On This Day

RichardTheBruce

February 3rd

2005: EON announces Martin Campbell will direct BOND 21, with the title Casino Royale.
2012: BOND 23 filming has Daniel Craig running the streets of London, Tower Hill, on the way to M's hearing.
2016: Dynamite's James Bond #4 Vargr goes on sale.
Cover: Dom Reardon. Jason Masters, artist. Warren Ellis, writer.

Thunderfinger

I remember being skeptical towards Campbell directing CR, but glad I was proven wrong.

RichardTheBruce

February 4th

1962: "The Living Daylights" is published in The Sunday Times colour supplement. The Daily Express objects, since they have rights to comic versions of Bond books and stories. Fleming works it out with them. The story later appears in Argosy as Berlin Escape June 1962. A comic version is eventually run in The Daily Express in 1966. And of course the story is published in the last Fleming book Octopussy and the Living Daylights, 1966.
2012: Filming at Vauxhall Bridge with Judi Dench as M is delayed a week due to snow.
2012: Filming of airplane scenes at Kartitsch, Austria.

https://007travelers.blogspot.fi/2015/02/spectre-action-pics-from-kartitsch.html

RichardTheBruce

February 5th

1920: Rose Alba is born--Cairo, Egypt. (Dies January 2006 at age 85--London, England.)
1921: Ken Adam is born--Berlin, Germany. (Dies 10 March 2016 at age 95--London, England.)
1958: The conversation between Bond and the Governor related in the story "Quantum of Solace" takes place. Bond had been on a mission since 29 January. As confirmed by the John Griswold book, Ian Fleming's James Bond: Annotations and Chronologies for Ian Fleming's Bond Stories.
1965: Goldfinger released in Sweden.
2015: Spectre filming at Pinewood Studios pauses due to Daniel Craig's sprained knee during a fight scene.

RichardTheBruce

February 6th

1922: Patrick Macnee is born--Paddington, London, England.
(He dies 25 June 2015 at age 93--Rancho Mirage, California.)
1952: Succeeding George VI, Elizabeth II begins her reign as Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms.
2008: Mythbusters airs James Bond Special: Part 2 (Season 6, Episode 4).

2015: Former actor in the Bond role, 87-year-old Roger Moore acknowledges the injury on the BOND 24 set the previous day: "Sorry to hear Daniel Craig has sprained his knee on set of #Spectre...Being 007 is not without its hazards. I'm available to step in if needed."
2017: Alec McCowen dies at age 91--London, England. (Born 26 May 1925--Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England.)

RichardTheBruce

February 7th:

1952: Anne Rothermore's divorce is finalized. She plans a March wedding with Ian Fleming.
1962: The Gleaner reports on Ocho Rios area locals objecting to almost 100 production-related jobs with EON going to Kingstonians.
1964: From Russia With Love released in Ireland.
1970: John Barry's On Her Majesty's Secret Service soundtrack charts in the US, eventually reaching #103.
2008: BOND 22 films at Howard Air Force Base, Panama City (substituting for Haiti and Bolivia). The National Institute of Culture of Panama subs for a Bolivian hotel. Director Marc Forster is frustrated by the limitations for filming at Panama's Fort Sherman, a former US military base, on the Colón coast. His vision of the harbour boat chase is grander than circumstances allow. Meanwhile, a teaser poster is revealed online.

RichardTheBruce

February 8th

2002: Media reports say Madonna will sing the title theme of BOND 20, which does not yet have a title.
2018: Anthony Horowitz announces the title of his second James Bond novel as Forever and a Day. To be published 31 May 2018, it will include original Fleming material.

RichardTheBruce

February 9th

1983: Flittermouse comic strip begins its run in The Daily Express (ending 20 May 1983).
John McLusky, illustrator. Jim Lawrence, writer.

1998: Nintendo releases James Bond 007 for Game Boy, a video game developed by Saffire.

RichardTheBruce

February 10th

1941: Michael Apted is born--Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England.
1962: The comic strip run of Thunderball in The Daily Express (started 11 December 1961) suddenly ends midstream, due to a dispute over Fleming's arrangement to premiere his short story "The Living Daylights" in the competition--The Sunday Times. Later resolved, and comics resume in 1964's Daily Express with On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
John McLusky, illustrator. Henry Gammidge, writer.

2013: BAFTAs awarded to BOND 23 for Best British Film, Best Original Music.
Nominations also included Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Roger Deakins.
2015: Daniel Craig returns to the filming of BOND 24 following a knee injury.

