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From the Archive
007 Issue #14 (1984) |
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Is it correct that the
actors who play Bond go through a rigorous training programme?
Apparently what they did to Sean and George Lazenby, and probably in a
minor way with Roger too, was they had a great masseur and a gym routine
worked out so they were at their absolute physical peak by the time they
started filming, as indeed they had to be, because to get up at 6.00am every
morning and do the physical as well as the mental acting for five or six
days a week, for six and a half months or so requires a lot of stamina and
a lot of self-discipline.
What were your first impressions of Sean Connery when filming Dr. No?
Well I liked him – I liked him very much, and he had a nice off-beat sense
of humour - and animal magnetism (laughs). |
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ABOVE: ‘Welcome To
Japan Mr. Bond’ - Kate O'Mara, Lois Maxwell and Desmond Llewelyn
appeared in a 1967 TV special produced by DANJAQ S.A. - the
company founded in 1962 and responsible for the copyright and
trademarks to the characters, elements, and other material related
to James Bond on screen. The name DANJAQ was a combination of
Albert R. Broccoli & Harry Saltzman's respective wives’ names Dana
and Jacqueline. The one-our special was produced to promote the
release of You Only Live Twice (1967) and featured clips
from the first four James Bond films, and some behind-the-scenes
footage and scenes from the new 007 adventure. Both Lois Maxwell
and Desmond Llewelyn appear in character as Moneypenny and Q, and
react to the upcoming wedding of James Bond in You Only Live
Twice. Both are given far more screen time than in most of the
films in which they appear. Welcome To Japan Mr. Bond was
shown across the USA from April to June 1967 ahead of the release
of You Only Live Twice, but relegated to a late-night slot
on just a handful of regional ITV channels in the UK in October
1967 as the film was on general release. The fascinating TV
special is available on the Ultimate Edition DVD and Blu-ray of
You Only Live Twice (1967). |
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Do you have a favourite Bond?
You’re not talking about the actor I hope, because it’s very difficult to
say which actor was my favourite Bond, because I went to RADA with Roger
and we were in the same class together and we were pals then, and I worked
on The Saint and The Persuaders!, we saw each other on and
off for years!
So I’m not going to get an answer to that question?
No, I don’t think you are! (laughs) The only answer I’ve given on several
other occasions was if Moneypenny had her choice she would have Roger as
her husband and Sean as her lover!
Many people are critical of Roger’s performance as Bond – how would you
answer his critics?
I think he’s done a hell of a job! It’s very tough to take over from
someone who was as internationally popular as Sean Connery; in my view
Roger became internationally popular as The Saint. |
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ABOVE: BEYOND BOND -
Whilst familiar to cinema audiences as Miss Moneypenny, Lois
Maxwell also frequently appeared in British television series
in-between her brief engagements in the James Bond films. Lois
Maxwell appeared in two episodes of The Saint opposite
Roger Moore as Simon Templar - firstly in the 1966 episode
Interlude in Venice, and a year later in Simon and Delilah
[pictured above top left]. Lois Maxwell appeared as the
machine-gun toting nun Sister Johnson in The Little Wonders
(top right) - a 1964 episode of The Avengers starring
Patrick Macnee
and Honor
Blackman; and also provided the
voice for Lieutenant Atlanta Shore (bottom left) in 39 of the 40
episodes of Stingray (1964-65) - the popular children's
puppet series devised by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson, and their first
to be filmed in colour. Lois Maxwell was reunited with Roger Moore
in 1972 when she appeared as Louise Cornell in Someone Waiting
- the final episode of The Persuaders!, which
co-starred Tony Curtis (pictured bottom right with Lois Maxwell).
Lois Maxwell and Roger Moore had first met in 1944 when both were
attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, and the
pair became lifelong friends. Lois Maxwell also appeared in single
episodes of Danger Man with Patrick McGoohan in 1960;
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) in 1969; Department S in
1970, and as Miss Holland in two episodes of the Gerry & Sylvia
Anderson live-action sci-fi series UFO in 1970/71. The
series starred Michael
Billington, who was considered for the role of James Bond on
several occasions from the 1960s through to the 1980s.
BELOW: Lois Maxwell was part of a group of American and Canadian
performers based in the UK, and would frequently be cast as transatlantic characters in British-made films. Made before her
debut as Miss Moneypenny in Dr. No (1962), Maxwell appeared
as Nurse Mary Lore in Stanley Kubrick's provocative drama
Lolita (1962) [pictured below left], sharing her brief scene
with Cec
Linder [another UK-based American actor who played Felix
Leiter in Goldfinger (1964)]. Prior to filming From
Russia With Love (1963), Maxwell appeared in The Haunting
(1963) - the classic haunted house thriller directed by
Robert Wise. Lois Maxwell [pictured below right with Julie Harris
and Lois Maxwell] appeared in the small but pivotal role of Grace Markway, wife of paranormal investigator Dr. John Markway played
by Richard Johnson, who was director
Terence
Young's preferred choice for the role of James Bond in 1961. |
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It’s unfortunate that
Roger Moore seems to have been held back in the role of Bond, as in many
of his non-Bond roles he appears much harder and more ‘Bond-like’ than he
actually does in his role as 007!
