4 replies to this topic

[triviachamp]

I always found this credit interesting. Starting in FRWL and all the way through MR Lee was credited in the main titles this way. Any reason why? Was he "big" enough for this credit? Was this stipulated in his contract(s)? Interestingly enough Robert Brown was not credited this way. However this credit was revived for Judi Dench presumably due to her fame in just the UK at the time.

Spoiler

Presumably Ralph Fiennes will be credited this way starting in Bond 24

Lois Maxwell and Desmond Llewelyn were never credited in this way either.

Also was Lee one of the first people to receive this sort of credit? Listed in the opening titles by character name? I know that Lawrence of Arabia credited Sharif and O'Toole by character name.

Interestingly enough Lee and Dench are not the only actors to be billed in the main title by character name. Since LALD the actor playing Bond has been credited by character name. Besides that there were Blackman and Frobe in GF, Villechaize and James in TMWTGG, Lonsdale and Kiel in MR and finally Newton and Armendariz in LTK.

[thecasinoroyale]

Good observation triviachamp - I never know why they have seperate credits listing them "as...".

The importance, and continuation of the character maybe? I really am not sure as if that was the case, the Q would have been checked also.

I'm not sure how much the great Bernard Lee was respected and how big he was in the industry circa 1962 to then match Dame Judi Dench taking the credit from 1995, if that is the case?

Got me thinking now!

[AMC Hornet]

Sometimes it's because the role may be small but pivotal, as with Bernard Lee as M. No, he wasn't a huge star, but he was respected.

Sometimes, as with Clifton James, it's to rmark a returning character. With John Cleese, he came just before 'and Judi Dench as M' - the best place to be if you don't get the 'and' yourself.

Sometimes, like with Christopher Walken, it's a prestige thing.

Sometimes, as with Wayne Newton as Joe Butcher, I don't know what they were thinking...

[Double-0-Seven]

The reason for the Bond actor always being credited by name is talked about in the documentary about Albert R. Broccoli on the Diamonds Are Forever DVD. It was more or less a tribute to Ian Fleming, as introducing the actor "as Ian Fleming's James Bond 007" keeps Fleming's name tied to the films. I think The Spy Who Loved Me was the first film to use that particular credit, and not the similar "as James Bond 007 in Ian Fleming's" since the story had nothing to do with Fleming's work. In other words, it kept Fleming's name tied to the character even as they moved on to totally original stories.

For that same reason, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson decided after Cubby's death that his name too should always be tied to the Bond films, so that's why from Tomorrow Never Dies on they've started with "Albert R. Broccoli's EON Productions Limited Presents" as opposed to "Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli Present."

[Roebuck]

Some very affectionate anecdotes regarding Lee in Moore’s ‘Bond on Bond’ book, mostly centering on good mate Geoffrey Keen keeping him out of the pub while they were shooting on location, but also about him being determined to return as M in Live and Let Die, despite the recent loss of his wife. Somewhere I also remember reading that Bernard was a very accomplished piano player.

Moore mentions that he suggested Robert Brown as the new M around the time of Octopussy, based on them having worked together on Ivanhoe