1950 Born Yesterday Paul Verrall
    1951 Force of Arms Sgt. Joe "Pete" Peterson
    1951 Submarine Command LCDR Ken White
    1952 Boots Malone Boots Malone
    1952 The Turning Point Jerry McKibbon
    1953 Stalag 17 Sgt. J.J. Sefton Academy Award for Best Actor
    Nominated – New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    1953 The Moon Is Blue Donald Gresham
    1953 Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach Tourist Uncredited
    1953 Forever Female Stanley Krown
    1953 Escape from Fort Bravo Capt. Roper
    1954 Executive Suite McDonald Walling Venice Film Festival Special Award for Ensemble Acting
    1954 Sabrina David Larrabee
    1954 The Bridges at Toko-Ri LT Harry Brubaker, USNR
    1954 The Country Girl Bernie Dodd
    1955 Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing Mark Elliott
    1955 Picnic Hal Carter Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
    1956 The Proud and Profane Lt. Col. Colin Black
    1956 Toward the Unknown Maj. Lincoln Bond
    1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai Cmdr. Shears
    1958 The Key Capt. David Ross
    1959 The Horse Soldiers Major Henry Kendall
    1960 The World of Suzie Wong Robert Lomax Nominated – Laurel Award for Top Male Dramatic Performance
    1962 Satan Never Sleeps Father O'Banion
    1962 The Counterfeit Traitor Eric Erickson
    1962 The Lion Robert Hayward
    1964 Paris When It Sizzles Richard Benson / Rick Shot in 1962, given delayed release
    1964 The 7th Dawn Major Ferris
    1966 Alvarez Kelly Alvarez Kelly
    1967 Casino Royale Ransome Cameo role
    1968 The Devil's Brigade Lt. Col. Robert T. Frederick
    1969 The Wild Bunch Pike Bishop
    1969 The Christmas Tree Laurent Ségur
    1971 Wild Rovers Ross Bodine
    1972 The Revengers John Benedict
    1973 Breezy Frank Harmon
    1974 Open Season Hal Wolkowski Cameo role
    1974 The Towering Inferno Jim Duncan
    1976 Network Max Schumacher Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor
    Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    Nominated – National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
    1978 Fedora Barry "Dutch" Detweiler
    1978 Damien: Omen II Richard Thorn
    1979 Escape to Athena Prisoner smoking a cigar in prison camp Uncredited
    1979 Ashanti Jim Sandell
    1980 When Time Ran Out Shelby Gilmore
    1980 The Earthling Patrick Foley
    1981 S.O.B. Tim Culley Final film role
    Television
    1955 Lux Video Theatre Intermission Guest Episode: "Love Letters"
    1955 I Love Lucy Himself Episode: "Hollywood at Last"
    1956 The Jack Benny Program Himself Episode: "William Holden/Frances Bergen Show"
    1973 The Blue Knight Bumper Morgan Television film
    Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
    1976 21 Hours at Munich Chief of Police Manfred Schreiber Television film
    Radio
    1940 Lux Radio Theatre Our Town
    1946 Lux Radio Theatre Miss Susie Slagle's[53]
    1952 Lux Radio Theatre Submarine Command[54]
    1952 Hollywood Star Playhouse The Joyful Beggar[54]
    1953 Lux Radio Theatre Appointment with Danger[55]
    1953 Lux Summer Theatre High Tor[56]
    Box-office ranking
    For a number of years, exhibitors voted Holden among the most popular stars in the country:
    1954 – 7th (US)
    1955 – 4th (US)
    1956 – 1st (US)
    1957 – 7th (US)
    1958 – 6th (US), 6th (UK)
    1959 – 12th (US)
    1960 – 14th (US)
    1961 – 8th (US)
    1962 – 15th (US)
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    1930: Rémy Julienne is born--Cepoy, Loiret, France.
    (He dies 21 January 2021 at age 90--Montargis, France.)
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    Legendary stunt driver Rémy Julienne has
    passed away
    The skills behind the stunts on The Italian Job and six Bond films dies aged 90
    Jason Barlow | 22 Jan 2021
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    Rémy Julienne, arguably the greatest stunt driver of all time, has died at the age of 90 having contracted Covid-19. According to French news sources, he had been in intensive care in a hospital in the town of Montargis since early January. “What was bound to happen has happened,” a relative commented. “He left us early in the evening [Thursday]. It was predictable, he was on a respirator.”

    Julienne was perhaps best-known for his work on 1969’s The Italian Job, in which his sheer bravery was matched by his peerless driving skills and the balletic precision of the sequences he devised, along with his right-hand man, Raphaël Olivotti. “We were very, very lucky to get Rémy Julienne [and his] stunt driving team,” Michael Caine noted, “because they were really the stars of the film in a way.” Added producer Michael Deeley, “During our initial meeting with Rémy, Peter Collinson [the film’s director] and I were delighted to discover that he was prepared to take the chase sequence even further than we had envisaged, suggesting a different range of hair-raising stunts that could be written into the script.”

    Julienne was born on 17th April 1930 in the village of Cepoy, and grew up riding motorbikes. By 1957, he was French motocross champion, and began his movie career doubling for Jean Marais in the 1964 film Fantômas. He would go on to amass 1400 film and many more commercial credits, famously allying with Fiat and conducting a variety of improbable stunts for the Italian giant during the Seventies. The great Claude Lelouch, (whose 1976 short film C’était un rendez-vous is a car chase classic), was once moved to call him a ‘reasonable madman’.
    Although not a household name – unless the occupants of the house were car obsessives – Julienne’s work on six James Bond films was certainly appreciated by millions of cinema fans worldwide. His speciality was in making ordinary cars do extraordinary things, not least the Citroen 2CV in 1981’s For Your Eyes Only or the Renault 11 in 1985’s A View To A Kill. Then there was the truck tanker sequence in 1989’s Licence To Kill, during which Julienne expanded his core team to include a man who could make a Kenworth perform a wheelie, and another who could get it onto half of its 18 wheels.

    “The tanker chase was the most dangerous sequence I ever devised,” the film’s director John Glen told me. But he also points out that, for all his flamboyance, Julienne was fastidious in his preparation. “Remy never really spoke particularly good English, but we somehow managed to communicate very well. He was fantastic, a stopwatch man, nothing was left to chance. He didn’t do anything daring – it was all worked out meticulously.”
    As the man himself confirms. “I was a scared little boy, but I had a taste for risk. Over time, I discovered that the real difficulty is finding the right balance between doubt and self-confidence,” he told France Dimanche in 2015. “You must have constant concern for perfection, precision and absolute safety while ensuring that the wishes of the director are met. My job was to calculate the risks.”
    Julienne worked with a number of big names during his long career, including Lee Marvin, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Harrison Ford, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. “I shot three James Bond films with Roger Moore,” he recalled. “This kind of Anglo-Saxon production is so strict that insurers refuse to let him do anything. He would say to me, ‘My only stunts, I do them with women’.”
    In 1998, he worked with John Frankenheimer on Ronin, another memorable showcase for his commitment to panel-crunching car chase verité. But there was tragedy during the making of Taxi 2 the following year, during which cameraman Alain Dutartre was killed and his assistant seriously injured when one of the stunts went badly wrong. The French authorities alleged safety compromises, and Julienne was given a one year suspended jail sentence and €13,000 fine. He claimed that the film’s producers rejected his demand that the stunt be trialled ahead of shooting. The Paris Court of Appeal subsequently overturned the verdict.

    Julienne’s sons Michel and Dominique continue in the family business, and TG.com sends them and the extended Julienne clan our condolences. Rémy Julienne was the original maestro of the car chase and a fearless cinematic pioneer. Back to the man himself, his defining moment, and the film star who he made look very good indeed.

    “Very often people ask, ‘what was my favourite stunt?’ I’d say the jump between the two Fiat factory roofs must be the one, because it was emotional, because it was difficult. We worked on the ground, we prepared the ramps, calculated distances, speeds etc. [Originally] it was decided I had to do three separate jumps in each Mini. I explained that, as the roof was very wide, we could make the three Minis jump all together… it looked much better as a shot. It was more complicated, but really amazing.”
    Adds Michael Caine: “Afterwards, I said to Rémy, ‘Bloody hell, my heart was in my mouth.’
    He said, ‘Michael, it’s mathematics.’”
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    Rémy Julienne (1930–2021)
    Stunts | Actor | Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
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    1959: Sean Bean is born--Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England.

    1992: Arthur Calder-Marshall dies at age 84.
    (Born 19 August 1908--Wallington, London.)
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    Arthur Calder-Marshall
    Arthur Calder-Marshall (19 August 1908 – 17 April 1992) was an English novelist, essayist, critic, memoirist and biographer.

    Life and career
    Calder-Marshall was born in El Misti, Woodcote Road, Wallington, Surrey, the son of Alice (Poole) and Arthur Grotjan Marshall (later Calder-Marshall; 1875 –1958), a civil engineer. The elder Arthur was grandson of the sculptor William Calder Marshall (1813–1894). William Calder Marshall's father William Marshall (1780–1859), D.L. (Edinburgh), a goldsmith (including to the King in the early nineteenth century) and jeweller, had married Annie, daughter of merchant William Calder, Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1810-11, by his wife Agnes, a daughter of landed gentleman Hugh Dalrymple. The Marshall family were Episcopalian goldsmiths from Perthshire; the Calder family were merchants.

    A short, unhappy stint teaching English at Denstone College, Staffordshire, 1931–33, inspired his novel Dead Centre. In the 1930s, Calder-Marshall adopted strong left-wing views. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain and was also a member of the London-based left-wing Writers and Readers Group which also included Randall Swingler, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Mulk Raj Anand, Maurice Richardson and Rose Macaulay.

    In 1937, Calder-Marshall wrote scripts for MGM although none appears to have been filmed.

    Calder-Marshall's fiction and non-fiction covered a wide range of subjects. He himself remarked, "I have never written two books on the same subject or with the same object."
    In the 1960s, Calder-Marshall took on commissioned work which included a novelisation of the Dirk Bogarde film Victim. He has additionally been proposed as the author of The Adventures of James Bond Junior 003½ a children's novel about British spy James Bond's nephew, published under the pseudonym R. D. Mascott.
    With his wife, writer Ara Calder-Marshall (born Violet Nancy Sales), he was the father of the actress Anna Calder-Marshall and the grandfather of the actor Tom Burke.
    Media adaptations

    Orson Welles adapted The Way to Santiago in 1941 for RKO. However Welles's troubles with the studio saw to it that no film got made.

    James Mason purchased the film rights to Occasion of Glory, intending to make this project his directorial debut. Mason hired Christopher Isherwood to write the script.

