8 replies to this topic

[hilly]

Gossip. Tittle tattle.
Dreadful business.
And yet a lot of us secretly enjoy hearing a bit of scandal.

Bond films have had their fair share over the years. Connery falling out with Saltzman and Broccoli, Lazenby's disputes with seemingly everyone connected with OHMSS.. These had serious implications for the direction of the series

However, occasionally there are little anecdotes that are relatively minor and slightly amusing and which actors (or their families) cannot help but share years later and which can sometimes cast a whole new light on certain scenes in the Bond films. Does anyone have any little gems they'd care to dish?
My favourites are

YOLT- Donald Pleasance apparently used to go home to his family every night during filming and bitch that Sean Connery had bad breath
TMWTGG- Lois Maxwell commented that Christopher Lee was very touchy about his toupee
DAD- Madonna getting annoyed at Pierce Brosnan singing Like A Virgin on set and accusing him of "dissing" her
AVTAK- Grace Jones smuggling a vibrator under the sheets during her bed scene with Roger Moore
TSWLM- Roger Moore apparently rolling his eyes at Lois Maxwell as he watched Barbara Bach fluff her lines over and over again during the scene in Kalba's club...

[Turn]

Interesting. I hadn't heard most of those. The two I find surprising are those involving Lois Maxwell as she wasn't in any scenes with either Lee or Bach. I was always under the impression the office scenes were done near the end of filming, which was what she was in during those films, although she was around during the Egypt office scenes, but not with Bach.

 

The Grace Jones story is notorious and one of the few examples of somebody the almost always cordial Moore didn't have anything positive to say about.

 

I remember hearing the Pierce/Madonna story when DAD came out and was kind of annoyed by it because he was the star of the film and she was lucky to get a cameo in addition to performing the title song. Lighten up. Sorry you didn't get the lead actress role. Around that time I also remember her complaining to the media she wasn't offered the types of roles she thought she deserved. Two words: Swept Away.

[Dustin]

About Moore/Jones: I'm quite surprised that kind of joke didn't sit well with Moore as he's supposedly gifted with near-endless humour and patience. And has been known to play the odd trick on set himself.

One anecdote that may perhaps already be known to some: at the set of OCTOPUSSY Moore supposedly spent some time with one of the poster designs, either adding one arm or altering one arm's position to hold on to his/Bond's anatomical counterpart to what Jones brought to the bed scene two years later. No idea, how much truth is in that story, never saw the poster myself...

[hilly]

Interesting. I hadn't heard most of those. The two I find surprising are those involving Lois Maxwell as she wasn't in any scenes with either Lee or Bach. I was always under the impression the office scenes were done near the end of filming, which was what she was in during those films, although she was around during the Egypt office scenes, but not with Bach.
 
The Grace Jones story is notorious and one of the few examples of somebody the almost always cordial Moore didn't have anything positive to say about.

 

There were also stories ( one again from Maxwell) about Tanya Roberts who, before arriving for filming, had a consignment of everyday skincare and hair care products sent over -at Eon's expense- which left people wondering if she thought such things existed in the UK.
Roberts later claimed that she'd been told not to attend the premiere, as Moore didn't want her there (supposedly for badmouthing him. He is markedly silent about her in his book, so maybe there was some truth there.
I've also read that he and Lois Chiles didn't totally hit it off in Moonraker either

Maxwell sold some stories to The Mail on Sunday following her "retirement" from the role of Moneypenny ( which doesn't seem to have sat well with her, in spite of the age difference between her and Dalton).
She mentioned Bernard Lee's drink problem. On the OHMSS dvd, Lazenby talks about an incident involving Lee and a horse that Lazenby was riding, in which he accidentally knocked Lee over.. Maxwell claims that a drunk Lee had actually stuck a glass under the horses' nose, startled it and it kicked him

She also claimed that her scene in Live and Let Die was due to be complete in a day, but that she wanted to buy a mink coat ( yes, I know.....) and needed 2 days filming to pay for it.. She claimed that she persuaded a cameraman to say that there was a fault with the last shot of the day and that she'd be needed back...

As I say, whether they are true is anyone's guess, but some of them are entertaining ( maybe not the horse one, mind you....)

[Dustin]

The horse one might easily have turned into a tragedy.

[Grard Bond]

Huh.......?

Christopher Lee has a toupee??? I've never heard of a story like that!

[thecasinoroyale]

Well a wonderful little thread, I didn't know many of those differences on set, bar the Grace Jones one.

 

Fascinating read. I hope people have more, I love the reality behind the making of these films, it just shows how wonderful the fantasy is on screen and you'd never know the issues behind the camera.

 

[hilly]

Adrian Turner's book on Goldfinger mentions Sean Connery's anxieties about some aspects of the film, namely:
1) Honor Blackman- An experienced actress and established star in Britain, thanks to The Avengers. He was keen to ensure that he wasn't upstaged
2) Oddjob. Connery apparently objected to the scene where Oddjob crushes the golf ball, deeming it f***in' ridiculous.

[glidrose]

YOLT- Donald Pleasance apparently used to go home to his family every night during filming and bitch that Sean Connery had bad breath
TMWTGG- Lois Maxwell commented that Christopher Lee was very touchy about his toupee
DAD- Madonna getting annoyed at Pierce Brosnan singing Like A Virgin on set and accusing him of "dissing" her
AVTAK- Grace Jones smuggling a vibrator under the sheets during her bed scene with Roger Moore
TSWLM- Roger Moore apparently rolling his eyes at Lois Maxwell as he watched Barbara Bach fluff her lines over and over again during the scene in Kalba's club...

I don't believe any of these for some of the reasons people have set out below. Certainly not without sourcing.