On This Day

RichardTheBruce

May 20th

1917: Major Valentine Fleming is killed during World War I shelling on the Western Front at Gillemont Farm area,
Picardy, France. Eulogized by close friend Winston Churchill. A fellow officer calls him "absolutely our best officer".

‘Absolutely our best officer’: Valentine Fleming (1882-1917)
https://thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2017/05/19/absolutely-our-best-officer-valentine-fleming-1882-1917/
Posted on May 19, 2017 by The History of Parliament

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the early hours of 20 May 1917, Fleming was one of five members of his squadron killed in a heavy German bombardment, while defending Gillemont Farm, near Epehy in northern France. A few weeks before his death he had sent a final postcard to his son, Ian, writing:

In the wood where we slept last night were wild boars. I killed a snake but not a poisonous one. A hedgehog came into Philip’s shelter one night. (J. Pearson, The Life of Ian Fleming)

Philip (1889-1971) was Fleming’s younger brother, who served alongside him in the Oxfordshire Hussars. A talented rower, who had won a gold medal at the 1912 Olympics, he survived the war.

Posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Order, Valentine Fleming was buried at Templeux-le-Guerard British cemetery in northern France. Churchill remembered his ‘lovable and charming personality’, while a fellow officer wrote that

The loss to the regiment is indescribable. He was … absolutely our best officer, utterly fearless, full of resource, and perfectly magnificent with his men.

KR

1927: David Hedison is born--Providence, Rhode Island.
1936: Anthony Zerbe is born--Long Beach, California.
1941: Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming discusses Operation Goldeneye with other Allied intelligence
organizations at Lisbon, Portugal.

Operation Goldeneye https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Goldeneye

1977: Roger Moore and Barbara Bach promote The Spy Who Loved Me at the Cannes Film Festival.

1998: Wolf Mankowitz dies at age 73--County Cork, Ireland.
(Born 7 November 1924--Bethnal Green, London, England.)

Obituary: Wolf Mankowitz
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-wolf-mankowitz-1158253.html
John Calder | Saturday 23 May 1998 00:02

THE JEWISH community of London's East End has produced an amazing variety of talent. Some have made their careers in the commercial and financial worlds, while the very significant contributors to the arts have tended to be many-faceted. Joan Littlewood, Steven Berkoff and Mark Anthony Turnage are just a few of the names that spring to mind, but even among such exceptional people, Wolf Mankowitz stands out as a strong and individual voice.

When London first became aware of him as a writer in the early 1950s, he had already made a name for himself as a dealer and authority on antique porcelain, especially Wedgwood. His experience came from working in street markets, then in his own lock-up shop, a practical schooling that he put to good account, becoming both a scholar and (with R.G. Haggar) the editor of the Concise Encyclopaedia of English Pottery and Porcelain (1957). In 1953 he had published his definitive book, The Portland Vase and the Wedgwood Copies, which paid much attention to the copies of that famous Greek antiquity made by Josiah Wedgwood.

Mankowitz's special talent was to make an abstruse and specialised subject read like a detective story, and The Portland Vase sold well. Wedgwood, even in mass-produced modern copies, remained fashionable and Mankowitz cashed in by opening a glittering new shop in the Piccadilly Arcade in London.

At the same time he was using his former experiences, both as a street trader and as a bright young boy with an observant eye - not least for the main chance - to write short novels, which were published by Andre Deutsch; these became very successful. Make Me An Offer (about an antique dealer in search of the Portland Vase) appeared in 1952 and A Kid For Two Farthings a year later. They were both filmed in 1954, directed by Cyril Frankel and Carol Reed respectively.

Next Mankowitz began to write for the theatre and scored a considerable success with The Bespoke Overcoat (1953), in which David Kossoff played Morry, at the Arts Theatre in London, a role he repeated many times. Nobody appeared to notice at the time that the play was an update of a Gogol short story. In 1958 he wrote a musical, Expresso Bongo, based on the career of Tommy Steele, which was filmed the following year.

He followed it with a great outpouring of novels, short stories, plays, musicals and film scripts (including The Millionairess in 1960 and the James Bond film Casino Royale in 1967), some of which were successful with the public. With his ebullient self-confident personality he was always able to convince producers, but in spite of the volume of work, by the mid-Sixties his name had lost much of its lustre. Most of his new plays, especially the larger-scale ones, did not stay long on the boards.

Exceptions were adaptations of French plays or other work done in collaboration, such as the film The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961), directed by Leslie Norman, which was based on Willis Hall's stage play. Others worth noting are the novels My Old Man's a Dustman (1956) and A Night With Casanova (1991), The Mendelman Fire and Other Stories (short stories, 1957), and his documentary on Yiddish cinema in the 1930s, Almonds and Raisins (1984). The influence of Yiddish life and lore is evident in much of his work.

Born in Bethnal Green in 1924, Mankowitz was educated at East Ham Grammar School and Downing College, Cambridge, where he read English and was tutored by F.R. Leavis. During the Second World War he served as a volunteer coal miner and in the Army.

In addition to fiction and drama, he wrote books about Dickens, whose observation of urban life was not dissimilar from his own (Dickens of London, 1976), Edgar Allen Poe (The Extraordinary Mr Poe, 1978), and some historical subjects. He published a small volume of poetry in 1971.

Visits to Central America inspired his work and in 1971 he became Honorary Consul to the Republic of Panama in Dublin, a post which gave him some amusement, but little revenue.

In the Seventies he retired to a comfortable house and small property on the south-west coast of Ireland to continue writing and to take advantage of the government's generosity to writers, who pay no tax. There he turned to art and began to make collages; some have been exhibited in Dublin and London.

In 1982, he took a post teaching theatre at the University of New Mexico as well as being Adjunct Professor of English there. He stayed until the late Eighties before moving back to Ireland.

Wolf Mankowitz was a man of many parts with a voracious appetite for knowledge, an outgoing personality, attracted to women, a good talker, with an underlying interest in philosophy which developed particularly during his illness from cancer in his last years. Much of his work shows an ironic sense of humour, an understanding of human motivation and weakness, and a compassion for those unable to rise from the underside of society.

The works that are likely to survive longest, and which are most often revived in small theatres by such enthusiastic character actors as Leonard Fenton, are the early plays, and The Irish Hebrew Lesson (1978), written about the Black and Tans, although the author had the IRA in mind.

His compulsion towards success marred work that with more attention and time would have been better, but he became stoical about that at the end. At his best he was a craftsman with an ability to communicate with his public in all mediums and to make the complex simple and interesting.

Cyril Wolf Mankowitz, writer: born London 7 November 1924; married 1944 Ann Seligmann (three sons, and one son deceased); died Durrus, Co Cork 20 May 1998.

Screenwriting Lessons from One of Britain’s
Best: A Rare Interview with Wolf Mankowitz
https://cinephiliabeyond.org/screenwriting-lessons-one-britains-best-rare-interview-wolf-mankowitz/

One of the most interesting cultural personas of the British fifties and sixties, the versatile writer Wolf Mankowitz made a name for himself in the spheres of literature, film industry and theater. As a child of two Russian Jewish immigrants, he lived in poverty but unexpectedly got the opportunity to turn the tables around when he received a scholarship for Cambridge, where he went to study English and soon dedicate himself to writing. In 1952 he published his first novel ‘Make Me an Offer,’ which was soon turned into a film and a successful West End musical. The very next year his biggest literary success came out: ‘A Kid for Two Farthings’ was translated into many languages and ultimately ended up as a Carol Reed film. In 1960 he wrote the script for Anthony Asquith’s The Millionairess, an adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play with Sofia Loren and Peter Sellers in leading roles, and his musical Expresso Bongo, a fine satire of the music industry, blossomed as a successful movie with Cliff Richard and Laurence Harvey. Interestingly enough, one of Mankowitz’s biggest contributions to the world of cinema came surprisingly from a project he didn’t even want his name on. Mankowitz introduced his friend Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli to Harry Saltzman, the man who held the film rights to James Bond. This partnership instigated one of the biggest franchises in the history of film business starting with Dr. No, but Mankowitz, fearing the movie would be a huge flop that could potentially seriously damage his reputation, asked that his name be removed from the credits, even though he worked on the script. Mankowitz would later, however, write the screenplay for the 1967 Bond movie Casino Royale.

Mankowitz continued to write all the way until 1991, when he anounced he suffered from cancer and stepped away from the spotlight. Some MI5 files released in 2010 revealed that the famous screenwriter and playwright had been seen as a security risk by the secret service for roughly a decade after the Second World War due to his Russian roots, connections and the fact that his wife was once a member of the Communist Party, a suspicion that caused Mankowitz to unsuccessfully apply for several BBC positions during the fifties. He was ultimately allowed to join BBC on a three-week contract to translate and dub Anton Chekhov’s ‘The Bear’ for television, but not before BBC consulted the secret service first, concluding that translating Chekhov, despite Mankowitz’s obviously controversial background, failed to present any serious security risks for the country.

Today we bring you a precious interview with Mr. Mankowitz published in the February, 1974 edition of the great Filmmakers Newsletter. The esteemed novelist and screenwriter talks about the differences between writing for the stage, film and literary audiences, about his greatest professional successes, the problems he faced throughout his career, the role of the writer both as someone who tries to illuminate and to entertain, and much more. It’s a wonderful and educational read we wholeheartedly recommend, especially if you want to learn more about the craft from the mouth of one of Britain’s best.

https://cinephiliabeyond.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/1-2.jpg

https://cinephiliabeyond.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2-2.jpg

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“The task of adapting the 1958 novel ‘Dr No’ for the screen initially fell to Richard Maibaum and Wolf Mankowitz, with Johanna Harwood and Berkely Mather brought in to polish later drafts. At this time, Mankowitz—a friend of ‘Cubby’ Broccoli’s—was best-known for the Peter Sellers-Sophia Loren vehicle The Millionairess (1960) and the apocalyptic sci-fi The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961). He would later ask for his name to be removed from the Dr No credits after seeing the rushes and fearing a major flop. Maibaum, on the other hand, who had spent the 1950s writing war films like The Red Beret (1953) and The Cockleshell Heroes (1954), as well as Nicholas Ray’s Bigger than Life (1956), would go on to make a career out of Fleming’s secret agent, penning a further 12 Bond films before bowing out with Licence to Kill in 1989. To celebrate Mr Bond’s cinematic anniversary, we present an extract from the fifth draft script. It’s the classic moment part-way into Dr No in which the suave superspy (played in the film by Sean Connery) is first introduced to the world. The scene is a London gambling room called Le Cercle, where at the top stakes table, surrounded by onlookers, a chic woman in a red dress and a tuxedoed man with his back to the camera issue their commands to the croupier…”
—British Film Institute

2012: The Daily Record claims James Bond was almost a woman played by Susan Hayward.

James Bond was almost a woman played by Susan Hayward, filmmakers reveal
https://dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/tv-radio/james-bond-was-almost-a-woman-played-by-susan-878333
EXCLUSIVE: THE name was always Bond…but Britain’s top secret agent was almost Jane, not James, when 007 first hit the big screen.
By Toby McDonald - 08:41, 20 MAY 2012U


THE name was always Bond…but Britain’s top secret agent was almost Jane, not James, when 007 first hit the big screen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bond’s 23rd outing for filmmakers Eon Productions, Skyfall, is due to be released in the UK in October and stars Craig for the third time.

2017: Walter "Jay" Milligan Sr. dies this date.

JM Productions Founding Father Walter “Jay” Milligan Sr. Passes Away

See the complete article here:

http://jmderby.com/2017/03/22/jm-productions-founding-father-walter-jay-milligan-sr-passes-away/

March 22, 2017 By jmprodnew | Blog


It’s with the most heaviest of hearts we inform our derby fans on the passing of an undisputed pioneer in the motorsports industry and founding father of JM Productions Inc. Walter “Jay” Milligan Sr. passed away on Monday at the age of 86.

He first produced a Demolition Derby at the Erie County Fair in Hamburg, New York nearly 54 years ago at the age of just 31. His groundbreaking intelligence along with plenty of blood, sweat and tears were the groundwork of his thriving company that ultimately became the driving force behind more than 70 shows annually at State and County Fairs all over the eastern United States.

He first attained personal fame in 1974 when he created the All-American Thrill Show. It was there he had a large role in constructing a mid-air, 360 degree roll called the “Astro-Spiral”. The stunt became renowned when used in the James Bond classic film “The Man with the Golden Gun”

There’s no adjectives to appropriately depict the impact Walter “Jay” Milligan Sr. had on the motorsports and demolition derby business. His lust for perfection and foresight were matched by no other, and the effect of his passing is being felt by family, friends and business associates all over. Led by his son Jay Milligan Jr., whose worked with his father for more than 35 years and Jay Jr’s staff, we’ll continue here at JM Motorsport Productions to produce the highest quality shows while never forgetting to honor the legacy of an unequivocal legend.

Astro Spiral: Revisiting the greatest car stunt of all time

See the complete article here:

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2018/03/14/the-greatest-car-stunt-of-all-time-the-astro-spiral

John Pearley Huffman | 14 March 2018


[- - - MORE - - -]

2018: Poster designer Bill Gold dies at age 97--Greenwich, Connecticut.
(Born 3 January 1921--New York City, New York.)

Bill Gold, Iconic Master of the
Movie Poster, Dies at 97
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bill-gold-dead-master-movie-poster-was-97-1111346
1:58 PM PDT 5/20/2018 by Mike Barnes


Courtesy of Bill Gold

His résumé included 'Casablanca,' 'A Clockwork Orange,' 'The Exorcist,' 'Dog Day Afternoon' and decades' worth of Eastwood films.

Bill Gold, who revolutionized the art of the movie poster over a seven-decade career that began with Casablanca and included A Clockwork Orange, The Exorcist and dozens of Clint Eastwood films, has died. He was 97.

Gold died at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut, on Sunday, according to family spokeswomen Christine Gillow.

The Brooklyn native began at Warner Bros. in the early 1940s and had a hand in more than 2,000 posters during his iconic career, working on films for everyone from Alfred Hitchcock (1954's Dial M for Murder), Elia Kazan (1955's East of Eden) and Federico Fellini (1963's 8 1/2) to Sam Peckinpah (1969's The Wild Bunch), Robert Altman (1971's McCabe & Mrs. Miller) and Martin Scorsese (1990's GoodFellas).

Gold, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Hollywood Reporter during its 1994 Key Art Awards ceremony, had a way of setting the mood for a movie using a less-is-more philosophy.

"We try not to tell the whole story," he told CBS News in March. "We try to tell a minimum amount of a story, because anything more than that is confusing."

Gold's fruitful relationship with Eastwood began with Dirty Harry (1971), and he gave the actor a gun or a gritty countenance on posters for such films The Enforcer (1976), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), The Gauntlet (1977), Pale Rider (1985) and Unforgiven (1992).

Gold retired after working on the Eastwood-directed Mystic River (2003) but re-emerged to do the poster for the filmmaker's J. Edgar (2011).

See More
Bill Gold’s Memorable Movie Posters
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/bill-gold-s-memorable-movie-187230/1-casablanca-1942

"With Bill, I knew he would bring great ideas, and the poster he created would be one less thing we had to think about," Eastwood writes in the introduction to the 2010 book Bill Gold PosterWorks. "He respected the film, he respected the story, and he always respected what we were trying to accomplish.

"Four of the films he worked on won best picture Oscars, including Unforgiven. The first image you have of many of your favorite films is probably a Bill Gold creation."

Movie critic Leonard Maltin once noted that each of Gold's posters is "as individual as the movies they are promoting. I can't discern a Bill Gold style, which is a compliment, because rather than trying to shoehorn a disparate array of movies into one way of thinking visually, he adapted himself to such a wide variety."

Gold "started drawing at age 8 and never stopped," he said in a 2016 interview. After graduating from Pratt Institute in New York City, he approached the art director of the poster department at Warner Bros.' offices in New York.

"He sent me away on a trial to design posters for four earlier films: Escape Me Never and [The Adventures of] Robin Hood with Errol Flynn, The Man I Love with Ida Lupino and Bette Davis' Winter Meeting," he recalled.

Gold passed the test and was hired at age 21, and his first assignment was Casablanca (1942).

As he told CBS News, Gold laid out the poster for Casablanca and placed a gun in Humphrey Bogart's hand at the last minute: "Somebody suggested, 'This is Bogart. Let's put a gun in his hand. That's the way he acts, the way he exaggerates his action. We don't want just a head of him. It's too boring!' "

The gun was taken from another Bogie film, High Sierra (1941). Gold also was assigned work on Warners' Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) around this time.

After enlisting and serving three years during World War II, when he made training films for the U.S. Army Air Force, Gold returned to Warner Bros. and in the late 1950s moved west to work on the studios' Burbank lot. He started his own company in the early 1960s back in New York.

Gold's poster for William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973) — showing the priest played by Max von Sydow under a shaft of light outside the Georgetown home of the possessed young girl (Linda Blair) — was created after he was told not to "show anything that had any hint of religious connotation."

Gold also worked on posters for The Searchers (1956), Cool Hand Luke (1967), Funny Girl (1968), My Fair Lady (1968), Bullitt (1968), Woodstock (1970), Klute (1971), Deliverance (1972), The Sting (1973), Blazing Saddles (1974), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), On Golden Pond (1981), For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser (1988).

In 2011, producer Sid Ganis, who headed advertising at Warner Bros. during the 1970s, told THR that Gold was "the maestro. He was the one directing his art directors and directing his copy writers on what to do, which was a great thing. He was also the one who communicated with the studio. He was the guy in charge of the symphony."

Survivors include his wife, Susan, son Bob, daughter in-law Joanne, daughter Marcy, grandson Spencer, granddaughter Dylann and her fiancé Justin, great nephew Jaaron and "man's best friend" Willoughby.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation at alzinfo.org.

Bill Gold, designer. Brian Bysouth, artist.




Concept art by Boris Vallejo, as commissioned by Bill Gold.

RichardTheBruce

May 21st

1960: Comic strip From Russia with Love begins its run in The Daily Express.
(Finishes 1 February 1960. 488-583) John McLusky, artist. Henry Gammidge, writer.

https://www.comicartfans.com/searchresult.asp?txtSearch=John McLusky&PM=1














Swedish 1980 https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/comics/semic_1980.php3?s=comics&id=02192


Danish 1966 http://www.bond-o-rama.dk/en/tag/john-mclusky/page/2/

1967: The British series The Saint starring Roger Moore debuts in the US on NBC.

1967: Kingley Amis confides to Philip Larkin he finished writing his Bond novel.
1967: Roger Moore as The Saint debuts on NBC-TV.

1981: Jonathan Cape publishes John Gardner's first Bond novel Licence Renewed.

BOND is back and he's better than ever.
Miss Moneypenny thinks so. So does
attractive Ann Reilly. And it's only a
matter of time before Lavender Peacock,
the beautiful ward of the Laird of
Murcaldy, will heartily agree. Bond is
drinking noticeably less these days;
he's perhaps more diligent about exercise
and has a special low tar tobacco blended
for his cigarettes at Morelands of Grosvenor
Street. But the 1980s have reached the
department as well. Political restraints are
squeezing in on the Service. The elite
Double-O status, for example, conveying
its authority to kill, is being abolished. But
M takes little notice of these restrictions
when it comes to Bond. In M's words,
'There are moment when this country
needs a trouble-shooter -- a blunt instru-
ment -- and by heaven it's going to have
one.'

One of these moments had indisputably
arrived. There is something very ominous
about the meetings (insufficiently investi-
gated by M.I.5) between the international
terrorist known as Franco and the
renowned nuclear physicist who has
dubiously inherited the title of Laird of
Murcaldy -- Dr Anton (not a well-known
Scottish name) Murik. Someone must
infiltrate the Laird's castle and only Bond
could so deftly extract an invitation from
Murik on Gold Cup Day at Ascot. Then
with a Ruger Super Blackhawk .44
Magnum in its secret compartment and an
impressive selection of Q's latest gadgetry
ingeniously dispersed throughout his lug-
gage, Bond points the Saab 900 Turbo
(with a lower pollution level than a
Bentley) towards the north-west High-
lands and the fun begins.

John Gardner has brilliantly portrayed
the most famous spy in the world as he pits
his nerve and cunning against a danger-
ously deranged opponent -- one prepared
to sacrifice most of the Western world to
prove that only he can make it safe from
accidental nuclear holocaust. As the
seconds tick away on the valued Rolex
Oyster Perpetual, the world comes
nearer a fright death and ever nearer
Miss Lavender Peacock.


JOHN GARDNER has been writing thrillers
since the early 1960s. Among his most
recent international bestsellers are The
Nostradamus Traitor and The Garden of
Weapons. He was commissioned by Glidrose
Publications Ltd, who own the James
Bond copyright, to contribute a further
episode about that immortal among
Secret Service agents.


Jacket design by Mon Mohan, using a
commissioned water-colour painting by
Richard Chopping, and featuring a
Browning 9mm-long 1903, made under
Browning patent by Fabrique Nationale
D'Armes de Guerre in Belgium. Model for
reference provided by Holland and
Holland of Bruton Street, London.

In the photograph by Jerry Bauer on the
back cover, John Gardner is standing in
front of a reproduction of Amherst Villiers's
portrait of Ian Fleming.

1987: Jonathan Cape publishes John Gardner's sixth Bond novel No Deals, Mr. Bond. Trevor Scobie, cover artist.

Between the Danish island of Bornholm and
the Baltic coast of East Germany a nuclear
submarine of the Royal Navy surfaces under
the cloak of darkness. James Bond and two
marines slip quietly from the forward hatch
into their powered inflatable and set off for a
lonely beach where they are to collect two
young women who have to get out in their
socks. Planted to seduce the communist agents to
run for cover in the West, they have been
rumbled by the other side. Bond little knows
that this routine exercise is but the prelude to a
nerve-racking game of bluff and double bluff,
played with consummate skill by his own chief
M against the East German HVA and the elit
branch of the KGB, formed out of Bond's old
adversary SMERSH.

Over a plain lunch in a sober dining room
in Blades, Bond learns of M's predicament. he
cannot tell the police what he knows about the
series of grisly murders of young women,
found with their tongues removed, which
occupy the day's headlines. Two of his
undercover 'plants' have gone; Bond must find
three others and conduct them to safety before
they meet a similar fate. the first he spirits
away from her Mayfair salon just as the next
strike is made, taking her with him to the Irish
Republic in pursuit of the second. But the
urbane HVA boss, Maxim Smolin, is ahead of
him this time, despite the astute ministrations
of the Irish police. The KGB is soon on the
scene, but nothing is at all what it seems, and
Bond finds he needs all his wits to negotiate the
labyrinth of double-crossing that is to lead him
to a bewildering showdown in a remote corner
of the Kowloon province of Hong Kong.

There, with only the trusted belt of secret
weapons specially devised by Q branch, he has
to fight a terrifying duel in the dark, with all
the cards in the hands of his opponents. No
Deals, Mister Bond is the sixth and by far the
best of John Gardner's OO7 adventures. [/quote]

[img][/img]

1997: BOND 18 films the shower scene with Bond and Wai Lin.
2009: Daniel Craig offers the opinion he'd like Moneypenny and Q to return.
2012: Activision releases a trailer for their 007 Legends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Xlb7q-9pQek

2012: The first Skyfall teaser trailer comes available.

RichardTheBruce

May 22nd

1970: On Her Majesty's Secret Service released in the Republic of Korea.
1977: Bond comic strip When the Wizard Awakes ends its run in The Daily Express.
(Started 30 January 1977. 1-54) Yaroslav Horak, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.

https://spyguysandgals.com/sgLookupComicStrip.aspx?id=1020


Swedish 1978 https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/comics/semic_1978.php3?s=comics&id=02165

1985: US premiere of A View to a Kill--Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, California. Stuntman B.J. Worth descends by parachute to City Hall.

San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein.






B.J. Worth skydives to City Hall.

Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco. More recent photographs.

2015: BOND 24 films at Covent Garden, London.

HuntingBond
James Bond movie locations around the World
https://huntingbond.com/rules-london-spectre/
Rules of Attraction

2019: Top Gear reports on the Aston Martin Superleggera.

Aston has built a Bond-themed DBS
Superleggera
https://www.topgear.com/car-news/movies/aston-has-built-bond-themed-dbs-superleggera
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is 50 years old. Sound the special edition klaxon!
Vijay Pattni | 22 May 2019

Aston Martins shouldn’t really try to ram home the James Bond connection so explicitly, should they? After all, most sentient beings are well versed in the irrefutable fact that James Bond = Aston Martin. And vice versa.