    Bibliography
    Biography
    "The Enthusiast; An Enquiry into the Life Beliefs and Character of the Rev. Joseph Leycester Lyne alias Fr. Ignatius,O.S.B., Abbot of Elm Hill, Norwich and Llanthony Wales" (1962, Faber and Faber; Facsimile reprint 2000, Llanerch Publishers, Felinfach)

    Adult fiction

    Novels:
    Two of a Kind (1933)
    About Levy (1933)
    At Sea (1934)
    Dead Centre (1935)
    Pie in the Sky (1937)
    The Way to Santiago (1940)
    A Man Reprieved (1949)
    Occasion of Glory (1955)
    The Scarlet Boy (1961)

    Short fiction:
    Crime Against Cania (1934)
    A Pink Doll (1935)
    A Date with a Duchess (1937)

    Play:
    Season of Goodwill (1965) (based on Every Third Thought by Dorothea Malm) [15]

    As William Drummond:
    Midnight Lace (1960) (novelisation)
    Victim 1961 (novelisation)
    Life for Ruth 1962 (novelisation)
    Night Must Fall 1964 (novelisation)
    Gaslight 1966 (novelisation)

    Children's fiction
    The Man from Devil's Island (1958)
    The Fair to Middling (1959)

    Adult non-fiction

    Memoirs
    The Magic of My Youth (1951)

    Travel
    Glory Dead (Trinidad) (1939)
    The Watershed (Yugoslavia) (1947)

    Miscellany
    (With Edward J. H. O'Brien and J. Davenport) The Guest Book (1935 and 1936)
    Challenge to Schools: A Pamphlet on Public School Education (1935)
    The Changing Scene (essays on English society) (1937)
    (With others) Writing in Revolt: Theory and Examples (1937)
    The Book Front (1947)
    No Earthly Command (biography of Alexander Riall Wadham Woods) (1957)
    Havelock Ellis: A Biography (1959) US title The Sage of Sex: A Life of Havelock Ellis (1960)
    The Enthusiast (biography of Joseph Leycester Lyne) (1962)
    The Innocent Eye (biography of Robert Flaherty) (1963)
    Wish You Were Here: The Art of Donald McGill (1966)
    Lewd, Blasphemous, and Obscene: Being the Trials and Tribulations of Sundry Founding Fathers of Today's Alternative Societies (1972)
    The Grand Century of the Lady (1976)
    The Two Duchesses (1978)

    Children's non-fiction
    Lone Wolf: The Story of Jack London (1963)

    Editor - Calder-Marshall edited and wrote the introduction to:
    Tobias Smollett (1950)
    The Bodley Head Jack London (four volumes: 1963–66)
    Prepare to Shed Them Now: The Ballads of George R. Sims (1968)
    Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man and Other Writings (1970)

  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 14,331
    2002: Die Another Day films 007 and Jinx killing Mr. Kil.
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    2008: Richard Wasey Chopping dies at age 91--Colchester, Essex, England.
    (Born 14 April 1917--Colchester, Essex, England.)
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    Richard Chopping: Versatile
    illustrator best known for his
    distinctive Bond book jackets
    Wednesday 23 April 2008 00:00
    Richard Chopping is probably best known today as the creator of dust-jackets for the publisher Jonathan Cape's Ian Fleming James Bond novels. From Russia with Love (1957), with its pistol and flower design, the skull and rose for Goldfinger (1959), and the slightly eerie spyhole and Ian Fleming's name-plate artwork for For Yours Eyes Only [sic] (1960) are distinctively Chopping's work.
    The creator of these confections, with their meticulous attention to detail and delicacy of colour, was, however, much more than a book-jacket designer. By the time they appeared, Chopping had established a reputation as a versatile illustrator who was noted for his depictions of natural objects such as butterflies, flowers, insects and fruit, based on close observation, as well as being a sympathetic teacher, busy exhibitor and author.

    Richard Wasey Chopping was born in 1917 in Colchester, Essex – Wasey was an old family name. His father was an entrepreneurial businessman from a milling family, was himself a miller and store owner and eventually became mayor of Colchester. Chopping's twin brother died when young. He also had an older brother, a pilot killed on a Pathfinder mission over Europe in the Second World War.

    - - -

    A 1956 three-man exhibition at the Hanover Gallery, with Francis Bacon as the main attraction and separate rooms given over to pictures by a French aristocrat and Chopping, led to the Bond dust-jacket commissions. Chopping's flower paintings and trompe-l'oeil works were upstairs, as he remembered, "in a little gallery at the back, that was like a kind of long lavatory".
    Bacon took Ann, Ian Fleming's wife, in to see his own work, Chopping recalled. "Then he took her upstairs to see mine, which was very good of him, and Ann went back to Ian and said, 'Well, you ought to get this chap to do your next book jacket.'" They met at one of the Flemings' artistic salons, where Fleming granted Chopping the commission for From Russia with Love.

    Although the first edition jacket announced that it had been designed by the author, Chopping later said:
    He in no way designed it. He did tell me the things he wanted on it. It had to be a rose with a drop of dew on it. There had to be a sawn-off Smith & Wesson. We never discussed the type of revolver we would use. It had to be that one.

    - - -

    2019: Dynamite Entertainment releases James Bond 007 #6.
    Stephen Mooney, artist. Greg Pak, artist.
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    JAMES BOND 007 #6
    Rating: Teen +
    Cover A: Dave Johnson
    Cover B: Declan Shalvey
    Cover C: Raffaele Ienco
    Cover D: Stephen Mooney
    Writer: Greg Pak
    Art: Stephen Mooney
    Genre: Action/Adventure
    Publication Date: April 2019
    Format: Comic Book
    Page Count: 32 Pages
    ON SALE DATE: 4/17/2019
    The modern Bond epic continues by superstars GREG PAK (Planet Hulk, Firefly) and STEPHEN MOONEY (Grayson, The Dead Hand). Secrets are revealed, allegiances confirmed. Bond and Oddjob learn the awful truth of the terrorist organization ORU, and how they're helpless to prevent the destruction of global infrastructure as we know it...
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    2020: Tony Parsons proposes he is ready to write a Bond novel.
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    Tony Parsons has planned his first
    James Bond novel
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    By Tony Parsons | 17 April 2020

    As his latest detective thriller #Taken comes out in paperback and e-book, Tony Parsons muses on the appeal of ‘the space between books’ and how it has shaped the idea for his first James Bond novel. All he needs now is the tap on the shoulder…

    Like every writer of a certain vintage, I have always prepared myself for the day I am called by Ian Fleming’s estate. “Tony,” they will say, “we need you now. It’s what Ian would have wanted.”

    James Bond’s dapper creator may have died in 1964, but the James Bond books – the first books to fill my dreams – have never stopped coming. Fleming wrote just 13 007 books in his lifetime but since then numerous writers have had a crack at extending his legacy, including Kingsley Amis, Anthony Horowitz, Jeffery Deaver, Sebastian Faulks and William Boyd: some big names trying to catch that Fleming voice and to capture that 007 essence. My day, I always felt – and still do, between you and me – will come to carry on what my literary hero started back in 1953. And I know exactly what I will do – I will write my James Bond story in the space between books.
    I have always planned to set my own James Bond book after the end of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and before the start of You Only Live Twice. That means the lost days between the murder of Bond’s wife, Tracy, in the final chapter of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service but before the first chapter of You Only Live Twice, which finds our hero out east in a geisha house, given one last chance of redemption by M. That is surely fertile ground for any novelist – between the loss of the love of your life and your last chance to do something right. I even have a title – spoiler alert – Always Say Die. You can almost imagine Adele or Shirley Bassey singing it.
    So I have thought a lot about the space between books. What happens to a series hero when the lights go out? What agonies and ecstasies is he suffering when one adventure ends and the next begins? I spent years thinking about what James Bond did between all those iconic Ian Fleming books and more recently I have thought long and hard about what my own series hero, Max Wolfe, got up to between books.

    The space between books was my model and inspiration for the three Max Wolfe short stories – “Dead Time”, “Fresh Blood” and “Tell Him He’s Dead”. The latter is now being brought to you by GQ; you can read the whole thing for free.

    When you write a series, the reader should be able to pick up any title and jump right in – this is because almost nobody in the world ever reads a series in order. But when you write a series – and I have published six Max Wolfe titles over the last six years – you need it all to fit together and make perfect sense, because if you choose to run the marathon of writing a series of books about one character – from Lee Child’s Jack Reacher to Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, from Ian Fleming's Bond to Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock and Watson – you better believe in every single word.

    The Max Wolfe short stories were conceived as novellas that would only be available as e-books – but they always had to fit perfectly with the rest of the Max Wolfe universe. So if Max carries a scar at the end of a book – physical, psychological, romantic – then that scar must still be throbbing with pain when the next story starts.

    “Dead Time”, the first digital short, happens immediately after The Murder Bag, the first Max Wolfe title. It is Christmas at the end of The Murder Bag so it is a snowy new year in London at the start of "Dead Time", when Max is tasked with hunting down the villain who invented the recreational drugs industry. The second short, “Fresh Blood”, takes place after the end of The Slaughter Man, the second Max Wolfe title, and sees Max hunting a couple of spiffy young villains who are obsessed with the Kray brothers. And the third title, “Tell Him He’s Dead” sees the apparent return of the terrorist who dies in the first chapter of the first book. But these stories were not conceived as full-length books. They were meant to be what happens between books, they were conceived as somewhere between marketing device and bonus for hard-core Max Wolfe fans. I probably tried too hard on them. I thought when I wrote them – and still do – that they would have all made good full-length books, that there is enough in them to sustain a proper novel. But I would never sneer at a cracking short story. A lot of my literary heroes have been short story writers.

    Raymond Carver never wrote a novel in his brief, chain-smoking life, but in my eyes, Carver stands up there with Philip Roth and John Updike.

    Ian Fleming wrote good short stories – and some of them were turned into full-length films – but that is no doubt because, as someone who only wrote a series hero, he thought a lot about the place between books. If your character is real to you (and he has to be to write book after book, year after year about him), then inevitably your mind often drifts to what he is up to now like it might an old lost lover.

    So: Max Wolfe.

    He is a detective in homicide and serious crime at West End Central, the massive police station that stands on Savile Row. Max is youngish – pushing 30 – the single father of a young daughter. They have a cavalier King Charles spaniel called Stan and a loft overlooking the meat market in Smithfield. And he boxes. When I write this down, I realise how much of myself I have used to create this character who has been my shadow for six years. But then that is exactly what Fleming did with Bond – when Bond talks about women, or Jamaica, or alcohol, or a good shirt, you can hear Fleming’s voice.

    But the big difference is that Bond was a hero and Fleming was not. But Fleming knew what it was like to stand in the shadow of a hero. Me too, Ian, me too.
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    2024: Dynamite Entertainment release James Bond - 007 #4 as part four of "Your Cold, Cold Heart".
    Rapha Lobosco, artist. Garth Ennis, writer.
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    JAMES BOND: 007 #4
    Cover A: Dave Johnson
    UPC: 72513033924904011
    Writer: Garth Ennis
    Artist: Rapha Lobosco
    Genre: Spy Fiction/Action Adventure
    Publication Date: April, 2024
    Format: Comic Book
    Page Count: 32
    ON SALE DATE: 4/17/2024
    Returning from a death-defying trip to the International Space Station, Bond resumes his search for the stolen STALVODA formula. But once he discovers where the trail ultimately leads, the legendary Double O agent finds himself playing for the highest of stakes - and setting a trap for his enemies that risks turning all of MI6 against him!

