57 replies to this topic

[Trident]

I never really thought it was Brosnan on the covers. I always think actors like to have their face shown & not be in a silhouette unless it's for some dramatic reveal in a movie.

They were done in 1982, though, when Brosnan was a jobbing actor, and far from being a star. They could have just been a reasonably well paying gig. He'd apparently met Cubby Broccoli in 1980 during the filming of For Your Eyes Only, and had come away with the impression he had a chance at succeeding Roger Moore as Bond, but he didn't have any profile at all. If he had set his heart on getting the role, as it seems from subsequent events he had, it makes sense that from 1980 on he would seek out and accept jobs that made him look the part and thus be more likely to get it. Remington Steele was obviously the big move in that direction, but being the guy on the cover of the new James Bond novels would also seem like a good idea to cement Cubby's feelings he could do it.

It's also possible that Brosnan did want his face shown on the covers, but that Berkley didn't want to associate the character with one model/actor that much. Or even that he wanted his face shown at first, but then had second thoughts that it might scupper the Bond deal for him. Perhaps less likely. But that he did the job, and his agent then leaked that he had done it to raise his profile for Bond? Well, stranger things have happened, and George Lazenby, Findlay Light and Rikki Lee Travolta could probably tell you about them.

All speculation. It would be nice to ask him and find out! I think there's a story there.

It sounds plausible that something along those lines could have happened. And one has to also consider that for a young, relatively unknown actor any photo-shooting would be a welcome windfall, even if his face is not shown. A gig that would pay well and also helped to get into the mould of Bond would surely have been most desirable, if it was available.

I wonder if one couldn't find out about those images from Berkley? Even if they simply bought the images without knowing whom they showed, they surely would at least know which agency provided the material, wouldn't they?

[spynovelfan]

Oh, I think they must have been done by Berkley especially, either by the in-house art department or a designer they had hired for the job: they're very specific shots of someone posing as James Bond. So they would, I'm sure, have known who the model was at the time. Finding out now would be a lot tougher, I expect, because you'd have to get someone to go back and find paperwork from the early 80s, when Berkley was part of another company, etc. It's not really a big enough deal to be worth that effort. It would probably be easier to ask Pierce Brosnan.

[Trident]

It would probably be easier to ask Pierce Brosnan.

That would be quite interesting, no matter what the answer was.

I wonder if CBn could do an interview with Brosnan some time? Via mail? That could surely be stuff for a main page article.

[spynovelfan]

Well, if you were going to interview Brosnan, it should probably be very low down the list of questions - but it's probably one he hasn't had before.

[Trident]

Well, if you were going to interview Brosnan, it should probably be very low down the list of questions - but it's probably one he hasn't had before.

List would have to be something like this:

1)The Ghost Writer

2)his memoires

3)New project Salvation Boulevard

4)further projects

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267)Did you ever pose for the James Bond novel covers???


Pretty small chance one ever gets to this point, isn't it?

[zencat]

Speaking of silhouettes, always thought this one, used on some UK paperbacks during the Dalton era, was nicely Timmy-ish.

[Trident]

Speaking of silhouettes, always thought this one, used on some UK paperbacks during the Dalton era, was nicely Timmy-ish.

The hairline indeed does look wave-ish like TLD'S Dalton.

[spynovelfan]

Here is this tidbit in an article here (Which is an interesting read about Brosnan's long road to bond.) http://www.klast.net/bond/pb_road.html

"In August 1990, there was some controversy with regard to John Gardner's latest Bond novel, Brokenclaw. According to USA Today, the profiled figure on the dustjacket looked very much like Pierce Brosnan, and people were asking him if he had posed for it. This image had been used on other hardcover editions of Gardner's books, and was actually discontinued for a time."

I can't access the whole USA Today article from 1990 without paying for it, but it looks to me like it might have been a story planted by Brosnan's agent, Richard Guttman, perhaps to keep his client's name linked with James Bond in the public's mind. There were several reports throughout August and September 1990 that Brosnan would play Bond in a rival film made by Kevin McClory, titled Atomic Warhead, and this USA Today article and at least one other linked Brokenclaw with it, with Guttman saying that Brosnan had had 'at least 30' phone calls about the similarity after an ad for the novel appeared in the New York Times Book Review.