RichardTheBruce

February 11th

1961: Carey Lowell is born--Huntington, New York.
1987: The Prince and Princess of Wales visit the Pinewood set of The Living Daylights.
2015: The first official photo of BOND 24 is released,

RichardTheBruce

February 12th

1936: Joe Don Baker is born--Groesbeck, Texas.
1942: Maud Solveig Christina Wikström (Maud Adams) is born--Luleå, Norrbottens län, Sweden.
1987: The Living Daylights production films the scene in Gibraltar wherein OO7 witnesses the death of OO4.
2005: Composer John Barry receives the BAFTA Fellowship award at The Orange British Academy Film Awards, Odeon Leicester Square, London.

2013: Skyfall released on DVD and Bluray in the US.

RichardTheBruce

February 13th

1916: Joseph Fürst is born--Vienna, Austria.
(Dies 29 November 2005 at age 89--Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.)
1987: It's a wrap for the filming of The Living Daylights.
1995: Filming of the Monaco-Monte Carlo scenes take place in England.
2002: Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson receive a special award from the London Film Critics' Circle recognizing the 40th anniversary of the James Bond films.

RichardTheBruce

February 14th

1927: Lois Maxwell is born--Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
(Dies 29 September 2007--Fremantle, Australia.)
2015: Louis Jourdan dies--Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California.
(Born 19 June 1921--Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France.)
2018: Dynamite's much-delayed comic book release of Casino Royale (once scheduled for this date, plus 17 October 2017, etc.) now stands to be published 13 March 2018.

ToTheRight

RichardTheBruce wrote: »

February 14th

1927: Lois Maxwell is born--Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
(Dies 29 September 2007--Fremantle, Australia.)
2015: Louis Jourdan dies--Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California.
(Born 9 June 1921--Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France.)
2018: Dynamite's much-delayed comic book release of Casino Royale (once scheduled for this date, plus 17 October 2017, etc.) now stands to be published 13 March 2018.

I must admit I love that cover. The dark misty smoke filled gambling room is exactly how I envisioned that ambiance in the novel. The blonde beauty reminds me a bit of Marilyn in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

RichardTheBruce

February 15th

1951: Jane Seymour is born--Hayes, Hayes and Harlington, Middlesex, England.
2017: Dynamite's Hammerhead #5 is released.

RichardTheBruce

February 16th

1965: Thunderball filming begins (in Paris, plus the Château d'Anet, near Dreux) following agreement between partners Broccoli and Saltzman plus Kevin McClory to jointly produce the Fleming novel. McClory agrees to not film another version for 10 years.

RichardTheBruce

February 17th

1910: Marc Lawrence is born--New York City, New York. (Dies 27 November 2005 at age 95--Palm Springs, California.)
1950: Valerie Leon is born--London, England.
1952: Ian Fleming begins his first Bond novel at Goldeneye--Casino Royale.
1962: Fleming makes another visit, this time to filming at Falmouth with OO7 and Honey Ryder dodging bullets behind the sand. And refilming when initial shots are ruined by US sailors investigating the noise and gunfire.
1971: Denise Richards is born--Downers Grove, Illinois.
1976: Rory Kinnear is born--Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England.

RichardTheBruce

February 18th

1975: Bond comic strip The Phoenix Project ends its run in The Daily Express (started 23 September 1974.)
Yaroslav Horak, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.

2003: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing game is released.
EA Redwood Shores, developer. Electronic Arts, publisher.

[/quote]

2016: An auction at Christie's sells items from Spectre for charity.

christies.com/james-bond-spectre-the-26480.aspx?saletitle=

To celebrate the release of Spectre on digital HD Blu-ray and DVD, Christie’s and EON Productions, Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Twentieth Century Fox present a unique opportunity to acquire memorabilia from the 24th film in the James Bond series. Highlights include an Aston Martin DB10 with a plaque signed by Daniel Craig (the only DB10 ever to be offered for sale to the public), a prototype Omega Seamaster 300 watch worn by Daniel Craig as James Bond and other spectacular props from the film.

All proceeds from the auctions will benefit Médecins Sans Frontières and number of other charitable institutions.

Day of the Dead Costume. Price realised GBP 98,500
Spectre Aston Martin DB10. Price realised GBP 2,434,500

RichardTheBruce

February 19th

1967: Benicio Del Toro is born--San Germán, Puerto Rico.
1975: Bond comic The Black Ruby Caper begins its run in The Daily Express (ends 15 July 1975).
Yaroslav Horak, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.

1986: Adolfo Celi dies at age 63--Siena, Tuscany, Italy. (Born 27 July 1922--Messina, Sicily, Italy.)