    Featuring cover art by DAVE JOHNSON (100 Bullets, Superman: Red Son, Deadpool) and interior art by 007 veteran RAPHA LOBOSCO (James Bond: Black Box), Part Four of author GARTH ENNIS's cracking tale "Your Cold, Cold Heart" continues the celebration of 10 years of James Bond comics at Dynamite!

  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 14,331
    April 18th

    1964: Screenwriter Ben Hecht dies of a heart attack while reading on a Saturday.
    That's after writing three serious Casino Royale script versions for Charles K. Feldman.
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    Casino Royale: 60 years old
    Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Casino Royale was first published on April 13 1953 and there is an intriguing tale behind the original screenplay of the 007 film adaptation.
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    Daniel Craig starred in the film adaptation of Ian Fleming's 1963 novel Casino Royale.
    By Jeremy Duns - 8:00AM BST 13 Apr 2013

    Sixty years ago, the first 5000 copies of a novel by a new author were printed. The novel was Casino Royale by Ian Fleming, published April 13, 1953.

    When he took the part of Dr No in the first James Bond film, Joseph Wiseman had no inkling that the franchise would become such a success. As he admitted in 1992, he thought he’d signed up for "another Grade-B Charlie Chan mystery". How wrong. Last November, 50 years after the premiere of Dr No, the 23rd Bond film was released, directed by Oscar-winner Sam Mendes, co-written by Oscar-nominated John Logan and starring Daniel Craig as the bare-knuckled Bond he debuted in 2005’s [sic] Casino Royale.

    The Bond films have come a long way since 1962. The likes of Mendes, Logan, Paul Haggis and Marc Forster signing up to be involved is worlds away from even a decade ago, when the series seemed to be heading into self-parody.

    Much of the creative renaissance of the past decade stems from the decision to return to the spirit of Fleming’s novels. Craig’s Casino Royale was an adaptation of Fleming’s first novel. The book merged the traditions of vintage British thrillers with the more realistic and brutal style of hardboiled American writers such as Dashiell Hammett.

    But Craig’s debut (below) was not the first attempt to film the novel, but the third. The first was a one-hour play performed live on American television in October 1954: Barry Nelson starred as crew-cut American agent "Jimmy Bond" out to defeat villain Le Chiffre, played by Peter Lorre, at baccarat to ensure he will be executed by Soviet agency Smersh for squandering their funds. Due to the format, this was a much-simplified version of Fleming’s novel, with little of its extravagance or excitement.

    The book features a wince-inducing scene in which Le Chiffre, desperate to discover where Bond has hidden the cheque for 40 million francs that he needs to save his life, ties Bond naked to a cane chair with its seat cut out and proceeds to torture him by repeatedly whacking his testicles with a carpet-beater. This could clearly not be shown on television, so instead Bond was placed in a bath, his shoes removed, and viewers watched him howl with pain as, off-screen, Le Chiffre’s men attacked his toenails with pliers.

    The second attempt to film Casino Royale was altogether different. Also in 1954, Gregory Ratoff bought a six-month film option on the novel, and the following year bought the rights outright. An extravagant bear of a man who had fled Russia at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution, Ratoff was a well-known actor, producer and director – he had directed Ingrid Bergman's first Hollywood film, Intermezzo, in 1939. He was also a close friend of Charles K. Feldman, the playboy producer and super-agent.
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    In January 1956, the New York Times announced that Ratoff had set up a production company with actor-turned-agent Michael Garrison, and planned to film Casino Royale that summer in England, Estoril and San Remo, with Twentieth Century-Fox slated to release it. The article mentioned that Fleming himself had written an adaptation of the novel, but that Ratoff was instead negotiating with a "noted scenarist" to write a new script.

    Ratoff died in December 1960, and his widow sold the film rights to Casino Royale to Charles Feldman. The long-dormant project soon became a potential goldmine. In March 1961, Life magazine listed From Russia, With Love as one of John F Kennedy’s 10 favourite books, and the Bond novels rapidly became best-sellers in the United States. Three months later, one of Feldman’s former employees at Famous Artists, Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, formed EON Productions with Canadian producer Harry Saltzman after buying the rights to the rest of Fleming’s novels.


    In response to the growing popularity of Bond, Feldman turned to Ben Hecht (below) to write a script for Casino Royale. Known as "the Shakespeare of Hollywood", Hecht was a novelist, poet and playwright who had written or co-written several classic scripts, including The Front Page, based on a play he had co-written; Underworld, for which he won the first best screenplay Oscar in 1927; the original Scarface; and Hitchcock’s Spellbound and Notorious. Hecht also worked uncredited on dozens of other screenplays, including Gone With The Wind, Foreign Correspondent and a few other Hitchcock films.
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    The fact that Ben Hecht contributed to the script of Casino Royale has been known for decades, and is mentioned in passing in many books. But perhaps because the film Feldman eventually released in 1967 was a near-incoherent spoof, nobody has followed up to find out precisely what his contribution entailed. My interest was piqued when I came across an article in a May 1966 issue of Time, which mentioned that the screenplay of Casino Royale had started many years earlier "as a literal adaptation of the novel", and that Hecht had had "three bashes at it". I decided to go looking for it.

    To my amazement, I found that Hecht not only contributed to Casino Royale, but produced several complete drafts, and that much of the material survived. It was stored in folders with the rest of his papers in the Newberry Library in Chicago, where it had been sitting since 1979. And, outside of the people involved in trying to make the film, it seemed nobody had read it. Here was a lost chapter, not just in the world of the Bond films, but in cinema history: before the spoof, Ben Hecht adapted Ian Fleming’s first novel as a straight Bond adventure.

    The folders contain material from five screenplays, four of which are by Hecht. An early near-complete script from 1957 is a faithful adaptation of the novel in many ways but for one crucial element: James Bond isn’t in it. Instead of the suave but ruthless British agent, the hero is Lucky Fortunato, a rich, wisecracking American gangster who is an expert poker player. Screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr, who travelled around Europe with Gregory Ratoff, says he didn’t write it, but it seems likely Feldman sent this script to Hecht as a starting point to see what he could do with it.

    Of the remaining material, two of the scripts are missing title pages and so are undated and without a credit, while the other two are from 1964 and are clearly credited to Hecht. There are also snippets of notes, letters, and three pages of "notes for an outline" dated December 17 1963, which feature scenes in Baghdad, Algiers and Naples and culminate in a raid on a German castle. These pages may have been Hecht’s first stab at coming to grips with the novel.

    Of all the Bond books, Casino Royale was one of the more problematic to adapt for film. On the one hand, it’s one of Fleming's strongest novels (Raymond Chandler and Kingsley Amis both felt it his best): intense, almost feverishly so, and richer in characterisation and atmosphere than many of the others.

    But the novel is also short — practically a novella — with little physical action in it other than the infamous torture scene. Bond also falls in love with his fellow agent on the mission, Vesper Lynd, and even considers proposing marriage to her before he discovers she has been coerced into working for Smersh and has betrayed him. She kills herself, and the novel ends with Bond reporting to London savagely that "the bitch is dead". Although Hecht was tackling the novel 10 years after it had been published, these are all elements it seems hard to imagine in a film adaptation.

    But these drafts are a master-class in thriller-writing, from the man who arguably perfected the form with Notorious. Hecht made vice central to the plot, with Le Chiffre actively controlling a network of brothels and beautiful women who he is using to blackmail powerful people around the world. Just as the theme of Fleming’s Goldfinger is avarice and power, the theme of Hecht’s Casino Royale is sex and sin. It’s an idea that seems obvious in hindsight, and Hecht used it both to raise the stakes of Fleming’s plot and to deepen the story’s emotional resonance.

    This is visible in the surviving pages of two separate undated drafts. Judging from the plotlines and character names, they were written after the December 1963 notes, but before the three drafts from 1964. Hecht wrote to Feldman on January 13 1964 to say he had 110 pages of "our blissful Casino Royale" ready to be typed and sent to him, but that if he could wait three days he would be able to send him 130 pages of what he refers to as a first draft, which will bring it up to its conclusion. As there is no other material dating from January 1964 in his papers, it seems likely that these are excerpts from that time. Hecht also adds that he has "never had more fun writing a movie".

    Both draft fragments feature a British secret agent called James Bond who gambles against a Colonel Chiffre, aided by an American agent called Felix Leiter and a French agent called Rene Mathis. In both, Bond falls in love with Vesper Lynd, who betrays him and kills herself. Both drafts stick closely to the atmosphere of the novel, while adding several new plot elements and characters. These include Mila, one of Chiffre’s former brothel madams and a former lover of Bond’s. Surnamed alternatively Vigne and Brant, she is a classic femme fatale, trying to seduce Bond in her night gown. Bond turns her down — just.

    In one of the undated drafts, Chiffre escapes at the last moment and Bond returns to London following Vesper’s suicide, where M tells him to take a holiday in Jamaica. Bond says he would rather stick around in case M has any errands for him. This suggests Feldman may have been considering slotting the film into Broccoli and Saltzman’s series, as he didn’t have the rights to any other Bond novels. The James Bond in these pages is a deft blend of Fleming’s character and the film version as portrayed by Sean Connery. The second Bond film, From Russia With Love, premiered in England in late 1963, but the series had not yet solidified: perhaps as a result, there are no vodka martinis or "Bond. James Bond" lines.

    The 40 pages of the draft dated February 20 1964 elaborated on many of the scenes and ideas in these pages, but add an unusual gimmick. Bond is precisely the same character as he was in the other drafts: suave, laconic, ruthless and predatory. But he is not James Bond. Instead, he is an unnamed American agent called in by M who is given the name James Bond. M says that "since Bond’s death" MI6 has put several agents into operation using his name: "It not only perpetuates his memory, but confuses the opposition."

    After this scene this agent is indistinguishable from Bond, and doesn’t seem American at all. It may be that Feldman was also considering how to make the film with an actor other than Sean Connery. There are very few logical inconsistencies in Hecht's material – this gimmick sticks out like a sore thumb.

    The draft opens with a pre-titles sequence – itself a nod to the Connery films – in which Felix Leiter arrests senior United Nations diplomats and the beautiful prostitutes who have ensnared them in honey traps. Then we cut to M informing his new Bond about the villain he is sending him after. Instead of being a rather small-time agent on the run from Smersh, as he is in the novel, Chiffre is now the head of a massive operation being run by Spectre against the free world’s leaders and scientists, using brothels and honey traps to film them and then extort them for secrets. Bond is assigned to work with fellow MI6 agent Vesper Lynd and sent to Hamburg to check out one of Chiffre’s brothels.

