71 replies to this topic

[jaguar007]

I always picture someone who I can best describe looks like a cross between a younger Mr. Barbara Striesand (James Brolin) and a younger Clint Eastwood.

Where is that celebrity morph website?

[Harry Fawkes]

I hardly ever imagined Gardner's Bond as one of the actors. He was a faceless figure inside my head just like Fleming's novels were. There were times when I could see a cross between Moore and Connery but mostly he was a different being - still is. Don't know if that makes sense.

Reading JG's LR was one of the best things that happened to me way back then. Funny, eh.

[AMC Hornet]

Reading Gardner, I always see Roger Moore. Reading Fleming, I almost always see Sean Connery. The rest of the time I see Sir Roger (sometimes in the same story).

[mttvolcano]

From what I read I always see Moore, the later ones...After reading For Special Services (which I like don't get me wrong) but I picture him as Moore from like Octopussy or a view to a kill, since he was really old and hitting on Leiter's daughter...kinda wierd, being as a see Leiter and Felix as near the same age.

[Kronsteen]

When I read Seafire some weeks ago I actually pictured Daniel Craig in some scenes. I've never pictured anybody in any novel before (except Brosnan in some parts of Bensons work, but his novels are unfilmed scripts so it's not so strange... ) so maybe Gardners novels and Daniel Craig would be a good match?

[The sniper was a woman]

Hey There.
Whenever I read Gardener's Bond Novels, I always see either Roger Moore or Tim Dalton, Is this deliberate. Seafire especially I see Moore.
SEAFIRE POSTER I MADE:
http://ellisquarterm...eafire-full.jpg
And Scorpius I see Dalton.
However these are the only two Gardener Books I have read, I still see these Actors verry clearly, their style and their way of doing things, Is this deliberate?

Who Do You See in Gardener?

Tim Dalton absolutely ! I think Gardner had him in mind IMO.

Edited by The sniper was a woman, 23 November 2010 - 01:19 PM.

[David Schofield]

With the Licence Renewed publicity, it was suggested that Gardner's Bond was the same age as Fleming's had been on his last Fleming adventures. Fine, early 40s then.

Gardner backs this up by giving him flecks of grey in LR.

Now, I really liked that. A maturing Bond who was perhaps showing the signs of ageing his movie equivalent never would. Nicely subtle that, JG.

So in 1981, he's older than TD at the time, but not as decrepid as Sean and Rog.

So the Bond I had in my head in '81 is - essentially - a generically tall man, with good bone structure, tanned and fit, with black haired greying nicely (and presumably with the attendant growing crows feet and lines). A greying early 40s Lazenby, if you will.

Unfortunately, Gardner either forgot about any effects of ageing which had resulted in Bond boozing less, smoking less and taking more excercise - or just didn't care - and the character just became a ageless indestructible. Just like his movie conuterparts.

Oddly, didn't Gardner claim after he was done with the Bond gig he'd always seen Sean Connery is his head when he'd been writing the books? I say odd 'cos Sir Sean never looked like a credible Bond in his 40s, did he?.

[The sniper was a woman]

So the Bond I had in my head in '81 is - essentially - a generically tall man, with good bone structure, tanned and fit, with black haired greying nicely (and presumably with the attendant growing crows feet and lines). A greying early 40s Lazenby, if you will.

I love the idea. Or maybe like Cary Grant in Charade ? With less weight of course...

[David Schofield]

So the Bond I had in my head in '81 is - essentially - a generically tall man, with good bone structure, tanned and fit, with black haired greying nicely (and presumably with the attendant growing crows feet and lines). A greying early 40s Lazenby, if you will.

I love the idea. Or maybe like Cary Grant in Charade ? With less weight of course...

More Grant in North by Northwest. Greying nicely, but still fit.

Though I'd prefer Grant if he were a bit more solid, not ludicrously so like meat-head DC, but Connery/Lazenby size.

[Kronsteen]

When I read SeaFire a couple of months ago I, for the first time in a Bond novel, pictured an actor. It was Daniel Craig... the perfect Gardner Bond in my mind.

[The sniper was a woman]

When I read SeaFire I pictured an actor. It was Daniel Craig... the perfect Gardner Bond in my mind.

When M asks Bond to consider becoming the new head of SIS should anything happen to him you pictured Craig ? A man like Sean in the 80's is probably more closer to the Gardner's 007 !

[Kronsteen]

There are always parts where you don't see an actor, that might be a scene where Craig wouldn't fit. On the other hand I don't pay very much attention to the age of Bond in Gardners novels, I just overall got the feeling of a more hardened Bond in the vein of Craigs interpretation. Also the more loving Bond reminded me of CR-06.

[The sniper was a woman]

the more loving Bond reminded me of CR-06.

That's true but it's not enough to doing match this novel in total with Bond by DC. But it's just my opinion.

[Kreivi von Glödä]

George Lazenby for some reason. With Fleming it´s Connery/Craig hybrid.

[Simg]

Hey There.
Whenever I read Gardener's Bond Novels, I always see either Roger Moore or Tim Dalton, Is this deliberate. Seafire especially I see Moore.
SEAFIRE POSTER I MADE:
http://ellisquarterm...eafire-full.jpg
And Scorpius I see Dalton.
However these are the only two Gardener Books I have read, I still see these Actors verry clearly, their style and their way of doing things, Is this deliberate?

Who Do You See in Gardener?

JOHN GARDNER
If you are going to discuss my Father's work at least spell his name correctly!

Simon R J Gardner

[TheREAL008]

Take it easy Simon, there's no need to be harsh.

