Category: Interviews

“Casino Royale” (1967): Terence Cooper – the forgotten Agent 007 (1996)

In 1967 Columbia Pictures launched their farcical big-budget adaptation of Ian Fleming's "Casino Royale" with the tagline "Too much for one James Bond".

In the film, the original Sir James Bond (David Niven) has retired, leaving the field open to a number of impersonators who are all issued with the code name 007 by the British Secret Service, MI-6. Among the most prominent young 007's is the athletic ladies' man Cooper, played by Northern Irish actor Terence Cooper (1933-1997).

Almost 30 years after "Casino Royale", correspondent Karen Glahn from Danish daily Morgenavisen Jyllands-Postens tracked down Terence Cooper in Australia. Although the text states Cooper's age as 67, he would have been 62 at the time of the interview. The article was published in Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten on 21 May 1996, a year before the actor's death in September 1997. The following English translation is a James Bond•O•Rama.dk exclusive:

Terence Cooper – the forgotten Agent 007

By Karen Glahn

James Bond is 67 years old and performs his most dangerous missions on a lady's bicycle.
He is Terence Cooper, who was James Bond in the mostly forgotten 1967 film ”Casino Royale”.
”I'm the James Bond that fell into oblivion. I'm not famous as Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore or Timothy Dalton, but I am proud to be among the men who have portrayed Agent 007 through the years”, Terence Cooper says.
He is now a respected nature and bird painter in Northern Australia, and reconciling the large tan middle-aged man who wears a sarong around his ample girth to the physically fit womanizing 007 with a licence to kill requires quite a leap of the imagination.

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“The Only Way”: Exclusive interview with Norman Wanstall (2017)

Did you know that three years before starring as Solitaire in "Live and Let Die" (1973), Jane Seymour made her film debut playing a Jewish ballerina in a Danish WWII drama?

And that the film, "The Only Way" (1970), was edited by none other than Norman Wanstall, the Oscar winning sound editor of "Goldfinger"?

Introducing 19-year-old Jane Seymour as Lillian Stein - framegrab from "The Only Way" (1970)

In the following exclusive, Norman Wanstall talks about his little-known contribution to Danish film history as an editor on ”The Only Way” (aka Oktoberdage).

”The Only Way” depicts the historical events of the night between 1 and 2 October 1943 when the Danish people saved several thousand Jews from a raid by the German occupying forces.

In her first speaking part, 19-year-old Jane Seymour plays Lillian Stein, the ballerina daughter of violin dealer Leo (Ebbe Rode) and Ruth Stein (Helle Virkner). When the Nazi security police decide to round up all the Jews in Denmark, the Steins are forced to flee. Luckily, their resourceful downstairs neighbour Mr Petersen (Ove Sprogøe) is a member of the Danish resistance and manages to get the Steins out of Copenhagen and to the coastal town of Gilleleje, where fishing boats carry the evacuated Jews across the Oresund strait to neutral Sweden.

Director Bent Christensen also co-wrote the original script for “The Only Way” with well-regarded Danish author Leif Panduro. Their previous collaboration ”Harry and the butler” (Harry og kammertjeneren, 1961) was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Foreign Language Film.

Apart from Jane Seymour and Martin Potter as Lillian's boyfriend, the entire cast of “The Only Way” consisted of Danish actors performing in English. As the story of the Danish resistance operation in 1943 was fairly well-known outside of Denmark, the film's producer, Mogens Skot-Hansen, decided that shooting in Danish would hinder the film's chances internationally. The film was co-produced by Danish company Laterna Film and the American-owned Hemisphere Productions, making the film an official Danish-Panamanian collaboration. Unfortunately, “The Only Way” was not much of a success neither in Denmark (where it was called “Oktoberdage”, ie. October Days) nor abroad.

Norman Wanstall, now aged 81, was sound editor on four of EON Productions' James Bond 007 films from 1962 to 1967. He has long since left the film industry but was happy to share his memories of editing “The Only Way” in this exclusive e-mail interview with James Bond•O•Rama.

Bonus trivia: Since “The Only Way”, two other Danish films have told the story of the resistance operation in 1943: ”A Day in October” (En dag i oktober, Kenneth Madsen, 1991) and ”Across the Waters” (Fuglene over sundet, Nicolo Donato, 2016).

Norman Wanstall at his Moviola editing desk - photo courtesy of N. Wanstall

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Exclusive interview: Caroline Munro & Martine Beswick – part 2 (2016)

On September 1, 2016, Bond•O•Rama.dk had the pleasure of sharing a table with legendary Bond girls Caroline Munro and Martine Beswick. This is the second half of our three-way conversation.