RichardTheBruce

February 20th

2018: Russian premiere of ‘Casino Royale’ in Concert, Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, presented by Zapomni, Crocus City Hall, Krasnogorsky District, Moscow Oblas. Продюсерская компания Zapomni представляет российскую премьеру киноконцерта «Джеймс Бонд: Казино Рояль», который пройдет только один раз, в Москве, 20 февраля 2018 года в Crocus City Hall.

RichardTheBruce

February 21st

1962: Location filming in Jamaica ends and the production team departs for England and the fantastic sets Ken Adam constructed for Dr. No's base, the ventilation gauntlet, and MI6 interiors. A few planned shots delayed for weather would be made up later.
2013: The Institution of Mechanical Engineers celebrates Wing Commander Ken Wallis, creator of ‘Little Nellie’.

events.imeche.org/ViewEvent?code=l306

2015: Daniel Craig films car scenes for BOND 24 in the vicinity of the Colosseum, Rome, Italy.
2018: Dynamite's James Bond: The Body #2 Part Two - The Brain becomes available for purchase. Description: James Bond leads the interrogation of a scientist who allowed a lethal virus to be stolen. But when the investigation takes a surprising turn, Bond begins to question whether he is enough.

RichardTheBruce

February 22nd

1938: Karin Dor is born--Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany. (Dies 6 November 2017 at age 79--Munich, Bavaria, Germany.)
2017: Dynamite's James Bond Vol. 2: Eidolon is released. Description: James Bond is trapped in Los Angeles with a MI6 agent under fire and a foreign intelligence service trying to put them both in bags... and possibly more than one foreign intelligence service. And things may not be any safer in Britain, with bodies dropping and ghosts moving in the political mist...

[img]https://www.dynamite.com/previews/C1524102725/BondEidolonTPInt12.jpg[/img ][/img]

RichardTheBruce

February 23rd

1947: Shakira Caine is born--British Guiana.

1964: Ian Fleming is photographed on a beach near his Goldeneye estate.

1965: John Kitzmiller dies at age 51--Rome, Lazio, Italy. (Born 4 December 1913--Battle Creek, Michigan.)
2015: BOND 24 night filming continues in Rome, Italy.
2018: Lewis Gilbert dies at age 97--Monaco. (Born 6 March 1920--London, England.)

Lewis Gilbert obituary
https://theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/27/lewis-gilbert-obituary
Film director whose long and varied career produced hits including Alfie and Educating Rita
Sheila Whitaker
Tue 27 Feb 2018 13.05 EST

Julie Walters and Michael Caine in a scene from Educating Rita, 1983, directed by Lewis Gilbert. Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

The film director Lewis Gilbert, who has died aged 97, never sought the limelight: he always said he wanted his films to speak for him, and several of them, including Alfie (1966) and Educating Rita (1983), have become part of cinema history.

Alfie is the story of an amoral young man who philosophises to camera on sex, love and women as he pursues sexual encounters with one girl after another. Paramount wanted the setting moved to New York and Tony Curtis to play Alfie, but Gilbert held out for Michael Caine. Caine’s performance assured his career, and the film was nominated for five Oscars.

Alfie’s success brought Gilbert his first Bond film, You Only Live Twice (1967), to be followed a decade later by The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and in 1979 by Moonraker. Lewis wryly commented that in earlier years he used to make a feature film for less than the Moonraker telephone bill.

It was Gilbert’s wife, Hylda, who brought Educating Rita to his attention and, having resisted studio pressure, this time again to move the setting to the US and to cast Dolly Parton as Rita, he finally raised the finance, despite not having any distribution deals in place, and cast Julie Walters and Caine. The film received three Oscar nominations and Hollywood studios vied to distribute it. He followed this with Shirley Valentine in 1989 with Pauline Collins as a housewife striking out for freedom in Greece.

Gilbert was what he described as an unfashionable director and considered this to have been why he survived for so long in the film industry. “I’ve never been known for any one kind of film. So, I’m really somebody like a doctor who you call in when you want the patient to live, as it were.”

Lewis Gilbert described himself as an unfashionable director. Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian

Born in London into a vaudeville family, Gilbert began touring in an act, the Four Kemptons, with his parents when he was four. His love of theatre and film began there – he watched films, shown as part of the vaudeville programmes, from behind the screen. He went to a theatrical school when he was 12 and he also entered cinema as an actor, appearing in quota quickies, including The Price of a Song (1935) directed by Michael Powell, and Over the Moon (1939).

