JAMES BOND
NEWS 2014

24 December 2014
Stuntman Richard ‘Dickie’ Graydon has passed away at the age of 92. Dickie was part of the stunt team on many James Bond films and most notably doubled for both George Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969); and Roger Moore in Moonraker (1979), both times atop a cable car in two of the series’ most hair-raising sequences.

Credited with appearances in You Only Live Twice (1967) as ‘Astronaut (Russian Spacecraft)’ and ‘Francisco the Fearless’ [pictured left] in Octopussy (1983), he was also part of the stunt team on From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), For Your Eyes Only (1981) and A View To A Kill (1985).

In addition to doubling George Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Graydon also appeared on screen as Draco's driver - uncredited in the film but listed in the Exhibitors’ Campaign Book.

Also an experienced horseman, Graydon worked on many other films as stunt co-ordinator and horsemaster including The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) and Don't Look Now (1973).

4 December 2014

Spectre will be the title of the 24th official James Bond film, its makers have announced.

Director Sam Mendes revealed the title at a launch event at Pinewood Studios, where principal photography is due to begin on Monday 8 December.

Daniel Craig will play 007 for the fourth time in the film, to be released in the UK on 23 October 2015, and worldwide on 6 November 2015.

Other principal cast members were also announced at launch event, which was beamed around the world.

FULL STORY AND PICTURES FROM THE EVENT

19 October 2014

007 MAGAZINE Netherlands correspondent Ben van den Broek reports exclusively from the latest opening of the ‘Designing 007: 50 Years of Bond Style’ exhibition in Rotterdam.

Featuring exclusive interviews with actors Jeroen Krabbé (Georgi Koskov) and Bond Girl Maryam d’Abo (Kara Milovy) from The Living Daylights (1987).

FULL REPORT AND EXCLUSIVE IMAGES 

7 October 2014

Dynamite Entertainment, a leading publisher of English language comic books and graphic novels, is proud to announce their partnership with Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. (IFPL), the company that owns and administers the literary copyright of Ian Fleming's published works, including his fourteen James Bond books.

Under their agreement, negotiated by Jonny Geller of Curtis Brown, Dynamite has been granted worldwide rights to publish comic books, digital comics, and graphic novels starring 007, Fleming's iconic secret agent will re-live the exploits that have thrilled and captivated fans for over half a century in fresh visual adaptations of the classic Bond stories...

FULL STORY 

1 October 2014

Anthony Horowitz to write new James Bond novel inspired by unseen Ian Fleming material.

Ian Fleming Publications Ltd., The Ian Fleming Estate, the Orion Publishing Group, and HarperCollins US and Canada are delighted to announce that international bestselling and award-winning writer Anthony Horowitz is at work on an official new James Bond novel. Currently dubbed Project One, the novel is due for worldwide release on 8^th September 2015.

The new book by Horowitz – a lifelong fan of Ian Fleming – will be set in the 1950s and will be unique among the modern James Bond novels, in that a section will contain previously unseen material written by Fleming to which Horowitz has had exclusive access.

FULL STORY

10 September 2014

FOR YOUR EARS ONLY
The autobiography of Nikki van der Zyl

Nikki van der Zyl’s contribution to the early James Bond movies is legendary. Her revoicing of many of the principal (and smaller part) actresses was demanding in the extreme and her professionalism was admired by all who worked with her. Only rarely in film production are the voices of actors deemed to be unsuitable in terms of clarity, diction or accent, but throughout the early days of the Bond series actresses were cast for their visual suitability rather than their mastery of the English language. As a consequence the voices of several ‘Bond Girls’ were judged to have insufficient clarity for world markets and Nikki was selected for the highly specialised task of re-voicing them.

FULL STORY & MORE IMAGES 

10 September 2014

American actor Richard Kiel who played ‘Jaws’ in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979) has died in California aged 74.

The Kiel family issued the following statement:
It is with very heavy hearts that we announce that Richard has passed away, just three days shy of his 75th birthday. Richard had an amazing joy for life and managed to live every single day to the fullest. Though most people knew of him through his screen persona, those who were close to him knew what a kind and generous soul he was. His family was the most important thing in his life and we are happy that his last days were spent surrounded by family and close friends. Though his passing was somewhat unexpected, his health had been declining in recent years. It is nice to think that he can, once again, stand tall over us all.

With love,
The Kiel Family 

18 August 2014

Assistant director and producer Thomas (Tom) Pevsner has died at the age of 87. Born on October 2, 1926 in Dresden, Germany, Tom was the son of distinguished architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner (1902-1983). Moving to England at the age of nine, Tom Pevsner later started his film career working at the National Film Finance Corporation, before becoming an assistant director on such notable films as The Ladykillers (1955), The Longest Day (1962), and The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes (1970). In 1979 he was the associate producer of John Badham's stylish interpretation of Dracula starring Frank Langella.

Pevsner then worked on six consecutive James Bond films; firstly as associate producer to Albert R. Broccoli on For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983), A View To A Kill (1985), The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence To Kill (1989), ending his Bond career as executive producer on GoldenEye (1995).

