APRIL 2024 - Daniel Goozee (1943-2024) |
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7 April
2024
Daniel Goozee, the American artist who designed the
posters for three James Bond films, has died aged 80.
Born in
Astoria, Oregon in 1943, Dan Goozee received a Bachelor of Fine
Arts degree with distinction from the Art Center College of
Design in Los Angeles. In addition his work as a fine artist,
Goozee had a career creating visual art for motion pictures,
film advertising, and theme parks around the world.
Goozee's first
James Bond film poster was
Moonraker, and his highly-detailed montage-style artwork
was seen on all advertising for the film in 1979. He also
provided the artwork seen on
advance teaser posters, and cover of the
Panther paperback of JAMES BOND AND MOONRAKER by Christopher
Wood. There was also an alternate international version of the
artwork used during the original release of
Moonraker (1979). Goozee returned to the
series for
Octopussy (1983), creating the iconic central image of
James Bond surrounded by the eight arms of the title character
played by Maud Adams, and an alternate advance
teaser poster. The US release posters featured additional
background detail painted by Goozee, but for the
UK and
European posters this art was replaced by new figures and an action
montage by renowned Italian artist
Renato
Casaro.
Goozee's final
James Bond poster campaign was for Roger Moore's last outing as
007 in A View To A Kill (1985). The
advance teaser posters showed Bond hanging from the Eiffel
Tower as May Day (Grace Jones) parachutes in behind him. The
international release posters featured a combination of his
iconic long-legged back-to-back image of Bond and May Day, with
additional artwork of Bond and Stacy Sutton (Tanya Roberts) atop
San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, and Max Zorin (Christopher
Walken) in his airship. |
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APRIL 2024 - Robin Browne (1941-2024) |
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28 March
2024
Robin Browne, who worked as a special effects and second
unit photographer on five James Bond films, has died aged 82.
Browne began
his career a clapper boy in the late 1950s, and worked on dozens
of distinguished films over the next five decades, progressing
to camera assistant, operator and later as director of
photography on specialist units. Browne worked as focus puller
on Battle of Britain (1969), produced by
Harry
Saltzman and directed by
Guy
Hamilton; and as optical effects cameraman (also uncredited)
on Mike Nichols’ Catch-22 (1970); and the ITV television
series The Adventures of Black Beauty (1972-74), on which
he was camera operator for all 52 episodes [pictured left].
Browne joined the Bond series in 1967, contributing optical
effects for
Maurice Binder's
You Only Live Twice main titles; returning as one of the
uncredited visual effects cameramen for
On Her Majesty's Secret
Service (1969). In 1977 Robin Browne was second unit and
special effects photographer (uncredited) on
The Spy Who Loved Me,
and later credited as optical effects cameraman on
Moonraker (1979).
His final 007 credit was as part of the Aerial team on
For Your Eyes Only
(1981).
Later credits
include aerial photography on A Bridge Too Far (1977);
and Ghandi (1982) both directed by Richard Attenborough.
Browne was reunited with director Guy Hamilton as second unit
camera operator on Evil Under The Sun (1982). He also
served as second unit photographer for David Lean's final film
A Passage to India (1984); returning to special effects
photography for Krull (1983), Jewel of the Nile
(1985), and Gorillas in the Mist (1988) directed by
Michael Apted. |
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MARCH 2024 - 00 HEAVEN? Bond fans give their view on Aaron
Taylor-Johnson as 007 |
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20 March
2024
007 MAGAZINE Editor & Publisher Graham Rye is one of
the many Bond fans responding to The Sun newspaper
report that Aaron Taylor-Johnson is being lined up as the next
James Bond.
Graham Rye
commented: “I don't think Aaron has the look or the charisma to
play James Bond. In fact, none of the bookmakers’ favourites
have what it takes. Bond needs to be around 6ft 2in, following
the Sean Connery blueprint... For me, James Bond needs to go
back to his roots...”
FULL STORY |
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WOKE Bond
switch-up gets DITCHED as another straight white 007 is named |
Should Bond be inclusive?
‘Creatively it
must be very dull to work on something where you're just
trotting out the same character.’ Graham Rye responds to author
& broadcaster, Nichi Hodgson, who says people are ‘crying out’
for a more unique and diverse Bond character.