It was while he was appearing with Laurence Olivier in The Divorce of Lady X (1938) that Alexander Korda, the producer, offered to send him to Rada. Gilbert replied that he would rather direct and so was sent to Korda’s Denham studios in Buckinghamshire as a third assistant director. He graduated up the scale, working with Alfred Hitchcock on Jamaica Inn (1939) – “He was the man I learned the most from” – and with a variety of studios, eventually becoming a first assistant.

At the beginning of the second world war, Gilbert volunteered for the RAF and from there he went to the US Army Air Forces film unit, where he worked on documentaries with Hollywood veterans such as William Wyler, Frank Capra and William Keighley. This gave Gilbert his directing break, as Keighley, hating the British winter cold, preferred his Mayfair hotel to going out filming. During this time he met Arthur Elton, and on being invalided out in 1944 took up his offer of a job at Gaumont-British Instructional directing documentaries.

His first feature, The Little Ballerina (1947), a children’s film with Margot Fonteyn, was successful to the point where, after its Saturday morning children’s run, it was put out on a circuit release. His first major success was Emergency Call (1952, known in the US as The Hundred Hour Hunt), in which Jack Warner has a race against time to find three people with the right blood type to save a child’s life.

He co-wrote the film with Vernon Harris, who became a collaborator for more than 40 years. Gilbert followed this with Cosh Boy (1953, also known as The Slasher), featuring Joan Collins, an X film which was widely banned – “Today, you’d show it to 10-year-olds” – and Johnny on the Run (1953), the first film which he also produced.

Gilbert’s long and varied career included thrillers and a number of war movies – “The war was the single biggest influence in my life, a very traumatic time. I think it was natural in the years after the war had ended to make films that were part propaganda and part portraits of heroism.” These included Albert RN (1953), which the producers had originally wanted shot in 3D, The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954) and Reach for the Sky (1955), Gilbert’s personal favourite, in which Kenneth More played the war hero Douglas Bader.

Michael Caine in a scene from Alfie, 1966; Gilbert resisted the studio’s idea of casting Tony Curtis in the role. Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/Paramount

Then followed Carve Her Name With Pride (1958) the true story of the secret agent Violette Szabo, Sink the Bismarck! (1960), HMS Defiant (1962) and Operation: Daybreak (1975). This last Gilbert felt could never be commercial because “it was very realistic and very downbeat but it was a true picture, whilst the earlier films may almost have glamorised wartime”.

In 1959 he had an unhappy experience working with Orson Welles on Ferry to Hong Kong. Gilbert had wanted Peter Finch to play the tramp and Curt Jurgens to play the officer. Instead he got Welles as the captain. Aside from the poor script, Gilbert said, Welles hated Jurgens and every scene that involved both of them had to be shot separately. The film and the overall strategy failed.

The Greengage Summer (1961, also known as Loss of Innocence), starring More (the producers had wanted Richard Burton, but he decided on Alexander the Great instead), was a happier affair, although, during the shooting, a blight on greengage trees forced them to buy in supplies of the fruit from Harrods and stick them on to the trees.

He continued working well into his 80s, and directed Walters again on his last feature film, Before You Go (2002). Always highly professional in his work, Gilbert was also a charming, unaffected and kind man with a friendly welcome for everyone. He and Hylda loved attending festivals (especially the annual festival in Cannes, where they had a flat) and going to screenings to look at the widest possible range of new films from directors of all ages and, most importantly, happily discussing them afterwards.

In 1990, he was awarded the Michael Balcon lifetime achievement award from Bafta, and he was appointed CBE in 1997. In 2010, on the occasion of his 90th birthday, Bafta held an evening of celebration at which he was interviewed on stage by Walters. He published his autobiography, All My Flashbacks, and appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in the same year.

Hylda (nee Tafler), whom he married in 1951, died in 2005. They had two sons, John and Stephen.

• Lewis Gilbert, film director, producer and writer, born 6 March 1920; died 23 February 2018

RichardTheBruce

February 24th

2012: The 85th Academy Awards sees performances from Dame Shirley Bassey ("Goldfinger") and Adele ("Skyfall"). Later in the proceedings "Skyfall" wins Best Song.

RichardTheBruce

February 25th

1962: Actors Sean Connery, Lois Maxwell, and Bernard Lee prepare for studio filming to begin the next day.
2003: The Thunderball soundtrack is reissued on CD for the James Bond Remastered Collection. Six tracks are added, beyond the original twelve tracks that were available when the LP went to production. At the time John Barry continued scoring the film, plus reacted to the switching of the main theme to the actual title song "Thunderball".
1913: Gert Fröbe is born--Oberplanitz, Saxony, Germany.
(Dies 5 September 1988 age 75--Munich, Bavaria, West Germany.)