As discussed, the photo originally appeared on the covers of License Renewed and Dr No in 1982, so it was eight years old by the time USA Today reported it looked like Brosnan. The pilot episode of Remington Steele, 'Tempered Steele', was shooting in California in March 1982, according to an item in The Spokesman Review on the 21st of that month. I don't know if Putnam/Berkley had offices in California then, or shot book jackets in California then. 'Tempered Steele' was the second episode broadcast, incidentally, the first being 'License to Steele'.

[scissorpuppy007]

As discussed, the photo originally appeared on the covers of License Renewed and Dr No in 1982, so it was eight years old by the time USA Today reported it looked like Brosnan. The pilot episode of Remington Steele, 'Tempered Steele', was shooting in California in March 1982, according to an item in The Spokesman Review on the 21st of that month. I don't know if Putnam/Berkley had offices in California then, or shot book jackets in California then. 'Tempered Steele' was the second episode broadcast, incidentally, the first being 'License to Steele'.

Looking at the dates, I guess it is more possible than I thought yesterday. For some reason I was thinking RS didn't start until 1983. Here are some photos of Brosnan from season one of RS.





Probable? Who knows... Possible? Defiantly.

[danslittlefinger]

Looks more like the guy from the old UK Milk Tray ads. But that's just my lousy opinion.

[scissorpuppy007]

Speaking of silhouettes, always thought this one, used on some UK paperbacks during the Dalton era, was nicely Timmy-ish.

The hairline indeed does look wave-ish like TLD'S Dalton.

Totally, I think this looks like Dalton a great deal. Both Brosnan and Dalton are tall guys, but Dalton always looked bulkier. This book cover shows a broader shouldered man, which looks like Dalton.

[David Schofield]

Probable? Who knows... Possible? Defiantly.

Makes you see why Ian Fleming was OBVIOUSLY thinking about Daniel Craig when he wrote the Bond novels, doesn't it?

[spynovelfan]

Looks more like the guy from the old UK Milk Tray ads. But that's just my lousy opinion.

I wonder if that guy could act. He certainly looks the part.

Check out the first image in this thread of Brokenclaw. Make sure you take in that the comma of hair is not as enormous as it appears, and that half his face is invisible, with the end of the curl of hair actually being his right eye (our left). Seen it yet? Now look at this photo from License to Steele, filmed at around the same time as the photo was taken, in which Brosnan is wearing a very similar three-piece suit and tie, also with a pocket square:

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

You really don't think it could be him?

[danslittlefinger]

Probable? Who knows... Possible? Defiantly.

Makes you see why Ian Fleming was OBVIOUSLY thinking about Daniel Craig when he wrote the Bond novels, doesn't it?

Yes considerably.

Looks more like the guy from the old UK Milk Tray ads. But that's just my lousy opinion.

You really don't think it could be him?

Not seeing it. I think the image is of a generic dark haired man that Gardner clobbered together in his image of 007. Whether Brozzer/Dalton were in his frontal lobe at the time is anyones guess I suppose.
Did Gardner have that much control over the covers anyway?

[scissorpuppy007]

And the silhouette pretty much has Brosnan's build and stance characteristics, too.

Did the Brosnan silhouette ever appear on a version of Gardner's "Licence to Kill" though?

Before I started this topic I thought the very same thing. Any version of LTK had a promo image of Dalton as it was a tie into the movie (Did it even follow Gardner's bond timeline? or did he just write the novel because he was the current Bond author?). Would be something if somewhere Gardner's LTK used a Brosnan-eqse image, it definantly would had been an f'd up thing to do to Dalton.

But for "what if" sake. Here is one I made just to give you an idea of what it "would" look like.

[David Schofield]

It could have been Brosnan for all the reasons mentioned in these posts.

But that hairstyle was pretty much eveyrwhere in the early 80s.

Every actor in Dynasty had that look.

Hell, even Rick Springfield in this classic of the time:



Eye know 'cos I was there.

[spynovelfan]

Not seeing it. I think the image is of a generic dark haired man that Gardner clobbered together in his image of 007. Whether Brozzer/Dalton were in his frontal lobe at the time is anyones guess I suppose.
Did Gardner have that much control over the covers anyway?

Sorry, but you've lost me. Where did anyone suggest that Gardner chose the models for his jackets, or modelled his intepretation of the character on the model on the jackets? The discussion is about whether the model for these photos, which were used on Fleming and Gardner jackets from 1982 and on, was Pierce Brosnan. So I'm not sure what you're saying, really. (And no, I doubt very much John Gardner would have had any say at all in who the model was on his jackets).