Caroline Munro (b. 1949) adorned the set of “James Bond 007 - Casino Royale” (1967) at the age of 16 as an uncredited "Guard Girl”. Ten years later, she made quite a sensation as Stromberg's scantily clad helicopter pilot Naomi in "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977)

Martine Beswick (b. 1941) made her striking film debut as Zora, one of the fighting gypsy women in "From Russia with Love" (1963). The film's director, Terence Young, asked Beswick to return for "Thunderball" (1965), now in the role of Nassau agent and Bond ally Paula Caplan.

Bond•O•Rama met Caroline Munro, now 67 years old, and Martine Beswick, 75, at the design hotel The Thief in Oslo. Whereas the first part of the interview concerned the two cult actresses' roles in the James Bond 007 film series, this second part is devoted to their collaborations with Ray Harryhausen, Oliver Stone, Hervé Villechaize and notorious B-movie producers Menahem Golan & Yoram Globus among others.

Read part one of the interview: Caroline Munro & Martine Beswick discuss their Bond girl experiences
Munro Golden Voyage of Sinbad quad poster

BI: Brian Iskov/Bond•O•Rama.dk
CM: Caroline Munro
MB: Martine Beswick

Ray Harryhausen

BI: You both worked with Ray Harryhausen. And you, Caroline, are connected to the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation as well?
CM: I was a trustee, and now I'm a ... they call me patron. Which sounds really well-put, but I quite like that.
MB: Yes, very grand. Because you are. Ha ha.
CM: I don't know about that. But I spread the word, and of course I was in "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" (1973), and Martine was in "One Million Years B.C." (1966).
BI: What was that like?
CM: Oh, amazing.
MB: We loved him. I just thought he was fabulous and brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
CM: So special ... and genius, really, at what he did. Willis O'Brien had started it with his "King Kong" (1933), but Ray kind of took it to another level and just went with it. He named it Dynarama, didn't he? [Dynamation, ed.] It was just so special, the process, and all the big ones ...
MB: ... acknowledge him for making it work, starting them, actually. [Steven] Spielberg ...
CM: Yes. He was sort of their person they look to, and they said, yep, we want to do that.
MB: He was the inspiration to a lot of these guys. I feel very privileged to have worked with him. Don't you?
CM: Me too, absolutely. We're very close with Vanessa, his daughter. She's lovely.
MB: She was on the cruise with us last year. Hi hi.
CM: She was! Yes, she and her husband. They're both farmers. He's a sheep farmer, Ray's son-in-law, and Vanessa is a farmer's wife now. A very selective one, but a farmer's wife.

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Exclusive interview: Caroline Munro & Martine Beswick – part 1 (2016)

On September 1, 2016, Bond•O•Rama.dk had the pleasure of sharing a table with legendary Bond girls Caroline Munro and Martine Beswick. This is the first half of our three-way conversation.

Caroline Munro (b. 1949) adorned the set of “James Bond 007 - Casino Royale” (1967) at the age of 16 as an uncredited "Guard Girl”. Ten years later, she made quite a sensation as Stromberg's scantily clad helicopter pilot Naomi in "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977).

tswlm-framegrab-4
Caroline Munro as Naomi with Roger Moore in "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977) • framegrab

Martine Beswick (b. 1941) made her striking film debut as Zora, one of the fighting gypsy women in "From Russia with Love" (1963). The film's director, Terence Young, asked Beswick to return for "Thunderball" (1965), now in the role of Nassau agent and Bond ally Paula Caplan.

Martine Beswick as Paula Caplan with Sean Connery in "Thunderball" (1965) • framegrab

Beswick, now 75 years old, has since retired from acting, whereas 67-year-old Munro still does the occasional tiny cameo. The two lovely and charming women are however much in demand as guests of honour at horror, sci-fi and James Bond conventions all around the world. Beswick and Munro prefer to travel and appear together, and as the bosom friends merrily chattered away, completing each other's sentences almost telepathically, their chemistry was immediately apparent to Bond•O•Rama's special correspondent.

Ditto their contrasting personalities. As soon as Caroline Munro learned that yours truly was yet to have lunch at 3pm, she warmly offered to share her pot of tea with me. She came across as sweet, motherly and somewhat innocent compared to the more devil-may-care, outspoken "big sis" Martine Beswick. Both were exceedingly fun and endearing.