    Hecht introduces more new characters in this draft, including Lili Wing, a beautiful but drug-addicted Eurasian madam who once had a fling with Bond, and her girlfriend, Georgie, who carries a black kitten on her shoulder.

    Many of the scenes are darkly comic, and some of the sexual antics are politically incorrect even for the Sixties, with references to politicians being attracted to children and a car chase through Hamburg’s red light district ending with Bond drenched in mud disguised as a lesbian wrestler.

    The most significant new character is Gita, Chiffre’s beautiful wife. She and much of this draft returned in the final two surviving sections of script, which are dated April 8 and April 14, 1964. The first has 84 pages, and covers most of the plot. The second is 49 pages long and is an addition to it, indicating which pages are to remain untouched from the draft of a week earlier. Taken together, they form a near-complete story. Taken with the rest of the documents, with gaps in one draft often being filled in by others, these 260 or so pages give a strong sense of what a completed final Hecht screenplay would have been like.

    The April 8 pages revert to Bond being the real thing. He flirts with Moneypenny, M gives him his mission, and he’s off: it reads just like an early Connery Bond film. The April 14 draft switches back to the counterfeit Bond idea, but adds to and improves the earlier draft in other ways. The first third of the story follows Bond and Vesper as they track down the incriminating rolls of film that Chiffre has collected for Spectre, which are being transported from a warehouse in Hamburg by a protected van.

    The Hamburg car chase culminates in Lili Wing being captured by Chiffre’s men and fed into the crusher of a rubbish truck, while Bond uses Gita Chiffre as a shield. She is shot by mistake by Chiffre’s henchmen. Bond commandeers the van and impersonates one of the eye-patched henchmen in the darkness. During a car chase in the Swiss Alps, the van goes over the cliff and explodes with the films in it, Bond escaping at the last moment.

    As a result of Bond ruining the extortion scheme, Chiffre loses half of his budget allocated to him by Spectre, and sets about trying to win it back. Then we relocate to northern France and the area around the fictional Royale. Vesper gives Bond instructions from M to accompany her to the casino there to finish Chiffre off for good. This is ingenious in several ways. In the book, Le Chiffre and Bond duel without ever having met each other. Now, Bond is directly responsible for his precarious situation and the reason he sets up the baccarat game, and we have a rematch.

    In addition, Madam Chiffre, with half her face destroyed by bullet wounds and speaking metallically through a tube inserted in her ripped out larynx, is a classic Bond villain, a sinister presence lurking in the shadows waiting to exact revenge on 007. In undated handwritten notes, Hecht wrote that a man torturing a naked Bond in this way on screen would seem to audiences like he was not only indulging in "a far-fetched and unmotivated type of cruelty", but also a "yelping pansy".

    The torture scene is faithful in spirit to the novel, but perhaps even more brutal, and contains many of the best lines of dialogue. Chiffre quietly continues to ask a naked Bond the location of the missing cheque while encouraging his wife to thrash him with the carpet beater. At one point he tells her to stop, adding: "M’sieur Bond may want to change his mind while he is still a m’sieur." Bond refuses, of course, and when asked about the check later, gives the memorable reply "Up your gizzard, you fat pimp." Chiffre also briefly waterboards Bond with whisky in an attempt to get him to talk.

    Just as it seems that Bond is destined to die he is rescued by Specter’s assassins, who let him go but scar his hand so they can identify him in any future operations, and then shoot Chiffre who has hidden in a cupboard. The "brothel Napoleon", as Bond calls him, dies with silk dresses and negligees draping over his corpse.

    Bond recovers in hospital, and proposes to Vesper. She accepts, but shortly after confesses she has been working for Spectre all along, then takes her life with cyanide. But just as it seems that the film will end with a grief-stricken and impotent Bond, a doctor prescribes him with testosterone, and a minor character, Georgie, returns and tries to seduce him. Bond is surprised and delighted to find that his body responds to her advances, and order is restored as he plants two solid kisses on her mouth and we fade out.

    All the pages in Hecht’s papers are gripping, but the material from April 1964 is phenomenal, and it’s easy to imagine it as the basis for a classic Bond adventure. Hecht’s treatment of the romance element is powerful and convincing, even with the throwaway ending, but there is also a distinctly adult feel to the story. It has all the excitement and glamour you would expect from a Bond film but is more suspenseful, and the violence is brutal rather than cartoonish.

    On Thursday April 16 1964, Hecht sent a letter to Feldman attaching an article from Time about Bond and saying he would write up a critique of their "current script" on Monday. He added some comments on Bond, including that he felt the character was cinema’s first "gentleman superman" in a long time, as opposed to Hammett and Chandler’s "roughneck supermen". But Monday never came: Hecht died of a heart attack at his home on Saturday April 18 while reading.


    At some point, Feldman went to Broccoli and Saltzman and tried to broker a deal to film Casino Royale in partnership with them, but he wanted too large a share and the talks broke down. It seems he also claimed that Goldfinger had plagiarized Casino Royale and threatened to sue – perhaps he felt that the scene in which gangster Mr Solo is crushed at a scrap yard was too reminiscent of Lili Wing’s death.

    Furious that he had not come to an agreement with Broccoli and Saltzman, Feldman approached Connery to see if he would be interested in jumping ship. Connery said he would for a million dollars, but this was too much for Feldman’s blood and he turned him down. He decided to take a new tack, signing an unknown Northern Irish actor, Terence Cooper, who he kept on salary for two years, and recruited Orson Welles, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, Woody Allen and several others. A set report in Time in May 1966 revealed that after Hecht’s "three bashes" at the script, it had been completely rewritten by Billy Wilder, after which Joseph Heller, Terry Southern, Wolf Mankowitz and John Law had all taken their turn at it. Much of the film was improvised on the spot, and Woody Allen also worked on it.

    Very little of Hecht’s work made it to the screen apart from the idea of calling other agents James Bond to confuse the opposition, which grew into the main theme. Eventually released in 1967, it was a bloated and incoherent comedy that wasted the prodigious talent it had assembled, and the title Casino Royale was indelibly linked with a cinematic disaster rather than Fleming’s novel (below, some of the Bond novels he wrote). Finally, in 2004 EON gained the rights to the novel, and set about filming it with Daniel Craig.
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    The big question raised by Hecht’s material is what would have happened if Feldman had managed to come to an agreement with EON, and Casino Royale had been made with Sean Connery in 1965 or 1966. Perhaps it would have divided the audience, as Goldfinger took Bond into superspy territory, and even a disfigured villainess might not have been enough for viewers so recently awestruck by the Aston Martin DB5’s ejector seat and Odd Job’s hat, especially if coupled with James Bond watching the woman he loves take her own life.

    Then again, perhaps it would have deepened Bond as a character and taken the series in a different direction. Casino Royale might even have been regarded as not just a classic Bond film, but as a classic thriller. We’ll never know, but Hecht’s surviving material offers a glimpse into a cinematic genius at work, and an alternate James Bond adventure as rich and thrilling as anything yet brought to the screen.

    Jeremy Duns is the author of spy novels. You can order his novels at TelegraphBookshop
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    1965: Serialisation of The Man With The Golden Gun continues in the Italian Domenica Del Corriere.
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    1966: John Stears receives the Best Visual Effects Oscar for Thunderball (accepted by Ivan Tors).

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    1984: Olympic fundraiser with guest of honor Prince Andrew, Duke of York, is attended by Roger Moore, John Barry, Sheena Easton, Anthony Newley, Tom Jones.

    2021: Activision announces 007: Legends.
    James Bond 007 Legends Full Campaigns no commentary 4K-60FPS PC (5:18:07)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1ynqFhrl5FA
    2015: Spectre films inside London City Hall.

    2018: Dynamite Entertainment publishes James Bond: The Body #4 (of 6).
    Eoin Marron, artist. Ales Kot, writer.
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    JAMES BOND: THE BODY #4
    https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C72513026419004011
    Cover A: Luca Casalanguida
    Writer: Ales Kot
    Art: Eoin Marron
    Genre: Action
    Publication Date: April 2018
    Format: Comic Book
    Page Count: 32 Pages
    UPC: 725130264190 04011
    ON SALE DATE: 4/18/2018
    On the run from a lethal antagonist, weaponless and wounded deep in the Highlands, Bond finds solace with a woman who exchanged her job as a doctor and a life in the city for a cottage and solitary life of a writer. Can Bond find a quiet peace unlike he has known before or will his life choices catch up with him?
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    2021: WIRED explains why the latest Bond film won't go straight to streaming.
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    Why a James Bond film will never
    premiere on Netflix
    The economics of blockbusters like No Time to Die simply don’t work
    without cinemas. And the pandemic proved it

    By Will Bedingfield | Sunday 18 April 2021

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    In 2011, movie studio Universal Pictures announced that it would be carrying out a test: it would put out its new film, Tower Heist, on video-on-demand just three weeks after releasing it in cinemas.

    The move was doomed. Cinemas were furious. AMC, Regal and Cinemark announced that, if Universal went ahead with the test, they would simply not play the film. Chastened, Universal capitulated and the “test” never went ahead.

    Things have changed. Over the last year, cinemas have had no leverage, and studios have been able to carry out the streaming experiments they’ve been pondering for the past decade. But far from opening up a brave new era of home entertainment, these experiments have actually shown Hollywood studios that, yes, they do still need cinemas – at least if they want to make the globe-spanning blockbusters that pull in the big bucks.

    Studio responses to the pandemic have varied. Some, lacking popular streaming platforms, have made deals with companies that do: Paramount sold Coming 2 America to Amazon for $125 million; Sony sold Tom Hanks’ Greyhound to Apple TV+ for around $70m.

    Others have used the pandemic as a chance to release films on their own platforms. Disney, for instance, has churned out a glut of movies on Disney+, including Mulan, Soul and Raya and the Last Dragon. AT&T, which owns Warner Bros, has released multiple films – like Wonder Woman 1984 and Godzilla vs. Kong – in theatres at the same time as on its streaming service HBO Max, and plans to continue this throughout 2021 with Mortal Kombat, Dune and The Matrix 4.

    Filmmakers have lined up to criticise this practice: Denis Villeneuve, director of Dune, publish an op-ed in Variety claiming the move shows “absolutely no love for cinema”, while Christopher Nolan said that “some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service.”

    It’s not hard to see why streaming would be attractive to studios: if you beam a film directly to people’s homes, you don’t have to share your profits with cinema owners. “Studios have been trying for about ten years to carry out this experiment, but they weren’t allowed to because cinemas boycotted their films if they did anything like that,” says David Hancock, a film analyst at Omdia. “They’ve been making up for ten years worth of experimentation that they couldn’t do.”