Exhibit A: this new ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service DBS Superleggera’,which references 50 years since, well, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was first released into cinemas. You may or may not remember, in that 1967 [sic] film James Bond (George Lazenby) drove a DBS. In Olive Green.

And lo, this new DBS Superleggera gets an Olive Green paint job too. Which is good, because green is a good car colour. Don’t @ us.

Elsewhere, the OHMSS DBS features wild, intricately designed forged alloys (diamond-turned, no less), much carbon fibre, an aero blade and a new splitter. The grille gets six horizontal vanes for a better homage to that 1967 [sic]movie car.

Inside, it’s black leather with red striping, some Alcantara, and the option of a bespoke drinks case that slots into the boot. Naturally, there are badges all over the place to remind you that yes, James Bond = Aston Martin. And vice versa. At some point, you will have to explain these badges to someone.

There’s no more power, but you probably don’t need it. Aston’s 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12 remains on very active duty here, kicking out 715bhp which is plenty to scare yourself down a narrow mountain pass.

“Creating a James Bond special edition is always an exciting challenge as we work to create a car that embodies the legend of James Bond, and the original movie car,” explains Aston’s Marek Reichman.

Only 50 of these special edition cars will be made, each costing £300,007 (ah, we see what you did there, AM). Are Astons cooler when the Bond connection is a little more… subtle? Or should we just rejoice in the fact that this is a very, very attractive car with a little hat tip to its silver screen past?

RichardTheBruce

May 23rd

1960: Comic strip Dr. No begins its run in The Daily Express. (Finishes 1 October 1960. 584-697)
John McLusky, artist. Peter O'Donnell, writer.

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?Piece=1507554&GSub=191645


Swedish 1973 https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/comics/semic_1973.php3?s=comics&id=01777
(Döden På Jamaica (Death At Jamaica- Dr No))


Danish 1964 http://www.bond-o-rama.dk/en/jb007dk-no-4-1964/

1983: Comic strip Polestar begins its run in The Daily Express. (Ends 15 July 1983, mid-way through the story. Complete versions eventually published in non-UK media. 625-719) John McLusky, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.

Swedish https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/comics/semic_1982.php3?s=comics&id=02218

1986: Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson complete the script for The Living Daylights.

2017: Roger Moore dies at age 89--Crans-Montana, Valais, Switzerland.
(Born 14 October 1927--Stockwell, London, England.)

Roger Moore dies at 89; debonair British actor played James Bond in 7 movies
By Steve Chawkins - May 23, 2017 | 7:20 AM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-roger-moore-snap-story.html

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

In private, he had distinctly un-Bondlike qualities.

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

In contrast to Connery's dark, rough-hewn good looks, Moore was fair.

"I was fortunately always offered jobs because I was so pretty," he told the London Evening Standard in 2003. "Women used to complain about it!"

Roger Moore to the London Evening Standard in 2003

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

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

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

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

But Geoffrey persisted.

"What about if James Bond came in?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Critics were sometimes unkind.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Moore struggled like many other actors.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RichardTheBruce

May 24th

1931: Michael Lonsdale is born--Paris, France.
1939: Ian Fleming is introduced to Admiral John Godfrey.

Ian Fleming's Commandos: The Story of the Legendary 30 Assault Unit, Nicholas Rankin, 2011.

On 24 May 1939 Ian Fleming walked into the downstairs Grill of
the Carlton Hotel, at the bottom of London's Haymarket where
it met the eastern end of Pall Mall. The debonair thirty-year-old,
smoking a Morland Special cigarette, looked a natural denizen of
St. James;s, 'someone out of a Wodehouse novel' as Cyril Connolly
once noted when he bumped into Fleming in his bluy suit and
Eton Rambelers' cricket club tie in Brook Street. Fleming's club
was Boodle's, because White's was too noisy, and he often ate in
Scott's just up the road. Someone extremely important whom he
had never met before had invited him to lunch, but polish
of Eton College and a brush of Sandhurst had given Fleming
the social aplomb to deal with such an event effortlessly. He was
good at charming older men and senior officer types: the trick
was not deference but confidence. Tall, dark and handsome (a
broken nose gave him an interesting gladiator look), the chain-
smoking, smooth-haired Ian Fleming was an easily bored flâneur
and gambler who had yet to find his niche, a late starter and a
dabbler who feared that he might be a failure. Because he was
amusing and posed as a cynical romantic, he had little trouble
getting women into bed, though he dumped them afterwards
rather too quickly. The primrose path toward alcoholism was
already looking attractive.

Sitting at the luncheon table were two admirals in dark suits.
Fleming had already met the first, white-bearded Aubrey Hugh-
Smith, one of the two nautical brothers of the senior partner in
Rowe & Pitman, the stockbroking firm that gave him an annual
income without engaging his energies. (He had chosen not to
go into his grandfather's merchant bank, Robert Fleming & Co.)
Smith introduced him to their host, Admiral John Godfrey, with
his air of a stern Roman senator; previously Fleming had only
spoken to him one, on the telephone.

1944: Patti Labelle is born--Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1949: Roger Deakins is born--Torquay, Devon, England.
1985: A View to a Kill gets general release in the United States.

Revelator wrote: »

Here's a column by the legendary San Francisco columnist (and Ian Fleming fan) Herb Caen on the premiere:

San Francisco Chronicle, May 24, 1985

For Your Eyes Only

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Caen was an early Bond fan and even met Ian Fleming. He wrote about Bond in several of his columns, and Fleming in turn wrote an article praising Caen for the San Francisco Chronicle.

2008: BBC's Radio 4 airs its first Bond radio drama: Dr. No starring Toby Stephens as OO7. David Suchet. Dramatized by Hugh Whitemore.

https://bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00bfd0d
Dr No
Saturday Drama

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

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

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

Original music by Mark Holden and Sam Barbour

Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis & Ayres Production for BBC Radio 4.

2015: BOND 24 films at Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, and Whitehall Road in London.
2016: Burt Kwouk OBE dies at age 85--Hampstead, London.
(Born 18 July 1930--Warrington, Cheshire, England.)

Burt Kwouk obituary
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/24/burt-kwouk-obituary
Actor best known for his roles in the Pink Panther films and the
BBC’s Last of the Summer Wine
Ronald Bergan | Tue 24 May 2016 12.24 EDT

Burt Kwouk, right, was a regular co-star with Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther films, including Return of the Pink Panther, 1975. Photograph: SNAP/Rex/Shutterstock

Anna May Wong, the first of the few Chinese actors to gain Hollywood stardom, explained why she retired from the screen: “I was so tired of the parts I had to play. Why is it that the screen Chinese is nearly always the villain? And so crude a villain – murderous, treacherous, a snake in the grass. We are not like that. How should we be, with a civilisation that is so many times older than that of the west?” Burt Kwouk, who has died aged 85, felt the same way but, as he remarked: “I look at it this way – if I don’t do it, someone else will. So why don’t I go in, get some money and try to elevate it a bit, if I can?”

Kwouk, mostly seen in British films and TV, did manage to elevate many of his roles, finally transcending stereotypes such as his celebrated Cato, the foil to Peter Sellers’ bungling Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies, to become a national treasure, this status being consecrated in 2002 by his joining the cast of the BBC’s longest running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine.

Kwouk was born in Warrington, Lancashire, “because my mother happened to be there at the time,” but at 10 months old was taken back to the family home in Shanghai. There he remained until he was 17, when his well-off parents sent him to the US to study politics and economics. However, before he was able to graduate his parents lost all their money in the 1949 revolution, and he returned to Shanghai. A few years later, Kwouk took advantage of his dual nationality and returned to Britain, where he took various menial jobs before his girlfriend “nagged me into acting”. Capitalising on his oriental looks, he started getting roles mostly as villainous or comic Chinese or Japanese characters.

One of his first TV appearances was a comic one, in a Hancock’s Half Hour (1957), as a Japanese man presenting two bowls of rice to Tony Hancock, who has won a lifetime’s supply in a newspaper competition. A year later, Kwouk was fortunate, so early in his career, to have one of his better film roles in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, set in China but shot in Wales. Kwouk, one of the few genuine Chinese people in the cast, played Li, who helps Ingrid Bergman, as the English Christian missionary Gladys Aylward, escape from the Japanese with 100 children. After a long and arduous journey, he is shot and killed by Japanese soldiers when he tries to distract them from the children.

He was soon cast in a couple of Hammer Horror films, The Terror of the Tongs, as one of evil Christopher Lee’s hatchet men, and Visa to Canton (both 1961). Kwouk was subsequently to play the sidekick of Lee’s Fu Manchu in The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967) and The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969). But in The Fiendish Plot of Fu Manchu (1980), Sax Rohmer’s master criminal was played by Sellers, with Kwouk as his manservant. It was a best-forgotten, dismal ending to Sellers’ career, but it did give him and Kwouk a last chance to work together.

Their first chance had come 16 years before in A Shot in the Dark (1964), the second of Blake Edwards’s slapstick comedies featuring Sellers as the extraordinarily maladroit Inspector Clouseau, who seemed unable to cross a room without breaking something. Kwouk played Clouseau’s Chinese “houseboy”, whose sole function was to ambush his master with kung fu attacks at the most unexpected moments from the most unsuspected places. These brilliantly choreographed running and jumping gags, which always resulted in the destruction of Clouseau’s apartment and Cato coming off worst, were the highlights of all the Pink Panther films, which included The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) and The Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978).

“Peter and I fell about laughing so much that very often we were unable to complete the day’s work as scheduled, which the producers hated,” Kwouk recalled. “Cato and I are very different. He never stands still. I only move when I have to.” The death of Sellers in 1980 didn’t prevent Edwards from making The Trail of the Pink Panther (1982) by piecing together out-takes and clips from the previous films in the series. Kwouk was seen as Cato, bravely being interviewed about his boss, and again in Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), this time as proprietor of the Clouseau museum. Kwouk’s protracted association with the Pink Panther series ended with Son of the Pink Panther (1993), in which, in various disguises, he attacks villains on behalf of Roberto Benigni in the title role.

Kwouk also appeared in three James Bond movies: Goldfinger (1964), as a nuclear scientist sent to oversee the bomb that China has given to Goldfinger (Gert Frobe) to blow up Fort Knox, but who is later double-crossed and shot; Casino Royale (1967), as a Chinese general; and You Only Live Twice (1967), as one of Blofeld’s gang of Spectre henchmen.

His other roles varied from Chairman Peng of the People’s Republic in Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) to a corrupt Laotian general who’s hoping to save up enough money to buy a Holiday Inn in the US in Air America (1990), to the trustworthy contact in Paris of Jet Li’s Chinese cop in the formulaic martial arts thriller Kiss of the Dragon (2001).

Parallel to his film career, Kwouk made a niche for himself on British television in series including The Saint (1965-68), It Ain’t Half Hot Mum (1977-78), Doctor Who (1982), and as himself in The Kenny Everett Show (1983-84) and The Harry Hill Show (1997-2000). But the role that revealed his underused talents as a dramatic actor was Major Yamauchi, the strict but honourable commandant of a women’s POW camp in Tenko (1981-84).

In contrast was his Mr Entwistle, a philosophical electrical handyman from Hull in Last of the Summer Wine, a part specially written for him by Roy Clarke. “It is a very pleasant and easygoing programme, a lovely gentle comic show,” Kwouk remarked. “There is no one charging around, and even the slapstick is quite gentle – certainly more gentle than I am used to.”

Kwouk’s voice was almost as famous as his face. It can be heard in the video game Fire Warrior, narrating the English version of the Japanese TV series The Water Margin (1976-78), the bizarre “interactive” gambling show Banzai! (2001-04) and in many TV commercials.

Kwouk was appointed OBE in 2011 for services to drama.

He is survived by Caroline Tebbs, whom he married in 1961, and their son Christopher.

• Burt Kwouk, actor, born 18 July 1930; died 24 May 2016

https://filmography.bfi.org.uk/person/223941

Films | Year | Film | Role

1958
Windom's Way
Cast (villager)

1959
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
Cast (Li)

1959
Upstairs and Downstairs
Cast (Chinese restaurant proprietor)

1960
Expresso Bongo
Cast ([Soho youth])

1960
The Terror of the Tongs
Cast (Ming)

1960
Visa to Canton
Cast (Jimmy)

1962
Satan Never Sleeps
Cast (Ah Wong)

1962
The Sinister Man
Cast (Captain Feng)

1963
The Cool Mikado
Cast ([art teacher])

1964
Goldfinger
Cast (Mr Ling)

1965
A Shot in the Dark
Cast (Kato)

1965
Curse of the Fly
Cast (Tai)

1966
Our Man in Marrakesh
Cast (export analysis manager)

1966
The Brides of Fu Manchu
Cast (Feng)

1966
The Sandwich Man
Cast (ice cream salesman)

1967
Casino Royale
Cast ([Chinese Army officer at auction])

1967
You Only Live Twice
Cast (SPECTRE No 3)

1968
Nobody Runs Forever
Cast (Pham Chinh)

1969
The Most Dangerous Man in the World
Cast (Chang Shou)

1970
Deep End
Cast (hot dog stand man)

1972
Die Folterkammer des Doktor Fu Manchu
Cast (henchman)

1975
Girls Come First
Cast (Sashimi)

1976
Return of the Pink Panther
Cast (Cato)

1977
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Cast (Cato)

1977
The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation As We Know It
Cast (Chinese delegate)

1978
Revenge of the Pink Panther
Cast (Cato)

1982
Trail of the Pink Panther
Cast (Cato)

1983
Curse of the Pink Panther
Cast (Cato)

1990
I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle
Cast (Fu King owner)

1992
Carry On Columbus
Cast (Wang)

1993
Leon the Pig Farmer
Cast (art collector)

2004
Fat Slags
Cast (Dalai Lama)

RichardTheBruce

May 25th

1917: The Times publishes the obituary Winston Churchill penned for his close friend--"Valentine Fleming. An Appreciation".
1921: Harold Lane (Hal) David is born--Brooklyn, New York City, New York. (He dies 1 September 2012 at age 91--West Hollywood, California.)

Hal David, Songwriter, Is Dead at 9
Legendary Lyricist Hal David
Dies at 91
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hal-david-dies-obituary-songwriter-burt-bacharach-367366
4:57 PM PDT 9/1/2012 by Mike Barnes


The songwriter worked with
Burt Bacharach on dozens of
classic songs, including
Oscar winner "Raindrops
Keep Fallin' on My Head,"
"(They Long to Be) Close to
You" and Dionne Warwick's
"I Say a Little Prayer."

Hal David, the Oscar-winning lyricist who teamed with Burt Bacharach to form one of the most sensational hitmaking teams in the history of popular music, has died. He was 91.

David died Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of complications from a stroke, his wife Eunice said. He had suffered a major stroke in March and was stricken again Tuesday, she said.

"Even at the end, Hal always had a song in his head," she told The Associated Press. "He was always writing notes, or asking me to take a note down, so he wouldn't forget a lyric.

In the 1960s and beyond, David and Bacharach produced some of the most memorable songs for movies, television and recording artists. They received an Oscar in 1970 for “Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head,” recorded by B.J. Thomas for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and a Tony nomination and a Grammy for the score of Promises, Promises, which debuted in 1968 on Broadway.

The team found their muse in a young Dionne Warwick, who rocketed to stardom singing such Bacharach-David tunes as "Don't Make Me Over," "Always Something There to Remind Me," "Alfie," "Walk on By," "Message to Michael," “I Say a Little Prayer" and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?"

Their songs also have been recorded by the likes of The Carpenters, Herb Alpert, Marty Robbins, Perry Como, The 5th Dimension, Dusty Springfield and Tom Jones and more recently by such contemporary acts as Alicia Keys, The White Stripes, The Flaming Lips and the cast of Glee.

The pair had No. 1 hits in the U.S. with Alpert's "This Guy's in Love With You" in April 1968, with the famed trumpeter making in his vocal debut; Thomas' "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," which debuted in November 1969; and The Carpenters' "(They Long to Be) Close to You," which bowed in June 1970.

The 5th Dimension's heartfelt "One Less Bell to Answer" from 1970 reached No. 2, and "What's New, Pussycat?" from the sexy British singer Jones got as high as No. 3 in 1965.

A native of New York, David started out penning songs to entertain GIs in the South Pacific during World War II. He worked as a copywriter at The New York Post, then wrote for Sammy Kaye, Guy Lombardo and other bandleaders before hooking up with Bacharach. He told The Hollywood Reporter last year that he became a lyricist because his oldest brother, Mack -- also a lyricist and composer who came west from New York -- was his role model. (Mack David wrote “I Don’t Care If the Sun Don’t Shine” for Patti Page.)

David and Bacharach scored their first big hit with "Magic Moments," a million-selling record for Como in 1957. Five years later, they met Warwick.

"In 1962, Dionne came into our office in the Brill Building in Manhattan to do some demos for us," he told THR. "She sang popular music with a gospel sound and rhythm and just blew us away. Her very first recording we produced, 'Don't Make Me Over,' was a hit.

"We wrote just about every hit she sang. We were a trio, really. Burt and I worked together for 17 years. Eleven or 12 of those were with Dionne, too."

David and Bacharach were a team from 1957 until their 1973 musical remake of Lost Horizon, on which they had worked for two years, bombed at the box office.

Bacharach and David sued each other, and Warwick sued them both. The cases were settled out of court in 1979, and the three went their separate ways. They reconciled in 1992 for Warwick's recording of "Sunny Weather Lover."

After splitting with Bacharach, David collaborated with Albert Hammond on "To All the Girls I've Loved Before," a 1984 hit for Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson that reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100; with Henry Mancini on "The Greatest Gift" for The Return of the Pink Panther (1975); and with John Barry on the title song of the James Bond film Moonraker (1979).

David received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in October, and in May, he and Bacharach, 83, were given the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in Washington from President Obama. David was unable to attend because of his stroke.

“Award-winning lyricist Hal David was an American songwriting treasure. His legacy of more than five decades of music has inspired fans, performers and other songwriters with its diversity and longevity," Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said in a statement. "He will be missed, but his rich body of work will be with us forever.”

David joined the board of ASCAP in 1974 and served as its president from 1980-86. He was head of the Songwriters Hall of Fame from 2001-11 and chairman emeritus at his death.

"As a lyric writer, Hal was simple, concise and poetic -- conveying volumes of meaning in fewest possible words and always in service to the music," ASCAP's current president, the songwriter Paul Williams, said in a statement. "It is no wonder that so many of his lyrics have become part of our everyday vocabulary and his songs ... the backdrop of our lives."

In addition to his wife, survivors include sons Jim and Craig and three grandchildren. His first wife, Anne, died in 1987.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Songs written by Hal David
https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/3227

Original songs
Title Written by Originally by Original date Covered by

99 Miles from L.A. Hal David, Albert Hammond Albert Hammond 1975 Covered by (13 artists)

A House Is Not a Home Burt Bacharach, Hal David Brook Benton July 1964 Covered by (159 artists)

Alfie Burt Bacharach, Hal David Cilla Black March 25, 1966 Covered by (254 artists)

All Kinds of People Burt Bacharach, Hal David Burt Bacharach 1971 Covered by (9 artists)

Anonymous Phone Call Burt Bacharach, Hal David Bobby Vee with The Johnny Mann Singers November 1962 Covered by Jim O'Rourke

Another Night Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick December 1966 Covered by Dusty Springfield

Another Tear Falls Burt Bacharach, Hal David Gene McDaniels with The Johnny Mann Singers 1961 Covered by (4 artists)

Any Old Time of the Day Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick February 1964 Covered by (7 artists)

Anyone Who Had a Heart Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick November 1963 Covered by (94 artists)

Are You There (With Another Girl) Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick December 1965 Covered by (17 artists)

As Long as There's an Apple Tree Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick February 1968 Covered by (2 artists)

A Whistling Tune Hal David, Sherman Edwards Elvis Presley August 1991 Covered by (3 artists)

Balance of Nature Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwicke 1972 Covered by (2 artists)

Bell Bottom Blues Hal David, Leon Carr Teresa Brewer December 1953 Covered by (4 artists)

Blue on Blue Burt Bacharach, Hal David Bobby Vinton May 1963 Covered by (15 artists)

Broken-Hearted Melody Hal David, Sherman Edwards Sarah Vaughan 1959 Covered by (12 artists)

Call off the Wedding (Without a Groom There Can't Be a Bride) Burt Bacharach, Hal David Babs Tino November 1962 Covered by Don Backy

Casino Royale Burt Bacharach, Hal David Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass March 1967 Covered by (21 artists)

Christmas Day Burt Bacharach, Hal David Edward Winter, Kay Oslin, Rita O'Connor, Julane Stites and Neil Jones December 1968 Covered by (7 artists)

Country Music Holiday Burt Bacharach, Hal David Bernie Nee with Eddie O'Conner and his Orchestra February 24, 1958 Covered by Adam Faith

Donna Means Heartbreak Hal David, Paul Hampton Gene Pitney October 1962 Covered by (2 artists)

Don't Go Breaking My Heart Burt Bacharach, Hal David Burt Bacharach and His Orchestra & Chorus March 1965 Covered by (22 artists)

Don't Let It Happen to Us Hal David, Sherman Edwards The Shirelles August 1963 Covered by (2 artists)

Don't Make Me Over Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick 1962 Covered by (51 artists)

Don't Send Me Home Hal David, Leon Carr Harry James - Toni Harper February 22, 1952 Covered by (2 artists)

Downhill and Shady Burt Bacharach, Hal David Burt Bacharach 1965 Covered by The Waistcoats

Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown? John Barry, Hal David John Barry, Nina van Pallandt 1969 Covered by (2 artists)

Do You Know the Way to San Jose? Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick February 1968 Covered by (112 artists)

Early Morning Strangers Barry Manilow, Hal David Barry Manilow October 1974 Covered by (3 artists)

Everybody's Out of Town Burt Bacharach, Hal David B.J. Thomas April 1970 Covered by (6 artists)

Go with Love Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick December 1966 Covered by Barbara Acklin

Half as Big as Life Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jerry Orbach December 1968 Covered by (4 artists)

Hasbrook Heights Burt Bacharach, Hal David Burt Bacharach 1971 Covered by (3 artists)

Here I Am Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick 1965 Covered by (8 artists)

Home Is Where the Heart Is Hal David, Sherman Edwards Elvis Presley with The Jordanaires August 28, 1962 Covered by (11 artists)

I Could Make You Mine Burt Bacharach, Hal David The Wanderers [US] September 1960 Covered by Patrick Logelin

I Cry Alone Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick 1963 Covered by (4 artists)

If I Could Go Back Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jerry Whitman January 1973 Covered by (2 artists)

If I Never Get to Love You Burt Bacharach, Hal David Lou Johnson June 1962 Covered by (4 artists)

I Forgot What It Was Like Burt Bacharach, Hal David Ray Peterson July 1963 Covered by (2 artists)

If You Never Say Goodbye Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwicke 1972 Covered by Liliane Saint Pierre

I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself Burt Bacharach, Hal David Tommy Hunt August 1962 Covered by (67 artists)

I'll Never Fall in Love Again Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jerry Orbach and Jill O'Hara December 1968 Covered by (169 artists)

I'm a Better Man Burt Bacharach, Hal David Engelbert Humperdinck 1969 Covered by (5 artists)

In Between the Heartaches Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick December 1965 Covered by (7 artists)

In the Land of Make Believe Burt Bacharach, Hal David The Drifters [US] December 1963 Covered by (7 artists)

In Times Like These Burt Bacharach, Hal David Gene McDaniels January 1960 Covered by (5 artists)

I Say a Little Prayer Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick August 1967 Covered by (188 artists)

Is There Another Way to Love You Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick February 1965 Covered by Anki

Italian Fuzz Burt Bacharach, Hal David Burt Bacharach 1966 Covered by Fifty Foot Combo

It Doesn't Matter Anymore Burt Bacharach, Hal David Ricky Nelson December 1966 Covered by (3 artists)

It Only Took a Minute Hal David, Mort Garson Joe Brown and The Bruvvers October 1962 Covered by (3 artists)

It's Love That Really Counts (In the Long Run) Burt Bacharach, Hal David The Shirelles August 1962 Covered by (4 artists)

It Was Almost Like a Song Hal David, Archie Jordan Ronnie Milsap 1977 Covered by (13 artists)