12 August 2014

007 MAGAZINE is sad to report the passing of Iris Rose on August 12th 2014. While her filmography below speaks volumes, her time working in the production department on the James Bond films at Pinewood Studios made her quite literally a legend among her colleagues in the industry. Iris was simply the best!

Filmography

31 August 2014

George Lazenby – it's a name that ignites debate; fan favourite or failure, everybody seems to have an opinion.

Out of his depth by his own admission, he took to James Bond as only he knew how – with no compromises. Always on the fringe with a lifelong distrust of authority, George walked away from the most famous role in film history. It cost him big time and the stigma has never left him.

FULL STORY

Through a gun barrel darkly!

GRAHAM RYE reports on the BOND IN MOTION exhibition at The London Film Museum in Covent Garden, and discovers that 007’s dark materials are a little too dark to entirely please his discerning eye!

Read the full report

LUKE WILLIAMS reviews the latest James Bond radio play, and finds that, for James Bond at least, the wireless is not enough.

Read review

Paris 12 April 2014

The 16th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography was awarded to Jon Gilbert for his groundbreaking work about the author of the James Bond novels, ‘Ian Fleming: The Bibliography’. Jon Gilbert's magnum opus covers every aspect of Ian Fleming’s writings, and it provides his readers with all there is to possibly know about Ian Fleming and his works.

FULL STORY AND IMAGES 

28 March 2014
The American writer best known for his work on the television series Batman (1966-68) starring Adam West, and the political thriller films The Parallax View (1974) and Three Days of the Condor (1975), has died at the age of 91. Lorenzo Semple, Jr. was one of several writers on the box-office hit Papillon (1973), and also wrote the screenplay for the 1976 remake of King Kong, and Flash Gordon (1980) - both produced by Dino De Laurentiis (1919-2010).

To James Bond fans Lorenzo Semple, Jr. will be remembered as the writer credited with the screenplay for Sean Connery's comeback as James Bond in Never Say Never Again (1983); although English comedy writers Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais also made significant uncredited contributions to the final script. However, Lorenzo Semple Jr.'s connection with James Bond goes back even further, to when he was an assistant to Russian-born film director, actor and producer Gregory Ratoff (1893-1960). Ratoff had purchased the screen rights to Ian Fleming's first novel CASINO ROYALE for $6,000 in 1955.

A year later Gregory Ratoff announced he was developing the story for the big screen to be filmed on locations in London and Italy ‘using top stars’ with a budget of $1.5 million. The project never came to fruition; although a script was written in 1957 by renowned American screenwriter Ben Hecht (1894-1964), and in need of money Ratoff later sold half the rights to American talent agent and film producer Charles K. Feldman (1905-1968). Following Ratoff's death in 1960, the remaining half of the CASINO ROYALE rights were then acquired from his widow Maria by Feldman. The screen rights to CASINO ROYALE (along with THUNDERBALL which was then the subject of ongoing litigation) were therefore not available to Harry Saltzman & Albert R. Broccoli when they acquired the option to film Ian Fleming's novels in 1961. Charles K. Feldman tried unsuccessfully to come to an agreement with producers Saltzman & Broccoli to make CASINO ROYALE as an official entry in the EON series. Ultimately Casino Royale (1967) was produced by Charles K. Feldman as a spoof version along the lines of his previous success What’s New Pussycat? (1965).

14 March 2014
Samuel John Peffer known as ‘Peff’ has died at the age of 92. Peff was a British commercial artist who designed film posters, paperback book covers and illustrations to accompany the release of many early home videos.

Among his best known works were the four covers he painted for PAN Books in the late 1950s. His covers for the paperback editions of Ian Fleming's CASINO ROYALE, MOONRAKER, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and DR. NO set the standard for the colourful pulp-detective style illustrations which continued into the early 1960s. Originally starting out in film advertising, he returned to the industry in the 1970s when the fashion for painted covers died out. He painted the posters for many low-budget exploitation films before his retirement in 1985.

19 January 2014
EON Producers Barbara Broccoli & Michael G. Wilson were the recipients of the highly prestigious David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Motion Pictures, a trophy which recognizes a Producer’s body of work in motion pictures, and is seen as one of the most important awards that can be bestowed on a film Producer. The award was presented by Daniel Craig at the 25th Producers Guild of America (PGA) Awards ceremony, held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

EON Productions, owned and controlled by the Broccoli/Wilson family, is the U.K. based production company that produces the James Bond films. Wilson, Broccoli and EON have also co-produced and co-financed several successful theatrical productions that have played in London’s West End and on Broadway, including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, A Steady Rain, Chariots of Fire and the Tony winning musical Once.

Wilson, Broccoli and EON also are involved in several independent film projects including executive producing A Silent Storm, starring Damian Lewis and Andrea Riseborough, directed by Corinna Villari-McFarlane.

“We’re honoured to be associated with the legendary David O. Selznick and delighted to be receiving this award along with its previous recipients,” Wilson and Broccoli said in a joint statement.