    While these experiments have yielded different results for different films – Greyhound did well, Raya and the Last Dragon flopped – there’s been a clear takeaway. Hollywood still needs cinemas, and it needs us to return in our droves as they reopen across the world. Omdia’s research shows that video on demand claimed $1 billion in consumer spending globally in 2020, which pales in comparison to the $30bn lost by cinema over the same period.
    For big blockbusters, streaming simply cannot match theatres. The new James Bond movie, No Time To Die, is instructive here. The film, to be distributed by MGM in America and Universal in the rest of the world, has been postponed repeatedly because of the pandemic. In October 2020, rumours (which MGM denied) began to circulate that the studio was shopping the film around to streaming platforms for $600m; no one bought it, explains Hancock, because it was way too expensive. It’s questionable whether streaming will ever bring in enough revenue to make blockbusters like Bond, which
    could gross more than a billion dollars, a viable proposition.

    The rise of Netflix, then, has warped the media industry, and forced major studios to adopt a business model that, at the very least, has some question marks over its longterm viability. Tara Lachapelle at Bloomberg, for instance, calls it “fundamentally broken”. “Spend billions of dollars to create an endless supply of content, then sell monthly access to this deluxe all-you-can-eat buffet for little more than the cost of dinner at McDonald’s.”

    One long-term change we may see as a result of the pandemic is in the length of release windows. Both Paramount and Warner Bros. have announced a maximum of 45-days exclusivity for cinemas – half the typical 90 – going into 2022. This is a coup for studios. “Other than stuff like The Greatest Showman, most films make 80 per cent of their box office in the first three weeks, and then they’re gone,” says Kathryn Jacobs, CEO of cinema advertising company Pearl and Dean.

    Streaming will also continue to change the industry profoundly, particularly as companies like Netflix and Amazon finance more and more films for their platforms – Sony has agreed an exclusivity deal with the latter – and Disney continues to tinker with the most profitable way to release its films (Cruella, out next month, will come to Disney+ at the same time as cinemas). Release schedules will continue to be in flux. “Because people are working flexibly from home, perhaps they’ll go on a Wednesday, rather than wait and go on a Friday to a multiplex,” says Jacobs.

    The billion-dollar question that remains, then, is whether there is an appetite for consumers to return post-pandemic. Will they fear catching some new variant of Covid-19, or have they gotten used to the convenience of home streaming? Or, perhaps, many will consider the cinema an unnecessary luxury in a time of economic recession. Early signs suggest not: Godzilla vs Kong has managed to rake in an impressive amount despite restrictions, while New York cinemas have reported sold-out seats (albeit at 25 per cent capacity).
    Cinemas have been battered by the pandemic--forced to watch, helpless, as their streaming rivals have hoovered up tens of millions of new subscribers. But despite Hollywood experiments, the economics of huge blockbusters simply don’t work without your local multiplex. “First it was telly that was gonna kill us, then it was VHS, then it was having more than four television stations in the UK,” says Jacob. Like James Bond, the cinema industry refuses to die.
    Will Bedingfield is a culture writer at WIRED. He tweets from @WillBedingfield

  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 14,331
    April 19th

    1961: In a note to Dennis Hamilton, Ian Fleming confesses he must live as an old man after coming close to death during a meeting.
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    For your eyes only: Letters that reveal
    deepest secrets of the 007 creator Ian Fleming...
    and the day he almost dropped dead at a Sunday Times meeting
    - Letters between James Bond creator Ian Fleming and his friend Dennis ‘CD’ Hamilton are on sale for £160,000
    - They reveal Fleming had a heart attack at a Sunday Times editorial meeting
    - He also confided his plans to marry Ann Rothermere after her divorce
    - Fleming predicted the news would cause a 'Fleet Street sensation'
    By Chris Hastings - Published: 17:01 EDT, 7 December 2013 | Updated: 20:17 EDT, 7 December 2013

    i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/12/07/article-2519995-19F1842D00000578-248_306x423.jpg
    Letters from James Bond creator Ian Fleming and his friend Dennis Hamilton have gone on sale for £160,000


    As the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming was a master of dreaming up death-defying situations from which the super-spy only just manages to escape.

    But Fleming himself owed his life to the prompt actions of one of his closest friends who spotted he was having a major heart attack.

    In previously unseen letters, published for the first time today, Fleming also admitted his impending marriage would cause a ‘Fleet Street sensation’ – and reveals that he regards the genteel pastime of gardening as a ‘death trap’.

    Fleming’s intimate exchanges with his colleague Dennis ‘CD’ Hamilton form part of an archive of more than 80 letters now on sale for £160,000.

    In one note, dated April 19, 1961, Fleming told Hamilton, who was working alongside him at The Sunday Times, that he is now having to behave like an old man following his brush with death during an editorial meeting.

    He writes: ‘Although neither of us knew it I am afraid I was in the middle of a rather major heart attack this time last week.’

    Fleming adds: ‘One never believes these things so I sat stupidly on trying to make intelligent comments about the thrilling new project about which I long to hear more. However, a thousand thanks for noticing my trouble so quickly and for shepherding me away when the time came.’

    The two men had been friends for more than a decade by the time of Fleming’s heart attack.

    In 1952, Fleming confided to Hamilton his plans to marry Ann Rothermere, the soon-to-be divorced wife of the 2nd Viscount Rothermere, who was then chairman of Associated Newspapers, owner of the Daily Mail.

    He writes from his home in Chelsea: ‘CD – just so you won’t see it first in the public print. This is to tell you that I am getting married to Ann Rothermere, which will cause something of a Fleet Street sensation I fear as the divorce goes into the lists next Wednesday.’
    i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/12/07/article-2519995-19F1843E00000578-997_306x423.jpg
    Revelations: The letters reveal Ian Fleming had a heart attack during a Sunday Times editorial meeting and that he believed his plans to marry Ann Rothermere once she divorced would cause a 'Fleet Street sensation'

    He adds: ‘In fact this has been on the cards for a long time. We have known each other for years. There are no hard feelings anywhere.’

    Ann had first met Fleming in 1936, and had thought him, then aged 28, ‘a handsome, moody creature’.

    Ann was later one of the most charismatic society hostesses, her house in Victoria Square becoming a renowned salon where high society, artists and intellectuals mixed.

    In his letter, Fleming assures Hamilton that Lord Kemsley, the then owner of The Sunday Times, has no problems with his relationship with the former wife of a rival newspaper magnate.

    He writes: ‘So please calm down excitement at levels other than K [Kemsley] who knows and accepts with an apparent good grace.’

    Fleming and Ann eventually married in 1952 and remained together until the author’s death from heart disease in August 1964.

    Fleming died aged 56 on their son Caspar’s 12th birthday. In a touching letter, Ann tells Hamilton that her son, who later took his own life, was in turmoil. She wrote: ‘I was deeply touched by your letter to Caspar .  .  . Alas he refuses to answer as he says he refuses to owe anything to friends of his parents.
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    Happy couple: Ian Fleming later married Ann, pictured together in 1963, and they remained together until his death from heart disease in 1964

    ‘His present frame of mind is very distressing to me. I can only pray that it will alter. The only sign of grace is his unhappiness which I am powerless to help.’

    Fleming, who joined The Sunday Times after serving as a wartime naval intelligence officer, continued as a journalist even when his career as a novelist took off.

    By the time he formally quit the paper in 1961, he had written nine of his Bond novels, including Casino Royale and Live And Let Die.

    The letters show also the dividing line between Fleming’s roles of journalist and thriller writer could become obscured. On July 17, 1960, Harry Hodson, the then Sunday Times editor, criticised his profile of the German city of Hamburg because he thought it was too obsessed with its red-light district. He writes: ‘We have to remember that for a great many of our readers .  .  . prostitution is not even a necessary evil, but something entirely immoral and degrading.
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    Colleagues: Dennis Hamilton, pictured in 1966, worked alongside Fleming at The Sunday Times

    ‘Again striptease acts may be alright for callow youths, and frustrated middle-aged men, but are a vulgar .  .  . sort of entertainment for balanced people.’ Fleming’s journalist colleagues were keen to capitalise on the success of the Bond characters, and several letters deal with how the spy may be included in the paper.

    On September 5, 1961, Fleming lobbies for an article on ‘the guns of James Bond’ even though he accepts it may bore female readers.

    He refuses Hamilton’s request for a 1,000-word article about 007 himself which the editor feels would be more ‘bonne bouche’ to readers.

    Just two months before his death, Fleming chastises Hamilton for wasting time in his garden.

    A letter dated June 15, 1964, says: ‘I am sorry you have been playing the fool in the garden. You must know that all forms of gardening are tantamount to suicide for the normal sedentary male. For heaven’s sake leave the whole business alone.’

    The correspondence also shows that the friends could sometimes fall out. In one undated letter, Fleming criticises his friend for a particularly ‘harsh’ exchange of words.

    He writes: ‘You were under great pressure so your wrath is excusable. But you should not use such words to a friend. They were unforgivable so I shall forget them.’

    The correspondence has been acquired from Hamilton’s family by independent booksellers Bertram Rota. Owner Julian Rota said: ‘We are asking £160,000 for the letters which we do not consider an unreasonable amount. They show that the relationship between the two men became more relaxed and more intimate with the passing of time.’

    Andrew Lycett, Fleming’s official biographer, said of the letters to Hamilton: ‘I think it was very much a mutual admiration society.

    ‘Ian Fleming was certainly a great fan of Hamilton’s and liked the fact that he had served with distinction during the war.’

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2519995/For-eyes-Letters-reveal-deepest-secrets-007-creator-Ian-Fleming--day-dropped-dead-Sunday-Times-meeting.html#ixzz5Cz07S8Hp
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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    1967: US premiere of Casino Royale.
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    2004: Philip Locke dies at age 76--Dedham, Essex, England.
    (Born 29 March 1928--St. Marylebone, London, England.)
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    Philip Locke, actor
    https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/philip-locke-actor-1-523590
    Born: 29 March, 1928, in London
    Died: 24 April, 2004, in London, aged 76

    WITH his gaunt and invariably haggard looks, Philip Locke was ideal casting for nervy, rather saturnine villains, corrupt Mafia bosses or somewhat refined bullies. He brought an evil streak to his characters that brought them alive. However, this tall and imposing man also had a fine line in comedy.
    His major cinema credit was as Vargas, the silent assassin who fell foul of James Bond’s spear-gun in Thunderball. His list of television credits was substantial and varied (The Avengers seemed to employ him as their resident baddie for a while) and he was often seen to great advantage in the theatre - especially London’s Royal Court in the Sixties.
    Philip Locke trained at RADA in the Fifties and he was soon being cast in minor roles at the Royal Court, then soon to enter its golden decade. In 1959, he was in the premire of John Osborne’s The World of Paul Slickey, a musical satire about gossip columnists and critics. It was given a real pasting by the critics - indeed, Noel Coward and John Gielgud were said to have led the booing on the first night - but many still recall the satanic dance Locke performed in the second act.