FULL VIDEO |
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FEBRUARY 2024 - Michael Culver (1938-2024) |
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27 February
2024
British actor Michael Culver, who had small roles in From
Russia With Love (1963) and Thunderball (1965), has
died at the age of 85.
Culver began
his career in theatre and worked at the Old Vic in London,
and Dundee Repertory Theatre 1959-61. In June 1962 Michael
Culver appeared in the West End production of French dramatist
Jean Giraudoux's 1931 play
Judith at Her
Majesty's Theatre, which starred
Sean
Connery as Holofernes - his next role (and final theatre
performance) after completing work
on Dr. No
(1962). In 1963 Michael Culver would appear uncredited in
From Russia With Love
(1963), [speaking just two lines in his first film] as the young man who passes James
Bond and Sylvia Trench (Eunice
Gayson) in a punt on the river Thames as
Matt Monro's
‘From Russia With Love’ (playing on Bond's radio) is heard on
the soundtrack. Culver then appeared (also uncredited) as the
co-pilot of the hijacked Vulcan Bomber in
Thunderball (1965),
which also featured his father Roland Culver (1900-1984) as the
Foreign Secretary.
Michael Culver
is perhaps best-known for his roles in several popular British
TV series including The Adventures of Black Beauty
(1973-74), Secret Army (1977-78), and Cadfael
(1994-98). Culver also memorably played Sir Reginald Musgrave in
The Musgrave Ritual - a standout episode of ITV series
The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1986) starring Jeremy Brett (who
tested for the role of James Bond in 1972). Another
significant big screen performance was as Major MacBryde in
David Lean's final film A Passage To India (1984).
However, it is Culver's one-scene performance as the doomed
Captain Needa in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) opposite
David Prowse as Darth Vader, that was singled out in all the
news media reports of his death. |
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FEBRUARY 2024 - Pamela Salem (1944-2024) |
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21 February
2024
The British actress Pamela Salem, who played Miss Moneypenny
in Never Say Never Again (1983), has died at the age of
80.
Pamela Salem
was born in Bombay, India, educated at
Heidelberg University in Germany, and later studied at the
Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and started her
acting career in repertory theatre. During the 1970s
Pamela Salem had small roles in many British television series
including Jason King (1971) and The Onedin Line
(1972). One of her early film roles was as Emily Trent in The
First Great Train Robbery (1978) which starred Sean Connery,
but she will perhaps be best-remembered as the evil Belor in all 21
episodes of the children's fantasy television series Into The
Labyrinth (1981-82).
After appearing in a Tom Baker Doctor Who adventure
The Robots of Death in 1977, Salem auditioned for the role
of the Fourth Doctor's companion Leela, but the role went to
Louise Jameson. Salem returned to the series in 1988 playing
opposite Sylvester McCoy in Remembrance of the Daleks
(1988). This was followed by 37 episodes of the popular
long-running BBC-TV soap opera Eastenders (1988-89). Alternating
between television and film, one of her later big-screen roles was as Sarah Whale in Gods and Monsters
(1998), which starred Ian McKellen as iconic film director James
Whale.
Although her
appearance as Moneypenny in
Never Say Never Again
(1983) was very brief, she took part in promotion for the film
with Sean Connery and co-star Barbara Carrera.
Read 007 MAGAZINE's
1984 interview with Pamela Salem |
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FEBRUARY 2024 - Many important James Bond props to be auctioned by PROPSTORE |
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Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction
Los Angeles 12th - 14th March 2024
Several
important James Bond props and costumes are featured in the live
auction including Sean Connery's grey Anthony Sinclair suit worn
in You
Only Live Twice (1967), originally offered by PROPSTORE in
London in their 2021 sale,
where the item failed to sell.
Also included
in the auction are several unusual items including an
entertainment unit, a pair of oxygen masks and one of the
windows from the Lockheed Jetstar aircraft featured in
Goldfinger (1964). James Bond's (Pierce Brosnan) Walther PPK
from GoldenEye (1995), and several other prop weapons
from Die Another Day (2002), Skyfall (2012) and
No Time To Die (2021) are also part of this auction, along
with the now obligatory casino gaming chips from Dr. No
(1962) and Casino Royale (2006). Some items only seen in
the background of certain scenes in the film series are also
offered for sale.