Gold for instance! I thought Roger was wonderful in Gold. Well I
think it’s the way the Bonds are being written now, I mean if you compare
the last three or four Bonds with From Russia With Love for
instance. That film was a completely developed film script where all the
actors had wonderful parts. Remember Daniela Bianchi had a much better
part than most of the Bond women, then you had Pedro Armendariz, Robert
Shaw and Lotte Lenya who all played wonderfully developed characters. I
remember asking ‘Cubby’ several years ago while working on Moonraker that
I didn’t like the script very much, and he was inclined to agree with me,
but he said the Bond films now have to compete with films like Star Wars,
but I believe the Bond films were the first to bring out these incredible
gadgets. With all these science fiction films being made now I can
perfectly see where it would have been unreasonable to suppose that the
Bond films could keep on going in the same way without keeping up the
competition.
I think most real Bond fans would nominate Moonraker as the worst
in the series!
Yes, I’m inclined to agree with you!
Do you have a favourite Bond film?
Yes! From Russia With Love, I think it’s probably everybody’s
favourite.
Actually most Club members vote On Her Majesty's Secret Service
(1969) their favourite film in our annual poll!
Well perhaps it’s because it has a little more humanity in a sense than
the others, because the wife is shot at the very end, just when everybody
is saying they’re going to be happy, and Moneypenny is weeping, she’s not
going to fulfil her dreams and just left with his crumpled hat instead. I
think the audience can relate to Bond’s loss, and of course it was the
only off-beat ending! |
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ABOVE: (left) Lois
Maxwell at the Vinhas estate in Zambujal, Portugal during the
filming of James Bond's wedding in On Her Majesty's Secret
Service (1969). (top right) Director
Peter Hunt
watches George Lazenby and Lois Maxwell as they film their first
scene at Pinewood Studios in mid-April 1969. (bottom right) April
30, 1969 - George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, Lois Maxwell and Desmond
Llewelyn were among those who took part in the wedding staged for
the press in the grounds of the Hotel Palácio, Estoril. Photos
from this event then appeared in newspapers across the world
announcing the marriage of James Bond in On Her Majesty's
Secret Service (1969), and where Tracy's wedding dress
designed by
Marjory
Cornelius was unveiled for the first time.
BELOW: (left & top right) George Lazenby and Lois Maxwell recreate
the effortless chemistry between the new James Bond and Miss
Moneypenny in their scenes at MI6 in On Her Majesty's Secret
Service (1969). (bottom right) George Lazenby was reunited
with Lois Maxwell
and Desmond Llewelyn for the first time in 25 years
at ‘The James Bond 007 Fan
Club On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Christmas Lunch’
organised by 007 MAGAZINE Editor & Publisher Graham Rye at
Pinewood Studios on Sunday December 11, 1994. |
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What was your reaction
to the introduction of the ‘Miss Smallbone’ character in Octopussy?
(Laughs) Well my immediate reaction was that I went to ‘Cubby’s office at
Pinewood and said “Aha! I know what you’re doing (laughs) you’re getting
rid of me!” Because here we are for the very first time in all these
years, and Moneypenny’s suddenly got an assistant, and instead of her
being dumpy and plain with spectacles she is the most beautiful creature
I’ve ever seen! I can well see in the next Bond film somebody will come in
and say “Where’s Moneypenny?” and they will say “she’s on leave” (laughs),
and that’s exactly what I didn’t want to have happen to me, I wanted to be
blown-up, not superannuated!
Do you see Moneypenny eventually retiring from the series or your
character being played by a new actress, or even having Moneypenny killed
off?
I’ve said to ‘Cubby’ on many occasions – “I must be killed off!” – I said
it to him the other day too! The best way is to kill Moneypenny off now -
but it all depends, if Roger does another or if even if Sean Connery comes
back to make one for our team, then I think they’re going to need
Moneypenny and Q. But if they go for a new face who’s about 36 or so, I
can’t see Moneypenny making suggestive glances in his direction. But I
could see a pre-credit sequence something like Moneypenny leaving the
Ministry of Defence with a worried look on her face after receiving her
instructions from the Chief of Staff. Then we see her walking down a seedy
street with someone following her; she delivers a package to a man in an
office and he says to her, “Thank God you got through!” But when she
leaves the office she is killed in some fashion! Then Bond comes into Moneypenny’s office and there’s Miss Smallbone, and he says something like
“Wasn’t it terrible, 30 years with the service, I never thought she’d
leave it this way!” Then you’ve got the New Bond and Miss Smallbone
and it could all start off on a fresh footing. Putting Moneypenny in a
dangerous situation was something that Ian Fleming intended to do. |
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ABOVE: Roger Moore
as James Bond with
Michaela
Clavell [daughter of best-selling author James Clavell
(1921-1994)] who played Miss Penelope Smallbone, and Lois Maxwell
as Miss Moneypenny in Octopussy (1983). |
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CONTINUED |
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