RichardTheBruce

February 26th

1950: Carmen Du Sautoy is born--London, England.
1962: Filming resumes at Pinewood Studios.
1965: Time Magazine observes a “Bond market” exists “From London to Los Angeles,” involving Bond clothing, jewelry, pajamas, vodka, golf clubs.

2015: La Repubblica reports "The streets of Rome bring Bond to a standstill — car hits pothole, Craig suffers head injury." The culprit: loose sanpietrini--hand-carved cobblestone ("little St. Peters") on a narrow street.

https://npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/02/26/389261059/james-bond-meets-his-match-the-roman-cobblestone

RichardTheBruce

February 27th

1962: A legal claim is served on Eon Productions to recover £1,064 for two musicians--Carlos Malcolm and Ernest Ranglin--proposing they had an agreement to compose, arrange, and oversee the recording of music for Dr. No.
1965: The "Goldfinger" title song charts in the US, eventually peaking at No. 8.
1999: A court rejects MGM's request for a summary judgment to block Sony's planned Bond film--opening the path to an April trial.

Los Angeles Times
Studios' Fight Over James Bond to Go to Trial articles.latimes.com/1999/feb/27/business/fi-12167
February 27, 1999 | Associated Press

A federal judge rejected Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.'s motion for summary judgment in a legal fight with Sony Corp. over rights to the lucrative James Bond movie franchise, clearing the way for an April trial. MGM asked the court for a summary judgment in its lawsuit accusing Sony of attempting to steal the Bond franchise. U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie, who issued a preliminary injunction last year to block Sony from working on its own Bond film, rejected the motion, said Sony attorney David Steuber. "It's a very important win for us," he said. "It's encouraging that the ball is still in the air." In a statement, MGM characterized the ruling as a victory. "We can now proceed to trial to make our preliminary injunction permanent and for a declaration of our exclusive rights to make James Bond films," said Robert Brada, MGM executive vice president and general counsel. MGM is developing a 19th Bond installment starring Pierce Brosnan that is due for release in November.

2014: Artist-photographer Taryn Simon's exhibit Birds of the West Indies opens at the Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills.

About Exhibition https://gagosian.com/exhibitions/taryn-simon--february-27-2014
Images https://gagosian.com/exhibitions/taryn-simon--february-27-2014/exhibition-images
Artist Info https://gagosian.com/artists/taryn-simon
Press https://gagosian.com/exhibitions/taryn-simon--february-27-2014/exhibition-press

RichardTheBruce

February 28th

1963: The Daily Express story "Wanted - A Girl for OO7" prompts 200 to try out for the role of Tatiana at Pinewood.
1973: Bond comic strip The League of Vampires ends its run in The Daily Express. (Started 25 October 1972.)
Yaroslav Horak, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.

1987: Stephanie Sigman is born--Obregon, Sonora, Mexico.

RichardTheBruce

March 1st

1946: Lana Wood is born--Santa Monica, California.
1973: Bond comic strip Die with My Boots On opens in The Daily Express. (Finishes 18 June 1973.)
Yaroslav Horak, artist. Jim Lawrence, writer.

2017: Dynamite's comic James Bond Black Box Issue #1 is published, combining influences from the films (The Spy Who Loved Me, Spectre) and Bond's inner psychology from the novels.
Rapha Lobosco, artist. Benjamin Percy, writer.

RichardTheBruce

March 2nd

1945: Trumpeter Derek Roy Watkins is born--Reading, England. (He dies 22 March 2013--Surrey, England.)

https://independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/derek-watkins-trumpeter-who-played-on-every-bond-soundtrack-8550572.html

1965: Serialization of "The Man With The Golden Gun" appears in Domenica Del Corriere, illustration by Tabet.

1968: Daniel Wroughton Craig is born--Chester, Cheshire, England.
1992: Animated series James Bond Jr. (his nephew!) airs its 65th and final episode "Thor's Thunder".
(First episode "The Beginning" aired 30 September 1991.)

"The Beginning".
IMDb Description: En route to his new school, Warfield Academy, Bond Jr. is chased by S.C.U.M. who is interested in stealing the Aston Martin DB5.


"Thor's Thunder".
IMDb Description: Captain Walker D. Plank and Skullcap are on the prowl in Norway to find Mjölnir, which gives infinite power to whoever wields it.