I Wake Up Crying Burt Bacharach, Hal David Del Shannon June 1961 Covered by (19 artists)

Johnny Get Angry Hal David, Sherman Edwards Joanie Sommers April 1962 Covered by (4 artists)

Kaleidoscope Hal David, Albert Hammond Albert Hammond 1977 Covered by Kisu

Knowing When to Leave Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jill O'Hara December 1968 Covered by (21 artists)

Let Me Go to Him Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick March 1970 Covered by (6 artists)

Let the Music Play Burt Bacharach, Hal David The Drifters [US] March 1963 Covered by (5 artists)

Living Together, Growing Together Burt Bacharach, Hal David Tony Bennett December 1, 1972 Covered by (8 artists)

Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets Burt Bacharach, Hal David Allison Durbin 1969 Covered by (5 artists)

Long After Tonight Is Over Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jimmy Radcliffe October 1964 Covered by (6 artists)

Long Ago Tomorrow Burt Bacharach, Hal David B. J. Thomas October 1971 Covered by Burt Bacharach

Looking With My Eyes Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick September 1965 Covered by Mike Melvoin

Look in My Eyes Maria Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jay & The Americans September 1963 Covered by Cliff Richard

Lost Horizon Burt Bacharach, Hal David Shawn Phillips January 1973 Covered by (5 artists)

Love Was Here Before the Stars Burt Bacharach, Hal David Brian Foley October 1967 Covered by (6 artists)

Magic Moments Burt Bacharach, Hal David Perry Como December 1957 Covered by (30 artists)

Magic Potion Burt Bacharach, Hal David Lou Johnson July 1963 Covered by (3 artists)

Make It Easy on Yourself Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jerry Butler June 1962 Covered by (69 artists)

Me Japanese Boy I Love You Burt Bacharach, Hal David Bobby Goldsboro July 1964 Covered by (8 artists)

Message to Martha Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jerry Butler December 1963 Covered by (33 artists)

Moonraker John Barry, Hal David Shirley Bassey 1979 Covered by (38 artists)

My Heart Is an Open Book Hal David, Lee Pockriss Jimmy Dean with Ray Ellis and His Orch. September 1958 Covered by (6 artists)

My Little Red Book Burt Bacharach, Hal David Manfred Mann 1965 Covered by (35 artists)

No Walls, No Ceilings, No Floors Hal David, Archie Jordan Barbara Mandrell September 1978 Covered by (4 artists)

Now While I Still Remember How Hal David, Archie Jordan Orsa Lia September 1979 Covered by (2 artists)

Odds and Ends Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick July 1969 Covered by (10 artists)

One Less Bell to Answer Burt Bacharach, Hal David Keely Smith 1967 Covered by (40 artists)

Only Love Can Break a Heart Burt Bacharach, Hal David Gene Pitney October 1962 Covered by (12 artists)

Outside My Window Hal David, Sherman Edwards The Fleetwoods January 1960 Covered by (2 artists)

Promise Her Anything Burt Bacharach, Hal David Tom Jones January 1966 Covered by (2 artists)

Promises, Promises Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jerry Orbach December 1968 Covered by (21 artists)

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head Burt Bacharach, Hal David B.J. Thomas October 1969 Covered by (252 artists)

Rain from the Skies Burt Bacharach, Hal David Adam Wade January 11, 1963 Covered by (3 artists)

Reach Out for Me Burt Bacharach, Hal David Lou Johnson July 1963 Covered by (26 artists)

Rivers Are for Boats Hal David, Albert Hammond Albert Hammond 1975 Covered by Päivi Paunu

Saturday Sunshine Burt Bacharach, Hal David Burt Bacharach and His Orchestra & Chorus 1963 Covered by (5 artists)

Sea of Heartbreak Hal David, Paul Hampton Don Gibson May 1961 Covered by (61 artists)

She Likes Basketball Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jerry Orbach December 1968 Covered by (3 artists)

Something Big Burt Bacharach, Hal David Mark Lindsay December 17, 1971 Covered by (4 artists)

Take a Broken Heart Burt Bacharach, Hal David Rick Nelson December 1966 Covered by (2 artists)

The April Fools Burt Bacharach, Hal David Percy Faith His Orchestra and Chorus 1969 Covered by (27 artists)

The Face Not the Image Hal David, Albert Hammond Albert Hammond 1975 Covered by Euson

The First Night of the Full Moon Hal David, Al Kealoha Perry Jack Jones May 1964 Covered by Ronnie Tober

The Four Winds and the Seven Seas Hal David, Don Rodney Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians May 1949 Covered by (6 artists)

The Good Times Are Coming John Barry, Hal David Mama Cass Elliot 1970 Covered by Henry Dee

The Last One to Be Loved Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick August 31, 1964 Covered by (5 artists)

The Look of Love Burt Bacharach, Hal David Stan Getz 1968 Covered by (382 artists)

The Love of a Boy Burt Bacharach, Hal David Timi Yuro November 1962 Covered by (5 artists)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Burt Bacharach, Hal David The Fairmount Singers February 1962 Covered by (18 artists)

(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me Burt Bacharach, Hal David Lou Johnson July 1964 Covered by (120 artists)

The Story of My Life Burt Bacharach, Hal David Marty Robbins with Ray Conniff and His Orchestra September 30, 1957 Covered by (30 artists)

The Things I Will Not Miss Burt Bacharach, Hal David Sally Kellerman and Andra Willis January 1973 Covered by (2 artists)

The Windows of the World Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick August 1967 Covered by (33 artists)

They Long to Be Close to You Burt Bacharach, Hal David Richard Chamberlain September 1963 Covered by (294 artists)

This Empty Place Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick 1963 Covered by (10 artists)

This Guy's in Love with You Burt Bacharach, Hal David Danny Williams 1968 Covered by (249 artists)

To All the Girls I've Loved Before Hal David, Albert Hammond Albert Hammond 1975 Covered by (50 artists)

Too Late to Worry Burt Bacharach, Hal David Babs Tino 1962 Covered by (9 artists)

To Wait for Love Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jay & The Americans February 1964 Covered by (14 artists)

Trains and Boats and Planes Burt Bacharach, Hal David Burt Bacharach and His Orchestra & Chorus March 1965 Covered by (80 artists)

True Love Never Runs Smooth Burt Bacharach, Hal David Gene Pitney October 1962 Covered by (5 artists)

Turkey Lurkey Time Burt Bacharach, Hal David Donna McKechnie, Baayork Lee
and Margo Sappington December 1968 Covered by (7 artists)

Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa Burt Bacharach, Hal David Gene Pitney October 1963 Covered by (30 artists)

Upstairs Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jerry Orbach December 1968 Covered by (4 artists)

Using Things and Loving People Hal David, Archie Jordan B.J. Thomas July 1979 Covered by (3 artists)

Walk on By Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick April 1964 Covered by (199 artists)

Walk the Way You Talk Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick December 1970 Covered by (3 artists)

Wanting Things Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick November 1968 Covered by (7 artists)

We Have All the Time in the World John Barry, Hal David Louis Armstrong 1969 Covered by (55 artists)

What Am I Supposed to Do? Hal David, Archie Jordan Orsa Lia September 1979 Covered by Iris Williams

What Do You See in Her Hal David, Frank Weldon Helen Grayco with Orchestra Conducted by Harold Mooney August 1955 Covered by (7 artists)

What's New Pussycat? Burt Bacharach, Hal David Tom Jones 1965 Covered by (57 artists)

What the World Needs Now Is Love Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jackie deShannon April 15, 1965 Covered by (240 artists)

Where Would I Go Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick February 1968 Covered by Barbara Acklin

Whoever You Are, I Love You Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jill O'Hara December 1968 Covered by (15 artists)

Who Is Gonna Love Me Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick November 1968 Covered by (4 artists)

Wishin' and Hopin' Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick 1963 Covered by (46 artists)

With Open Arms Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jane Morgan 1959 Covered by Adam Faith with John Barry and His Orchestra

Wives and Lovers Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jack Jones September 1963 Covered by (114 artists)

You'll Answer to Me Hal David, Sherman Edwards Patti Page Featuring The Mike Stewart Singers May 1961 Covered by (3 artists)

You'll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart) Burt Bacharach, Hal David Dionne Warwick July 1964 Covered by (31 artists)

You'll Think of Someone Burt Bacharach, Hal David Jerry Orbach and Jill O'Hara December 1968 Covered by (2 artists)

You You Darling Hal David, Lee Pockriss Eddie Williams 1959 Covered by Willy Hagara - Orchester Rolf Anders und Chor

Adapted songs
Title Written by Originals Originally by Covered by

Baby Elephant Walk Hal David Baby Elephant Walk Pat Boone
Dance Mama Dance Papa Dance Hal David Marriage, French Style Joanne and The Streamliners
No Regrets Hal David Non, je ne regrette rien Edith Piaf Covered by (13 artists)
Sole, Sole, Sole Hal David Sole, sole Covered by Sarah Vaughan
Where There's a Heartache Hal David Come Touch the Sun Oliver Covered by (3 artists)
Who Could Love Me Hal David Mi piaci come sei Shirley Bassey

1985: Title song "A View to a Kill" tops out at number two in the UK Singles Chart.

1985: The James Bond 007 Master Trivia Tournament is held at AMC Puente 10 Theaters in Industry, California.
2018: Bond at Bletchley Park, once the central site for British codebreakers during World War II, hosts Illustrations and Inspirations which highlights a Fleming connection. Runs through October.

MAY 2018 - Bond at Bletchley Park: Illustrations and Inspirations
https://bletchleypark.org.uk/whats-on/bond-at-bletchley-park-illustrations-and-inspirations

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

New exhibition of contemporary art celebrating James Bond

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

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

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

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

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

1 / 4 — Magnus Gjoen, 'Goldfinger' (2018). Inspired by the novel by Ian Fleming.


2 / 4 — Paul Wright, ‘James - On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ (2018), oil on linen.
Inspired by the novel by Ian Fleming.


3 / 4 — David Storey, ‘Bond Arriving at the Devil’s Own Stone Circle’ (2018),
oil on canvas. Inspired by a passage from ‘Trigger Mortis’ where Bond discovers
Pussy Galore being painted gold.


4 / 4 — Alan Fears, ‘From Breakfast with Love’ (2018). Inspired by the scene
in ‘Trigger Mortis’, by Anthony Horowitz, where Bond and Pussy Galore share
an awkward breakfast in Bond’s flat.

RichardTheBruce

May 26th

1909: Richard Maibaum is born--New York City, New York.
(He dies 4 January 1991 at age 81--Santa Monica, California.)

Richard Maibaum, Screenwriter For James Bond Films, Dies at 81
https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/09/obituaries/richard-maibaum-screenwriter-for-james-bond-films-dies-at-81.html
By ELEANOR BLAU | JAN. 9, 1991

Richard Maibaum, who wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for a dozen James Bond films, died on Friday at St. John's Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 81 years old and lived in Los Angeles.

He died of a heart attack, The Associated Press reported.

Early in the James Bond series, Mr. Maibaum remarked that the hugely popular movies about British secret agent 007 were really parodies of the Ian Fleming novels on which they were based.

A Sleuth With Humor

In an article he wrote after the first three adaptations, "Dr. No" (1963), "From Russia With Love" and "Goldfinger" (both 1964), he said that the movie character James Bond, played by Sean Connery, retained Mr. Fleming's image of a "super sleuth, super fighter, super hedonist, super lover," but that the film makers "added another large dimension: humor."

"Humor vocalized in wry comments at critical moments," he said. "In the books, Bond was singularly lacking in this."

Mr. Maibaum started his career as a playwright and actor. He was born in New York, attended New York University and then studied dramatic art the University of Iowa, where he received bachelor's and master's degrees and wrote plays, one of which, "The Tree," an anti-lynching play, was produced on Broadway.

Returning to New York, he acted with the Shakespearean Repertory Theater in 1933, and wrote two more plays for Broadway, "Birthright," an anti-Nazi drama, and "Sweet Mystery of Life," a comedy. He then got a contract as a writer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Hollywood. While there, he wrote another play, "See My Lawyer," which was produced in New York by George Abbott and which starred Milton Berle. Invited by Producer

Mr. Maibaum worked with film while serving in the Army during World War II, then became a writer and producer for Paramount from 1945 to 1951. He moved to England in the 1950's to work for the producer Albert Broccoli's Warwick Films, returned to the United States and wrote for television, then was invited by Mr. Broccoli to write the first Bond movie.

He wound up writing most of them, including "Thunderball," "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," "Diamonds Are Forever," "Octopussy," "For Your Eyes Only," "The Living Daylights" and "Licence to Kill."

He is survived by his wife, Sylvia; two sons, Matthew and Paul, of Los Angeles; a sister, Gladys Gould of Washington, and a granddaughter.

A version of this obituary appears in print on January 9, 1991, on Page D00021 of the National edition with the headline: Richard Maibaum, Screenwriter For James Bond Films, Dies at 81. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

1925: Alec McCowen is born--Royal Tunbridge Wells, England.
2011: Hodder & Stoughton publish Jeffery Deaver's Bond novel Carte Blanche .

The face of war is
changing. The other
side doesn't play by the
rules much any more.
There's thinking, in some
circles, that we need to
play by a different set
of rules too . . '

Fresh from Afghanistan, James Bond
has been recruited to a new agency.
Conceived in the post-9/11 world, it
operates independent of Five, Six and
the MoD, its very existence deniable. Its
aim: to protect the Realm, by any means
necessary.

The Night Action alert calls Bond from
dinner with a beautiful woman. GCHQ has
decrypted an electronic whisper about
an attack scheduled for later in the week:
casualties estimated in the thousands,
British interests adversely affected.

And 007 has been given carte blanche to
do whatever it takes to fulfill his mission.

The best psychological thriller writer
around' THE TIMES

'The master of ticking-bomb
suspense' PEOPLE

In 2004, Jeffery Deaver won the Crime Writers'
Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for
his book Garden of Beasts. Little did he know
that his acceptance speech, where he spoke
about his life-long admiration of Fleming's
writing, would lead to his being approached to
write this James Bond novel.

Deaver is the international number-one
bestselling author of two collections of short
stories and 28 suspense novels. He is best
known for his Kathryn Dance and Lincoln Rhyme
thrillers, most notably The Bone Collector, which
was made into a feature film starring Denzel
Washington and Angelina Jolie. His many
awards include the Novel of the Year at the
International Thriller Writers' Awards in 2009 for
his standalone novel The Bodies Left Behind.

Jeffery Deaver lives in North Carolina. Parallels
between Bond's and Deaver's lives include their
love of fast cars, skiing and whiskey.

For further information, visit www.jefferydeaver.com.

2016: Neil Cunningham dies at age 53--Mumbles, Swansea, Wales. (Born 1962--New Zealand.)

Neil Cunningham:
Remembering a national
favourite
https://www.autosport.com/national/feature/7066/neil-cunningham-remembering-a-national-favourite
Neil Cunningham was a national-racing favourite who was just 53 when he lost his battle against motor-neurone disease a few weeks ago. Here is a personal account of a popular racer

---

By James Beckett | Published on Friday July 1st 2016
Born in New Zealand, but raised on Australia's
Gold Coast, Neil Cunningham's love of motoring
and motorsport developed at an early age.
Showing a talent for driving cars, he managed to
scrape a number of drives in local championships
down under before travelling to Britain in 1983 as a
winner of the Australian Driver to Europe
competition.

As a Kiwi it was no mean feat in its own right to win an Australian prize! "Tell them you're an Aussie when you get there, they won't know the difference," was the advice as he boarded the plane.

Arriving to race a Formula Ford 2000 car, Neil's prize drive didn't last long, as a lack of funds severely limited his time in the car and, as a well-known Autosport journalist has since observed, Cunningham's participation in the squad was similar to that of a third driver in a one-car team. It was time to look for a drive, and Neil looked hard.

Drives were acquired, by hook or by crook, in a variety of categories, FF2000 and Formula Ford 1600 in particular. During the next few years, if there was a major Formula Ford race somewhere, Neil was in it. And he was quick. Carving out a reputation as a single-seater racer, Cunningham began to star, often referred to as the 'likeable Australian'.

His performances were noticed but, as other racers graduated to Formula 1 and other international categories, Neil's lack of funds prevented such movement.

During the period 1986 to '92, Cunningham was a Formula Ford stalwart - Andy Dawson's Swift, Amity Racing's Van Diemen, a Quest, a Mondiale, the Central Racing Services Van Diemen RF90 and more before the factory Swift team came knocking. The works Swift SC92F presented him with his best shot at glory to date, and Neil led the 1992 Formula Ford Festival Final until a gear-linkage failure ended that dream.

A return to Formula Renault (in which he'd shone in 1990) and a surprise appearance in the DTM at Donington Park during '94 followed, before Cunningham's talents were showcased in the popular Eurocar series. In '96, in the final race of the season, at a rain-soaked Brands Hatch, Neil took the lead on the opening lap and simply drove away to championship victory.

A Marcos Mantis Challenge title followed and soon Cunningham's performances allowed him to enter the world of GT racing. His obvious talents and superb car control soon attracted attention; if a team had a seat going, invariably Neil could be found in it - driving the wheels off it.

The British GT Championship became home for Neil, and in 2005 he enjoyed his best season in the category - third in the championship with Ben Collins and Embassy Racing's Porsche, scoring victories along the way at Knockhill and spectacularly on his 'home' grand prix circuit at Silverstone.

A dream to race at Le Mans was achieved in 2004, when he led the Morgan works team in the 24 Hours, driving the manufacturer's Aero 8 GT in the famous event. Cunningham started the race and also drove the car across the line at the finish. He returned two years later to drive a Courage in the LMP2 class, finishing 21st overall.

Later in his career, Cunningham forged a strong reputation as a racer of historic cars, winning twice at the Silverstone Classic in a Jaguar D-type with its owner, Ben Eastick, and driving like a man possessed in Bob Pepper's Ford Mustang to win the British Grand Prix Historic support race of 2008. Sliding the Mustang around half of Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire to victory, all Neil wanted to know afterwards was, "Did I look good? Was I really sideways through Bridge?"

Many historic races followed, including qualifying a Jaguar E-type on pole position at Le Mans for a Legends race, and winning his class in Nigel Webb's XKD 505 D-type during the 2011 Le Mans support event. He was presented with his trophy by Sir Stirling Moss, a driver who called time on his own career during the same meeting.

Cunningham's supreme car control led to his talent being observed, and then snapped up by film and television producers. A stunt driver for the opening sequences of the James Bond film Quantum of Solace, Neil also deputised on occasions as The Stig for the BBC show, Top Gear. V8 cars, tyres smoking and in broadside - that was Neil's forte.

His entertaining sideways style was also often seen in the Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone, driving my own FF1600 Van Diemen RF78, a car he christened 'Black Beauty'. Neil and 'Beauty' became common features at the end-of- season showcase. Winning the opening heat of the 2005 event is something I will never forget.

In 2006, Neil became the only driver in the event's history - and maybe at any meeting - to have a race-control bulletin directed at him during pre-race testing for driving too sideways! Quite simply, Bulletin 1 was issued by Dave Scott, race director, and titled, 'Who do you think you are? A Kiwi Superstar?'

No fine was levied, and if there had been there's no doubt Neil would have asked the car owner to pay it, but he bought a box of Mars bars to give to the marshals the following day. All those who thought he 'looked good' and 'sideways' got one!

Maybe it was fitting that Cunningham's racing career ended behind the wheel of a Formula Ford. Driving Dave Morgan's Van Diemen RF90 on a September day in 2011 - the very same car he had raced 20 years earlier - Neil drove his last race. He was really suffering by this time and, as we travelled up to Donington, we chatted about the good old days. I think deep down we knew this could be his last race.

Practice was wet, conditions awful, but Neil showed he still had it. Only afterwards did he tell me he hadn't got the strength to hold the steering wheel with his left hand.

It was a superhuman effort to climb into the car, let alone race it. But that was Cunningham, superhuman and keen to just get on with his job, what he knew best - and that was driving racing cars. When Neil was driven away from the track that night everyone felt numb.

He was my champion and I felt that I had just witnessed him floored by a single punch in the centre of the ring - although his final big fight was underway, and it would be bigger than any challenge experienced on the track.

After his diagnosis with motor-neurone disease, Neil set up a charity to heighten awareness of - and raise funds for - the fight against MND. His many friends stepped up to the plate to support Cunningham and his quest to defeat his condition, with a total of £100,000 raised at the time of his passing.

Neil was forever smiling, and always happy. He displayed strength, courage and a dogged determination - the same qualities that earned him such a fine reputation on-track. He was certain that a cure would be found, that he would live to fight again. Works of the charity will continue, creating a lasting legacy.

Away from the tracks, Cunningham also had a love of the ocean and, following an emotional memorial service held in the Mumbles, close to his Welsh home, it was fitting that his surfing friends should take to their boards under a clear blue sky and head out from the shore for one final tribute.

In the Autosport issue dated January 8 2009, I was described as a 'one-man Neil Cunningham Fan Club', but in the weeks since his passing it is obvious to me that his fan club was huge.

I will never forget the flamboyance and the love of driving, all conducted with a smile on the face. I met Neil shortly after his arrival in Britain back in 1983, and I enjoyed a very special friendship with him from that time. I am going to miss him. I believe we are all going to miss him. Motor racing has lost a fine man.

RichardTheBruce

May 27th

1922: Christopher Lee is born--Belgravia, London. (He dies 7 June 2015 at age 93--Chelsea, London.)

Christopher Lee obituary
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/11/christopher-lee
Actor known for villainous or sinister roles in films from Hammer
horror to James Bond and The Lord of the Rings
Alex Hamilton | Thu 11 Jun 2015 09.38 EDT

Christopher Lee, pictured in 1959, studied method acting at Rank’s ‘charm school’, but recognised theatre was not his strength and never went near the stage again.
Photograph: Everett/Rex Shutterstock

Sir Christopher Lee, who has died aged 93, achieved his international following through playing monsters and villains. In his 30s, he was Dracula, the Mummy and Frankenstein’s creature; in his 80s, Count Dooku in Star Wars and the evil wizard Saruman in The Lord of the Rings. Along the way he was Rasputin, Fu Manchu several times and Scaramanga – The Man With the Golden Gun – opposite Roger Moore as a weak 007, whom Lee did something to offset. For the last of these he was paid £40,000 – his highest fee, among hundreds of screen appearances, until the blockbusters of his later years. “The Bonds get the big money, and they save on the heavies,” he said.

Lee became an actor almost by accident. Through birth and education he seemed a more likely candidate for the diplomatic ladder, but he never reached the first rung. His father, Geoffrey, a colonel much decorated in the first world war, wrecked through gambling his marriage to Estelle, the daughter of the Italian Marquis de Sarzano, and a society beauty of the 1920s. Christopher was born in Belgravia, London. His education at Wellington college, Berkshire, ended abruptly at 17, and he had to get along on the pittance of a City clerk.

But the second world war might be said to have rescued him, making him an intelligence officer with an RAF squadron through north Africa and Italy. At the end, he was seconded for a period with a unit investigating war crimes. Though demobbed with the rank of lieutenant, he had suffered a psychological trauma in training and was never a pilot. In his later civilian life he was endlessly required to fly as a passenger, and it was barely a consolation to him having his film contracts stipulate that he travel first class.

Without previous aspirations or natural talent for acting, except a pleasing dark baritone voice that he exercised in song at home and abroad every day of his life, he was pushed towards film by one of his influential Italian relatives, Nicolò Carandini, then president of the Alitalia airline, who backed the suggestion with a chat to the Italian head of Two Cities Films, Filippo del Giudice. Lee was put on a seven-year contract by the Rank entertainment group, with the executive who signed it saying: “Why is Filippo wasting my time with a man who is too tall to be an actor?”

His height – 6ft 4in, kept upright by his lofty temperament and fondness for playing off scratch in pro-am golf tournaments – actually proved helpful in securing him the parts for which he had the most affinity: authority figures. He lent a severe and commanding presence to James I of Aragon in The Disputation (1986), the Comte de Rochefort in The Three Musketeers (1973), Ramses II in Moses (1995), the cardinal in L’Avaro (1990), a high priest in She (1965), the Grand Master of the Knights Templar in Ivanhoe (1958) and the Duc in The Devil Rides Out (1968).


Christopher Lee in Horror of Dracula (1958). He later regretted taking on so many of the
vampire’s increasingly absurd adventures.
Photograph: Everett/Rex Shutterstock

He shared his aptness for sinister material with two friends who lived near his London home in a Chelsea square: the writer of occult thrillers Dennis Wheatley and the actor Boris Karloff. The latter once cheered him up when Lee was overloaded with horror roles, remarking, “Types are continually in work.”