[AMC Hornet]

Fleming originally described Bond as 'slim' with something 'un-English' about him. There was 'something of the Americas' in his bone structure, and his unseasonable sunburn often accentuated the scar on his right cheek (or left, according to Vivienne Michel). I easily see the young Connery when I read this.

Simon's Dad used the 'Hoagy Carmichael' description in For Special Services, but then went on to describe him as being able to move quietly 'for a big man.' Cue Roger Moore.

Sometimes I see Timothy Dalton in Mr. Gardner's work - except in Never Send Flowers, where I see him as David Dragonpol (aka 'the Man With the Glass Head'). Simon, can you confirm whether this association is founded on any deliberate intention on your father's part?

On another note, I always enjoyed the way Mr. Gardner addressed criticism of his work in later works, such as when Bond became 'fully converted' to California wines after having declared them 'undrinkable' in Nobody Lives Forever (no need to explain why JG didn't experiment with this himself), and when a character in Death is Forever looked up from his paperback and asked "have you ever noticed how this writer never describes anybody? He just says that they look like somebody famous, like "he could have been Rex Harrison's double" or "he had the rugged good looks of Sean Connery."" I'd noticed in Licence Renewed that Mr. Gardner described Lavender Peacock as looking like 'the young Lauren Bacall' but I never found it all that prevalent.

P.S. Simon: In at least one printing of For Special Services, the inside title page does list your father as 'John Gardener.' I don't know whether that makes this edition a collector's item, but it may explain Ellis' confusion.

Edited by AMC Hornet, 22 March 2011 - 05:06 PM.

[Perry]

When I read Icebreaker it was Moore FYEO stylee but then later when I read License Renewed it was a Connery DAF with a bit less weight and a bit more tone.

Edited by Perry, 22 March 2011 - 05:40 PM.

[Simg]

Take it easy Simon, there's no need to be harsh.

Not harsh at all, just bloody annoys me when people spell it wrongly
it's like spelling Raymond Binson or Ian Flemong or Charlie Hogson

SRJG

[Simg]

P.S. Simon: In at least one printing of For Special Services, the inside title page does list your father as 'John Gardener.' I don't know whether that makes this edition a collector's item, but it may explain Ellis' confusion.
[/quote]

UK or US edition, P/B or H/B? If JG had seen it he would have been bloody furious.
Not sure if that makes it a collectors edition or not. I am afraid to say that i do not have
all of the Bonds myself. At one point I had all the Hard and Paperbacks most of them signed to me
but in various moves around the UK IRE & US a lot of them vanished or were stolen
so I keep a watchful eye on EBay especially since JG passed away.

SRJG

[Solex Agitator]

To my mind, Gardner's Bond is the same Bond found in Fleming's TSWLM.

[glidrose]

P.S. Simon: In at least one printing of For Special Services, the inside title page does list your father as 'John Gardener.' I don't know whether that makes this edition a collector's item, but it may explain Ellis' confusion.

UK or US edition, P/B or H/B? If JG had seen it he would have been bloody furious.

SRJG

The 1984 Coronet edition of Icebreaker has JOHN GARDENER on the title page. This paperback edition and the Jonathan Cape hardcover claims he was born in 1919. Says so on the copyright page.

[Juraquagmire]

Gardner's Bond usually Brosnan blend with Sir Connery along with Comic strip figure. While Fleming's Bond's Dalton plus scar. Faulks' Bond's Sir Moore/Dalton.

For some reason, I didn't picture any Bond in Benson's.

Edited by Juraquagmire, 16 June 2014 - 01:42 AM.

[Bodo Lempke]

Ironic that you did not picture any Bond during the Benson novels as he was clearly supposed to be the literary version of Pierce Brosnan's incarnation and they were out at the same time, too. Benson has even admitted this in interviews.

[Grard Bond]

Back in the eighties when I was reading the Gardner books I never believed it was the real 007. Somehow it was all a little fake to me.

When I read the Fleming books in 81 I only had seen Eyes only (3 times), so ofcourse when I was reading the books I had Moore in mind, untill I saw reruns of Dr. No, Russia and Goldfinger in the cinema. I think those last two I read with Connery in mind.

The Bensons and later ones I just can't picture anyone, this are not realy Bond stories for me, just boring stuff, with a character who is only in name James Bond.

Only in the novelisations of their own movies I can picture Dalton and Brosnan.

Edited by Grard Bond, 16 June 2014 - 11:04 AM.

[glidrose]

Who was Gardner's Bond? Easy. A film Bond hybrid with a bit of Gardner's own personality thrown in.

[DavidJones]

Taking my cue from Licence Renewed, I imagined him as a Bond who was maybe 44 with greying hair. An aging secret agent.

[thecasinoroyale]

Sadly, for me, a lover of the films more than the books, I took the image of whichever screen Bond was on during the year of release, so I pictured Moore and then Dalton....and I still do today, it just gives me more cinematic Bond adventures, via book form.

[Call Billy Bob]

I'm a bit of the same, tcr! I picture Sean for all of Fleming's novels, Colonel Sun, Devil May Care and Solo. Then Roger and Tim (and Pierce) like yourself.

[Admiral Messervey]

Fleming: Just as the earliest sketch depiction of Bond most of the time, sometime Connery in the four of them (namely Dr No, FRWL, Goldfinger, and Thunderball)

 

Gardner: Older Lazenby

Benson: Brosnan

Falke and Boyd: a Moore Dalton hybrid

Deever: Deever himself. Joke aside, Craig

Edited by Admiral Messervey, 26 February 2015 - 06:49 PM.