Philip Madoc is on Q to be James Bond star
PHILIP MADOC has been tipped to fill the shoes of James Bond gadget boffin Q in the next 007 movie.
Current Bond Daniel Craig has revealed he wants the role, made famous by Welshman Desmond Llewellyn, revived. And the heavyweight Welsh actor has been named by leading 007 expert as perfect for the role alongside Craig’s more serious Bond.
The character of Q last appeared in 2002’s Die Another Day, when he was played by Fawlty Towers star John Cleese. But Bond devotees complained Cleese’s Q failed to match the high standards set by Newport-born Llewellyn, who appeared in a record-breaking 17 Bond movies.
Craig, who starred in Casino RoyaleCORR and Quantum of Solace, said: “I’d love to see Q come back. But we should give Q to a good actor. Q has been done brilliantly and with great humour, but we have to find a way to bring Q into it properly.”
Graham Rye, the editor of online 007magazine.co.uk, said Craig’s comments revealed the affection bond fans still have for with which Llewellyn’s character is still held by Bond fans.
He said: “It’s a testament to Desmond’s portrayal of the character because Q was a character everybody expected to see in those movies and they really enjoyed his take on the role. You will never replace Desmond – he was a one off. He was so charming in the role and he was beloved by the audience.
“One of the things I always remember him telling me was that, wherever he went, whatever country he was in, he could talk to anybody of any age or any class.
“The one thing they had in common was Bond, and everyone recognised him as Q.”
Llewellyn was known to millions as the mastermind behind 007’s arsenal of secret weapons. He played the eccentric genius with a love of crazy gadgets until his death at 85 in 1999.
“There was this irascible quality. He never really got on with Bond and was quite disdainful of him,” said Rye.
“He was the only person that would boss Bond about. Sometimes it was like watching a schoolteacher treating a naughty pupil.
“The whole thing about the Bond/Q relationship was that Bond held the gadgets in disdain and didn’t think he really needed them, and Q held Bond in disdain because Bond didn’t give him and the gadgets the respect he thought they deserved.”
Rye said that whoever followed Llewellyn and Cleese into the role would have difficulty emulating Llewellyn’s enduring popularity.
“It was a very special part and Desmond thoroughly loved playing Q because he became synonymous with the role,” said Rye, who became friends with Llewellyn during the latter part of his career.
“It did affect him for other work because he became typecast, but he made the role his own and there wasn’t really anyone who could take over.“There’s no problem reintroducing Q into the films, as long as it’s done in the same serious fashion the two Daniel Craig films have taken.
“I don’t think it worked having somebody camp it up like John Cleese did; that wasn’t my kind of thing. It was too comedic, too broad and too much slapstick.
“One would imagine it would be a well-established, elderly actor, perhaps a Shakespearean actor.”
Rye said 74-year-old Madoc, best known for the title role in the BBC Wales drama The Life and Times of David Lloyd George, would be perfect in the role.
Rye said: “He’s a good actor and he’s got the necessary gravitas, a man who would know everything about anything.”
And Rye said if casting executives were seeking an actor in the same mould as Llewellyn, they should look at former Waiting For God star Graham Crowden.
Rye said of the 86-year-old Scotsman: “He’s a great actor and the kind of guy who could project the right image, but perhaps he’s a little too old.”