Lee initially studied method acting at Rank’s “charm school”, where he was supposed to spend six months of the year in rep. But floundering at the Connaught in Worthing, and humiliated by audience laughter when he put his hand through a window supposedly made of glass, he recognised that the theatre was not his metier and never went near the stage again. Perhaps the most useful coaching Rank gave him was in swordplay: across his career he fought in more screen duels than opponents such as Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks put together.


Sir Christopher Lee, veteran horror film actor, has died at the age of 93 after being hospitalised for respiratory problems and heart failure

Terence Young gave Christopher his first – and minimal – chance before the film cameras in Corridor of Mirrors (1948). Over the next 10 years, he played secondary and anonymous characters in a miscellany of mostly low-budget British films. This had a lasting effect into his later years: he would accept virtually any role. The film that lifted him out of obscurity, and showed him to Times Square as a 50ft-tall vampire, was the Hammer production of Dracula in 1958. It cost £82,000 and earned £26m, of which Christopher’s take was £750. It was the first time he and Peter Cushing worked together, in a pairing that lasted through 22 films.

It was often said in the film business that it was not easy to make friends with Lee. But he always knew his part, and he was always in the right place, so that he was at any rate approved of by the cameramen. Furthermore, three other actors who also enjoyed sinister roles in exploitation movies kept a quartet of friendship with him: Cushing, Karloff and Vincent Price.

Lee’s particular difference as Dracula lay in his height and powerful showing, and his terrifying presence even when no words had been written for him. But while admitting that Dracula had been his cornerstone, he eventually left the role to others, and later regretted letting himself in for so many of the vampire’s increasingly absurd adventures.
Christopher Lee: a career in clips
Read more

He took work wherever he could find it, including five times as Fu Manchu. When he could not find roles in Britain, he cast about in France, Italy, Spain and Germany. His ability to say his lines in their languages was a great advantage when it came to dubbing. He became the first actor to play both Sherlock Holmes and, for the director Billy Wilder in 1970, Sherlock’s brother Mycroft. While shooting by Loch Ness in Scotland, Wilder remarked to him, as they walked in the twilight by the spooky stretch of dark water with bats wheeling about: “You must feel quite at home here.”

Supporting roles in action pictures – as a Nazi officer, a western gunman and a pirate – extended not only his portfolio but also the range of lead actors who were his idols. Among them was Burt Lancaster, whose example as his own stunt man Lee strove to emulate. Lancaster once warned him against journalists: “Never let them get too close.” Lee liked to give interviews, but resented the results, since they invariably harped on about Dracula despite his protestations that he had left the “prince of darkness” behind.

Given this attitude, he rather surprisingly gave me, a journalist, the job of ghostwriting his autobiography, which was published in 1977 as Tall, Dark and Gruesome. In 2003, after he had played several roles a year for 25 more years, we updated the story as Lord of Misrule.

Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man (1973).
Photograph: Everett/Rex Shutterstock

Lee had come nearest to producing something lasting for the cinema in 1973, playing the pagan Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man. With a marvellous script by Anthony Shaffer, and despite almost no money for production, it was a rare horror film that proved to have a long life. Lee was prevented by injury from taking the role of Sir Lachlan Morrison in a sequel, The Wicker Tree (2011), though he made a cameo appearance as “Old Gentleman”.

After the high-profile part in The Man With the Golden Gun (1974), Lee – at the urging of Wilder – left Britain for Hollywood. America delivered some of his hopes. On the downside was the disaster film Airport 77; on the upside, a completely unexpected comic success hosting Saturday Night Live on TV, with such stars as John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. In among the 40 jobs he undertook in the 1970s, Lee’s sword and sorcery, murder and spook movies made way for his roles as a U-boat captain in Spielberg’s 1941 (1979), a Hell’s Angel biker in Serial (1980) and, back in Europe, the studied interpretation of the executioner Charles-Henri Sanson as a dandy, for a 1989 French TV history of the Revolution. Lee was fascinated by public executions. His move to the US allowed him the opportunity to see the electric chair firsthand, in a similarly detached mood of inquiry with which he had previously invited England’s last hangman to come to his house and talk about his own career. One of his favourite pastimes was visiting Scotland Yard’s Black Museum.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, with Christopher Lee as the wizard Saruman.
Photograph: Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

He worked on tirelessly, becoming a familiar figure in the studios of France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the Balkans, the Baltic and Russia; he also made films in Pakistan and New Zealand, and in 2000 he struck a touching figure as the butler Flay in the BBC TV production of Gormenghast.

The 21st century saw a major reinvigoration of his reputation – first in the Star Wars prequels, and then even more significantly as Saruman in Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning film sequence of The Lord of the Rings. He was upset when Jackson cut his scenes in the theatrical edition of the trilogy’s final instalment, The Return of the King (2003), but their rift was healed when the scenes were restored in the extended editions on DVD. At last, in his 80s, Lee was earning six figures. He reprised the role in The Hobbit films.

Nonetheless, one of the roles for which he was most proud was a low-budget assignment: the arduous – and politically precarious – challenge of playing the title role in Jinnah (1998). Though Lee worked with all due seriousness and admiration for the founder of Pakistan (and looked remarkably like him), he had to be constantly under armed guard because of an abusive press campaign against the producers for associating the father of the nation with Dracula; the Pakistan government eventually caved in to the pressure and withdrew its funding for the film. The end product was well reviewed; Lee himself thought it his best achievement, though not everybody would agree.

Still, at home he was becoming the nation’s darling. Tim Burton fitted him into small parts in five films and was on stage to introduce him when Lee won a Bafta fellowship award for lifetime achievement in 2011. A BFI fellowship in 2013 was presented to him by Johnny Depp. In France, he was made a commander of arts and letters; he was likewise honoured in Berlin. He was made CBE in 2001 and knighted in 2009. A prolific schedule of film appearances continued and most recently he had taken the lead role in the comedy Angels in Notting Hill.

He is survived by his wife, Gitte (nee Kroencke), whom he married in 1961, and their daughter, Christina.

• Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, actor, born 27 May 1922; died 7 June 2015

CHRISTOPHER LEE FILMOGRAPHY
https://www.fandango.com/people/christopher-lee-389466/film-credits

Year Title Role

2015 Extraordinary Tales
2014 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Saruman
2012 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Saruman
2012 Dark Shadows Clarney
2011 The Wicker Tree Old Gentleman
2011 Hugo Monsieur Labisse
2011 Season of the Witch (2011) Cardinal D'Ambroise
2011 The Resident August
2010 Burke and Hare Old Joseph
2010 Alice in Wonderland (2010) Jabberwocky
2009 The Heavy Boots' Father
2009 Triage Joaquin Morales
2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars Count Dooku
2007 The Golden Compass First High Councilor
2007 Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs Narrator
2005 Tim Burton's Corpse Bride Pastor Galswells
2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Dr. Wonka
2005 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith Count Dooku
2005 Greyfriars Bobby
2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Saruman
2002 Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones Count Dooku
2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Saruman
1999 Sleepy Hollow Burgomaster
1998 Jinnah Mohammed Ali Jinnah
1997 Ivanhoe Lucas de Beaumanoir
1986 The Girl (1987) Peter Storm
1983 The Return of Captain Invincible Mr. Midnight
1982 The Last Unicorn King Haggard
1979 1941 Von Kleinschmidt
1979 Alien Encounter Captain Ramses
1979 Arabian Adventure Alquazar
1975 The Four Musketeers Rochefort
1975 Diagnosis: Murder Dr. Stephen Hayward
1974 The Man with the Golden Gun - Scaramanga
1973 The Wicker Man (1974) Lord Summerisle
1972 Dracula A.D. 1972 Count Dracula
1972 The Creeping Flesh James Hildern
1972 Horror Express Prof. Alex Caxton
1971 The House That Dripped Blood Reid
1970 The Scars of Dracula Count Dracula
1970 The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes Mycroft Holmes
1970 Scream and Scream Again Fremont
1969 The Magic Christian Ship's Vampire
1968 Dracula Has Risen From the Grave Dracula
1968 The Devil Rides Out Duc De Richeleau
1968 Eve Col. Stuart
1966 Dracula, Prince of Darkness Dracula
1965 Face of Fu Manchu Fu Manchu
1965 Dr. Terror's House of Horrors Franklyn Marsh
1964 The Gorgon Prof. Carl Maister
1964 The Devil-Ship Pirates Capt. Robeles
1962 The Pirates of Blood River LaRoche
1962 The Longest Day
1961 Hercules In The Haunted World (1961) Lichas
1961 Scream of Fear Dr. Gerrard
1961 Terror of the Tongs Chung King
1960 Horror Hotel Prof. Allan Driscoll
1959 The Hound of the Baskervilles Sir Henry Baskerville
1959 The Mummy (1959) Kharis, the Mummy
1958 Horror of Dracula Count Dracula
1958 The Accursed Doctor Neumann
1957 Ill Met By Moonlight German officer at dentist's
1957 The Curse of Frankenstein The Creature
1957 Bitter Victory Sgt. Barney
1956 Moby Dick (1956)
1952 The Crimson Pirate Joseph, Attache
1951 Captain Horatio Hornblower Captain
1950 Prelude to Fame Newsman
1948 Hamlet (1948)
1948 Scott of the Antarctic Bernard Day
1948 Corridor of Mirrors Charles

1964: Από τη Ρωσία με αγάπη (From Russia With Love; also James Bond, praktor 007 se pagida, or James Bond 007 is paging) released in Greece.

1964: From Russia With Love opens in Los Angeles, California.
1967: Comic strip Octopussy ends its run in The Daily Express. (Started 14 November 1966. 264-428)
Yaroslav Horak, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.

http://www.the007dossier.com/007dossier/post/2016/11/04/Octopussy-Newspaper-Comic-Strip-1966






Italian 1977 http://www.007collector.com/comic-jb007-no-16/

Spanish 1989 https://en.todocoleccion.net/comics/james-bond-numero-04-octopussy~x116600976


Swedish 1986 https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/comics/semic_1986.php3?s=comics&id=02296


Swedish 1968

1974: Sébastien Foucan is born--Paris, France.
2008: A press party on the HMS Exeter anticipates the release of the Sebastian Faulks Bond novel Devil May Care. Includes delivery of copies by speedboat on the Thames and two Lynx helicopters.

RichardTheBruce

May 28th

1908: Ian Lancaster Fleming is born--Mayfair, London, England.
(He dies 12 August 1964 at age 56--Canterbury, Kent, England.)

100 things you didn't know about Ian Fleming
https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle-2-15039/100-things-you-didn-t-know-about-ian-fleming-1-1170076
Published: 21:35 Tuesday 27 May 2008
Today is 100 years since the birth of the author who introduced the world to the coolest spy of all. Now, with a new Bond book written by Sebastian Faulks on sale, we unveil the man who forged a modern phenomenon

1 Ian Lancaster Fleming was born on 28 May 1908, at Green Street, London,

2 His parents were Valentine Fleming, a soldier and Tory MP who was killed during the First World War, and Evelyn Ste Croix Rose .

3 He was given the middle name Lancaster because his mother liked to claim descent from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and son of Edward III – though she also claimed Highland descent, and dressed her four sons in kilts.

4 Evelyn had an affair with the famous painter Augustus John when in her forties.

5 At Fleming’s prep school, the headmaster’s wife read to the pupils from boys’ classics such as The Prisoner of Zenda.

6 While he didn’t excel as a scholar, Fleming was twice athletics champion at Eton.

7 James Bond, however, didn’t last long at Eton and ended up at Fettes, in Edinburgh.

8 Fleming said he was harshly beaten at Eton by a sadistic housemaster.

9 Withdrawn from Eton at 17, he went to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, where his tutor declared that he would make a good soldier “provided always that the ladies don’t ruin him”.

10 At Sandhurst, Fleming was indeed ensnared by the ladies – he caught an STI from a prostitute, and was withdrawn from the college and sent to a finishing school in Austria.

11 His broken nose was the result of a football game collision with Henry Douglas-Home, brother of the future prime minister, Sir Alec.

12 Following his signal lack of success at Eton and Sandhurst, He failed exams for a place in the Foreign Office, but in 1931 got his first job with the press agency Reuters. He would later say it taught him to write fast and accurately.

13 In 1939 he was recruited as personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence.

14 In “Room 39”, the intelligence office at the Admiralty, he honed skills as an espionage planner.

15 One of his more imaginative plans (unused) was “Operation Ruthless”, a bid to retrieve a German naval codebook by crashing a captured German bomber into the English Channel.

16 Fleming also went on foreign operations for the Admiralty, travelling to a chaotic Paris as the Germans approached.

17 After the war, he joined the Sunday Times.

18 Having returned to journalism, he also acquired a plot of land in Jamaica on which he built Goldeneye, the hideway where he wrote the Bond novels.

19 He named the house after both a wartime operation and Carson McCullers’ novel Reflections in a Golden Eye.

20 Two years ago, Goldeneye was converted by its owner, Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, into an exclusive holiday resort.

21 Blackwell’s mother, Blanche Blackwell, had had an affair with Fleming and gave him a small boat, Octopussy, which provided the title of one of his Bond stories.

22 Other guests at Goldeneye included Noel Coward and Errol Flynn.

23 The first Bond novel, Casino Royale, came out in 1953.

24 Fleming is thought to have christened his agent after the author of the Field Guide to the Birds of the West Indies, written in 1947 by one James Bond.

25 Fleming was also involved in the creation of 30 Assault Unit, an intelligence-gathering Commando group.

26 Peter Fleming, his older brother may have been part inspiration for the character of Bond. He was a popular travel writer, and also had an eventful wartime career, narrowly escaping death in Greece, where his life was saved by an officer called Rodney Bond. Another suggested model was the Scottish soldier, author and diplomat Sir Fitzroy Maclean.

27 Others point to the brothers’ dead war hero father – and to Ian Fleming himself, his descriptions of Bond matching his own appearance, with his “longish nose” and “cruel mouth”.

28 He said he wanted 007 to have “the dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find ... brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine”.

29 Bond’s boss, “M”, was at least partly based on Fleming’s gruff boss in Naval intelligence, John Godfrey.

30 The codename 007 also stemmed from his Admiralty days, when all top secret communications carried a double-zero prefix.

31 The name of Miss Moneypenny comes from a character in an unfinished novel by Peter Fleming. The main model for her character seems to have been Kathleen Pettigrew, personal assistant to Stewart Menzies, director general of MI6.

32 M’s secretary was called “Miss Pettavel” or “Petty”, in the first draft of Casino Royale.

33 Fleming was actively interested in cars, golf and snorkelling.

34 He was also, from an early age, an avid book collector, amassing a large collection of first editions.

35 His collection, now at Indiana university, includes papers by Einstein and the first printing of the Communist Manifesto.

36 He married Ann Charteris, former wife of Viscount Rothermere, the newspaper magnate, in 1952. Noel Coward was a witness.

37 Fleming had affairs with many women, including the wives of close friends.

38 Ann, for her part, had an affair with Hugh Gaitskell, then leader of the Labour Party.

39 Fleming amassed a large collection of erotica at Goldeneye that he liked to show off to visitors of either sex.

40 He liked to beat Ann – and she liked him beating her. “It’s very lonely not to be beaten and shouted at every five minutes,” she once wrote to him in 1948. “I must be perverse and masochistic to want you to whip me and contradict me, particularly as you are always wrong about everything.”

41 According to Ben Macintyre, the young Fleming cultivated “a sort of rou batchelor-chic” that lasted throughout his life, wearing fashionable suits and either bow ties or old-Etonian ties.

42 Bond didn’t quite take to bow ties and stuck to black knitted silk.

43 Fleming smoked the same brand as Bond, Morland Specials, when he could get them.

44 Fleming never intended Bond to be a particularly likeable character. Himself witty and dry, he wanted 007 to remain “ironical, brutal and cold”.

45 Fleming was caustic about tasteless dressers, bad manners and homosexuals – even though he was close friends with two gay men, Noel Coward and William Plomer.

46 He also became a friend of Somerset Maugham, also gay, whose lavish lifestyle he admired.

47 He was also an accomplished travel writer, his articles for the Sunday Times eventually being published in book form as Thrilling Cities, due to be reissued

48 Another book, about the diamond trade, The Diamond Smugglers, is also about to be republished.

49 These world travels informed his novels – not least in the international cuisine savoured by 007.

50 For breakfast, Bond and creator liked eggs from Maran hens, boiled for 3 minutes and served on Minton china.

51 Giving him a taste for vodka martinis Fleming described him as “basically a hard liquor man … not a wine snob”.

52 In 1961, he sold the film rights to all published and future Bond novels to Harry Saltzman, who co-produced the first Bond film Dr No with Cubby Broccoli.

53 Fleming initially suggested his old friend Noel Coward for the role of Dr No. He also suggested David Niven as Bond.

54 Undaunted, he went on to suggest Roger Moore as James Bond, but he too was rejected in favour of Sean Connery.

55 Fleming met Connery for lunch, but initially wondered whether “this overgrown stuntman”, was suited to the role. He was assured by women that Connery had the right stuff.

56 Fleming was a long-standing member of Boodle’s, a gentlemen’s club on which he modelled Bond’s fictitious haunt, Blades.

57 The Bond books did not immediately catch on in the US, until President John F Kennedy named From Russia With Love as one of his favourite books.

58 Fleming had met Kennedy in 1960, before he was president, and invited him to dinner, reportedly giving Kennedy his ideas on how to discredit Cuba’s Fidel Castro.

59 the first US paperback edition of Casino Royale was retitled You Asked For it. Similarly, the first US paperback of Moonraker went on the shelves as Too Hot to Handle.

60 Fleming said his hero should be portrayed as “a blunt instrument wielded by a government department”.

61 With the impact of the first film, sales of Bond paperbacks in Britain and the US rocketed to 17 million.

62 A stickler for detail and accuracy, Fleming would consult experts about the hardware in his adventures, including science fiction guru Arthur C Clarke

63 He also became friendly with the French diving pioneer Jacques Cousteau, and joined him investigating a sunken Greek treasure ship.

64 Fleming was bored by guns, but owned a Colt .38 Police Positive presented by Bill Donovan of US intelligence, engraved with: “For special services”.

65 Bond frequently uses a Beretta, regarded by some as a ladies’ gun. Fleming, however, had been given a Beretta during his war service.

66 The first actor to play Bond was the American Barry Nelson who turned up as the spy in a US television adaptation of Casino Royale in 1954.

67 Fleming found the transposition of the Bond yarns to screen “a riot”. On visiting the set of Dr No, he arrived just as Ursula Andress was emerging from the lagoon, was yelled at by the filmmakers and had to dive out of camera shot.

68 In his 1991 novel, The Sixth Column, Fleming’s brother, Peter described Britain as being in need of a hero “with the urbane, faintly swashbuckly sangfroid of Raffles”.

69 Fleming regarded post-war Britain as being in decline, reflected in his writings: “The blubbery arms of the soft life had Bond round the neck and they were slowly strangling him.”

70 Of his many villains, he wrote: “It is so difficult to make [them] frightening. But one is ashamed to overwrite them, though that is probably what the public would like.”

71 During the Cold War, Soviet critics of the Bond stories condemned Fleming for creating “a nightmarish world where laws are written at the point of a gun”.

72 Joining the Sunday Times (with whose owner, Lord Kelmsley he had become friendly during the war), he negotiated an extremely generous salary and contract, which allowed lavish expenses and two months off every year to write at Goldeneye.

73 During the 1950s, he developed a sophisticated network for collecting information and intelligence from Sunday Times foreign correspondents.

74 Fleming once remarked that he wrote “chiefly for pleasure, then for money”.

75 Ben Macintyre suggests that “007’s fatherless reverence for ‘M’” in the Bond stories can be traced back to Fleming’s early loss of his father.

76 Fleming gave Bond a Scottish father, Andrew Bond, and Scottish settings are to the fore in Charlie Higson’s “Young Bond” novels, which began in 2004 with Silverfin.

77 Fleming appears as a minor fictional character in William Boyd’s 2002 novel Any Human Heart.

78 Sting wrote the Police hit "Every Breath You Take", at the same desk at which Fleming wrote his Bond Novels.

79 A Conservative, Fleming thought the party too readily associated with the upper classes, and that it should change its name to The People’s Party.

80 He also believed people running company cars should have the name of their businesses on the side – so shareholders would be able to recognise them when pictures appeared in the papers of Rolls-Royces disgorging mink-clad women at premieres.

81 He was also an early supporter of the idea of electric cars.

82 According to his biographer, Andrew Lycett, he proposed that the Isle of Wight be turned into a vast pleasure zone with casinos and brothels.

83 Eventually, the pressure to produce started to tell, and Fleming threatened to kill off Bond, telling a friend: “I used to believe – sufficiently – in Bonds and Blondes and Bombs. Now the keys creak as I type and I fear the zest may have gone … I shall definitely kill off Bond in my next book.”

84 The last book Ian Fleming wrote was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, written for his son, Caspar.

85 It also became a hugely successful film, in which the name of one character, Truly Scrumptious, is droll take-off of a Bond girl name.

86 Following an attack of pleurisy, Fleming died of a heart attack on 12 August 1964. He was just 56.

87 Caspar died of a drug overdose in 1975.

88 The year after Fleming’s death, his books sold some 27 million copies, in numerous languages, throughout the world.

89 Licence to Kill was the Bond film not to have its title based on a Fleming story.

90 Forty years ago, the author Kingsley Amis analysed all of the Bond novels, and compiled a guide for would-be agents, The Book of Bond.

91 Amis also wrote a Bond novel, Colonel Sun, in 1968, while other post-Fleming Bond authors included Raymond Benson and John Gardner.

92 Today’s centenary saw the launch of a new Bond novel, Devil May Care by Birdsong author Sebastian Faulks.

93 Fleming loved scrambled eggs, and ordered them at New York’s ultra-exclusive Lutce restaurant, followed simply by strawberries.

94 In January stamps marking the centenary sold out faster than those celebrating the Beatles in 2007.

95 Penguin is publishing new hardback editions of the 14 Bond books.

96 The Queen Anne Press, formerly managed by Ian Fleming, has been acquired by his literary estate and is producing a centenary edition of his complete works, including a new volume, Talk of the Devil, containing unpublished and rarely seen material.

97 A major exhibition, For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming + James Bond, is running at the Imperial War Museum until March next year.

98 Among memorabilia, the exhibition includes a letter written to the author written by a Major Boothroyd, who wanted to advise him what handguns he thought most appropriate for Bond.

99 This Fleming centenary week, the Oxfam shop in Edinburgh’s Nicolson Street shop made its biggest ever sale with a rare first edition of From Russia with Love, which went for 300.

100 A centenary exhibition of cover artwork for the Bond books, Bond-Bound: Ian Fleming and the Art of Cover Design, will run in Edinburgh’s City Arts Centre, City Art Centre from 5 July to 14 September.

Compiled from sources including Ben Macintyre’s For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming + James Bond, written in association with the Imperial War Museum exhibition. See also ianflemingcentenary.com

His name's still Bond, but it's 007 with a brand new twist

1908: The birth date of Ernst Stavro Blofeld from the pages of On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Ian Fleming, 1963.
Chapter 7 - The Hairy Heel of Achilles

Bond said urgently, 'So what happened? Have you kept the contact?'

'Oh yes, but rather tenuously, I'm afraid. Of course I wrote at once accepting the commission and agreeing to the vow of secrecy which' - he smiled - 'you now force me to break presumably by invoking the Official Secrets Act. That is so, isn't it? I am acting under force majeure?'

'You are indeed,' said Bond emphatically.

Sable Basilisk made a careful note on the top paper in the file and continued. ' Of course the first thing I had to ask for was the man's birth certificate and, after a delay, I was told that it had been lost and that I was on no account to worry about it. The Count had in fact been born in Gdynia of a Polish father and a Greek mother - I have the names here - on May 28th, 1908. Could I not pursue my researches backwards from the de Bleuville end?