    From the Royal Court, he went on to play at the National Theatre and at the Royal Shakespeare Company (he was Quince in Brook’s famous Midsummer Night’s Dream). His career was to burgeon and Locke was seldom out of work: he played Horatio in Peter Hall’s production of Hamlet which opened the National Theatre in 1975 and four years later he was again directed by Hall in the premire of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus. In the latter, he played Salieri’s valet and spent much of the time feeding Mozart cream buns.

    Locke’s TV appearances never let up. He was much in demand for the fondly remembered Armchair Theatre plays and was often seen on the wrong side of the small screen’s best-known detectives, including Inspector Morse, Bergerac and Poirot. He also turned up in Minder, played a newspaper editor alongside Michael Caine in Jekyll and Hyde (LWT, 1990) and was a rather camp uncle in Jeeves and Wooster (Granada, 1993).
    His most striking film appearance was undoubtedly in Thunderball (1965), in which he made a particularly sinister appearance in dark glasses and black polo-neck jumper. However, a few years later, he showed his lighter side in the movie version of Porridge. In a favourite scene, Ronnie Barker’s Fletcher asks how Locke can face the prison grub, and Locke laconically replies: "I was at a top English public school and the food was very similar."
    Strangely, Locke was at only one Edinburgh Festival, in 1954, with the Old Vic Company in a star-studded production of Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Scottish National Orchestra was in the pit and Moira Shearer and Robert Helpmann were to dance within the play. It was a bold plan to fuse music, drama and dance.

    Locke played Puck and although Shearer, in an article in The Scotsman in 1976, recalled that Festival with "particular surprised pleasure" she did refer to the production as "rambling". However, it filled the Empire (now the Festival Theatre) to capacity.

    Locke was always a support actor, never a major star, but he had the ability to bring a certain touch of wicked style or a chilling frisson to a role. The fact that he appeared in so many high-profile and prestigious productions in a career spanning 50 years is a sure reflection of the standing he enjoyed in his profession.

    Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/philip-locke-actor-1-523590
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    2006: Casino Royale films Bond and his poisoned vodka martini.
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    2008: En route to the BOND 22 filming location, an Aston Martin DBS plunges into Lake Garda, Italy.
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    2010: One-time release date for Daniel Craig's third Bond film. Troubles at MGM force the Bond producers to announce a delay to the BOND 22 production for a potential release eventually beyond Fall 2011. And Spring 2012.
    2017: Dynamite Entertainment releases James Bond: Felix Leiter #4 (of 6).
    Aaron Campbell, artist. James Robinson, writer.
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    JAMES BOND: FELIX LEITER #4 (OF 6)
    https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C72513025458004011
    Cover A: Mike Perkins
    Writer: James Robinson
    Art: Aaron Campbell
    Genre: Action/Adventure, Media Tie-In
    Publication Date: April 2017
    Format: Comic Book
    Page Count: 32 pages
    ON SALE DATE: 4/19
    In the aftermath of a major terrorist attack in Tokyo by an Aum Shinrikyo-like cult, Felix Leiter finds himself unwittingly drawn into the investigation. And under the oversight of Tiger Tanaka-the Japanese James Bond-and with a squad of Tanaka's elite operatives, Leiter himself helps to bring down the cult's leader!

    But now it's up to Leiter and Tanaka to work desperately against the clock: they must discover the secret of the cultist's deadly bio-weapon - especially if they're going to try and avert another terrorist attack!
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    2020: From Hawaii With Love, Pierce Brosnan executes a GoldenEye watchalong as prompted by Esquire.
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    Pierce Brosnan Says He Would Return To James Bond As A Villain
    He revealed all in Esquire's live GoldenEye watchalong on Sunday night
    By Nick Pope | 20/04/2020

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    Getty Images

    Pierce Brosnan has revealed he would be willing to return to the Bond series, but not as the iconic spy.

    During Esquire’s live GoldenEye watchalong with the man himself last night (that’s us. We’re Esquire), the 66-year-old revealed to fans that he’d be up for making an appearance as a Bond villain.

    Answering questions from his Hawaii home, Brosnan said: “Would [ I ] return as a villain? If asked, yes! I believe so.”

    So there you have it! And it’s not too late to add him into No Time To Die in post-production, either. A cameo as a henchman? A computer hacker? Some kind of evil croupier? This is above our pay-grade, Fukunaga. Just make it happen.

    Brosnan wore the blood-splattered tuxedo for seven years, his acclaimed tenure starting with 1995’s GoldenEye and finishing with 2002’s Die Another Day. He earned a Saturn Award nomination for his performance in the latter, but many critics were in agreement that the series as a whole would benefit from a shift in tone (away from invisible cars, crucially).

    Not that Brosnan is bitter. Elsewhere in the livestream, he spoke of his admiration for Daniel Craig, who is departing the franchise following No Time To Die. He also opined on whether 007 should ever have a beard (a very firm "No") and delved into the Tarantino X Brosnan spy thriller that never was.
    Better still:
    https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a32205182/best-anecdotes-moments-pierce-brosnan-goldeneye-watchalong/

    Pierce Brosnan GoldenEye Live Watchalong: Behind-The-scenes,
    Advice To Daniel Craig & A Return?
    {2:11:20)


    https://www.huffpost.com/archive/au/entry/pierce-brosnan-recalls-drunk-meeting-with-quentin-tarantino-and-its-hollywood-gold_au_5e9e1f24c5b6a486d07e0139

  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 14,331
    April 20th

    1904: Bruce Cabot is born--Carlsbad, New Mexico.
    (He dies 3 May 1972 at age 67--Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California.)
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    Bruce Cabot, Film Actor, Dies; Played the Hero in ‘King Kong’
    MAY 4, 1972

    HOLLYWOOD, May 3 (AP)— Bruce Cabot, whose starring role in the 1933 screen classic “King Kong” was his best known part during four decades of acting, died today at the age of 67. He succumbed to lung cancer at the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills.

    Mr. Cabot played the young man who rescued Fay Wray from the clutches of the giant ‘ape in “King Kong.” In the nineteen‐thirties and forties, the 6‐foot 2‐inch actor appeared in numerous films as a cowboy, tough guy or soldier of fortune.

    The brown‐haired, blue‐eyed Mr. Cabot was seen with Errol Flynn, who became a close friend, in “Dodge City” and “The Bad Man of Brimstone.”

    After World War II service in the Army Air Forces that took him to Africa, Sicily and Italy as an intelligence and op erations officer, Mr. Cabot cut down on his movie‐making. He spent much time in Europe dur ing the nineteen‐fifties, making films and living there.
    Mr. Cabot was in several movies with his close friend, John Wayne. Among them were “The Green Berets” in 1968 and “Big Jake” in 1971. He also had a role in “Diamonds Are Forever,” also made last year.

    The actor, whose real name was Jacques de Bujac, was born in Carlsbad, N. M. He was married and divorced twice, to Adrienne Ames and Francesca de Scaffa, both actresses. In recent years he had lived in Hollywood.

    Tackled Many Jobs

    - - -
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    1953: Sebastian Faulks is born--Donnington, Berkshire, England.

    1963: From Russia With Love main unit relocates to Turkey to film at Saint Sophia, with Ian Fleming in attendance as a guest of Terence Young. (Meanwhile, the second unit crew toils away in Pinewood.)
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    1971: Bond comic strip Fear Face ends its run in The Daily Express. (Started 18 January 1971. 1520–1596)
    Yaroslav Horak, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.
    1985: Billy Magnussen is born--Woodhaven, New York City, New York.
    1985: Dali Benssalah is born--Rennes, France.

    1989: Domark releases top-down shooter game Licence to Kill developed by Quixel.
    Available for DOS, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, MSX, ZX Spectrum.
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    1999: The World Is Not Enough films Electra's attempt to seduce OO7 following the avalanche.

    2016: Guy Hamilton dies at age 93--Majorca, Balearic Islands, Spain.
    (Born 16 September 1922--Paris, France.)
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    Guy Hamilton, Director
    of ‘Goldfinger,’ Dies at 93
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    From left, the director Guy Hamilton, Sean Connery and Honor Blackman
    on the set of “Goldfinger.” Credit United Artists, via Photofest
    By William Grimes and Robert Berkvist | April 21, 2016
    Guy Hamilton, a director whose emphasis on fast pacing and witty repartee made “Goldfinger” a model for the James Bond films to follow, and who directed three more installments in the series, died on Wednesday on the Mediterranean island of Majorca. He was 93.
    His death was announced in a statement to The Associated Press by the Hospital Juaneda Miramar in the city of Palma. It provided no other details.
    Mr. Hamilton, a former assistant to the British director Carol Reed, had the hit prison-escape movie “The Colditz Story” to his credit when the producers Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli asked him to direct “Dr. No,” the first Bond film. Unable to leave Britain, Mr. Hamilton turned down the job (it went to Terence Young), but he enthusiastically accepted the assignment to direct “Goldfinger,” the third Bond film.

    He delivered a gem, “the most trendsetting directorial job of all the films,” Raymond Benson wrote in The James Bond Bedside Companion (1984). He sped up the action; accentuated the banter between Bond and his boss, M, and the equipment expert, Q — the key to Q, he told the actor Desmond Llewelyn, was that Q could not stand Bond — and added innumerable touches that became signatures.

    “Everyone understands what is ‘Bondian,’” he told The Banner-Herald of Athens, Ga., in 2009. “If it was a cigarette lighter, it couldn’t just be a Zippo, it had to be the latest exclusive toy. It had to be more glamorous. Bond couldn’t have just any yacht — it had to be the biggest yacht in the world. We were creating a dream world, defining what was ‘Bondian.’”

    After the modest successes of the first two Bond films, “Goldfinger” (1964) was a blockbuster hit, with Sean Connery giving a definitive performance, aided by a memorable slate of opponents: the supervillain Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe), his henchman Oddjob (Harold Sakata) and the femme fatale Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman).
    Mr. Hamilton took a break from the series when Mr. Saltzman hired him to direct the Cold War thriller “Funeral in Berlin” (1966), with Michael Caine, and “The Battle of Britain” (1969), a star-studded action film with Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Michael Redgrave and Mr. Caine.
    He returned to the Bond films with “Diamonds Are Forever” (1971), the seventh in the series, and brought the franchise into the Roger Moore era with its two successors, “Live and Let Die” (1973) and “The Man With the Golden Gun” (1974).
    Guy Hamilton was born on Sept. 16, 1922, in Paris, where his father was a press attaché to the British Embassy. Early on, he became a passionate film fan. As a teenager he worked at menial jobs at a film studio in Nice, and he served an apprenticeship with the director Julien Duvivier. With the outbreak of World War II he returned to London and served in the Royal Navy.
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    Guy Hamilton at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2005. Credit
    Jean-Francois Guyot/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
    In January 1944, as part of the 15th Motor Gunboat Flotilla, a secret unit that ferried agents into France and brought downed British pilots back to England, he and several crewmates missed a rendezvous and spent a month on the run in Brittany.

