22 replies to this topic

[sam29]

I just wonder why there have been lots of different actors playing Blofeld and Felix?

[TCK]

For Felix's case, it's because they feared he would be most popular than James Bond and take the spotlight away from him.

For Blofeld's I don't really know.

[OmarB]

I think they wanted Telly from the outset but could not get him so they went in another direction. I don't remember where I heard it but I think it was on the OHMSS DVD, but don't quote me on that. Just remembered hearing that somewhere.

[jaguar007]

For Felix's case, it's because they feared he would be most popular than James Bond and take the spotlight away from him.

Jack Lord was invited back for GF, but he wanted a large salary and equal billing with Connery. After that, they decided to cast older actors as Felix in order to make Connery look younger.

[sthgilyadgnivileht]

I think they wanted Telly from the outset but could not get him so they went in another direction. I don't remember where I heard it but I think it was on the OHMSS DVD, but don't quote me on that. Just remembered hearing that somewhere.

I've never heard they wanted Savalas all along. I think we all know Jan Werich was originally signed for YOLT, and then Pleasance stepped in when Lewis GIlbert felt Werich was more a father christmas than a Blofeld. Peter Hunt didn't like Pleasance as Blofeld so they recast Savalas for OHMSS. I guess when it came to DAF it was Hamilton's choice to cast Charles Gray. I guess they wouldn't have wanted Savalas again in DAF, as the whole emphasis of that film was to move away from what was created for OHMSS.
I think the bottom line for both characters is back then the Bond movies never really worried about continuity, and it would have been all about who was right for the time and the movie currently being made.

[Miles Miservy]

I think they wanted Telly from the outset but could not get him so they went in another direction. I don't remember where I heard it but I think it was on the OHMSS DVD, but don't quote me on that. Just remembered hearing that somewhere.

I've never heard they wanted Savalas all along. I think we all know Jan Werich was originally signed for YOLT, and then Pleasance stepped in when Lewis GIlbert felt Werich was more a father christmas than a Blofeld. Peter Hunt didn't like Pleasance as Blofeld so they recast Savalas for OHMSS. I guess when it came to DAF it was Hamilton's choice to cast Charles Gray. I guess they wouldn't have wanted Savalas again in DAF, as the whole emphasis of that film was to move away from what was created for OHMSS.
I think the bottom line for both characters is back then the Bond movies never really worried about continuity, and it would have all about who was right for the time and the movie currently being made.

I think of all the actors, Donald Pleasence's Blofeld was, by far, the most menacing!

[AMC Hornet]

I think of all the actors, Donald Pleasence's Blofeld was, by far, the most menacing!

Exotic and nasty, yes, but when it comes to a physical confrontation, who would you rather watch Bond duke it out with?

Sure, it never came to 'slappers only' with Pleasance or Gray, but when George grappled with Savalas on the runaway bobsled, now there was a physical match.

A friend of mind said he liked Savalas best as old Ernst Baldfellow because he had a presence that could command respect and obedience from his men as well as fear from his enemies. Good point. Makes you wonder why Charles' people were so willing to help him slip away in his bathosub while they stayed and kept fighting a losing battle?

Edited by AMC Hornet, 09 August 2011 - 12:14 AM.

[S K Y F A L L]

It is too bad they hadn’t had more recurring actors in their role as Blofeld and Felix. I think they finally got it right with Jeffery Wright and I hope he is here to stay for at least a another film or 2.

I think that the Brosnan films should have kept Claroline Bliss as Moneypenny, although I have know idea how she had age or would have looked like in 95.

The Brosnan films didn’t have Felix but they had others like;
Charles Robinson (TND, TWINE, DAD)
Jack Wade (GE, TND)
Robbie Coltrane (GE, TWINE)
Bill Tanner (GE, TWINE)
whom I would have like to all seen back in a 5th Brosnan film because all those characters were already established but that is just me. It was lucky we got that I guess.

What is also strange is that they re-cast actors in different roles like;
Charles Grey (YOLT, DAF)
Maud Adams (TMWTGG, OP)
Joe Don Baker (TLD, GE, TND )

[cliff60]

Felix should not appear in anymore bond films. After all he did lose his arm in 1 film. Cant remember which film. But it was bitten off by a shark. He nearly died in that film. But he was back a few films later fully fit and both arms again lol.

[AMC Hornet]

Felix lost a leg in LTK, and by the time EON got 'round to using him again it was in the reboot, so Goeffrey Wright wasn't the same Felix 'back' any more than Craig was playing Bond 'back' from Korea & Iceland.
lol.