I replied temporizing, but by this time I had indeed established from our library that there had been a family of de Bleuvilles, at least as lately as the seventeenth century, at a place called Blonville-sur-Mer, Calvados, and that their arms and motto were as claimed by Blofeld.' Sable Basilisk paused. 'This of course he must have known for himself. There would have been no purpose in inventing a family of de Bleuvilles and trying to stuff them down our throats. I told the lawyers of my discovery and, in my summer holidays - the North of France is more or less my private heraldic beat, so to speak, and very rich it is too in connexions with England -1 motored down there and sniffed around. But meanwhile I had, as a matter of routine, written to our Ambassador in Warsaw and asked him to contact our Consul in Gdynia and request him to employ a lawyer to make the simple researches with the Registrar and the various churches where Blofeld might have been baptized. The reply, early in September, was, but is no longer, surprising. The pages containing the record of Blofeld's birth had been neatly cut out. I kept this information to myself, that is to say I did not pass it on to the Swiss lawyers because I had been expressly instructed to make no inquiries in Poland. Meanwhile I had carried out similar inquiries through a lawyer in Augsburg. There, there was indeed a record of Blofelds, but of a profusion of them, for it is a fairly common German name, and in any case nothing to link any of them with the de Bleuvilles from Calvados. So I was stumped, but no more than I have been before, and I wrote a neutral report to the Swiss lawyers and said that I was continuing my researches. And there' - Sable •Basilisk slapped the file shut - 'until my telephone began ringing yesterday, presumably because someone in the Northern Department of the Foreign Office was checking the file copies from Warsaw and the name Blofeld rang a bell, and you appeared looking very impatient from the cave of my friend the Griffon, the case rests.'

Bond scratched his head thoughtfully. 'But the ball's still in play?'

'Oh yes, definitely.'

1941: Ian Fleming celebrates his 32nd birthday in New York City then travels by train with Sir Godfrey to Washington DC to discuss the need for a unified US secret service.
1944: Gladys Knight is born--Oglethorpe, Georgia.


2008: James Bond, Bentley Motors and Penguin Books publish a special, limited edition of Devil May Care.
2008: Pengiun OO7 publishes Bond novel Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks.

BOND IS BACK.
WITH A VENGEANCE.

Devil May Care is a masterful continuation of
the James Bond legacy--an electrifying new
chapter in the life of the most iconic spy of
literature and film, written to celebrate the
centenary of Ian Fleming's birth on Ma8 28, 1908.

An Algerian drug runner is savagely exe-
cuted in the desolate outskirts of Paris. This
seemingly isolated event leads to the recall of
Agent 007 from his sabbatical in Rome and his
return to the world of intrigue and danger
where is most at home. The head of MI6, M,
assigns him to shadow the mysterious Dr.
Julius Gorner, a power-crazed pharmaceutical
magnate, whose wealth is exceeded only by his
greed. Gorner has lately taken a disquieting
interest in opiate derivatives, both legal and
illegal, and this urgently bears looking into.

Bond finds a willing accomplice in the shape
of a glamorous Parisian named Scarlett Papava.
He will need her help in a life-and-death struggle
with his most dangerous adversary yet, as a
chain of events threatens to lead to global
catastrophe. A British airliner goes missing
over Iraq. The thunder of a coming war echoes
in the Middle East. And a tide of lethal nar-
cotics threatens to engulf a Great Britain in the
throes of the social upheavals of the late sixties.

Picking up where Ian Fleming left off,
Sebastian Faulks takes Bond back to the height
of the Cold War in a story of almost unbearable
pace and tension. Devil May Care not only
captures the very essence of Fleming's original
novels but also shows Bond facing dangers
with a powerful relevance to our own times.


SEBASTIAN FAULKS's seven previous novels
include the international bestseller Birdsong (1993),
Charlotte Gray (2000), and, most recently, Engelby
(2007). He lives in London, is married, and has two
sons and a daughter.

2015: Anthony Horowitz's next Bond title Trigger Mortis announced.

New James Bond novel Trigger Mortis
resurrects Pussy Galore
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/28/new-james-bond-novel-trigger-mortis-pussy-galore-anthony-horowitz
Anthony Horowitz has drawn on an unseen Ian Fleming script for
latest authorised 007 sequel
Alison Flood | Thu 28 May 2015 02.01 EDT

Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore in the 1964 film of Goldfinger.
‘The most famous Bond girl of all’ ... Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore in the 1964 film of Goldfinger.
Photograph: Allstar/United Artists

Pussy Galore, the violet-eyed lesbian gangster dreamed up by Ian Fleming for Goldfinger, was last seen in a clinch with James Bond, a wanted woman drifting off the coast of Canada. Now she is set to return thanks to the novelist Anthony Horowitz, who is bringing her back this September in the latest official 007 adventure, Trigger Mortis.

The Foyle’s War and Midsomer Murders creator unveiled the title and a plot outline for the forthcoming James Bond thriller on Thursday morning, to mark what would have been Fleming’s 107th birthday. Trigger Mortis will be set in 1957, two weeks after the events of Goldfinger, placing Bond in the middle of the Soviet-American Space Race as the US prepares for a critical rocket launch.

As well as bringing back Pussy, who was played in the film adaptation by Honor Blackman, Horowitz will introduce another Bond girl, Jeopardy Lane, as well as a “sadistic, scheming Korean adversary hell-bent on vengeance” named Jai Seung Sin.

The plot also includes Fleming’s own treatment for an unfilmed episode of a television series, "Murder on Wheels", in which Bond gets involved in a Formula One race in Nürburgring in Germany. This will kick off the action in Trigger Mortis.


The cover for the new novel, due this September.
Photograph: PR

Horowitz, the author of the bestselling young adult series about a teenage spy, Alex Rider, and of two authorised Sherlock Holmes novels, said it had always been his intention “to go back to the true Bond, which is to say, the Bond that Fleming created, and it was a fantastic bonus having some original, unseen material from the master to launch my story”.

Goldfinger, he added, was his favourite Bond novel, and he was delighted that Pussy Galore is back. The Bond girl last appeared at the end of the 1959 novel Goldfinger, in “nothing but a grey fisherman’s jersey that was decent by half an inch”. The pair had just been rescued from a life raft after they made it off Goldfinger’s plane.

Pussy asks 007 “not in a gangster’s voice, or a Lesbian’s, but in a girl’s voice, ‘Will you write to me in Sing Sing?’” Bond looks into her “deep blue-violet eyes that were no longer hard, imperious”, and says: “They told me you only liked women.” Pussy replies: “I never met a man before,” and Bond’s mouth “came ruthlessly down on hers”.

“It was great fun revisiting the most famous Bond girl of all – although she is by no means the only dangerous lady in Trigger Mortis,” said Horowitz. “I hope fans enjoy it. My aim was to make this the most authentic James Bond novel anyone could have written.”

Lucy Fleming, the niece of Ian Fleming, said “it was almost as if Ian had written b][i]Trigger Mortis[/i][/b himself”.

“It does feel like a Fleming book,” she said. “It takes place a couple of weeks after Goldfinger – Pussy’s back, which is fantastic, and we’ve got a particularly good villain in Sin – he’s absolutely horrible, a megalomaniac type, but fascinating as well … Pussy Galore is one of the iconic characters from the films and the books … It will be interesting to see what the public make of that.”

Although novelists including Jeffrey Deaver, Sebastian Faulks and William Boyd have all written authorised new Bond novels, Horowitz is the first to place his work directly within Fleming’s original canon, to continue the adventures of one of the Bond girls created by the novelist, and to work with previously unpublished Fleming material.

“Each writer has their own style, but I think Anthony is closest to Ian’s style,” said Lucy Fleming. “And he has the page-turning effect of making you think ‘what the hell is going to happen next?’ … He’s worked "Murder on Wheels" in brilliantly – it’s woven into the whole thing. It was just a treatment, really, with the idea for the plot.”

Orion Publishing will release Trigger Mortis on 8 September. Fleming wrote 14 Bond books in total, from 1953’s Casino Royale to 1966’s "The Living Daylights". More than 100m 007 books have been sold worldwide.

Thunderfinger

@RichardTheBruce It is Blofeld s birthday as well.

RichardTheBruce

That contribution is golden, @Thunderfinger. Added here and above.

May 28th Addendum

1908: The birth date of Ernst Stavro Blofeld from the pages of On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Ian Fleming, 1963.
Chapter 7 - The Hairy Heel of Achilles

Bond said urgently, 'So what happened? Have you kept the contact?'

'Oh yes, but rather tenuously, I'm afraid. Of course I wrote at once accepting the commission and agreeing to the vow of secrecy which' - he smiled - 'you now force me to break presumably by invoking the Official Secrets Act. That is so, isn't it? I am acting under force majeure?'

'You are indeed,' said Bond emphatically.

Sable Basilisk made a careful note on the top paper in the file and continued. ' Of course the first thing I had to ask for was the man's birth certificate and, after a delay, I was told that it had been lost and that I was on no account to worry about it. The Count had in fact been born in Gdynia of a Polish father and a Greek mother - I have the names here - on May 28th, 1908. Could I not pursue my researches backwards from the de Bleuville end?

I replied temporizing, but by this time I had indeed established from our library that there had been a family of de Bleuvilles, at least as lately as the seventeenth century, at a place called Blonville-sur-Mer, Calvados, and that their arms and motto were as claimed by Blofeld.' Sable Basilisk paused. 'This of course he must have known for himself. There would have been no purpose in inventing a family of de Bleuvilles and trying to stuff them down our throats. I told the lawyers of my discovery and, in my summer holidays - the North of France is more or less my private heraldic beat, so to speak, and very rich it is too in connexions with England -1 motored down there and sniffed around. But meanwhile I had, as a matter of routine, written to our Ambassador in Warsaw and asked him to contact our Consul in Gdynia and request him to employ a lawyer to make the simple researches with the Registrar and the various churches where Blofeld might have been baptized. The reply, early in September, was, but is no longer, surprising. The pages containing the record of Blofeld's birth had been neatly cut out. I kept this information to myself, that is to say I did not pass it on to the Swiss lawyers because I had been expressly instructed to make no inquiries in Poland. Meanwhile I had carried out similar inquiries through a lawyer in Augsburg. There, there was indeed a record of Blofelds, but of a profusion of them, for it is a fairly common German name, and in any case nothing to link any of them with the de Bleuvilles from Calvados. So I was stumped, but no more than I have been before, and I wrote a neutral report to the Swiss lawyers and said that I was continuing my researches. And there' - Sable •Basilisk slapped the file shut - 'until my telephone began ringing yesterday, presumably because someone in the Northern Department of the Foreign Office was checking the file copies from Warsaw and the name Blofeld rang a bell, and you appeared looking very impatient from the cave of my friend the Griffon, the case rests.'

Bond scratched his head thoughtfully. 'But the ball's still in play?'

'Oh yes, definitely.'

RichardTheBruce

May 29th

1920: Clifton James is born--Spokane, Washington. (He dies 15 April 2017 at age 96--Gladstone, Oregon.)

http://pamplinmediagroup.com/pt/9-news/357972-237884-gladstone-hometown-hero-clifton-james-fondly-remembered

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.


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.

SUBMITTED PHOTO - Clifton James as Sheriff JW Pepper plays opposite Roger Moore as James Bond in 1974's 'The Man with the Golden Gun.'

James' memorial service with full military honors is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 25, at Willamette National Cemetery, 11800 S.E. Mt Scott Blvd., Portland.

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

James made his Broadway stage debut as a construction foreman in "The Cave Dwellers" (1958). He was involved in a lot of off-Broadway shows, where he played various roles, including starring with Al Pacino in "American Buffalo" from 1980-81, which was turned into a 1997 film production starring Dustin Hoffman.

James played a floor walker in the classic film "Cool Hand Luke" (1967). His most famous role was fast-talking Louisiana Sheriff JW Pepper in two James Bond films opposite Roger Moore: 1973's "Live and Let Die" and 1974's "The Man with the Golden Gun." Anslow said an elephant was supposed to knock James' stunt double, not James himself as JW Pepper, into a Southeast Asian river during a memorable scene in "The Man with the Golden Gun."

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

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

"It didn't bother him, and he rather liked it," Anslow said. "He was an actor's actor, and he would act whatever part was given to him and genuinely enjoy the work."

James loved putting on a show throughout his long life. He was a well-known character around Gladstone, often seen with an unlit cigar in his mouth or taking out his false teeth to scare children.

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 1951, James married Laurie Harper, who died in 2015. He is survived by six children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Clifton James
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_James
Selected Filmography

The Strange One (1957) as Colonel Ramsey
The Last Mile (1959) as Harris
Something Wild (1961) as Detective Bogart
Experiment in Terror (1962) as Capt. Moreno
David and Lisa (1962) as John
Black Like Me (1964) as Eli Carr
Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964) as Tuttle
The Chase (1966) as Lem Brewster
The Happening (1967) as O'Reilly
The Caper of the Golden Bulls (1967) as Philippe
Cool Hand Luke (1967) as Carr
Will Penny (1967) as Catron
The Reivers (1969) as Butch Lovemaiden
...tick...tick...tick... (1970) as D.J. Rankin
WUSA (1970) as Speed - Sailor in Bar
The Biscuit Eater (1972) as Mr. Eben
The New Centurions (1972) as Whitey
Kid Blue (1973) as Mr. Hendricks
Live and Let Die (1973) as Sheriff J.W. Pepper
The Werewolf of Washington (1973) as Attorney General
The Iceman Cometh (1973) as Pat McGloin
The Last Detail (1973) as M.A.A.
The Laughing Policeman (1973) as Officer Jim Maloney SFPD Bomb Squad
Bank Shot (1974) as Streiger
Buster and Billie (1974) as Jake
Juggernaut (1974) as Corrigan
The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) as Sheriff J.W. Pepper
Rancho Deluxe (1975) as John Brown
Friendly Persuasion (1975) as Sam Jordan
The Deadly Tower (1975) as Captain Fred Ambrose
From Hong Kong with Love (1975) as Bill
Silver Streak (1976) as Sheriff Chauncey
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977) as Sy Orlansky
Caboblanco (1980) as Lorrimer
Superman II (1980) as Sheriff
Talk to Me (1984) as State Trooper
Kidco (1984) as Orville Peterjohn
Stiffs (1985) as Uncle Leo
Where Are the Children? (1986) as Chief Coffin
The Untouchables (1987) as District Attorney (uncredited)
Whoops Apocalypse (1988) as Maxton S. Pluck
Eight Men Out (1988) as Charles 'Commie' Comiskey
Walter & Carlo i Amerika (1989) as Tex
She-Devil (1989) as Bob's Father (uncredited)
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) as Albert Fox
Lone Star (1996) as Hollis
Interstate 84 (2000) as Buddy
Sunshine State (2002) as Buster Bidwell
Raising Flagg (2006) as Ed McIvor

1929: Shane Rimmer is born--Toronto, Canada. (He dies 29 March 2019 at age 89.)

Shane Rimmer, voice of Thunderbirds'
Scott Tracy, dies aged 89
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/mar/29/shane-rimmer-voice-of-thunderbirds-scott-tracy-dies-aged-89
The Canadian actor had forged a lengthy career in cult TV shows
and films, appearing in three James Bond movies
Martin Belam | Fri 29 Mar 2019 10.49 EDT | Last modified on Fri 29 Mar 2019 14.15 EDT

Shane Rimmer, who has died aged 89, pictured here during a stint in ITV’s Coronation Street during the 1980s.
Photograph: ITV/REX/Shutterstock

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

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


Scott, Lady Penelope and Virgil in Thunderbirds
Photograph: ITV / Rex Features

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


Shane Rimmer with James Bond actor Roger Moore on the set of 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me.
Photograph: Danjaq/Eon/Ua/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

Rimmer was also regularly cast in science fiction and fantasy projects, having appeared in William Hartnell era Doctor Who story The Gunfighters, as well as in Space: 1999, and having minor roles in Star Wars and Superman movies. He also played two different characters in British soap opera Coronation Street – in 1988 as shopkeeper Malcolm Reid, and between 1967 and 1970 as Joe Donnelli, an American GI who had murdered an army colleague and eventually shot himself.

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

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

He told the Washington Times in 2017 that it was his Bond work he was most proud of. “That was crazy. I have no idea how it happened. I did Diamonds Are Forever first. It wasn’t much. I just came on and got into a bit of a slanging match with Sean Connery, who slangs very well. Then I did You Only Live Twice. They got rid of me up in space in that one. The third, The Spy Who Loved Me was a good one all around. It was Roger Moore’s favourite of all the ones he did. You just get a kind of intuitive thing about a movie. It worked very well.”

Shane Rimmer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Rimmer
Selected Filmography

A Dangerous Age (1957) as Nancy's Father
Flaming Frontier (1958) as Running Bear
The Day the Sky Exploded (1958) as John McLaren (voice)
Dr. Strangelove (1964) as Captain "Ace" Owens
The Bedford Incident (1965) as Seaman 1st Class
Thunderbirds Are GO (1966) as Scott Tracy (voice)
You Only Live Twice (1967) as Hawaii Radar Operator (uncredited)
Thunderbird 6 (1968) as Scott Tracy (voice)
The Persuaders (1971) as Lomax
Diamonds Are Forever (1971) as Tom (uncredited)
Baffled! (1973) as Race Track Announcer / Commentator
Scorpio (1973) as Cop in Hotel (uncredited)
Live and Let Die (1973) as Hamilton (voice, uncredited)
Take Me High (1973) (uncredited)
S*P*Y*S (1974) as Hessler
Rollerball (1975) as Rusty, Team Executive
The 'Human' Factor (1975) as Carter, CIA Man
Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977) as Colonel Alexander B. Franklin
Nasty Habits (1977) as Officer
Star Wars (1977) as Rebel Fighter Technician (uncredited)
Silver Bears (1977) as American Banker
The People That Time Forgot (1977) as Hogan
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) as Commander Carter (USS Wayne)
Julia (1977) as Customs Officer (uncredited)
Warlords of Atlantis (1978) as Captain Daniels
The Billion Dollar Bubble (1978)
Superman (1978) as Naval Transport Commander (uncredited)
Hanover Street (1979) as Col. Ronald Barth
Arabian Adventure (1979) as Abu
Charlie Muffin (1979) as Braley
Superman II (1980) as Controller #2
The Dogs of War (1980) as Dr. Oaks
Priest of Love (1981) as Immigration Officer
Reds (1981) as MacAlpine
Gandhi (1982) as Commentator
The Hunger (1983) as Arthur Jelinek
Superman III (1983) as State Policeman
The Lonely Lady (1983) as Adolph Fannon
Gulag (1985) as Jay
Morons from Outer Space (1985) as Redneck (Melvin)
Reunion at Fairborough (1985) as Joe Szyluk
The Holcroft Covenant (1985) as Lieutenant Miles
Dreamchild (1985) as Mr. Marl
White Nights (1985) as Ambassador Smith
Out of Africa (1985) as Belknap
The Last Days of Patton (1986) as Dr. Col. Lawrence Ball
Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986) as Harvey Coward
Whoops Apocalypse (1986) as Marvin Gelber
The Bourne Identity (1988) as Alexander Conklin
A Very British Coup (1988) as Marcus Morgan
Crusoe (1989) as Mr. Mather
A Kiss Before Dying (1991) as Commissioner Malley
Company Business (1991) as Chairman, Maxine Gray Cosmetics
Year of the Comet (1992) as T.T. Kelleher
Piccolo Grande Amore (1993) as Mr Hughes
A Kid in King Arthur's Court (1995) as Coach
Space Truckers (1996) as E.J. Saggs
One of the Hollywood Ten (2000) as Parnell Thomas
Spy Game (2001) as Estate Agent
The War of the Starfighters (2003) as Tantive Base Operative (voice)
Batman Begins (2005) as Older Gotham Water Board Technician
Mee-Shee: The Water Giant (2005) as Bob Anderson
Alien Autopsy (2006) as Colonel
Lovelorn (2010) as The Barman
Dark Shadows (2012) as Board Member 1

1963: Dr. No released in New York City, New York. (That's after the Denver, Colorado, release 8 May 1963.)
1967: Comic strip The Hildebrand Rarity begins its run in The Daily Express.
(Finishes 16 December 1967. 429-602) Yaroslav Horak, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.

https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/comics/thr.php3










Hindi https://www.comicsroyale.com/foreign-reprints#/star-comics/


Swedish 1977 https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/comics/semic_1977.php3?s=comics&id=01952

Swedish 1986 https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/comics/semic_1986.php3?s=comics&id=02296


Danish 1969 http://www.bond-o-rama.dk/en/jb007-dk-no17-1969/

1989: A kém, aki szeretett engem released in Hungary.

2008: Penguin Books publishes Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories.

RichardTheBruce

May 30th

1963: Bosley Crowther's review of Dr. No goes to print in The New York Times.
(The Screen: 'Dr. No,' Mystery Spoof; Film Is First Made of Ian Fleming Novels Sean Connery Stars as James Bond.)

Archives | 1963
The Screen: 'Dr. No,' Mystery Spoof: Film Is First Made of Ian Fleming
Novels Sean Connery Stars as Agent James Bond
https://www.nytimes.com/1963/05/30/archives/the-screen-dr-no-mystery-spooffilm-is-first-made-of-ian-fleming.html
By BOSLEY CROWTHER | MAY 30, 1963

IF you haven't yet made the acquaintance of Ian Fleming's suave detective, James Bond, in the author's fertile series of mystery thrillers akin to the yarns of Mickey Spillane, here's your chance to correct that misfortune in one quick and painless stroke. It's by seeing this first motion picture made from a Fleming novel, "Dr. No."This lively, amusing picture, which opened yesterday at the Astor, the Murray Hill and other theaters in the "premiere showcase" group, is not to be taken seriously as realistic fiction or even art, any more than the works of Mr. Fleming are to be taken as long-hair literature. It is strictly a tinseled action-thriller, spiked with a mystery of a sort. And, if you are clever, you will see it as a spoof of science-fiction and sex.For the crime-detecting adventure that Mr. Bond is engaged in here is so wildly exaggerated, so patently contrived, that it is obviously silly and not to be believed. It is a perilous task of discovering who is operating a device on the tropical island of Jamaica that "massively interferes" with the critical rocket launchings from Cape Canaveral. Nonsense, you say. Of course, it's nonsense — pure, escapist bunk, with Bond, an elegant fellow, played by Sean Connery, doing everything (and everybody) that an idle day-dreamer might like to do. Called from a gaming club in London to pick up his orders and his gun and hop on a plane for Jamaica before a tawny temptress leads him astray, old "Double Oh Seven" (that's his code name) is in there being natty from the start. And he keeps on being natty, naughty and nifty to the end. It's not the mystery that entertains you, it's the things that happen along the way—the attempted kidnapping at the Jamaica airport, the tarantula dropped onto Bond's bed, the seduction of the Oriental beauty, the encounter with the beautiful blond bikini-clad Ursula Andress on the beach of Crab Key. And it's all of these things happening so smoothly in the lovely Jamaica locale, looking real and tempting in color, that recommend this playful British film.The ending, which finds Joseph Wiseman being frankly James Masonish in an undersea laboratory that looks like something inspired by Oak Ridge, is a bit too extravagant and silly, and likewise too frantic and long. But something outrageous had to be found with which to end the reckless goings-on.

A version of this review appears in print on May 30, 1963 of the National edition with the headline: The Screen: 'Dr. No,' Mystery Spoof:Film Is First Made of Ian Fleming Novels Sean Connery Stars as Agent James Bond. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

2015: Julie Harris dies at age 94--London, England. (Born 26 March 1921--London, England.)

Remembering Julie Harris,
costume designer
for Bond and Hitchcock
https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/remembering-julie-harris-costume-designer-bond-hitchcock
Curator Josephine Botting pays tribute to the late, Oscar-winning
costume designer, one of our last surviving links with the golden age
of British cinema.
Josephine Botting | Updated: 2 June 2015


Julie Harris’s costumes for The Slipper and the Rose (1976)

Oscar- and BAFTA-winning costume designer Julie Harris died on 30 May at the age of 94. Over a 44-year career she worked on more than 80 films and television productions and dressed some of the biggest stars of both the British and American film industries.

Julie was one of the last surviving creatives who learned her craft in the golden age of British cinema, making her solo debut in 1947 on the Gainsborough film Holiday Camp, an assignment which dashed any illusions she had regarding the glamour of the movies, as she and the rest of the crew found themselves on location at Butlins in Filey, Yorkshire.


Harris during her years at the Rank studio

She went on to work with many of the studio’s stars, including Patricia Roc, Phyllis Calvert and Dennis Price but had an especially good relationship with Jean Kent, who specifically asked for Julie to dress her in Good-time Girl (1948), in which she played a juvenile delinquent who gets in with a shady crowd. She and Jean were reunited at BFI Southbank in 2011 at a celebration of Kent’s 90th birthday.