    - - -
    “The Best of Enemies” (1962) was another semi-serious war story, this time set in Ethiopia, about a British officer, played by David Niven, who continually crosses paths, and swords, with his Italian counterpart, played by Alberto Sordi. Mr. Hamilton’s skill in directing that movie’s action sequences led the producers of the Bond films to seek him out.
    He later directed “Force 10 From Navarone” (1978), with Robert Shaw and Edward Fox as British saboteurs in the Balkans attempting to destroy a strategically vital bridge with the aid of Army Rangers led by Harrison Ford.

    Mr. Hamilton returned to the mystery genre in the 1980s, his last active decade in the industry, with two films based on Agatha Christie novels:“The Mirror Crack’d” (1980), with Angela Lansbury as Miss Jane Marple, and “Evil Under the Sun” (1982), in which Peter Ustinov played the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.

    One of Mr. Hamilton’s last efforts was “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins” (1985), about a policeman-turned-assassin, played by Fred Ward, who sets out on multiple missions of vengeance.

    Mr. Hamilton’s first marriage, to the actress Naomi Chance, ended in divorce. His second wife was the actress Kerima, whom he met on the set of “Outcast of the Islands.” Complete information on his survivors was not avaliable.
    Goldfinger remained the shining jewel in Mr. Hamilton’s career. In 2010, The Guardian of London, cataloging the film’s virtues, wrote: “Where to start? The card game that opens the movie or the epic golf match in the middle? The gold-obsessed villain or the hulking Korean hardman? The near-castration with the laser beam or the gangster compacted in his Continental? And who could forget sexually ambiguous Pussy Galore, as essayed by husky-voiced, karate-chopping 40-year-old bombshell Honor Blackman? It’s a compendium of everything one loves about 007.”
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    Guy Hamilton (I) (1922–2016)
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    2019: David V. Picker dies at age 87--New York, New York.
    (Born 14 May 1931--New York, New York.)
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    David Picker, Studio Chief Who Brought Bond, The
    Beatles and Steve Martin to the Movies, Dies at 87
    In 1969, at just 38, Picker became president and COO
    of United Artists; he later ran Paramount and
    Columbia.

    https://static.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2019/04/picker-928x523.jpg

    David V. Picker, who served as the head of United Artists, Paramount and Columbia over more than a half-century in the film business, died Saturday night after succumbing to colon cancer at his home in New York, his longtime friend and former UA colleague Kathie Berlin told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 87.

    Picker was born in New York on May 14, 1931 — and into the movie business. His grandfather, also named David V. Picker, ran a small chain of theaters that he eventually sold to Loews, the company for which his father, Eugene Picker, then got a job booking theaters, which enabled the young Picker to see a movie for free at virtually any theater in the Big Apple, a privilege he took full advantage of.

    Most importantly, his uncle was Arnold Picker, who became a partner and executive vp international distribution at UA in 1951, the same year the old studio was risen from the dead by a pair of lawyers, Arthur B. Krim and Robert Benjamin, who, by bankrolling independent filmmakers and then staying out of their way during the filmmaking process, quickly began attracting top talent and raking in profits.

    In 1956, having graduated from Dartmouth College and served in the U.S. Army, Picker got a job at UA in the advertising and publicity department. Two years later, he was made assistant to head of production Max Youngstein, and when Youngstein left the company in 1962, Picker was elevated to his position. Any questions about the role that nepotism had played in Picker's rapid ascent at the company were quickly silenced by his major contributions in his new role.
    Seeking a property for Alfred Hitchcock, he acquired the rights to Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and fought for Sean Connery to star in the first adaptation, 1962's Dr. No, which was ultimately directed by Terence Young and spawned a franchise that continues to draw masses — and bear the UA name — to this day.
    The first film that Picker recommended UA's partners finance from scratch, Tony Richardson's Tom Jones, a British production, became a giant hit and was awarded the best picture Oscar, becoming only the second non-American film to earn that high honor, 24 years after the first. (Richardson, who also produced the film, could not attend the ceremony, so on his behalf Picker accepted the statuette from Frank Sinatra.)

    And, looking out for the United Artists Records and Music Publishing division, Picker recommended that the company make a low-budget documentary around a young British band that had impressed him, The Beatles. 1964's A Hard Day's Night, directed by Richard Lester, proved a blockbuster and helped to explode the Fab Four all around the world. UA and The Beatles reteamed on 1965's Help! and 1968's The Yellow Submarine.

    UA, however, fell upon hard times thanks to a run of big-budget flops, including 1965's The Greatest Story Ever Told and 1966's Hawaii, causing shuffling in the top ranks. In June 1969, at just 38, Picker was made president and COO of UA, part of a wave of young executives in their thirties — others including Richard Zanuck, Robert Evans and Jay Kanter — who assumed positions of immense power in Hollywood as the old moguls began retiring and dying in the 1960s and 1970s.

    - - -

    Picker is survived by his wife, the photographer Sandra Lyn Jetton Picker, and his sister, Jean Picker Firstenberg, the former president and CEO of the American Film Institute. He was previously married to — and divorced from — Caryl Schlossman, with whom he had two children, Caryn Picker and Pamela Lee Picker; and Nessa Hyams.
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    David V. Picker (1931–2019)
    Producer | Miscellaneous Crew
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    2020: Ronan O'Rahilly dies at age 79--County Louth, Ireland.
    (Born 21 May 1940--Dublin, Ireland.)
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    Ronan O’Rahilly obituary: Founder of
    Radio Caroline captured spirit of the
    swinging 60s
    Dublin-born maverick who launched pirate station was son of 1916 rebel The O’Rahilly
    Sat, May 2, 2020, 07:22
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    Ronan O’Rahilly, third from left, with former Caroline DJs Tony Blackburn, Tom Lodge, Johnnie Walker, Mike Ahern and Mark Sloane, on a visit to the Radio Caroline ship
    at Canary Wharf, London, in 1997.
    Photograph: Glen Copus/Evening Standard/Rex/Shutterstock
    - - -
    He also made Universal Soldier (1971), featuring George Lazenby as a mercenary in Africa. It came two years after Lazenby’s starring role as James Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, which not only flopped, but was notable for O’Rahilly having disastrously advised Lazenby – whom he managed – not to sign a seven-film deal because he doubted that the 007 craze would last.
    - - -
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    Ronan O'Rahilly (1940–2020)
    Producer | Director | Actor
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  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 14,331
    April 21st

    1962: The New Yorker publishes an interview with Ian Fleming.
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    The Talk of the Town
    James Bond Comes to New York
    The author Ian Fleming spent a weekend in the city to see his publishers and
    "assorted crooks" en route from his Jamaica hideaway to his London home.

    By Geoffrey T. Hellman | April 13, 1962
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    Photograph by Horst Tappe / Hulton Archive / Getty
    Ian Fleming, whose nine Secret Service thrillers (Casino Royale, Doctor No, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia with Love, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, and Thunderball) have had phenomenal sales in this country and abroad (more than eleven hundred thousand hardcover copies and three and a half million paperbacks), was here for a weekend recently en route from his Jamaica hideaway to his London home, and we caught him on Sunday morning at his hotel, the Pierre, where he amiably stood us a lunch. He ordered a prefatory medium-dry Martini of American vermouth and Beefeater gin, with lemon peel, and so did we.
    “I’m here to see my publishers and assorted crooks,” he said. “Not other assorted crooks, mind you. By ‘crooks,’ I don’t mean crooks at all; I mean former Secret Service men. There are one or two of them here, you know.”

    “Who?” we asked.
    “Oh, men like the boss of James Bond, the operative who’s the chief character in all my books,” said our host. “When I wrote the first one, in 1953, I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be the blunt instrument. One of the bibles of my youth was Birds of the West Indies, by James Bond, a well-known ornithologist, and when I was casting about for a name for my protagonist I thought, My God, that’s the dullest name I’ve ever heard, so I appropriated it. Now the dullest name in the world has become an exciting one. Mrs. Bond once wrote me a letter thanking me for using it.”
    Mr. Fleming, a sunburned, tall, curly-haired, blue-eyed man of fifty-three in a dark-blue suit, blue shirt, and blue-dotted bow tie, ordered another Martini, and so did we. “I’ve spent the morning in Central Park,” he said. “I went there to see if I’d get murdered, but I didn’t. The only person who accosted me was a man who asked me how to get out. I love the Park; it was so wonderful to see the brown turning to green. I went to the Wollman skating rink and saw all those enchanting girls skating around, and then I thought, This is the place to meet a spy. What a wonderful place to meet a spy! A spy with a child. A child is the most wonderful cover for a spy, like a dog for a tart. Do tarts here have dogs? I was interested to see that in the bird reservation in the Park there was not a single bird. There are no people there—It’s fenced in, you know, with a sign—but no birds, either. Birds can’t read.”

    Mr. Fleming lit a Senior Service cigarette and, in answer to some questions from us, said that he was a Scot, that he had been brought up in a hunting-and-fishing world where you shot or caught your lunch, and that he was a graduate of Eton and Sandhurst. “I shot against West Point,” he said. “When I got my commission, they were mechanizing the Army, and a lot of us decided we didn’t want to be garage hands running those bloody tanks. My poor mamma, in despair, suggested that I try for the diplomatic. My father was killed in the ‘14-‘18 war. Well, I went to the Universities of Geneva and Munich and learned extremely good French and German, but I got fed up with the exams, so in 1929 I joined Reuters as a foreign correspondent and had a hell of a time. Wonderful! I went to Moscow for Reuters. My God, it was fun! It was like a tremendous ball game.”

    He ordered a dozen cherrystones and a Miller High Life, and we followed suit. “I like the name ‘High Life,’ ” he said. “That’s why I order it. And American vermouth is the best in the world.”

    He added that he had been with Reuters for four years, and we asked what happened next.

    “I decided I ought to make some money, and went into the banking and stock-brokerage business—first with Cull & Company and then with Rowe & Pitman,” he said. “Six years altogether, until the war came along. Those financial firms are tremendous clubs, and great fun, but I never could figure out what a sixty-fourth of a point was. We used to spend our whole time throwing telephones at each other. I’m afraid we ragged far too much.”

    We inquired about the war, from which, according to the British Who’s Who, Mr. Fleming emerged a naval commander, and he said, “I was personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence, so I went everywhere.”

    We asked what he’d done after the war.

    “I joined the editorial board of the London Times,” he said. “I still write articles for it, and I’m a stockholder. And in 1952, when I was in Jamaica, Cyril Connolly asked me to write an article about Jamaica for his magazine, Horizon. It was rather a euphoric piece, about Jamaica as an island for you and me to go to.”