PREVIEW OF IMPORTANT LOTS
FULL CATALOGUE
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FEBRUARY 2024 - ON HIS MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE paperback cover
revealed |
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13 February
2024
BOND SAVE THE KING
Ian Fleming Publications have revealed the cover of the
paperback edition of Charlie Higson's 2023 best-seller ON HIS
MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. Due to be published on June 6, 2024,
the bold cover was designed by Marc Ecob of
Mecob.
It's the 4th of May, two days before the coronation of King
Charles III and the world's favourite spy has his work cut out
for him.
Bond is sent at the last minute to thwart an attempt to disrupt
the coronation by the deadly megalomaniac Æthelstan of Wessex,
who is on a mission of his own to rule the United Kingdom and
rewrite history.
Can Bond thwart his plans by infiltrating Æthelstan’s private
army and ending his reign of terror before it begins?
In support of the National Literacy Trust.
The new
paperback edition features revised text and exclusive bonus
content.
AMAZON UK |
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FEBRUARY 2024 - Alec Mills (1932-2024) |
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12 February
2024
Alec Mills, director of photography for the two Timothy Dalton
James Bond films, has died at the age of 91. He began his career
in the late 1940s, as an uncredited clapper loader and focus puller
on several low-budget British films made at the small Carlton Hill
Studios in Maida Vale, returning to the industry after his
National Service in the Navy.
His
introduction to the James Bond series was
On Her Majesty's
Secret Service (1969), when he was offered the job of camera
operator by director of photography
Michael Reed. It was Reed
who had also given Mills his big break on television, working on
several episodes of The Saint starring
Roger Moore in
1966. For OHMSS, Mills worked largely on location in
Portugal and Switzerland, but memorably captured shots of
George
Lazenby at Pinewood Studios, with the pair suspended in mid-air
on the set of the cable car winding house of Blofeld's Piz
Gloria lair. Mills returned to the James Bond series as camera
operator on The Spy Who Loved Me (1977),
Moonraker
(1979), For Your Eyes Only (1981) and
Octopussy
(1983). |
Alec Mills
later progressed to overall director of photography on
The
Living Daylights (1987) and
Licence To Kill (1989),
both starring
Timothy Dalton as James Bond. Other notable
productions were Roman Polanski's Macbeth (1971) [as
camera operator], Shout At The Devil (1976)
directed by Peter Hunt [Mills was camera operator for
cinematographer Michael Reed] and Return Of The Jedi
(1983) [as camera operator]. Alec's son Simon Mills (born 1961)
worked as uncredited clapper loader on The Living Daylights
and Licence To Kill, returning to the series as first
assistant cameramen in the underwater unit for
Die Another
Day (2002). |
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FEBRUARY 2024 - ITVX to stream all 25 James Bond films for free in
the UK |
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8
February 2024
It has been announced that all 25 James Bond films are going to
be available for the first time on a free streaming service in
the UK. From March 4th each day a different James Bond film will
screen on the ITV4 channel, and then for 30 days afterwards will
be available on demand via ITVX.
Scheduled so far are:
4th March: Goldfinger (1964)
5th March: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
6th March: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
7th March: Licence To Kill (1989)
8th March: GoldenEye (1995)
10th March: Skyfall (2012) |
ITV is also
adding a pair of official documentary features to its streaming
service - Everything Or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007,
and Being James Bond: The Daniel Craig Story.
The deal that ITV has struck with Amazon MGM Studios for the
rights also allows them to screen the official James Bond films
several times a year on ITV channels.
Read the controversial story behind
the sale of the James Bond films to ITV back in 1975! |
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FEBRUARY 2024 - Kim Sherwood's second Double O novel A SPY LIKE ME
UK cover revealed |
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6 February
2024
The stunning new spy thriller that blows the world of James Bond
wide open!
Six days.
A bomb goes off at the BBC. The country is in chaos, but this is
just the start. A global terrorist organisation is plotting a
series of deadly attacks. MI6 has just six days’ warning for
when the next one will strike.
Three agents.
With James Bond missing, three of MI6’s toughest Double O agents
race across the world to stop the attacks. From Venice to
Australia to Dubai, they soon uncover a vast network of terror.
