Friday, June 18

{Twenty Interesting Facts About...Bond...James Bond}



Due to some outside influences in my life, I've recently been re-exposed to the James Bond empire of books and movies. Both entertaining, and easy on the eyes, it's easy to see why Mr. Bond has been popular for so many years.  

James Bond was created in January 1952 by British journalist Ian Flemming while on holiday at his Jamaican estate, Goldeneye. 

Mr. Flemming, who in addition to the 12 James Bond novels write 2 short stories about 007. 

The first of 22 Bond films, Dr. No was released in 1962, two years before Flemming's death. 

Commander Sir James Bond, is an officer of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)

How old is James? Well, in "You Only Live Twice" Tanaka tells James he was born in the year of the Rat (1912/13 or 1924/25). Although the books were written over a 12 year period, and his age, when mentioned is around forty.

The Bond Family motto is "Orbis non sufficit", which in "On her Majesty's Secret Service" we learn means "The World is Not Enough".

The Highest Grossing James Bond film is Thunderball staring Sean Connery. It grossed $141,200,000 in 1965, which today is over $966,400,000.

Of the actors to play the British Bond all but one (D. Craig) were over 6ft tall.  By the way, he's 5'11!

After S.Connery quit the role of 007 after 5 successful films, producer Albert. R Broccoli wanted 23 year old Timothy Dalton for the new Bond character. Dalton declined as he believed himself too young for the role.

Roger Moore was also considered to replace Connery, however was too busy with his television role in "The Saint". (Interestingly enough both Dalton and Moore would go on to play the Secret Service character.)
 
The role was ultimately given to George Lazenby after he impressed Broccoli with his ability to display aggression, when he accidentally punched a professional wrestler (acting as stunt coordinator), in the face. 
 
 
At the time of the release of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"  Lazenby's performance received mixed reviews. Lazenby was dismissed by critics who cited him as a brave but disappointing successor to Connery. Over the years his performance has been viewed more favourably, and OHMSS rankes among the top three Bond films with fans.
 
Corgi, the producer of highly collectible scale model die-cast vehicles, released a collection of 007 Mission Arsenal replecas in 2008. They include: Secret Sender Cell Phones, Nano Surveillance camera, GPS Tracker, Crypto Decoder Device, Pen Set.

The "James Bond Theme" was written by Monty Norman in 1962.

The only Bond theme to reach number one on the pop charts in the U.S. was Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill." 
 
When Bob (2004 film, "The Incredibles") approaches Syndrome's lair at night the music and shots match the opening scenes of Goldfinger, as Bond approaches the oild storage tanks. 

Michelle Yeoh, who played Wai Lin in "Tomorrow Never Dies", performed all her own stunts.

At 37, Honor Blackman was the oldest woman to play a Bond girl.

The two most recent 007 films "Casino Royale" and "Quantum of Solace" broke with numerious Bond film traditions. Such as: The actor had blonde hair, the phrase "shaken, not stirred" was not used, the line "Bond, James Bond" was never uttered, and there weren't really any gadgets.

Casino Royale, premiered on Nov 14, 2008, and was released in Asia and the Middle East the following day. It is the first Bond film to have been released in China.

1 comment:

Bre said...

Hey Mere...Funny, Luke just bought an original James Bond set of movies. He loves them. We watched Goldfinger (I think) a few nights ago. Enjoy your "Bond"ing experiences!