    We promised to go, and he said, “How about some domestic Camembert? It’s better here than the French.”
    During this and the coffee, he reverted to the non-ornithological James Bond. “I think the reason for his success is that people are lacking in heroes in real life today,” he said. “Heroes are always getting knocked—Philip and Mountbatten are examples of this—and I think people absolutely long for heroes. The thing that’s wrong with the new anticolonialism is that no one has yet found a Negro hero. They’re scratching around with Tshombe, but ... Well, I don’t regard James Bond precisely as a hero, but at least he does get on and do his duty, in an extremely corny way, and in the end, after giant despair, he wins the girl or the jackpot or whatever it may be. My books have no social significance, except a deleterious one; they’re considered to have too much violence and too much sex. But all history has that. I finished the last one, my tenth James Bond story, in Jamaica the other day; it’s long and tremendously dull. It’s called ‘The Spy Who Loved Me,’ and it’s written, supposedly, by a girl. I think it’s an absolute miracle that an elderly person like me can go on turning out these books with such zest. It’s really a terrible indictment of my own character—they’re so adolescent. But they’re fun. I think people like them because they’re fun. A couple of years ago, when I was in Washington, and was driving to lunch with a friend of mine, Margaret Leiter, she spotted a young couple coming out of church, and she stopped our cab. ‘You must meet them,’ she said. ‘They’re great fans of yours.’ And she introduced me to Jack and Jackie Kennedy. ‘Not the Ian Fleming!’ they said. What could be more gratifying than that? They asked me to dinner that night, with Joe Alsop and some other characters. I think the President likes my books because he enjoys the combination of physical violence, effort, and winning in the end—like his PT-boat experiences. I think James Bond may be good for him after the dry pack of the day.”
    Mr. Fleming is married to a former wife of Lord Rothermere and has a nine-year-old son, Caspar, who is away at boarding school. “He doesn’t read me, but he sells my autographs for seven shillings a time,” his father said. ♦
    This article appears in the print edition of the April 21, 1962, issue, with the headline “Bond's Creator.”
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    1969: Toby Stephens is born--Middlesex Hospital, London, England.

    1971: Bond comic strip Double Jeopardy begins its run in the The Daily Express.
    (Ends 28 August 1971, 1597–1708.) Yaroslav Horak, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.

    Swedish Semic Comic 1978 https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/comics/semic_1978.php3
    Farligt Uppdrag: Dödens Dubbelgångare
    ("Dangerous Commission" - Double Jeopardy)
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    Danish 1972 http://www.bond-o-rama.dk/en/jb007-dk-no24-1972/
    James Bond Agent 007 no. 24: “Double Jeopardy” (1972)
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    1983: United States President Ronald Reagan speaks to James Bond's 21st anniversary in film in a taped message for producer Albert R. Broccoli.
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    Remarks by President Ronald Reagan during taped
    message on 21st anniversary of first James Bond film for
    Cubby Broccoli. Diplomatic Reception Room.
    See the complete article here:
    Collection RR-WHCA: Records of the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) (Reagan Administration)
    Series: Presidential Audio Recordings
    Item
    NAID: 161346518 Sound Recordings
    Produced: April 21, 1983

    1 Audio File (0:58)
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/reagan/rr-whca/5730597/PP1731.mp3
    I've been asked to state my feelings on a fellow named Bond. James Bond.

    Well, as I see it 007 is really a 10. He's our modern-day version of
    the great heroes that appeared from time to time throughout history.

    There were many like him in the past. Pioneers. Soldiers. Lawmen. Explorers.
    People who all went out and put their lives on the line for the cause of good.

    Bond is fearless, skilled, witty, courageous, optimistic, and one other thing:
    he always gets his girl. He meets up with some pretty terrifying enemies.
    But somehow with his determination, skill, and yes the help of a good script,
    he always triumphs over them. James Bond is a man of honor.

    Maybe it sounds old-fashioned, but I believe he's a symbol of value to the free world.

    Of course some critics may say that Bond is nothing more than an actor in the movies.
    But then, we've all gotta start somewhere.

    1993: TBS starts James Bond Wednesday.

    2010: British store HMV lists Blood Stone as coming soon.
    1
    UK retailer lists James Bond:
    Bloodstone
    By GamesRadar Staff April 21, 2010

    Has HMV just revealed the name of the new Bond game?

    Just yesterday EON Productions, producer of the James Bond films announced that it has indefinitely postponed all work on Bond 23 (which was slated for release in 2011/12). The delay comes after uncertainty surrounding the future of Hollywood studio MGM.

    Well imagine our surprise then to discover thaT HMV is listing a new Bond game for pre-order: title, James Bond: Bloodstone. [sic]

    Could this be the game that UK soap actor Adam Croadsell told the BBC he'd just played Bond in back in November last year? The game described as a third-person shooter with a mix of driving elements? The one that was previously leaked by UK retailers as being titled James Bond Racing?

    If this all adds up, the delay of the film wouldn't likely affect the game production - if we believe Croadsell (and why would he make it up?) the game won't have anything to do with the film, and seems unlikely to feature the voice of current Bond, Daniel Craig.

    Intiguingly, HMV are listing the game in the driving/racing section of the site, giving credence to the theory it will be a James Bond 'racing game' - but contradicting Croadsell's intel that it's a third-person shooter. Who's right?

    Only time will tell.

    Which would make a great name for a Bond film.

    21 April 2010
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    2017: A Daily Mail article cites a recent poll proposing the reading of Bond books as the most-lied-about.
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    Do you lie about books you have read?
    You are not alone...
    By Press Association | Published: 09:19 EDT, 21 April 2017 | Updated: 09:29 EDT, 21 April 2017

    Many Britons are fibbers when it comes to their reading habits, failing to tell the truth in a bid to impress, a poll suggests.

    Around two-fifths (41%) say they would stretch the truth when it comes to what, or how much, they have read, with young people (18 to 24-year-olds) most likely to do so.

    A job interview was the most likely place for people to lie about books, the Reading Agency survey found, followed by on a date and when meeting the in-laws.
    And given a list of books that were turned into films, Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels are the books people are most likely to claim they have read when they have, in reality, just seen the movie, the Reading Agency concluded. In second place was the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, followed by CS Lewis’s Chronicles Of Narnia.
    The poll of 2,000 adults does reveal that two-thirds (67%) would like to read more than they currently do, while nearly half (48%) said they are too busy to read more.

    Around 38% said they are rarely in the mood to read, while around a third (35%) said they find it difficult to find books they really like. The survey comes before World Book Night on Sunday.

    Reading Agency chief executive Sue Wilkinson, said: “It’s great to see from our research that Brits still love to read, but not surprising that some people feel they are too busy to do so.

    “Finding the right book can be key to getting back into the reading habit, and our research shows how influential book recommendations and book gifting can be. So on World Book Night, we are urging keen readers to give a book to someone they know who doesn’t currently read for pleasure.”
    List of books adults are most likely to claim they’ve read,
    when they’ve actually seen the film, in order of popularity:


    1. James Bond books, Ian Fleming
    2. Lord Of The Rings, JRR Tolkien

    3. The Chronicles Of Narnia, CS Lewis
    4. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown

    5. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
    6. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh

    7. The Wizard Of Oz, L Frank Baum
    8. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding

    9. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
    10. The Godfather, Mario Puzo

    11. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey
    12. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

    13. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
    The online survey questioned 2,000 British people in March.
    https://007fanart.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/fan-fiction-shadows-of-death-2/
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  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 14,331
    April 22nd

    1950: Lee Tamahori is born--Wellington, New Zealand.

    1963: From Russia With Love films at the Hagia Sophia Mosque in Istanbul.
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    1976: Ken Adam directs construction of the 007 sound-stage at Pinewood Studios.

    2008: Bond Bound: Ian Fleming and the Art of Cover Design begins its run, eventually ending 28 June, at the Fleming Collection, 13 Berkeley Street, London. The same day, The Trustees of The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation publish Bond Bound: Ian Fleming and the Art of Cover Design.
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    Ian Fleming and the art of book design
    By System Administrator April 16, 2008 12:08 am

    Those who blinked and missed the Royal Mail’s set of stamps featuring James Bond covers back in January should rush to a new exhibition opening next week. Bond Bound: Ian Fleming and the Art of Cover Design is just one part of the author’s centenary celebrations taking place this year, but for designers, it promises to be the best. Covering all of Ian Fleming’s books and a range of archive material, the focus of the show will be firmly on the James Bond novels, beginning with Fleming’s own design for the first one, Casino Royale, published in 1953, and including two subsequent titles art directed by the author, Live and Let Die and Moonraker. The former features the neo-Victorian lettering typical of the then-popular Festival of Britain style, the latter introduces Kenneth Lewis’s flame pattern that would become an integral element of Maurice Binder’s classic 007 titles. What the exhibition clearly shows is how these covers stand strong in their own right, but also combine to paint a fascinating portrait of Britain over the past 60 years. Their designs clearly illustrated Britain’s fast-changing moral attitudes and cultural shifts as designers quickly began to expose the innate animal magnetism of the hero and make obvious a nation’s desire to engage openly with issues such as sex, style, power and politics. The exhibition will incorporate Fleming’s literary legacy with Bond spin-offs by other authors, right up to the yet to be released Devil May Care, Sebastian Faulks’s tribute to Fleming. Like a perfect full stop to the dialogue created by the covers, the cover is designed by The Partners, and features Rankin muse and model Tuuli Shipster, who is a diplomat’s daughter in real life. Fleming couldn’t have made it up.
    Bond Bound: Ian Fleming and the Art of Cover Design runs from 22 April to 28 June at the Fleming Collection, 13 Berkeley Street, London W1 For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond is on at London’s Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE10 until 1 March 2009
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    2010: With BOND 23 delayed, rumors fly that Sam Worthington will play Bond.
    2012: Michael Wilson assures the Turkish press that filming does not destroy precious buildings of antiquity.
    2015: After a scheduled break and minor knee surgery, Daniel Craig resumes filming at Pinewood Studios.

    2020: Halle Berry shares the story about how James Bond star Pierce Brosnan saved her life.
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    When Pierce Brosnan saved Halle Berry from choking
    The News Scroll 22 April 2020 Last Updated at 2:20 pm | Source: IANS
    Los Angeles, April 22 (IANS) Actress Halle Berry has shared that "James Bond" star Pierce Brosnan once saved her from choking while filming "Die Another Day".
    She made the revelation when she appeared on "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon", reports dailymail.co.uk.
    "I was supposed to be all sexy, trying to seduce him with a fig, and then I end up choking on it and he had to get up and do the Heimlich," said the actress, who was seen as Jinx in 2002''s "Die Another Day".

    "That was so not sexy. James Bond knows how to Heimlich! He was there for me, he will always be one of my favourite people in the whole world," added the 53-year-old.
    Heimlich is a first-aid procedure to dislodge an obstruction from a person''s windpipe by applying strong pressure to the abdomen between the belly button and rib cage.
    It was not the only accident that Berry faced. The actress suffered an injury during an action sequence, being shot in Spain, when debris from a smoke grenade stunt got lodged in her left eye.
    Berry was last seen on the big screen in last year''s "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum" opposite Keanu Reeves. She will next be seen in "Bruised", a drama set in the world of mixed martial arts. She is directing the feature. The actress is also attached to star in a remake of the 1985 classic "Jagged Edge".

    --IANS
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