One chance to find James Bond.
As the Double Os close in, they find themselves unexpectedly
inching closer to 007. Now the race is on to stop the terrorists
– and save Britain’s finest spy.
Published 25 April 2024
AMAZON UK & 23 April 2024
AMAZON US |
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FEBRUARY 2024 - Michael Jayston (1935-2024) |
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5 February
2024
English actor Michael Jayston (born Michael James 29 October
1935) who played James Bond in the 1990 BBC Radio 4 adaptation
of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, has died at the age of 88.
Best known as a
theatre and television actor, Jayston began his stage career in
1962, and performed at the Bristol Old Vic and Stratford-upon-Avon. In 1970, he played Henry Ireton in
Cromwell -the British historical drama film written and
directed by
Ken Hughes, which also featured a young
Timothy
Dalton in the supporting role of Prince Rupert. The
following year Jayston starred as Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in
the British-made historical epic Nicholas and Alexandra
directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. Jayston later appeared as
Gratiano opposite Laurence Olivier as Shylock in the National
Theatre's film The Merchant of Venice (1974). In 1975
Michael Jayston starred in 13 episodes of the BBC-TV drama
series Quiller. ‘Quiller’ is the alias of a fictional spy
created by English novelist Elleston Trevor (1920-1995) [written
under the pseudonym “Adam Hall”], who featured in a series of 19
Cold War thriller novels published between 1965 and 1996.
Another of
Jayston's most notable television roles was as Peter Guillam in
the seven-part 1979 BBC adaptation of John Le Carre's acclaimed
1974 novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, playing opposite
Alec Guinness as George Smiley.
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In 1986,
Michael Jayston played ‘The Valeyard’ in 14 episodes
of the long-running British science fiction television series
Doctor Who. Four stories were broadcast under the umbrella
title The Trial of a Time Lord, and was the final season
to star Colin Baker as The Doctor. In 007 MAGAZINE's
exclusive article ‘The
Search For Bond’ Jayston recalled that he had a meeting with
James Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli and director John Glen in
1981. During the half-hour interview they discussed James Bond,
but Jayston was never offered the role. Michael Jayston later
did play James Bond in the 1990
one-off BBC Radio 4 drama adapted by Michael Bakewell from
Ian Fleming's 1964 novel YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. The programme
co-starred Clive Merrison as Tanaka, James Laurenson as
Henderson, David King as M, Sayo Inaba as Kissy,
Burt Kwouk
as Ando, and Maxine Audley as Irma Bunt. |
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JANUARY 2024 - Ian Fleming Publications Ltd announce their
2024 releases |
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29 January
2024
Ian Fleming Publications Ltd have announced a new omnibus
that collects
Raymond Benson’s six original James Bond novels together
into a single eBook. To be published on February 26, 2024
James Bond: The Raymond Benson Years includes
Zero Minus Ten, The
Facts of Death, High Time to Kill, DoubleShot, Never Dream of
Dying and The Man
with the Red Tattoo.
On June 6, 2024
IFPL will publish a paperback edition of
Charlie
Higson's 2023 best-seller ON HIS MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE.
The paperback edition will feature some exclusive new content,
and as with the hardback, all royalties will continue to support
the work of the National Literacy Trust.
2024 marks 60
years since the publication of Ian Fleming’s classic children’s
story about a flying car,
Chitty Chitty
Bang Bang. To celebrate this anniversary, IFPL will
publish a new paperback edition of this beloved tale on June 13,
2024. Aimed at young readers and featuring brand new
illustrations, IFPL also have other plans to celebrate the 60th
anniversary of the world’s most famous flying car.
In time for James Bond Day in October 2024, IFPL will be
releasing fourteen new hardback editions of Ian Fleming’s
original Bond stories. |
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JANUARY 2024 - Bond In Motion opens at The International Spy
Museum, Washington in March |
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Vehicle
exhibition Bond In Motion is travelling to The
International Spy Museum in Washington.
Opening on March 1, 2024 at L’Enfant Plaza, Bond In Motion
will feature 17 vehicles from the 007 film series, ranging from
the Aston Martin DBS from
Quantum of Solace
(2008) to the Jaguar XKR from
Die Another Day
(2002). Other highlights include the submarine from
For Your Eyes Only
(1981) and the MR Glastron Boat from
Moonraker (1979),
offering a journey chronicling James Bond’s 60+ years of
adventures.