After receiving excellent on-the-job training at Gainsborough, under the tutelage of the studio’s talented head of costume, Elizabeth Haffenden, Julie went on to get a contract with Rank in the early 1950s. There she designed not only film costumes but also evening wear for the stars’ public appearances at premieres and festivals such as Cannes. One of the more flamboyant stars she had to cater for was Diana Dors; she was once instructed to dye an entire outfit turquoise, fur and all, to match her Rolls Royce and also designed the infamous ‘mink bikini’ Dors wore on a gondola at the 1955 Venice Festival (actually made of rabbit as mink was too difficult to get).

As Rank began to wind down, Julie went freelance and found herself in great demand. Over the next 30 years, she worked with Hollywood stars such as Jayne Mansfield, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Lauren Bacall and Alan Ladd and directors Alfred Hitchcock, Joseph Losey, Billy Wilder and John Schlesinger. It was for Schlesinger’s 1965 film Darling that she won her Oscar; typically, she was too busy working to go to collect it in person.


Help! (1965): costume design for Ahme
Credit: Julie Harris

After working on the Beatles’ first two films (designing a set of fabulous Indian-inspired costumes for Eleanor Bron in 1965’s Help!), she worked with Bryan Forbes on The Wrong Box (for which she won a BAFTA in 1967), The Whisperers and Deadfall (both 1967). Forbes and his wife Nanette Newman became close friends and she was later invited to work on his 1976 Cinderella adaptation, The Slipper and the Rose. This was to become Julie’s favourite of all her films and still has many fans; while Julie was in hospital at the end of her life, a fellow patient was thrilled to learn that in the next bed was the person who had designed the beautiful ball gown that she had fantasised about wearing as a girl.

The Slipper and the Rose allowed her to dress again one of her favourite actors: Dame Edith Evans. Evans’ demeanour was so regal that it had been incredibly difficult to dress her ‘down’ for the role of the lonely old woman in The Whisperers (1967) – even in a moth-eaten fur coat Julie had picked up on the Portobello Road, Evans still managed to look like Lady Bracknell. Another of her favourite stars was Deborah Kerr – with whom she worked on five films – whose poise and elegance were a costume designer’s dream.

Julie lived for her work and didn’t let up throughout the 1970s and 80s, working on the Bond title Live and Let Die (1973), science fiction film Rollerball (1975) and John Badham’s 1979 version of Dracula, starring Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier.

Harris on location for Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)

Most of her later credits were TV movies but she brought to them the same style and attention to detail which characterised her work. She was professional to the core: once sitting up all night with a team of local art students painting stripes on the bands of piles of straw boaters to be worn by the schoolboy extras in Goodbye Mr. Chips (1969), which had been delivered minus the school colours.

On her retirement at the age of 70, Julie concentrated on her other passion, painting still life, and her work was exhibited at a London gallery. She loved to meet people and talk about her work but with little regret; she had practised her craft in a period when there was the time and resource to get things right. She knew that the frenetic pace and pressures of contemporary filmmaking would not have suited her way of working, not to mention the absence of the glamour which she so adored. But she always kept up to date and maintained an interest in fashion and production which was testament to her lively engagement with the world.

I was lucky enough to know Julie well and shared many afternoons with her watching her films or listening to her reminiscences of the stars she worked with and the experiences she had. She would welcome friends and strangers alike into her home and loved company of all ages. She will be very sadly missed by her friends and fans.


Harris designs for the schoolgirls in A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
Credit: Julie Harris

Harris designs for Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy (1972)

Harris designs for Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy (1972)
Credit: Julie Harris

Julie Harris (costume designer)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Harris_(costume_designer)
Notable credits

Another Man's Poison (1951)
The Story of Esther Costello (1957)
Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
All Night Long (1961)
The Chalk Garden (1964)
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Carry On Cleo (1964)
Help! (1965)
Darling (1965)
The Wrong Box (1966)
Casino Royale (1967)
The Whisperers (1967)
Prudence and the Pill (1968)
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
Live and Let Die (1973)
Rollerball (1975)
The Land That Time Forgot (1975)
The Slipper and the Rose (1976)
Candleshoe (1977)
Dracula (1979)
The Great Muppet Caper (1981)

Awards and nominations
1965 BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design (Psyche 59, nominee)
1966 Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Black and White (Darling, winner)
1966 BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design (Help!, nominee)
1967 BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design (The Wrong Box, winner)
1968 BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design (Casino Royale, nominee)
1977 BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design (The Slipper and the Rose, nominee)

2015: BOND 24 films near Westminster Abbey, London.
2017: Molly Peters dies at age 75. (Born 15 March 1942--Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk, England.)

Molly Peters, Bond Girl in
‘Thunderball,’ Reportedly Dies
at 75
https://variety.com/2017/film/global/molly-peters-dies-dead-bond-girl-1202448700/
By Stewart Clarke

CREDIT: PIERLUIGI/REX/Shutterstock

Bond girl Molly Peters, whose risque scenes in “Thunderball” caused much comment at the time, has died, according to the official James Bond Twitter account.

Peters, 75, played Pat, a nurse tending to Sean Connery’s Bond in 1965’s “Thunderball.” She was the first Bond girl to take her clothes off onscreen in scenes that were considered racy and controversial. Several were ultimately cut from the film.

The Bond Twitter feed said: “We are sad to hear that Molly Peters has passed away at the age of 75. Our thoughts are with her family.”

Peters’ death comes barely a week after that of Roger Moore, who played the part of the suave 007 more times than any other actor.

Peters, who was also a model, had a fleeting acting career, spanning just a handful of films and series in the mid-1960s. “Thunderball” was her most notable big screen role.

Her movie career ended with the 1968 feature “Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the River.” She also had parts in various 1960s series, including “Armchair Theater.”

In later life, she talked about her Bond role in 1995’s “Behind the Scenes With Thunderball” and 2000’s “Terence Young: Bond Vivant.”

The cause of death has not been announced.

Molly Peters
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Peters
Born Vivien Mollie Rudderham, 14 March 1939, Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk, England
Died 30 May 2017 (aged 78)
Nationality British | Occupation Actress
Years active 1964–1967
Known for As Patricia Fearing in Thunderball (1965)

Molly Peters (14 March 1939 – 30 May 2017) was an English actress best known for her role in the James Bond film Thunderball.

Career
Mollie Peters started out as a model and was discovered by film director Terence Young.

She appeared in several films during the 1960s. Her best-known appearance was the role of Bond girl, Patricia Fearing or Pat, a nurse who takes care of James Bond (Sean Connery) while he is on holiday at her health clinic in Thunderball (1965). Peters was the first Bond girl to be seen taking her clothes off on screen in the Bond series.

Peters appeared in Playboy, in the November 1965 issue. Her appearance was as part of a pictorial essay titled "James Bond's Girls", by Richard Maibaum.

According to the special edition DVD of Thunderball, Peters' short film career was the result of a disagreement between her and her agent, the specifics of which were not revealed. According to Peters, her agent at the time of Thunderball held her to her contract agreement of representation due to the mega-successful box-office hit of the fourth James Bond film in 1965. Not until many years later, when the fame, the glamour and the chaos had faded from the release of Thunderball, her contractual agreement had ended and so had any modelling and/or film prospects.

Personal life
When she was young, she gave birth to a daughter, whom she gave up for adoption. Peters later married and lived with her husband in Ipswich, Suffolk. She and her husband had a son, who has since died. In 2011, Peters suffered a mild stroke.

Death
Peters died on 30 May 2017, at the age of 78. [75?]

Filmography

Films
Peter Studies Form (1964) (as Mollie Peters)
Thunderball (1965) as Patricia Fearing
Target for Killing (aka Das Geheimnis der gelben Mönche) (1966) as Vera
Das Experiment (1966, TV Movie) as Junges Mädchen
The Naked World of Harrison Marks (1967) as Herself
Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968) as Heath's Secretary (final film role)

Television
Armchair Theatre (1 episode, 1967) as Waitress
Baker's Half-Dozen (1967, TV series, unknown episodes) as The Girl

2019: Mint Julep Day.

https://www.diffordsguide.com/on-this-day/may/30

Revelator

Bosley Crowther had a reputation for being a stodgy old critic, but to his credit he was a Bond fan. He even placed Thunderball on his list of the top ten films of 1965.

RichardTheBruce

May 31st

1907: Robert Peter Fleming is born--Mayfair, London, England.
(He dies 18 August 1971 at age 64--Black Mount, Scotland.)

Peter Fleming
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Fleming_(writer)
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Peter Fleming OBE DL (31 May 1907 – 18 August 1971) was a British adventurer, soldier and travel writer. He was the elder brother of Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond.

Peter Fleming OBE DL
Born Robert Peter Fleming, 31 May 1907, Mayfair, London, England
Died 18 August 1971 (aged 64), Black Mount, Argyllshire, Scotland
Resting place St. Bartholomew's Churchyard, Nettlebed
Education Eton College
Alma mater Christ Church, Oxford
Occupation Writer, adventurer
Spouse(s) Celia Johnson (m. 1935)
Children 3
Relatives Ian Fleming (brother)

Early life
Peter Fleming was one of four sons of the barrister and MP Valentine Fleming, who was killed in action in 1917, having served as MP for Henley from 1910. Fleming was educated at Eton, where he edited the Eton College Chronicle. The Peter Fleming Owl (the English meaning of "Strix", the name under which he later wrote for The Spectator) is still awarded every year to the best contributor to the Chronicle. He went on from Eton to Christ Church, Oxford, and graduated with a first-class degree in English.

Fleming was a member of the Bullingdon Club during his time at Oxford. On 10 December 1935 he married the actress Celia Johnson (1908–1982), best known for her roles in the films Brief Encounter and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Travels
In Brazil
In April 1932 Fleming replied to an advertisement in the personal columns of The Times: "Exploring and sporting expedition, under experienced guidance, leaving England June to explore rivers central Brazil, if possible ascertain fate Colonel Percy Fawcett; abundant game, big and small; exceptional fishing; room two more guns; highest references expected and given." He then joined the expedition, organised by Robert Churchward, to São Paulo, then overland to the rivers Araguaia and Tapirapé, heading towards the last-known position of the Fawcett expedition.

During the inward journey the expedition was riven by increasing disagreements as to its objectives and plans, centred particularly on its local leader, whom Fleming disguised as "Major Pingle" when he wrote about the expedition. Fleming and Roger Pettiward (a school and university friend recruited onto the expedition as a result of a chance encounter with Fleming) led a breakaway group.

This group continued for several days up the Tapirapé to São Domingo, from where Fleming, Pettiward, Neville Priestley and one of the Brazilians hired by the expedition set out to find evidence of Fawcett's fate on their own. After acquiring two Tapirapé guides the party began a march to the area where Fawcett was reported to have last been seen. They made slow progress for several days, losing the Indian guides and Neville to foot infection, before admitting defeat.

The expedition's return journey was made down the River Araguaia to Belém. It became a closely fought race between Fleming's party and "Major Pingle", the prize being to be the first to report home, and thus to gain the upper hand in the battles over blame and finances that were to come. Fleming's party narrowly won. The expedition returned to England in November 1932.

Fleming's book about the expedition, Brazilian Adventure, has sold well ever since it was first published in 1933, and is still in print.

In Asia
Fleming travelled from Moscow to Peking via the Caucasus, the Caspian, Samarkand, Tashkent, the Turksib Railway and the Trans-Siberian Railway to Peking as a special correspondent of The Times. His experiences were written up in One's Company (1934). He then went overland in company of Ella Maillart from China via Tunganistan to India on a journey written up in News from Tartary (1936). These two books were combined as Travels in Tartary: One's Company and News from Tartary (1941). All three volumes were published by Jonathan Cape.

According to Nicolas Clifford, for Fleming China “had the aspect of a comic opera land whose quirks and oddities became grist for the writer, rather than deserving any respect or sympathy in themselves”. In One's Company, for example, Fleming reports that Beijing was “lacking in charm”, Harbin was a city of “no easily definable character”. Changchun was “entirely characterless”, and Shenyang was “non-descript and suburban". However, Fleming also provides insights into Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet state in Manchuria, which helped contemporary readers to understand Chinese resentment and resistance, and the aftermath of the Kumul Rebellion. In the course of these travels Fleming met and interviewed many prominent figures in Central Asia and China, including the Chinese Muslim General Ma Hushan, the Chinese Muslim Taoyin of Kashgar, Ma Shaowu, and Pu Yi.

Of Travels in Tartary, Owen Lattimore remarked that Fleming, who "passes for an easy-going amateur, is in fact an inspired amateur whose quick appreciation, especially of people, and original turn of phrase, echoing P. G. Wodehouse in only a very distant and cultured way, have created a unique kind of travel book". Lattimore added that it "is only in the political news from Tartary that there is a disappointment," as, in his view, Fleming offers "a simplified explanation, in terms of Red intrigue and Bolshevik villains, which does not make sense."

Stuart Stevens retraced Peter Fleming's route and wrote his own travel book.

World War II
Just before war was declared, Peter Fleming, then a reserve officer in the Grenadier Guards, was recruited by the War Office research section investigating the potential of irregular warfare (MIR). His initial task was to develop ideas to assist the Chinese guerrillas fighting the Japanese. He served in the Norwegian campaign with the prototype commando units – Independent Companies – but in May 1940 he was tasked with research into the potential use of the new Local Defence Volunteers (later the Home Guard) as guerrilla troops. His ideas were first incorporated into General Thorne's XII Corps Observation Unit, forerunner of the GHQ Auxiliary Units. Fleming recruited his brother, Richard, then serving in the Faroe Islands, to provide a core of Lovat Scout instructors to his teams of LDV volunteers.

When Colin Gubbins was appointed to head the new Auxiliary Units, he incorporated many of Peter's ideas, which aimed to create secret commando teams of Home Guard in the coastal districts most liable to the risk of invasion. Their role was to launch sabotage raids on the flanks and rear of any invading army, in support of regular troops, but they were never intended as a post-occupation 'resistance' force, having a life expectancy of only two weeks. Peter Fleming later served in Greece, but his principal service, from 1942 to the end of the war, was as head of D Division, in charge of military deception operations in Southeast Asia, based in New Delhi, India.

Fleming was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1945 Birthday Honours and in 1948 he was awarded the Order of the Cloud and Banner with Special Rosette by the Republic of China.

Later life
After the war Peter Fleming retired to squiredom at Nettlebed, Oxfordshire and was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire on 31 July 1970.[14]

Death
Fleming died on 18 August 1971 from a heart attack while on a shooting expedition near Glen Coe in Scotland. His body was buried in Nettlebed Churchyard, where a stained glass window was later installed in the church dedicated to his memory. The gravestone reads:

He travelled widely in far places;
Wrote, and was widely read.
Soldiered, saw some of danger's faces,
Came home to Nettlebed.

The squire lies here, his journeys ended –
Dust, and a name on a stone –
Content, amid the lands he tended,
To keep this rendezvous alone.

Family
After the death of his brother Ian, Peter Fleming served on the board of Glidrose, Ltd, the company purchased by Ian to hold the literary rights to his professional writing, particularly the James Bond novels and short stories. Peter also tried to become a substitute father for Ian's surviving son, Caspar, who overdosed on narcotics in his twenties.

Peter and Celia Fleming remained married until his death in 1971. He was survived by their three children:

Nicholas Peter Val Fleming (1939–1995), writer and squire of Nettlebed. He deposited Peter Fleming's papers for public access at the University of Reading in 1975. These include several unpublished works, as well as the manuscripts of several of his books that are now out of print. Nichol Fleming's partner for many years was the merchant banker Christopher Roxburghe Balfour (b. 1941), brother of Neil Balfour, second husband (1969–78) of Princess Jelizaveta of Yugoslavia. Nettlebed is now jointly owned by his sisters.

(Roberta) Katherine Fleming (b. 1946), writer and publisher, is now Kate Grimond, wife of Johnny Grimond, foreign editor of The Economist. Johnny is the elder surviving son of the late British Liberal Party leader Jo Grimond, and grandson maternally of Violet Bonham-Carter, herself daughter of the British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith. Kate and John have three children, Jessie (a journalist), Rose (an actress turned organic foods entrepreneur) and Georgia (a journalist at The Economist online).

Lucy Fleming (born 1947), now Lucy Williams, is an actress. In the 1970s she starred as Jenny in the BBC's apocalyptic fiction series Survivors. She was first married in 1971 to Joseph "Joe" Laycock (d. 1980), son of a family friend Robert Laycock and his wife Angela Dudley Ward, and was on honeymoon at the time of her father's sudden death in Argyllshire. Lucy and Joe had two sons and a daughter, Flora. Flora and her father, Joe, were drowned in a boating accident in 1980. At the time of their deaths Lucy and Joe were separated on good terms. Lucy later married the actor and writer Simon Williams. Her sons are Diggory and Robert Laycock.

Peter Fleming was the godfather of the British author and journalist Duff Hart-Davis, who wrote Peter Fleming: A Biography (published by Jonathan Cape in 1974). Duff's father Rupert Hart-Davis, a publisher, was good friends with Peter, who gave him a home on the Nettlebed estate for many years and gave financial backing to his publishing ventures.

Legacy
The Peter Fleming Award, worth £9,000, is given by the Royal Geographical Society for a "research project that seeks to advance geographical science".

Fleming's book about the British military expedition to Tibet in 1903 to 1904 is credited in the Chinese film Red River Valley (1997).

Quotations

"São Paulo is like Reading, only much farther away."
– Brazilian Adventure

"Public opinion in England is sharply divided on the subject of Russia. On the one hand you have the crusty majority, who believe it to be a hell on earth; on the other you have the half-baked minority who believe it to be a terrestrial paradise in the making. Both cling to their opinions with the tenacity, respectively, of the die-hard and the fanatic. Both are hopelessly wrong." – One's Company

The recorded history of Chinese civilisation covers a period of four thousand years.
The Population of China is estimated at 450 million.
China is larger than Europe.
The author of this book is twenty-six years old.
He has spent, altogether, about seven months in China.
He does not speak Chinese.
- Preface, One's Company

Fleming's works
Fleming was a special correspondent for The Times and often wrote under the pen-name "Strix" (Latin for "screech owl") an essayist for The Spectator.

Non-fiction

1933 Brazilian Adventure – Exploring the Brazilian jungle in search of the lost Colonel Percy Fawcett.
1934 One's Company: A Journey to China in 1933 – Travels through the USSR, Manchuria and China. Later reissued as half of Travels in Tartary.
1936 News from Tartary: A Journey from Peking to Kashmir – Journey from Peking to Srinagar via Sinkiang. He was accompanied on this journey by Ella Maillart (Kini). Later reissued as half of Travels in Tartary.
1952 A Forgotten Journey – A diary Fleming kept during a journey through Russia and Manchuria in 1934. Reprinted as To Peking: A Forgotten Journey from Moscow to Manchuria (2009, ISBN 978-1-84511-996-6)
1953 Introduction to Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer published by Rupert Hart-Davis, London
1955 Tibetan Marches – A translation from French of Caravane vers Bouddha by André Migot
1956 My Aunt's Rhinoceros: And Other Reflections — A collection of essays written (as "Strix") for The Spectator.
1957 Invasion 1940 — an account of the planned Nazi invasion of Britain and British anti-invasion preparations of the Second World War. Published in the United States as Operation Sea Lion
1957 With the Guards to Mexico: And Other Excursions — A collection of essays written for The Spectator.
1958 The Gower Street Poltergeist — A collection of essays written for The Spectator.
1959 The Siege at Peking — An account of the Boxer Rebellion and the European-led siege of the Imperial capital.
1961 Bayonets to Lhasa: The First Full Account of the British Invasion of Tibet in 1904
1961 Goodbye to the Bombay Bowler — A collection of essays written for The Spectator as 'Strix'.
1963 The Fate of Admiral Kolchak — a study of the White Army leader Admiral Kolchak who attempted to save the Imperial Russian family at Ekaterinburg in 1918.

Fiction

Books
1940 The Flying Visit – A humorous novel about an unintended visit to Britain by Adolf Hitler. Illustrated by David Low.
1942 A Story to Tell: And Other Tales — A collection of short stories.
1952 The Sixth Column: A Singular Tale of Our Times
The Sett (unfinished, unpublished)

Short fiction
"The Kill" (1931)
"Felipe" (1937)

1927: Joe Robinson is born--Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England.
(He dies 3 July 2017 at age 90--Brighton, East Sussex, England.)

Joe Robinson (actor)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Robinson_(actor)

Joe Robinson as Thor in Thor and the Amazon Women
Born Joseph Robinson, 31 May 1927, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England
Died 3 July 2017 (aged 90), Brighton, East Sussex, England
Alma mater Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation Actor, stuntman
Years active 1952–1971

Joseph Robinson (31 May 1927 – 3 July 2017) was an English actor and stuntman born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland. He was a champion professional wrestler, as were his father Joseph and his grandfather John. His brother, Doug Robinson, is also an actor and stuntman.

Career
Professional wrestling
Robinson initially embarked on a career in wrestling as 'Tiger Joe Robinson' and won the European Heavyweight Championship in 1952. At the same time, he was also interested in acting and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After injuring his back wrestling in Paris he decided to concentrate on acting. Joe Robinson's daughter Polly Robinson (Hardy-Stewart) has also continued the family's success in martial arts by winning the junior Judo championships in the 1980s.

Acting
Robinson's first role came in the keep-fit documentary Fit as a Fiddle and in the same year, 1952, he followed it up with a part as Harry 'Muscles' Green in the musical Wish You Were Here in the West End of London.

He made his film debut in 1955's A Kid for Two Farthings, in which he wrestled Primo Carnera. His film and television career really took off in the 1960s and in 1962 he appeared in British classic The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner alongside appearances in The Saint and The Avengers in 1963. With his younger brother Doug and Honor Blackman, he co-authored Honor Blackman's Book of Self-Defence in 1965 (Joe was also a judo champion and black belt at karate). The year after he appeared in an episode of the sitcom Pardon the Expression which referenced this book. During this time he was also a popular stunt-arranger, working on several James Bond films and in 1960 was invited to Rome where he appeared in five muscle-bound Italian epics, including Taur the Mighty (1963), Thor and the Amazon Women (1963) and Ursus and the Tartar Princess (1961). Other notable big-screen appearances include 1961's Carry On Regardless, of the British institution the Carry Ons. According to the book Tarzan of the Movies by Gabe Essoe, Robinson played the role of Tarzan in obscure Italian-made films (Taur, il re della forza bruta and Le gladiatrici); the use of the Tarzan character, however, was unauthorised and the character's name had to be changed to Thaur before the film was allowed for public release. His final big-screen appearance was in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever in which he plays diamond smuggler Peter Franks. Robinson claimed that he was a contender for the Red Grant role in From Russia with Love. Though he did not get it, Connery recommended him for the role in Diamonds are Forever. Robinson also claimed he turned down the role of the Rank Organisation's Gongman.

Retirement
He retired from acting, and lived in Brighton where he opened a martial arts centre. He conducted classes in Wadō-ryū style karate and Judo. In 1998 he hit the headlines after fighting off a gang of eight muggers single-handed. The 70-year-old was alighting from a bus in Cape Town when the gang struck with baseball bats and knives. 6 ft 2 ins Joe overpowered two with flying kicks, karate-chopped another in the chest and broke the arm of a fourth - the rest fled.

Reminiscing about his career in the Daily Mail recently, Robinson spoke on the subject of Laurence Olivier's alleged homosexuality saying 'my kids used to play with his kids at school and I taught him judo ... I have no idea if he was a homosexual... but he did once tell me I had lovely shoulders'.

Death
Robinson died at the age of 90 on 3 July 2017, in Brighton, East Sussex.
Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1955 A Kid for Two Farthings Sam Heppner
1956 Die ganze Welt singt nur Amore Max, der Athlet
1956 Pasaporte al infierno Pete Archer
1957 Fighting Mad Muscles Tanner
1957 The Flesh Is Weak Lofty
1958 The Strange Awakening Sven
1958 Sea Fury Hendrik
1958 Murder Reported Jim
1960 The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll Corinthian Uncredited
1960 The Bulldog Breed Tall Sailor
1961 Carry On Regardless Dynamite Dan
1961 Erik the Conqueror Garian Uncredited
1961 Barabbas Bearded Gladiator
1961 Tartar Invasion Ursus
1962 The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Roach
1963 Taur, il re della forza bruta Taur
1963 Doctor in Distress Sonja's Boyfriend
1963 Thor and the Amazon Women Thor
1971 Diamonds Are Forever Peter Franks (final film role)

1956: Ian Fleming begins an exchange of letters with arms expert Geoffrey Boothroyd.

