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Classic Film Stars Recast as James Bond Villians
Birdleson
San Jose, CAModerator
A friend of mine was in town who I hadn't seen in almost a decade. He is also a Bond fan (not quite at our level on here), an "Original".
He started this by mentioning that Boris Karloff would have made a great Bond Villain, I agreed. So that led into the discussion indicated in this thread's title. Specifically the Fleming villains. Mods, I know there have been recasting threads elsewhere on here, but being more focused I thought this topic warranted its own space.
Here's some we came up with. By wanting this list to have the grandeur of classic cinema we tried to keep our choices limited to actors and actresses who were in their prime pre-1969.
Dr. No - Boris Karloff, Yul Brenner, Conrad Veidt (Dr. No is half German), Akihiko Hirata (I'd like to put a Chinese actor here, but none of the ones I know of from the past fit the role)
Red Grant - Lee Marvin, Robert Mitchum
Auric Goldfinger - Marlon Brando, Walter Berry, Charles Laughton
Pussy Galore - Greta Garbo, Marlene Deitrich
Emile Largo - Richard Conte, Ronald Coleman, Claude Raines
Ernst Stavro Blofeld - Bela Lugosi, James Mason
Mr. Wint - Eli Wallach, Edward Arnold
Mr. Kidd - Paul Muni, Rudolph Valentino
Serrafimo Spang - Jack Palance, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson
Mr. Big - Sidney Greenstreet (he's not black but he's the closest human that I could think of to the way that Fleming describes the character in the book, picture that head with purplish/gray facial make-up), Rex Ingram.
Francisco Scaramanga - Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Clark Gable
Horror - Raymond Massey, Richard Widmark
Sluggsy - Peter Lorre, Dwight Frye
Hugo Drax - I can think of no one that can fulfill Fleming's visual depiction, but Dwight Frye could have inhabited that character.
Krebbs - Peter Lorre
Le Chiffre - Charles Boyer, John Barrymore
I would not presume to try this with Irma Bundt and Rosa Klebb. They are cast so perfectly any secondguessing on my part would be futile.
Some fun ideas with later villains:
Elektra King - Jean Tierney, Joan Crawford
Alec Trevelyan - Cary Grant, Ronald Coleman
Silva - Marlon Brando, Vincent Price, Robert Donat
Anyone else want to try? Again, let's keep it pre-70s.
He started this by mentioning that Boris Karloff would have made a great Bond Villain, I agreed. So that led into the discussion indicated in this thread's title. Specifically the Fleming villains. Mods, I know there have been recasting threads elsewhere on here, but being more focused I thought this topic warranted its own space.
Here's some we came up with. By wanting this list to have the grandeur of classic cinema we tried to keep our choices limited to actors and actresses who were in their prime pre-1969.
Dr. No - Boris Karloff, Yul Brenner, Conrad Veidt (Dr. No is half German), Akihiko Hirata (I'd like to put a Chinese actor here, but none of the ones I know of from the past fit the role)
Red Grant - Lee Marvin, Robert Mitchum
Auric Goldfinger - Marlon Brando, Walter Berry, Charles Laughton
Pussy Galore - Greta Garbo, Marlene Deitrich
Emile Largo - Richard Conte, Ronald Coleman, Claude Raines
Ernst Stavro Blofeld - Bela Lugosi, James Mason
Mr. Wint - Eli Wallach, Edward Arnold
Mr. Kidd - Paul Muni, Rudolph Valentino
Serrafimo Spang - Jack Palance, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson
Mr. Big - Sidney Greenstreet (he's not black but he's the closest human that I could think of to the way that Fleming describes the character in the book, picture that head with purplish/gray facial make-up), Rex Ingram.
Francisco Scaramanga - Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Clark Gable
Horror - Raymond Massey, Richard Widmark
Sluggsy - Peter Lorre, Dwight Frye
Hugo Drax - I can think of no one that can fulfill Fleming's visual depiction, but Dwight Frye could have inhabited that character.
Krebbs - Peter Lorre
Le Chiffre - Charles Boyer, John Barrymore
I would not presume to try this with Irma Bundt and Rosa Klebb. They are cast so perfectly any secondguessing on my part would be futile.
Some fun ideas with later villains:
Elektra King - Jean Tierney, Joan Crawford
Alec Trevelyan - Cary Grant, Ronald Coleman
Silva - Marlon Brando, Vincent Price, Robert Donat
Anyone else want to try? Again, let's keep it pre-70s.
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Comments
Peter Lorre as Goldfinger...
Dr. No - Stewart Granger (ideal Sidney Toler but he died in 1947)
Grant - Richard Harris
Goldfinger - Ray Milland
Largo - Martin Landau
Biofeld - Yul Brynner
Le Chiffre - Leonard Nimoy
I would recast them as well, but they are not villains so therefore I hide them gracefully.
Tracy: Audrey Hepburn
Sylvia: Katharine Hepburn
Honey Ryder: Marylin Monroe
Jill Masterson: Kim Novak
Tilly Masterson: Barbara Bel Geddes
Tatiana: Tippi Hedren
MONEYPENNY: DORIS DAY
Q: PETER SELLERS
M: JOHN WILLIAMS
FELIX LEITER: CARY GRANT
I can see all of those except for Nimoy as Le Chiffre. Maybe as Dr. No or Scaramanga. And Harris was a bit too lean to be Grant.