Tickets are available for
purchase priced at $12.00. For more information, visit
www.spymuseum.org |
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JANUARY 2024 - Dyson Lovell (1940-2024) |
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11 January
2024
British film producer, actor and casting director Dyson
Lovell has died at the age of 83. Lovell produced Franco
Zeffirelli's Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson (1990); and
served as Executive Producer on Francis Ford Coppola's 1984
musical crime-drama The Cotton Club, starring Richard
Gere and Diane Lane, which featured original music composed by
John Barry.
Lovell received four Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globe
nominations for his work as a producer in television.
Lovell was born
in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and travelled to England at the age
of 17, where he successfully auditioned for The Royal Academy of
Dramatic Art. English actor and theatre director John Gielgud
became his mentor and life-long friend. After graduating drama
school in 1958, Lovell secured small roles in many British
television productions; including Laertes in Hamlet at
Elsinore (BBC 1964), which starred Christopher Plummer as
Hamlet, Michael Caine as Horatio, and
Robert Shaw
as Claudius. This was followed by The High Fence
[pictured left], a 1964 episode of The Saint starring
Roger Moore.
During the filming of a fight scene on December 4, 1963, Lovell
ducked a blow from Moore and lost his balance, cutting his head
on a pillar. |
Lovell later
appeared in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Station
- a 1967 episode of The Avengers starring
Patrick Macnee
and Diana Rigg.
Whilst filming on The Avengers he was contacted by
Italian director Franco Zeffirelli who asked for Lovell's help
in casting the lead roles for his forthcoming film adaptation of
Romeo and Juliet (1968); Lovell also played a small part in
the film. This led to him being engaged by producers
Harry
Saltzman & Albert R. Broccoli to help search for the new
James Bond following the departure of
Sean
Connery in 1967. Lovell was instrumental in the casting of
George
Lazenby, Diana Rigg,
Joanna Lumley and
Jenny Hanley (amongst others) in
On Her Majesty's Secret
Service (1969).
During the
1970s and 1980s Dyson Lovell cast the all-star Hercule Poirot
films Murder On The Orient Express (1974), which starred
Albert Finney,
Sean Connery and Lovell's old friend John Gielgud; Death On
The Nile (1978), which introduced Peter Ustinov as Poirot,
co-starring with
David Niven
and Lois Chiles;
and Evil Under The Sun (1982), directed by
Guy
Hamilton, which starred Diana Rigg. Lovell had also cast
Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple in Guy Hamilton’s The Mirror
Crack’d (1980), which featured an early film role for future
James Bond
Pierce Brosnan. Only in recent years has the role of casting
director been acknowledged as playing an important role in
filmmaking, and most of Lovell's significant work, including
On Her Majesty's Secret Service, went uncredited at the
time. A new Academy Award category will be introduced for films
released in 2025. |
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JANUARY 2024 - ‘John Barry: Soundtracking Bond and Beyond’ A BFI
Southbank Film Season |
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1 January
2024
Spies, swingers and shadows were what John Barry, Britain’s
greatest soundtrack writer, first encountered in his career. In
February and March 2024 BFI Southbank presents a two-part season
of films showcasing the musical talents of the celebrated film
composer. Included in the season are three classic Sixties James
Bond films.
Goldfinger
(1964): Sunday 4 February 16:10 NFT1 & Wednesday 21 February
20:45 NFT1 Digital 4K
You Only Live Twice (1967): Sunday 4 February 18:40
NFT1 & Tuesday 6 February 20:45 NFT1 Digital 4K
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969): Sunday 3
March 15:00
NFT3 & Sunday 10 March 18.10 NFT1 Digital 4K
Also on Tuesday
February 6, 2024 at 16:10 in NFT1 is ‘Spies, Swingers and
Shadows: The Films and Scores of John Barry’. Join special guests including
season curator Bob Stanley for a richly illustrated discussion
about the distinctive sounds of John Barry. With a focus on
Barry’s British years, the panel will explore the significance
of his scores for the James Bond franchise and other key titles,
consider the changes in British music that influenced his
compositions, and reflect on John Barry’s legacy.
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