The strange tale of the man who armed James Bond
https://scotsman.com/news/the-strange-tale-of-the-man-who-armed-james-bond-1-558731

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Boothroyd even did duty as Armorer for S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel universe.

1963: From Russia With Love films the meeting of Bond and Kerim Bey.
1991: Putnam publishes John Gardner's eleventh Bond novel The Man From Barbarossa in the US.

Nobody could possibly have foreseen
that the abduction of an old man in
New Jersey would be the prelude to a
drama played out on the worlds' stage.

Or that it was the first step in a plot so
ingenious and skillful that the stability
of nations would rock wildly to its
adroit tune.

Or that around the world a name now
indelibly associated with the horror of
genocide--Babi Yar--would once again
be headline news.

Or that soon an unlikely alliance would
take place between the KGB, the Israeli
Mossad, and the French and British
Secret Intelligence Services.

And all because of an organization,
hitherto unknown, the Scales of
Justice.

For James Bond it meant a twist that
no-one could have invented in their
wildest dreams before the era of
glasnost and perestroika--for this new
assignment James Bond would not
simply work with his former arch-
enemy, the KGB, he would be
operating under their control!

In The Man from Barbarossa, John
Gardner's tenth novel featuring Ian
Fleming's indestructible hero, we find
James Bond as ready and able as ever
in the battle for good against evil,
however chilling the new realities of
the 1990s.


John Gardner was educated in
Berkshire and at St John's College,
Cambridge. He has had many
fascinating occupations and was
variously a Royal Marine officer, a
stage magician, theater critic, reviewer
and journalist.

As well as his James Bond novels, John
Gardner's other fiction includes the
acclaimed Herbie Kruger trilogy, The
Nostradamus Traitor, The Garden of
Weapons, The Werewolf Trace.

2015: BOND 24 films near Trafalgar Square, The Mall and Whitehall.
2018: Jonathan Cape publishes Anthony Horowitz’s second James Bond novel Forever and a Day.

A SPY IS DEAD. A LEGEND IS BORN.

The sea keeps its secrets. But not
this time.

One body. Three bullets. OO7 floats
in the waters of the Marseilles, killed by
an unknown hand.

It's time for a new agent to step up.
Time for a new weapon in the war
against organised crime.

It's time for James Bond to earn his
licence to kill.

This is the story of the birth of
a legend, in the brutal underworld
of the French Riviera.


ANTHONY HOROWITZ is one of the
most prolific and successful writer working
in the UK. He has written more than forty
books, including his 2016 stand-alond
novel Magpie Murders, a Sunday Times
bestseller, and 2017's The Word is Murder,
the first in a series of crime novels starring
Detective Daniel Hawthorne.

He is the author of two Sherlock Holmes
novels - The House of Silk and Moriarty
and one previous James Bond novel,
Trigger Mortis. His teen spy Alex Rider
books have sold 19 million copies worldwide,
and he is also responsible for creating
and writing some of the UK's most-loved
TV series, including Midsomer Murders
and Foyle's War.

He is on the board of Old Vic Theatre
and was awarded an OBE for his services
to literature in January 2014.

2018: Michael Ford dies at age 90. (Born 11 June 1928--England.)

Michael Ford Dies: Oscar-Winning Set Decorator Of ‘Titanic’ & ‘Raiders Of The Lost Ark’ Was 90
https://deadline.com/2018/05/michael-ford-oscar-winner-set-decorator-titanic-raiders-of-the-lost-ark-dead-death-obituary-1202400788/
By Andreas Wiseman | May 31, 2018 9:01am

Oscar-winning set decorator Michael Ford, who worked on franchises including Star Wars, Bond and Indiana Jones, has died aged 90.

During a glittering career, Ford won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration in 1982 for Raiders Of The Lost Ark and in 1998 for his work on Titanic. He also received Academy Award nominations for his work on Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi.

Born in the UK, Ford’s career began in the 1960s. Early movie credits in the 1970s included comedies Up The Front and The Alf Garnett Saga while popular TV shows from the same decade included Space: 1999 and The New Avengers. In the 1980s he worked on movies such as The Living Daylights, six-time Oscar-winner Empire Of The Sun and Licence To Kill while in 1995 Ford worked on his third Bond title, GoldenEye. His final film was adventure sci-fi Wing Commander in 1999.

Oscar-winning production designer Peter Lamont (Titanic) said of Ford’s passing, “I’m so sorry to hear about the death of my friend and colleague Michael Ford, known affectionately as the ‘Flower Arranger’, who collaborated with me on seven productions (Consuming Passions, Living Daylights [sic], Licence to Kill, The Taking of Beverley Hills, Golden Eye [sic], Titanic and finally Wing Commander) from Mexico to Morocco, LA to Luxenberg and the UK.

“When we were on Titanic the producer said to me that he was worried about the costs of set decoration and I said, ‘Don’t worry, Michael is one of the most frugal (at work) with a budget that I know’. Three months later I was talking budget again with the producer, and he said to me, ‘You were right about your Flower Arranger, he is the only HOD who has done all we needed and still have budget left!’

“He was a very talented set decorator and artist. I never once saw him blow a fuse at work, he was a true gentleman and we will all miss him.”

Peter Walpole (Jason Bourne) of the British Film Designers Guild added, “Sad news to hear the passing of Michael Ford. As a production buyer and the an aspiring set decorator, I looked up to Michael with respect and awe. In addition to the productions he worked on with Peter Lamont, there was also, two of the first Star Wars films and of course Raiders of the Lost Ark. I concur with Peter, he was a true gentlemen. He will be sadly missed.”

RichardTheBruce

June 1st

This Month:
1962: Argosy magazine publishes the Fleming short story "Berlin Escape" (aka "The Living Daylights").

https://illustrated007.blogspot.com/2013/01/ian-fleming-bibliography.html

1942: Tom Mankiewicz is born--Los Angeles California. (He dies 31 July 2010 at age 68--Los Angeles, California.)

Tom Mankiewicz obituary
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/aug/04/tom-mankiewicz-obituary
Screenwriter from a Hollywood dynasty best known for his work
on James Bond
Ronald Bergan | Wed 4 Aug 2010 13.43 EDT

Roger Moore with Jane Seymour as Solitaire in Live and Let Die (1973), Moore’s first appearance as 007, with screenwriting by Mankiewicz, below
Photograph: Allstar; Al Seib/Photoshot

For most film buffs, the name Mankiewicz immediately recalls Joseph L, the director and screenwriter of All About Eve (1950). For others, it evokes that of his older brother, Herman J, most celebrated as the writer of the screenplay of Citizen Kane. However, Joseph L's son, Tom Mankiewicz, who has died of cancer aged 68, is cherished by James Bond fans as the screenwriter of Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Live and Let Die (1973) and The Man With the Golden Gun (1974), as well as having worked on rewrites of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979).

Tom Mankiewicz

At the beginning of his career, Mankiewicz admitted that he probably got work because of his father. "You suddenly started to realise that people were asking you because it was you," he explained. Unlike his father's best films – literate, dialogue-based vehicles – when a director called "action" on a Tom Mankiewicz-scripted movie, he really meant it.

He was born in Los Angeles, where his father was an MGM producer before becoming the Oscar-winning director of Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve. (His mother, the Austrian-born actor Rose Stradner, killed herself when Tom was 16.) It seemed natural that the boy should follow the family tradition, so he majored in drama at Yale University. Before graduation, aged 18, he worked as production assistant on The Comancheros (1961), a western starring John Wayne. In 1964 he was credited as production associate on The Best Man, Gore Vidal's sharp look at morality in politics.

His first screen credit as a writer was on The Sweet Ride (1968), a pseudo-philosophical movie about three beach bums. It was not a success, nor was the Broadway musical Georgy (1970), for which Mankiewicz's book was based on the 1966 British film Georgy Girl. Nevertheless, the producers Albert R Broccoli and Harry Saltzman hired him for two weeks to doctor the Richard Maibaum script of Diamonds Are Forever. He stayed for six months, receiving a co-screenplay credit.

Differing greatly from the Ian Fleming book of the same name, the script had 007 (Sean Connery) bounding from London to Amsterdam, LA to Las Vegas, on the trail of a huge diamond-smuggling operation, behind which lurks his arch-enemy, Blofeld (not in the novel). Bond has a good fight in an elevator, is pestered by two vicious gay men, and attracted by two beauties named Tiffany Case and Plenty O'Toole.

Connery, who had been enticed back to the role after four years away by a $1m fee, plus a weekly salary of $10,000, had not altered his droll style and sexual allure, although there was some change in his girth. When Roger Moore followed him in the part, Mankiewicz was entrusted to write the screenplay for Moore's first 007, Live and Let Die.

The film, which did well at the box office, proved that Connery was not irreplaceable as Bond. While Mankiewicz stuck to the winning formula – the film had spectacular set pieces, particularly an incredible speedboat chase through the Louisiana bayous – it leaned rather more on the humorous side, honed to Moore's more lightweight personality.

According to Mankiewicz, "the difference between Sean and Roger was that Sean looked dangerous. Sean could sit at a table with a girl at a nightclub and either lean across and kiss her or stick a knife in her under the table and then say, 'Excuse me waiter, I have nothing to cut my meat with.' Whereas Roger could kiss the girl, if he stuck a knife in her it would look nasty because Roger looks like a nice guy."

Although The Man With the Golden Gun, which Mankiewicz and Maibaum adapted from Fleming's last novel, had the usual stunts, exotic locales, a master criminal and sexy women popping up from time to time, it sometimes verged on self-parody. In fact, there is a tongue-in-cheek seam running through most of Mankiewicz's work.

In 1976 three films with Mankiewicz as writer were released: Mother, Jugs & Speed, starring Bill Cosby as a stoned ambulance driver; The Cassandra Crossing, a disaster movie with an all-star cast; and The Eagle Has Landed (based on the Jack Higgins novel), an entertaining but far-fetched thriller with Michael Caine as a German colonel infiltrating an English village in 1943 with the aim of kidnapping Winston Churchill.

In 1977 the director Richard Donner recruited Mankiewicz to work on the script of Superman, for which he received the credit of creative consultant, a fancy name for script doctor. He got the same credit for Superman II (1980), directed by Richard Lester, who added rather too much camp humour to footage that Donner had shot. Mankiewicz claimed to have written most of both pictures. He later helped Donner reconstruct Superman II, restoring all of the original footage that had been altered by the producers.

In between fixing other people's films, he co-wrote the screenplay for Donner's Ladyhawke (1985), a handsome-looking medieval fable of cursed lovers turning into animals. After directing 13 episodes of the TV adventure series Hart to Hart (1979-82), starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers, he directed two movies, Dragnet (1987) and Delirious (1991) – the former being a mildly amusing spoof of Jack Webb's 50s TV series; the latter about a writer (John Candy) trapped in his own soap opera.

Mankiewicz is survived by his brother, Christopher, a producer and actor, and his sister, Alexandra.

• Thomas Francis Mankiewicz, screen-writer and director, born 1 June 1942; died 31 July 2010

1947: Jonathan Pryce is born--Holywell, Flintshire, Wales.
1963: 医者はいらない (Isha wa iranai, or We Don't Want Doctors!) released in Japan. (Title improved later.)

1973: Apple Records releases the "Live and Let Die" single performed by Paul McCartney and Wings .

1976: Comic strip Hot-Shot ends its run in The Daily Express. (Began 16 January 1976. 3061-3178)
Yaroslav Horak, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.

https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Hot-Shot





Swedish 1977 https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/comics/semic_1977.php3?s=comics&id=01952

1988: Hodder & Stoughton publishes John Gardner's seventh Bond novel Scorpius. Later Putnam.

Special Branch are not usually
interested in dead bodies found floating
in the Thames, except when the corpse
is a young girl with an impeccable
background when they become very
interested indeed. So interested that
they call on the legendary M, head of
Secret Service.

In turn, M sends for Commander James
Bond, for the body had yielded two
things of interest. First, the only
telephone number in her diary is that of
Bond; second, she is carrying a credit
card which has never been heard of
before on either side of the Atlantic.

Soon, Bond finds himself caught up in
an unusual mixture of intrigue and
mayhem involving a strange, but
deadly, quasi-religious sect known as
the Society of the Meek Ones; their
leader the soft-spoken Father Valentine,
who has links with the shadowy
Vladimir Scorpius, nicknamed 'The
King of Terror' because he is the largest
arms dealer to various terrorist factions
worldwide.

Naturally, with the evil comes the good
--the society girl, the Hon. Trilby
Shrivenham, and a an American IRS
undercover agent, the gorgeous
Harriet Horner. Good girls? Only time
will tell.

Intrigue builds on intrigue and, as ever,
Bond soon finds himself in the middle of
a deadly game of terrorism and arms
supplies. A game in which he is pitted
against one of the most ruthless and
sinister villains that Bond has ever
encountered.


John Gardner is the author of
The Garden of Weapons and
The Nostradamus Traitor and most
recently The Secret Generations and
The Secret Houses.

1994: Dark Horse Comics releases the first issue of Shattered Helix.
Simon Jowett, writer. David Jackson, artist. David Lloyd, cover.

https://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/92-488/James-Bond-007-Shattered-Helix-1

Issue #2

Thunderfinger

Lou Feck was a really good illustrator.

RichardTheBruce

He surely created iconic images I'll never forget. Sometimes uncredited.

Speculation says Feck may have done this one.

I think these are confirmed.

Thunderfinger

Those are all excellent.

RichardTheBruce

June 2nd

1944: Marvin Hamlisch is born--New York City, New York.
(He dies 6 August 2012 at age 68--Westwood, Los Angeles, California.)

Marvin Hamlisch, Whose Notes Struck Gold, Dies at 68
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/arts/music/marvin-hamlisch-composer-dies-at-68.html
By ROB HOERBURGER | AUG. 7, 2012

Marvin Hamlisch, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who imbued his movie and Broadway scores with pizazz and panache and often found his songs in the upper reaches of the pop charts, died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 68 and lived in New York.

He collapsed on Monday after a brief illness, a family friend said.

For a few years starting in 1973, Mr. Hamlisch spent practically as much time accepting awards for his compositions as he did writing them. He is one of a handful of artists to win every major creative prize, some of them numerous times, including an Oscar for “The Way We Were” (1973, shared with the lyricists Marilyn and Alan Bergman), a Grammy as best new artist (1974), and a Tony and a Pulitzer for “A Chorus Line” (1975, shared with the lyricist Edward Kleban, the director Michael Bennett and the book writers James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante).

All told, he won three Oscars, four Emmys and four Grammys. His omnipresence on awards and talk shows made him one of the last in a line of celebrity composers that included Henry Mancini, Burt Bacharach and Stephen Sondheim. Mr. Hamlisch, bespectacled and somewhat gawky, could often appear to be the stereotypical music school nerd — in fact, at 7 he was the youngest student to be accepted to the Juilliard School at the time — but his appearance belied his intelligence and ability to banter easily with the likes of Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin. His melodies were sure-footed and sometimes swashbuckling. “One,” from “A Chorus Line,” with its punchy, brassy lines, distills the essence of the Broadway showstopper.

Marvin Hamlisch

“A Chorus Line,” a backstage musical in which Broadway dancers told their personal stories, started as a series of taped workshops, then evolved into a show that opened at the Public Theater in 1975 and moved to Broadway later that year. It ran for 6,137 performances, the most of any Broadway musical until it was surpassed by “Cats.”

“I have to keep reminding myself that ‘A Chorus Line’ was initially considered weird and off the wall,” Mr. Hamlisch told The New York Times in 1983. “You mustn’t underestimate an audience’s intelligence.” The lyricist Alan Jay Lerner called “A Chorus Line” “the great show business story of our time.”

Mr. Hamlisch had a long association with Barbra Streisand that began when, at 19, he became a rehearsal pianist for her show “Funny Girl.” Yet he told Current Biography in 1976 that Ms. Streisand was reluctant to record what became the pair’s greatest collaboration, “The Way We Were,” the theme from the 1973 movie of the same name in which Ms. Streisand starred with Robert Redford.

A rehearsal of “A Chorus Line,” with music by Marvin Hamlisch, from 1975. Credit Martha Swope

“I had to beg her to sing it,” he said. “She thought it was too simple.”

Mr. Hamlisch prevailed, though, and the song became a No. 1 pop single, an Oscar winner and a signature song for Ms. Streisand. They continued to work together across the decades; Mr. Hamlisch was the musical director for her 1994 tour and again found himself accepting an award for his work, this time an Emmy.

Ms. Streisand said in a statement through her publicist that the world will always remember Mr. Hamlisch’s music, but that it was “his brilliantly quick mind, his generosity and delicious sense of humor that made him a delight to be around.”

Mr. Hamlisch had his second-biggest pop hit with “Nobody Does It Better,” the theme from the James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me,” written with the lyricist Carole Bayer Sager. Carly Simon’s recording of the song reached No. 2 in 1977. Thom Yorke, the lead singer of the band Radiohead, which has performed the song in concert more recently, called it “the sexiest song ever written.”

Mr. Hamlisch with Barbra Streisand. Credit Alex J. Berliner/Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, via Associated Press

Yet for all Mr. Hamlisch’s pop success — he and Ms. Bayer Sager also wrote a No. 1 soul hit for Aretha Franklin, “Break It to Me Gently” — his first love was writing for theater and the movies. His score for “The Sting,” which adapted the ragtime music of Scott Joplin, made him a household ubiquity in 1973.

Despite the acclaim he often said he thought his background scores were underappreciated. He said he would love for an audience to “see a movie once without the music” to appreciate how the experience changed. He would go on to write more than 40 movie scores.

Marvin Frederick Hamlisch was born June 2, 1944, in New York . His father, Max, was an accordionist, and at age 5 Mr. Hamlisch was reproducing on the piano songs he heard on the radio; Juilliard soon followed. According to his wife, Terre Blair, he was being groomed as “the next Horowitz,” but when all the doors were closed and everyone was gone he would play show tunes. He performed some concerts and recitals as a teenager at Town Hall and other Manhattan auditoriums, but soon gave up on the idea of being a full-time performer.

A scene from the final performance of the Broadway musical "A Chorus Line" in 1990. Marvin Hamlisch won a Tony Award for his score to the show. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

“Before every recital, I would violently throw up, lose weight, the veins on my hands would stand out,” he told Current Biography.

He had no such reaction, though, when his song “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows,” with lyrics by Howard Liebling, became a Top 20 hit in 1965 for Lesley Gore, when Mr. Hamlisch was 21. The movie producer Sam Spiegel heard him playing piano a few years later at a party and as a result Mr. Hamlisch scored his first film, “The Swimmer.”

Mr. Hamlisch soon moved to Los Angeles, and the successes snowballed. But he remained a New Yorker through and through. He once said he liked New York because it was the one place “where you’re allowed to wear a tie.”

Marvin Hamlisch, right, at the piano with the lyricist Howard Ashman in 1986. Credit Nancy Kaye/Associated Press

Mr. Hamlisch is survived by Ms. Blair, a television broadcaster and producer, whom he married in 1989. His sister, Terry Liebling, a Hollywood casting director and the wife of his former collaborator Howard Liebling, died in 2001.

After “A Chorus Line,” Mr. Hamlisch scored another Broadway hit, “They’re Playing Our Song,” based on his relationship with Ms. Bayer Sager (who wrote the lyrics), in 1979. It ran for 1,082 performances. After that, the accolades subsided but the work didn’t. He worked with various lyricists on subesequent musicals, including “Jean Seberg” (1983), which was staged in London but never reached Broadway, and “Smile” (1986), which did reach Broadway but had a very brief run. His most steady work continued to come from the movies. He wrote the background scores for “Ordinary People,” “Sophie’s Choice” and, most recently, “The Informant.” His later theater scores included “The Goodbye Girl” (1993), “Sweet Smell of Success” (2002) and “Imaginary Friends” (2002). He had also completed the scores for an HBO movie based on the life of Liberace, “Behind the Candelabra,” and for a musical based on the Jerry Lewis film “The Nutty Professor,” which opened in Nashville last month.

According to his official Web site, Mr. Hamlisch held the title of pops conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and others.

In more recent years, Mr. Hamlisch became an ambassador for music, traveling the country and performing and giving talks at schools. He often criticized the cuts in arts education.

“I don’t think the American government gets it,” he said during an interview at the Orange County High School of the Arts in Santa Ana, Calif. “I don’t think they understand it’s as important as math and science. It rounds you out as a person. I think it gives you a love of certain things. You don’t have to become the next great composer. It’s just nice to have heard certain things or to have seen certain things. It’s part of being a human being.”

Despite all his honors, Mr. Hamlisch was always most focused on, and most excited about, his newest project. Ms. Blair said. And, she said, he was always appreciative of his gift: “He used to say, ‘It’s easy to write things that are so self-conscious that they become pretentious, that have a lot of noise. It’s very hard to write a simple melody.’ ”

1976: Bond comic strip Nightbird begins its run in The Daily Express. (Ends 4 November 1976. 3179-3312)
Yaroslav Horak, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.

Swedish 1978 https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/comics/semic_1978.php3?s=comics&id=02165

2011: BOND 23's UK release date moves from late 2011 or early 2012 to 26 October 2012.

RichardTheBruce

June 3rd

1942: Frank McRae is born--Memphis, Tennessee.
1967: Record World reviews the United Artists soundtrack LP You Only Live Twice.

Nancy Meets James Bond: “You Only Live Twice” at 50
April 28th, 2017 by Andrew
https://nancysinatra.com/blog/2017/04/nancy-meets-james-bond-you-only-live-twice-at-50/

2005: The Guardian reports on a dispute between Fleming and a villain's namesake that nearly took a nasty turn.

How Goldfinger nearly became
Goldprick
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jun/03/film.hayfestival2005
Author discloses spat between architect and Bond's creator

Goldfinger: back soon, but can it beat The Simpsons?
John Ezard
Fri 3 Jun 2005 05.07 EDT

Goldfinger was a man who thought big, a champion of communism, an eccentric, a bully who put people in fear. And that was just the architect.

The story of the Ernö Goldfinger's vehement reaction when the author Ian Fleming appropriated his name - and aspects of his character - with deliberate savagery for the villain and title of the James Bond novel was disclosed to the Guardian Hay festival yesterday.

The dispute led to legal action. When the film Goldfinger came out, the architect was afflicted by spoof calls in the middle of the night. Callers would intone in bad Sean Connery accents, "Goldfinger? This is agent 007," or sing the film's theme tune, "an irritation still endured by members of the family who list their names in the telephone directory," Nigel Warburton, of the Open University, told a breakfast-time audience.

Fleming turned the dominating, 6ft 2in Erno into the 5ft imperious megalomaniac Auric Goldfinger, who nearly succeeds in stealing the US gold reserves at Fort Knox for the Soviet Union.

Ernö - like Auric - was a British-naturalised foreigner and a Marxist who spent much of the second world war raising money for the Soviet cause. Otherwise there were differences between the two, as Dr Warburton noted, discussing his new book Ernö Goldfinger: The Life of an Architect, the first biography to be published.

But when Ernö's business associate Jacob Blacker was asked for his opinion of a proof copy of the Bond story, he told Ernö ironically that he could find only one substantial difference: "You're called Ernö and he's called Auric."

Ernö Goldfinger was one of the 20th century's prime advocates of London tower blocks. He designed the often reviled Alexander Fleming House at the Elephant and Castle, Trellick Tower in Ladbroke Grove and Balfron Tower in Tower Hamlets.

One story explaining Fleming's animosity is that he lived for a time in Hampstead and disliked Ernö's design for terraced houses in Willow Road, according to Dr Warburton. Fleming knew of Ernö through a golfing friend who was related to Ernö's wife.

The friend appears in the novel - but his woman relative has been transformed into a heroin addict. Ernö somehow heard about the novel when it was in the publisher Jonathan Cape's presses in 1959. His response was, "Shall we sue?"

After hearing Blacker's view, Ernö ordered solicitors to act. Cape agreed to pay his costs and agreed out of court to make clear in advertising and in future editions that all characters were fictitious.