Bond•O•Rama met Caroline Munro and Martine Beswick at the design hotel The Thief in Oslo, where George Lazenby had held court at a press conference earlier that day. This first part of the interview (edited for clarity) primarily touches upon subjects related to James Bond 007. Part two, focusing on Beswick and Munro's film work outside of the Bond series, will follow shortly. [EDIT: Read part two here.]

A very special thank you to Morten Steingrimsen and “James Bond in Oslo” for facilitating this interview.

Bond•O•Rama meets George Lazenby: "James Bond in Oslo"
Exclusive career interview: George Lazenby, part 1
Exclusive career interview: George Lazenby, part 2

Caroline Munro, Brian Iskov and Martine Beswick in Oslo 01.09.2016 - © Brian Iskov
Caroline Munro, Brian Iskov and Martine Beswick in Oslo 01.09.2016 - © Brian Iskov

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Roger Moore in Copenhagen: Danish TV interview (TV 2 1995)

Today, 14 October 1927, marks Sir Roger Moore's 89th birthday.

In 1995, Roger Moore agreed to an interview for the children's show "Snurre Snups Søndagsklub" [Bugs Bunny's Sunday Club] on Danish TV 2 to mark UNICEF's international "Tune In To Kids Day".

The show's host, Bubber (Niels Christian Meyer), met Special UNICEF representative Roger Moore at Hotel D'Angleterre in Copenhagen. The interview was eventually broadcast as a show in its own right, titled "Roger - a gentleman", on 31.12.1995 (with a re-run on 1.1.1996).

In the show, Roger Moore talks about his many visits to the Danish capital of Copenhagen and his childhood in 1930's London. He also shares his thoughts on child rearing and the challenges of being a gentleman in our time and age.

The show is in English with Danish subtitles. Apologies for the poor image quality (the footage was sourced from a second-generation VHS recording).

More rare videos at James Bond•O•Rama's Vimeo page

“Bond in Motion”: Vic Armstrong interview (2014)

FEATURE

Today, veteran James Bond 007 stunt co-ordinator and second unit director Vic Armstrong turns 70. The following interview was conducted during the "Bond in Motion" press day at London Film Museum, 18 March 2014.

All text © Brian Iskov/James Bond•O•Rama

Vic Armstrong, 18 March 2014. Photo by London Film Museum

Vic Armstrong, very pleased to meet you. You and the Bond franchise go way back.
Yeah, 1966. Forty-odd years.

Do you have a favorite Bond car?
I did like the Aston Martin. But if I had my choice to pick any one of the cars I've worked with, it would be the BMW Z8. I think it's unique. I got a few cars, I've got a 450 SL C Mercedes, I've got a Bentley Continental GT. I like cars that are pretty and have a certain personality, as all those cars have, and I think the BMW is actually matching them quite well.

Some people didn't care much for the BMW's, mainly because they weren't British.
Yes. All that sort of talk went on, but the sales of BMW quadrupled, I think, after "GoldenEye" (1995). It went through the roof.

And Bond barely used the car in the film.
I know! Did nothing with it, just drove it along. But it quadrupled the sales.

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Exclusive interview: George Lazenby discusses his film career, part 2 (2016)

James Bond•O•Rama.dk got an exclusive one-on-one interview with George Lazenby, when the 76-year old former 007 star visited Oslo in Norway on Thursday 1 September 2016.

Read part one of the George Lazenby career interview (the 1970's)

George Lazenby i David Mason-smoking på The Thief, Oslo 01.09.2016 - foto © Brian Iskov
George Lazenby in a Mason & Sons tuxedo at The Thief, Oslo 01.09.2016 - photo © Brian Iskov

While in Oslo, George Lazenby was the guest of honor at a 4K gala screening of his only performance as James Bond 007, ”On Her Majesty's Secret Service”. This marked the first time since the film's world premiere in 1969 that George Lazenby sat through the film from beginning to end. When he was asked afterwards what it felt like watching his 29-year old self playing James Bond on the cinema screen, Lazenby promptly responded:

”I wish I had done it better!”


INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE LAZENBY

PART TWO: THE 1980'S AND BEYOND

By Brian Iskov, Oslo 01.09.2016

Bond•O•Rama (Brian Iskov): ”On Her Majesty's Secret Service” is my favorite James Bond film.
George Lazenby: Well, you have good taste.
Bond•O•Rama: But you have 60 other credits in your filmography that people rarely talk about.
George Lazenby: Oh yeah. They never talk about 'em.
Bond•O•Rama: So I thought that's what we're gonna do.
George Lazenby: Oh, if I remember them.

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