Vincent Price - Fransisco Scaramanga or Carl Stromberg
Warren Beatty was quite muscular, maybe a bit too pretty for Grant.
William Shatner as Grant, he could look quite menacing!
Christopher Plummer would have been wonderful as a villain just can't decide which one.
Nimoy could work as Professor Dent or Kronsteen.
I want Nimoy in a 60's Bond movie :))
The guy could play anything, much like Michael Parks or Gary Oldman in more recent times.
Sr. or Jr.?
Senior, of course. Not familiar with Junior except my own.
Ian Fleming also wanted Dr No to be played by Noel Coward, to which Coward's response was "Oh, no, no, no!"
@BondJasonBond006 mentioned Christopher Plummer earlier. I think he would have made a good Dr No too. Failing that, he could have made a wonderfully menacing Blofeld as encountered in the novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
I think also that Grace Kelly could have made a good Tiffany Case. Miss Kelly was never the best actress in the world, but when has that been a necessary criterion for a Bond girl?
Other than that, and taking 75% of novels and 25 % of films as a reference...
Jan Werich or Peter Ustinov as Goldfinger (Werich wasn't a good choice for Blofeld, but IMHO was a perfect fit for Goldfinger).
James Cagney (rough, fair hair, judo expert), the young Max von Sydow or Burt Lancaster as Red Grant.
Richard Widmark or Fernando Rey as Scaramanga.
A weird choice, but I can't unsee him: Terry-Thomas as Drax.
Lon Chaney Jr. or Broderick Crawford as Milton Krest.
Francisco Rabal as González
Noble Johnson as Mr. Big
Another one that cam to mind earlier today: Anthony Quinn as Kristatos.
Fleming Villains:
Le Chiffre - Charles Boyer, John Barrymore
Mr. Big - Sidney Greenstreet, Rex Ingram, Noble Johnson
Hugo Drax - Dwight Frye, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, Lon Chaney, Terry Thomas
Krebbs - Peter Lorre
Mr. Wint - Eli Wallach, Edward Arnold
Mr. Kidd - Paul Muni, Rudolph Valentino
Serrafimo Spang - Jack Palance, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson
Red Grant - Lee Marvin, Robert Mitchum, Charles Bronson, Richard Harris, James Cagney, Max Von Sydow, Burt Lancaster
Dr. No - Boris Karloff, Yul Brenner, Conrad Veidt, Akihiko Hirata, Christopher Lee, Stewart Granger, Sidney Toler, Christopher Plummer
Auric Goldfinger - Marlon Brando, Walter Berry, Charles Laughton, Peter Lorre, Jan Werich, Peter Ustinov, Ray Milland
Pussy Galore - Greta Garbo, Marlene Deitrich, Julie Christie
Gonzales - Francisco Rabal (not sleazy enough for my tastes, still open)
Kristatos - Anthony Quinn
Milton Krest - Lon Chaney Jr., Broderick Crawford
Emile Largo - Richard Conte, Ronald Coleman, Claude Raines, Martin Landau
Ernst Stavro Blofeld - Bela Lugosi, James Mason, Christopher Plummer, Yul Brenner
Horror - Raymond Massey, Richard Widmark
Sluggsy - Peter Lorre, Dwight Frye
Francisco Scaramanga - Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Clark Gable, Vincent Price, Richard Widmark, Humphrey Bogart, Fernando Rey, Kirk Douglas
Post-Fleming villains: (I added a few here, as well)
Karl Stromberg - James Mason, Vincent Price (I'd love to see Vincent somewhere, but this one doesn't really work for me)
Jaws - Raymond Massey
Kamal Khan - Conrad Veidt
Elektra King - Jean Tierney, Joan Crawford
Alec Trevelyan - Cary Grant, Ronald Coleman, Richard Burton
Silva - Marlon Brando, Vincent Price, Robert Donat, Montgomery Clift
If GoldenEye was made in the 1960s, I'd cast Italian Eurospy star, Roger Browne (who awfully looks like Sean Bean, and played loads of superspies in the decade) as Alec Trevelyan, with Daliah Lavi as Xenia Onatopp, and Ian Hendry as General Ouromov.
That fits nicely. And I have another name: Mexican actor Emilio González (yep, the guy they say they modeled the Oscar after), I just love how crooked he was on The Wild Bunch and Bring Me The Head of Alfredo García. Another guy for the part could be French-italian star Lino Ventura.
Another one I would like for Milton Krest if we want a less imposing actor: Peter Falk.
Post-Fleming villains:
- Stromberg: Orson Welles, Emil Jannings, Charles Laughton
- Max Zorin: Jean Marais. I don't think you will accept Peter O'Toole, because he achieved stardom in 1963.
- Franz Sánchez: José Ferrer, Ben Gazzara.
- Alec Trevelyan: Anthony Perkins, Vincent Price, Lee Van Cleef.
- Silva: What about a hammy actor? Patrick Magee, for instance.
I see Anthony Perkins as more of a Silva.