[seawolfnyy]

I think that the Brosnan films should have kept Claroline Bliss as Moneypenny, although I have know idea how she had age or would have looked like in 95.

Samantha Bond is the same age as Caroline Bliss so she would have worked with Brosnan. Although, I thought she was terrible as Moneypenny.

[AMC Hornet]

With only one film (and a brief cameo) Bliss didn't get the chance to be terrible.

Even though she wasn't a younger carbon copy of Lois Maxwell, I thought Bliss was fine - in fact, I may like her because she wasn't a carbon-copy.

Which will inevitably bring us to Ben Whishaw as Q.

"They should have cast someone like Michael Gambon or Ian Mckellan - someone who would have given the role gravitas" (and who would have to be replaced sooner rather than later).

[Guy Haines]

Regarding Felix Leiter, the suggestion that the film makers didn't want a continuity of actor in the role so that there wasn't a competing "good guy" character in the series is an explanation, as is the suggestion that they wanted a sidekick who didn't make Connery look "old". (Although Rik Van Nutter in TB didn't look particularly middle aged to me.)

As for Blofeld - well, we had two movies where we didn't see his face but heard the same voice (Eric Pohlmann) and saw the same hands fondling the cat! (Anthony Dawson's, I think!). The story of how Donald Pleasance was cast has been told times many on this site and elsewhere, although it would have been interesting to see how the Czech actor Jan Werich played Blofeld (Dubbed, perhaps? With Eric Pohlmann as the voice? It wouldn't have been the first time in Bond that one person appeared on the screen but another provided the words.)

I liked - as much as one can "like" a screen villain - Blofeld as played by Messrs. Pleasance, Savalas and Gray. They all brought something to the role - Pleasance's Blofeld was a "scarred asexual monster", as one critic called him, Savalas was a match for Bond in many ways, and Gray brought a suave urbanity to would-be world domination.

It wasn't intended, I imagine, but in casting different actors as Blofeld the film makers were, in a way, doing on the screen what Fleming did with the character in his novels. Blofeld's appearance changed in each of the three Bond novels he appeared in - from obese crime boss in Thunderball, to slimmed down "aristocrat" in OHMSS, to ranting, deranged armour clad monster in You Only Live Twice.

[Messervy]

Interesting discussion. From what I gather, irrespective of the other practical reasons behind each choice of actor, having a recurring Blofeld would have made the Bond movies look too traditional in the good guy/bad guy fight, whereas having a new one each time round makes Bond stand out per se. Same with Leiter, I guess.

[MajorB]

BTW, despite the numerous sources crediting Pohlmann as Blofeld's voice in TB, I'm not convinced. The voice in TB is higher and has less expressive range than Pohlmann's did in FRWL. Some sources have credited Joseph Wiseman as the voice, and I find this much more plausible. I wish it had been Pohlmann in TB--I can't think of a better voice for Blofeld.

[AMC Hornet]

I wish it had been Pohlmann in TB--I can't think of a better voice for Blofeld.

What about the one who provided the immortal line "I'll buy you a delicatessen! In stainless steel!"

Now I've done it.

[MajorB]

I forget the actor's name, but it's the same one who dubbed Largo. Unmistakable.

[Double-0-Seven]

I forget the actor's name, but it's the same one who dubbed Largo. Unmistakable.

Robert Rietty I think, who also dubbed Tiger in You Only Live Twice.

[L4YRCAKE]

Was there ever any talk of trying to get Telly Savalas back for Diamonds Are Forever? He was hands down my favorite, although I really liked the way Blofeld was portrayed in Thunderball.

The Blofeld featured in the OHMSS trailer is an interesting amalgam of the different actors, although he looks the most like Baron Strucker of HYDRA, who ironically is based on Blofeld...

[DaveBond21]

I forget the actor's name, but it's the same one who dubbed Largo. Unmistakable.

Robert Rietty I think, who also dubbed Tiger in You Only Live Twice.

Correct - Rietty did all of the above voices.

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[S K Y F A L L]

That is news to me, I was only aware of Sylvia Trench being dubbed. They don't do that now and days to often, do they?...

[AMC Hornet]

Monica van der Syl was kept quite busy through the 60s, dubbing for the likes of Ursula Andress, Daniela Bianchi, Claudine Auger and Mie Hama, to name a few.

[S K Y F A L L]

There are 2 threads on the dubbing topic I thought should be mentioned and added below. Once you know about it, you notice it right away and its pretty cool;

Voice Dubbing in the Bond movies...
http://debrief.comma...he-bond-movies/

and

Why were they dubbed?
http://debrief.comma...re-they-dubbed/