Fleming, in turn, was livid. He asked Cape to insert an erratum slip in the first edition changing the character's name to Goldprick, a name suggested by the critic Cyril Connolly. Luckily for the film posters and theme tune of the future, sung by Shirley Bassey, Cape demurred.

Dr Warburton said the clarification did not appear in the novel's current edition.

The real-life Goldfinger, however, deserved to be remembered as a visionary architect who wrote in 1941: "Cities can become centres of civilisation where men and women can live happy lives. The technical means exist to satisfy human needs. The will to plan must be aroused. There is no obstacle but ignorance and wickedness."

2005: Michael Billington dies at age 63--Margate, Kent, England.
(Born 24 December 1941--Blackburn, Lancashire, England.)

Michael Billington
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/jun/29/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries
Charismatic actor whose tough-guy image distracted from his broader gifts
David McGillivray | Tue 28 Jun 2005 19.02 EDT

The actor Michael Billington, who has died of cancer aged 63, achieved minor cult status as Colonel Paul Foster in UFO (1969), the first live action adventure series produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, the creators of Thunderbirds. This, and similar roles, resulted in the tough-guy actor being tipped, for more than 10 years, as "the next James Bond".

His failure to succeed first Sean Connery, then Roger Moore, was the biggest disappointment of Billington's career. His compensation, a brief part as the agent killed off before the main titles of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), was not enough to keep him in Britain.

Deciding that he no longer wanted to be an action hero, he went to the United States, where he studied acting with Lee and Anna Strasberg. But the roles that followed, in episodes of series such as Hart To Hart and Magnum, PI, were not that different to what had gone before. He tried, unsuccessfully, to sell the screenplays he had written, and, after returning to the UK, worked mostly as a teacher.

A fine actor with star quality - and a very funny man to boot - Billington could, if fate had decreed it, have become a British Burt Reynolds. I first met him when I was a teenager in 1965, working in a film library he visited regularly, and was awestruck by his charisma, and later by his generosity. He played himself in an amateur film I made and, soon afterwards, got me my first professional job as a screenwriter. He was defeated by bad luck and his uncertainty about what he wanted to achieve.

Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, Billington loved the cinema from childhood and came to London to work for the film distributor Warner-Pathé. Connections made at the gym got him work as a chorus boy in such West End musicals as How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (Shaftesbury, 1963) and Little Me (Cambridge, 1964). He also stooged at Danny La Rue's nightclub.

His first film was the short Dream A40 (1964), banned by the censors because of a scene in which male lovers kissed. In 1965, he made his television debut, as Neil Hall in the football soap opera United, and his stage debut in Incident At Vichy at the Phoenix theatre.

Sylvia Anderson spotted Billington in an episode of The Prisoner and cast him in UFO. "I cringe when I see it," he claimed later (but attended UFO conventions almost until the end of his life). His other major TV role at this time was as Daniel Fogarty, in the seafaring drama The Onedin Line (1971-4), which he left after one series. He was credited in the film Alfred The Great (1969), but was a glorified extra. He also had a small part in a television production of War And Peace (1972).

Throughout the 1970s, and into the 1980s, Billington waited for the call that never came to play Bond. In 1980, he sold his only filmed screenplay, Silver Dream Racer. In the US, he had a gag role in a parody, Flicks (1981), and was uncomfortably Russian in KGB The Secret War (1985), two films that were shelved for years before release on video. Back in the UK, he had his last decent role as co-star, with Peter McEnery, of The Collectors (1986), a television series about HM Customs and Excise.

Billington worked on the book of a stage musical about Jack the Ripper, and his last stage appearance was in the highly regarded Never Nothing From No One (Cockpit theatre, 2000). He enjoyed his work at the Lee Strasberg Studio in London, where he was a popular tutor in the mid-1990s. He wrote enthusiastically on his website about the craft of acting that he was able to practise, to his satisfaction, all too rarely.

After eight years as the partner of Barbara Broccoli, daughter of the Bond producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, Billington married Katherine Kristoff in 1988. She died in 1998, after which he devoted himself to raising their son, Michael Jr, who survives him.

· Michael Billington, actor, born December 24 1941; died June 3 2005

2018: The LA Times crossword puzzle. 120 across, three letters. Clue: NO AND PHIL.

LA Times Crossword Answers 3 Jun 2018, Sunday
https://laxcrossword.com/2018/06/la-times-crossword-answers-3-jun-2018-sunday.html
Constructed by: Matt McKinley
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme : Emergency Room Staff

120. No and Phil : DRS

“Dr. No” may have been the first film in the wildly successful James Bond franchise, but it was the sixth novel in the series of books penned by Ian Fleming. Fleming was inspired to write the story after reading the Fu Manchu tales by Sax Rohmer. If you’ve read the Rohmer books or seen the films, you’ll recognize the similarities between the characters Dr. Julius No and Fu Manchu.

Dr. Phil (McGraw) met Oprah Winfrey when he was hired to work with her as a legal consultant during the Amarillo Texas beef trial (when the industry sued Oprah for libel over “Mad Cow Disease” statements). Oprah was impressed with Dr. Phil and invited him onto her show, and we haven’t stopped seeing him since!

120. No and Phil : DRS

Thunderfinger

I too detest that modern, ugly architecture. Goldfinger was just another Corbusier. They may have been technically skilled, but their work doesn t exactly lift the human spirit.

Revelator

"Goldprick" would have been a less catchy title song.

RichardTheBruce

Could have served the titles, though.

RichardTheBruce

June 4th

1927: Geoffrey Palmer is born--London, England.
1963: Agente 007 contra el Dr. No (Agent 007 against Dr. No) released in Barcelona, Spain.

Re-celebrated 1965.

1965: Goldfinger (French title) released in Gent, Belgium.

1970: Izabella Scorupco is born--Bialystok, Podlaskie, Poland.
1981: Bond comic strip The Paradise Plot ends its run in The Daily Express. (Began 20 August 1981. 175-378)
John McLusky, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.

https://www.harringtonbooks.co.uk/pictures/medium/48318.JPG[/img]

Swedish 1982 https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/comics/semic_1982.php3?s=comics&id=02218

1986: Oona Chaplin is born--Madrid, Spain.

RichardTheBruce

June 5th

1950: Malcolm Sinclair is born--London, England.
2004: Virginia North dies at age 58--West Sussex, England. (Born 24 April 1946--London, England.)

Virginia North
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_North

Born 24 April 1946 | London, England, United Kingdom
Died 5 June 2004 (aged 58) | East Sussex, England, United Kingdom
Nationality British | Occupation Actress | Years active 1967–1971]

Virginia North, Lady White (24 April 1946 – 5 June 2004) was an Anglo-American actress who appeared in small roles in five films and one TV programme between 1967 and 1971.

Life and career

Born Virginia Anne Northrop in London to a British mother and a U.S. Army father, North spent her early years in Britain, France, Southeast Asia and finally Washington, following her father's military postings. By the mid-1960s she had returned to Britain, where she worked as a model, specialising in swim wear. In 1968 she joined the newly established London agency Models 1, which has since gone on to become one of the major modelling agencies in Europe.

North began her brief film career with small parts in the Bulldog Drummond film Deadlier Than the Male (1967) and the Yul Brynner vehicle The Long Duel (1967). She returned to film two years later as Robot Number Nine in Some Girls Do (1969), the second in the Bulldog Drummond franchise, and as Olympe in two short scenes in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), thus becoming a "Bond girl".

The 1969 Department S episode "The Mysterious Man in the Flying Machine" marked her only television appearance.

Her last and perhaps best-known role was as Vincent Price's silent assistant, the delectably deadly Vulnavia, in the horror comedy The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971).

Personal life

In 1974 North married the wealthy industrialist Gordon White. Later that year she gave birth to her only child, Lucas, who would later become a well-regarded polo player and one of the richest young men in the United Kingdom.[citation needed]

When her husband was awarded a KBE in 1979 for services to British industry, becoming Sir Gordon White, Virginia White became Virginia, Lady White. She and White were divorced in 1991. She never remarried and died at her home in West Sussex, England, in June 2004 after a two-year battle with cancer. She was 58.

Filmography

1967 Deadlier Than the Male (Brenda)
1967 The Long Duel (Champa)
1969 Some Girls Do (Robot No. 9)
1969 On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Olympe)
1971 The Abominable Dr. Phibes (Vulnavia, final film role)

2008: The Mirror reports record sales for Sebastian Faulks' Devil May Care.

New 007 book Devil May Care breaks sales records
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/new-007-book-devil-may-care-311801
New Bond book Devil May Care has smashed the record for Penguin's fastest-selling hardback fiction title.
ByMirror.co.uk | 00:00, 5 JUN 2008

The 007 update, written by Sebastian Faulks, sold 44,093 copies in the first four days of publication.

Waterstone's recorded the highest sales with more than 19,000 books flogged.

A special £100 edition sold out by noon on the first day.

Waterstone's Rodney Troubridge said of the sales: "It's unlikely to be superseded." The novel was published to mark the centenary of the birth of Bond creator Ian Fleming.

Previous best-sellers by the likes of Tom Clancy, Nick Hornby and Dick Francis sold around 11,500 copies in the same time period.

2011: The New York Times crossword. 5 down. 8 letters. Casino Royale, for one.

0605-11: New York Times
Crossword Answers 5 Jun 11,
Sunday
https://nyxcrossword.com/2011/06/0605-11-new-york-times-crossword.html

5. “Casino Royale,” for one :

SPY NOVEL
“Casino Royale” was the first in the long and successful series of James Bond spy novels written by Ian Fleming.

RichardTheBruce

June 6th

1983: The 13th Bond film Octopussy premieres at the Odeon Leicester Square, London.
Attendees include Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales.

1995: BOND 17 final day of principal photography.
1997: BOND 18 films Elliott Carver's oratio interruptis/
2011: EON Productions confirms Naomie Harris in discussions for a role in BOND 23.
2019: Planned public reading and discussion of Fleming's short story "From a View to a Kill". Also Friday. Tacoma, Washington.

Thursday, June 6, 2019
From a View to Kill (Short Story) Ian Fleming
https://www.meetup.com/Beer-Graphic-Novels-Short-Stories/events/260764430/https://www.evensi.us/view-kill-short-story-ian-fleming-copper-door/305450679
Thursday 6 June 2019 5:00 PM Friday 7 June 2019 4:00 AM
Tacoma ›

Bond hunts spies: done.

A fun read! We can discuss plot, culture, cold war, perception of others, etc, and fun stuff. What actor do you think would be a good Bond?

Maybe, the dichotomy of Roger Moore and Sean Connery's interpretation of the character. How does the Bond character exists as a modern folk hero?

Thursday, June 6, 2019
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Doyle's Public House
208 St. Helen's Drive, Tacoma

RichardTheBruce

June 7th

1940: Sir Tom Jones is born--Pontypridd, Wales.
1982: Comic strip Deathmask begins its run in The Daily Express. (Finishes 2 February 1983. 379-552)
John McLusky, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.

https://deskgram.net/explore/tags/JohnMcLusky


Swedish 1983 https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/comics/semic_1983.php3?s=comics&id=02239

1994: Pierce Brosnan is announced as James Bond number five.

1983: The UK general release of Octopussy.

2015: Sir Christopher Lee dies at age 93--Chelsea, London. (Born 27 May 1922--Belgravia, London, England.)

Christopher Lee obituary
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/11/christopher-lee
Actor known for villainous or sinister roles in films from Hammer
horror to James Bond and The Lord of the Rings
Alex Hamilton | Thu 11 Jun 2015 09.38 EDT

Christopher Lee, pictured in 1959, studied method acting at Rank’s ‘charm school’, but recognised theatre was not his strength and never went near the stage again.
Photograph: Everett/Rex Shutterstock

Sir Christopher Lee, who has died aged 93, achieved his international following through playing monsters and villains. In his 30s, he was Dracula, the Mummy and Frankenstein’s creature; in his 80s, Count Dooku in Star Wars and the evil wizard Saruman in The Lord of the Rings. Along the way he was Rasputin, Fu Manchu several times and Scaramanga – The Man With the Golden Gun – opposite Roger Moore as a weak 007, whom Lee did something to offset. For the last of these he was paid £40,000 – his highest fee, among hundreds of screen appearances, until the blockbusters of his later years. “The Bonds get the big money, and they save on the heavies,” he said.

Lee became an actor almost by accident. Through birth and education he seemed a more likely candidate for the diplomatic ladder, but he never reached the first rung. His father, Geoffrey, a colonel much decorated in the first world war, wrecked through gambling his marriage to Estelle, the daughter of the Italian Marquis de Sarzano, and a society beauty of the 1920s. Christopher was born in Belgravia, London. His education at Wellington college, Berkshire, ended abruptly at 17, and he had to get along on the pittance of a City clerk.

But the second world war might be said to have rescued him, making him an intelligence officer with an RAF squadron through north Africa and Italy. At the end, he was seconded for a period with a unit investigating war crimes. Though demobbed with the rank of lieutenant, he had suffered a psychological trauma in training and was never a pilot. In his later civilian life he was endlessly required to fly as a passenger, and it was barely a consolation to him having his film contracts stipulate that he travel first class.

Without previous aspirations or natural talent for acting, except a pleasing dark baritone voice that he exercised in song at home and abroad every day of his life, he was pushed towards film by one of his influential Italian relatives, Nicolò Carandini, then president of the Alitalia airline, who backed the suggestion with a chat to the Italian head of Two Cities Films, Filippo del Giudice. Lee was put on a seven-year contract by the Rank entertainment group, with the executive who signed it saying: “Why is Filippo wasting my time with a man who is too tall to be an actor?”

His height – 6ft 4in, kept upright by his lofty temperament and fondness for playing off scratch in pro-am golf tournaments – actually proved helpful in securing him the parts for which he had the most affinity: authority figures. He lent a severe and commanding presence to James I of Aragon in The Disputation (1986), the Comte de Rochefort in The Three Musketeers (1973), Ramses II in Moses (1995), the cardinal in L’Avaro (1990), a high priest in She (1965), the Grand Master of the Knights Templar in Ivanhoe (1958) and the Duc in The Devil Rides Out (1968).


Christopher Lee in Horror of Dracula (1958). He later regretted taking on so many of the
vampire’s increasingly absurd adventures.
Photograph: Everett/Rex Shutterstock

He shared his aptness for sinister material with two friends who lived near his London home in a Chelsea square: the writer of occult thrillers Dennis Wheatley and the actor Boris Karloff. The latter once cheered him up when Lee was overloaded with horror roles, remarking, “Types are continually in work.”

Lee initially studied method acting at Rank’s “charm school”, where he was supposed to spend six months of the year in rep. But floundering at the Connaught in Worthing, and humiliated by audience laughter when he put his hand through a window supposedly made of glass, he recognised that the theatre was not his metier and never went near the stage again. Perhaps the most useful coaching Rank gave him was in swordplay: across his career he fought in more screen duels than opponents such as Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks put together.


Sir Christopher Lee, veteran horror film actor, has died at the age of 93 after being hospitalised for respiratory problems and heart failure

Terence Young gave Christopher his first – and minimal – chance before the film cameras in Corridor of Mirrors (1948). Over the next 10 years, he played secondary and anonymous characters in a miscellany of mostly low-budget British films. This had a lasting effect into his later years: he would accept virtually any role. The film that lifted him out of obscurity, and showed him to Times Square as a 50ft-tall vampire, was the Hammer production of Dracula in 1958. It cost £82,000 and earned £26m, of which Christopher’s take was £750. It was the first time he and Peter Cushing worked together, in a pairing that lasted through 22 films.

It was often said in the film business that it was not easy to make friends with Lee. But he always knew his part, and he was always in the right place, so that he was at any rate approved of by the cameramen. Furthermore, three other actors who also enjoyed sinister roles in exploitation movies kept a quartet of friendship with him: Cushing, Karloff and Vincent Price.

Lee’s particular difference as Dracula lay in his height and powerful showing, and his terrifying presence even when no words had been written for him. But while admitting that Dracula had been his cornerstone, he eventually left the role to others, and later regretted letting himself in for so many of the vampire’s increasingly absurd adventures.
Christopher Lee: a career in clips
Read more

He took work wherever he could find it, including five times as Fu Manchu. When he could not find roles in Britain, he cast about in France, Italy, Spain and Germany. His ability to say his lines in their languages was a great advantage when it came to dubbing. He became the first actor to play both Sherlock Holmes and, for the director Billy Wilder in 1970, Sherlock’s brother Mycroft. While shooting by Loch Ness in Scotland, Wilder remarked to him, as they walked in the twilight by the spooky stretch of dark water with bats wheeling about: “You must feel quite at home here.”

Supporting roles in action pictures – as a Nazi officer, a western gunman and a pirate – extended not only his portfolio but also the range of lead actors who were his idols. Among them was Burt Lancaster, whose example as his own stunt man Lee strove to emulate. Lancaster once warned him against journalists: “Never let them get too close.” Lee liked to give interviews, but resented the results, since they invariably harped on about Dracula despite his protestations that he had left the “prince of darkness” behind.

Given this attitude, he rather surprisingly gave me, a journalist, the job of ghostwriting his autobiography, which was published in 1977 as Tall, Dark and Gruesome. In 2003, after he had played several roles a year for 25 more years, we updated the story as Lord of Misrule.

Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man (1973).
Photograph: Everett/Rex Shutterstock

Lee had come nearest to producing something lasting for the cinema in 1973, playing the pagan Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man. With a marvellous script by Anthony Shaffer, and despite almost no money for production, it was a rare horror film that proved to have a long life. Lee was prevented by injury from taking the role of Sir Lachlan Morrison in a sequel, The Wicker Tree (2011), though he made a cameo appearance as “Old Gentleman”.

After the high-profile part in The Man With the Golden Gun (1974), Lee – at the urging of Wilder – left Britain for Hollywood. America delivered some of his hopes. On the downside was the disaster film Airport 77; on the upside, a completely unexpected comic success hosting Saturday Night Live on TV, with such stars as John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. In among the 40 jobs he undertook in the 1970s, Lee’s sword and sorcery, murder and spook movies made way for his roles as a U-boat captain in Spielberg’s 1941 (1979), a Hell’s Angel biker in Serial (1980) and, back in Europe, the studied interpretation of the executioner Charles-Henri Sanson as a dandy, for a 1989 French TV history of the Revolution. Lee was fascinated by public executions. His move to the US allowed him the opportunity to see the electric chair firsthand, in a similarly detached mood of inquiry with which he had previously invited England’s last hangman to come to his house and talk about his own career. One of his favourite pastimes was visiting Scotland Yard’s Black Museum.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, with Christopher Lee as the wizard Saruman.
Photograph: Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

He worked on tirelessly, becoming a familiar figure in the studios of France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the Balkans, the Baltic and Russia; he also made films in Pakistan and New Zealand, and in 2000 he struck a touching figure as the butler Flay in the BBC TV production of Gormenghast.

The 21st century saw a major reinvigoration of his reputation – first in the Star Wars prequels, and then even more significantly as Saruman in Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning film sequence of The Lord of the Rings. He was upset when Jackson cut his scenes in the theatrical edition of the trilogy’s final instalment, The Return of the King (2003), but their rift was healed when the scenes were restored in the extended editions on DVD. At last, in his 80s, Lee was earning six figures. He reprised the role in The Hobbit films.

Nonetheless, one of the roles for which he was most proud was a low-budget assignment: the arduous – and politically precarious – challenge of playing the title role in Jinnah (1998). Though Lee worked with all due seriousness and admiration for the founder of Pakistan (and looked remarkably like him), he had to be constantly under armed guard because of an abusive press campaign against the producers for associating the father of the nation with Dracula; the Pakistan government eventually caved in to the pressure and withdrew its funding for the film. The end product was well reviewed; Lee himself thought it his best achievement, though not everybody would agree.

Still, at home he was becoming the nation’s darling. Tim Burton fitted him into small parts in five films and was on stage to introduce him when Lee won a Bafta fellowship award for lifetime achievement in 2011. A BFI fellowship in 2013 was presented to him by Johnny Depp. In France, he was made a commander of arts and letters; he was likewise honoured in Berlin. He was made CBE in 2001 and knighted in 2009. A prolific schedule of film appearances continued and most recently he had taken the lead role in the comedy Angels in Notting Hill.

He is survived by his wife, Gitte (nee Kroencke), whom he married in 1961, and their daughter, Christina.

• Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, actor, born 27 May 1922; died 7 June 2015

CHRISTOPHER LEE FILMOGRAPHY
https://www.fandango.com/people/christopher-lee-389466/film-credits

Year Title Role

2015 Extraordinary Tales
2014 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Saruman
2012 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Saruman
2012 Dark Shadows Clarney
2011 The Wicker Tree Old Gentleman
2011 Hugo Monsieur Labisse
2011 Season of the Witch (2011) Cardinal D'Ambroise
2011 The Resident August
2010 Burke and Hare Old Joseph
2010 Alice in Wonderland (2010) Jabberwocky
2009 The Heavy Boots' Father
2009 Triage Joaquin Morales
2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars Count Dooku
2007 The Golden Compass First High Councilor
2007 Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs Narrator
2005 Tim Burton's Corpse Bride Pastor Galswells
2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Dr. Wonka
2005 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith Count Dooku
2005 Greyfriars Bobby
2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Saruman
2002 Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones Count Dooku
2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Saruman
1999 Sleepy Hollow Burgomaster
1998 Jinnah Mohammed Ali Jinnah
1997 Ivanhoe Lucas de Beaumanoir
1986 The Girl (1987) Peter Storm
1983 The Return of Captain Invincible Mr. Midnight
1982 The Last Unicorn King Haggard
1979 1941 Von Kleinschmidt
1979 Alien Encounter Captain Ramses
1979 Arabian Adventure Alquazar
1975 The Four Musketeers Rochefort
1975 Diagnosis: Murder Dr. Stephen Hayward
1974 The Man with the Golden Gun - Scaramanga
1973 The Wicker Man (1974) Lord Summerisle
1972 Dracula A.D. 1972 Count Dracula
1972 The Creeping Flesh James Hildern
1972 Horror Express Prof. Alex Caxton
1971 The House That Dripped Blood Reid
1970 The Scars of Dracula Count Dracula
1970 The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes Mycroft Holmes
1970 Scream and Scream Again Fremont
1969 The Magic Christian Ship's Vampire
1968 Dracula Has Risen From the Grave Dracula
1968 The Devil Rides Out Duc De Richeleau
1968 Eve Col. Stuart
1966 Dracula, Prince of Darkness Dracula
1965 Face of Fu Manchu Fu Manchu
1965 Dr. Terror's House of Horrors Franklyn Marsh
1964 The Gorgon Prof. Carl Maister
1964 The Devil-Ship Pirates Capt. Robeles
1962 The Pirates of Blood River LaRoche
1962 The Longest Day
1961 Hercules In The Haunted World (1961) Lichas
1961 Scream of Fear Dr. Gerrard
1961 Terror of the Tongs Chung King
1960 Horror Hotel Prof. Allan Driscoll
1959 The Hound of the Baskervilles Sir Henry Baskerville
1959 The Mummy (1959) Kharis, the Mummy
1958 Horror of Dracula Count Dracula
1958 The Accursed Doctor Neumann
1957 Ill Met By Moonlight German officer at dentist's
1957 The Curse of Frankenstein The Creature
1957 Bitter Victory Sgt. Barney
1956 Moby Dick (1956)
1952 The Crimson Pirate Joseph, Attache
1951 Captain Horatio Hornblower Captain
1950 Prelude to Fame Newsman
1948 Hamlet (1948)
1948 Scott of the Antarctic Bernard Day
1948 Corridor of Mirrors Charles

2015: BOND 24 films on the banks of the Thames River.
2017: Dynamite Entertainment releases Bond comic Black Box #4.

St_George

RichardTheBruce wrote: »

June 7th1994: Pierce Brosnan is announced as James Bond number five.

Twenty-five years ago to the day, eh? Ah, what a day that was... Bond was genuinely coming back after so many years away and *would* be a fixture in the 1990s. It was quite something back then (Even if Hollywood-handsome PBro clearly needed a good haircut and shave for the role ;) ).

NicNac

St_George wrote: »

RichardTheBruce wrote: »

June 7th1994: Pierce Brosnan is announced as James Bond number five.

Twenty-five years ago to the day, eh? Ah, what a day that was... Bond was genuinely coming back after so many years away and *would* be a fixture in the 1990s. It was quite something back then (Even if Hollywood-handsome PBro clearly needed a good haircut and shave for the role ;) ).

Indeed. The relief was palpable.