I do think the image is pretty generic, but it's clearly based on a photograph that has been significantly darkened. I think his hair's a little shorter than Rick Springfield's, as well! I just did a test and showed my Berkley paperback of LR to my wife and asked her who it reminded her of. She said 'What, the illustration?' I said it was a photo. She took the book from me and peered at it. 'It doesn't look like anyone.' I told her to look at the face. 'There isn't a face.' I told her to follow the curve of the comma of hair around and look at the tip of it, which hits the man's right eye (left to us). She peered closer. 'Oh, yes!' Who does that remind you of? 'Pierce Brosnan.'

Yes, it's all go in my house on Saturday nights.

Anyway, we'll probably never know, but I'd bet good money it's Brosnan. And I think it's clearest on Brokenclaw, the first image in this thread. I think that in 1982 Berkley were looking for someone to model the covers and asked around, and someone pointed them to a young British guy who was filming daily in a tux for a new TV show, whose wife had been in a Bond film, and who everyone he met thought looked like James Bond. I think he did the shoot and eight years later when the advert for Brokenclaw came out, either others noticed it or he did or his agent did, and he or his agent used the fact to generate some publicity and keep him in the public eye as 'the man who should really be James Bond'.

[danslittlefinger]

Not seeing it. I think the image is of a generic dark haired man that Gardner clobbered together in his image of 007. Whether Brozzer/Dalton were in his frontal lobe at the time is anyones guess I suppose.
Did Gardner have that much control over the covers anyway?

Sorry, but you've lost me.

Don't worry mate, most people do.
Tempest in a teapot really.

[Mr. Somerset]

I always liked those 80s covers. I had many of the Flemings with those covers as well. I never believed it was PB, just a model with a similar generic '80s style. Looks Bondian to me. There were some amusing 70s covers of the Fleming books with generic Bond models.

[zencat]

Who takes a picture like this? Lord.

Anyway, we'll probably never know, but I'd bet good money it's Brosnan. And I think it's clearest on Brokenclaw, the first image in this thread. I think that in 1982 Berkley were looking for someone to model the covers and asked around, and someone pointed them to a young British guy who was filming daily in a tux for a new TV show, whose wife had been in a Bond film, and who everyone he met thought looked like James Bond. I think he did the shoot and eight years later when the advert for Brokenclaw came out, either others noticed it or he did or his agent did, and he or his agent used the fact to generate some publicity and keep him in the public eye as 'the man who should really be James Bond'.

Really? I just think it's way too far out to think Brosnan just happened to be the model for this? Why wouldn't they just use...a model? I also believe it's possible the entire thing is just a story planted by Brosnan's publicist.

BTW, love the LTK cover, scissorpuppy007.

[scissorpuppy007]

Here is another one I found, I scanned through and it doesn't look like anyone has posted this one yet. It seems this one wasn't ever used as a book cover, but as an ad for ordering other bond books. I think this looks more like Brosnan than the others.

[Royal Dalton]

Looks like him to me.

[Syndicate]

Here is another one I found, I scanned through and it doesn't look like anyone has posted this one yet. It seems this one wasn't ever used as a book cover, but as an ad for ordering other bond books. I think this looks more like Brosnan than the others.

That one I think was use on Berkley's Casino Royal, from their 80s paperback. It should be the purple cover one, NOT the one I think was used as free when you buy No Deal Mr. Bond, and the cover was yellow not purple.

Edited by Syndicate, 25 April 2010 - 05:10 PM.

[marktmurphy]

Looks more like Dalton to me.

I hate showing Bond on the cover of the books anyway; they should be able to get around that.

[Righty007]

And the silhouette pretty much has Brosnan's build and stance characteristics, too.

Did the Brosnan silhouette ever appear on a version of Gardner's "Licence to Kill" though?

Very cool.

[zencat]

I revived this little controversy on my blog. I had forgotten about this thread. Would have been helpful when I first posted this.

http://www.thebookbo...uette-gate.html

[stamper]

Guys, Brosnan wife was in FYEO in what year, 1981? Cubby already had noticed him.

My money is on this being another of Brozza early jobbing models. It fits EXACTLY the time line.

[Dustin]

I don't know. I think it would have leaked by now; at the latest by the time of GE, if only to underline how incredily fateful Brosnan as Bond was. It just would have been too good not to use the angle for promotion, especally since Brosnan took over after an extended hiatus. But we never heard that story from Brosnan, Glidrose or EON so I doubt it happened this way.