Bernard Horsfall (1930-2013)
The actor who played Shaun Campbell, Bond's contact in Switzerland
in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" has passed
away unexpectedly on 29th January 2013 at the age of 82.
Horsfall was born in Hertfordshire, England, on 20th November
1930. He began his TV acting career in the late '50s
with a series of bitparts in made-for-TV films, before securing
the lead in the now little-remembered "Captain Moonlight:
Man of Mystery". For much of the '60s, he served as a guest
star on various now-classic TV series, including "The Avengers", "Z
Cars", "The
Saint" and a notable part as Chancellor Goth in the "Doctor
Who" story arc "The Mind Robber", in which he
played opposite Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. He went on to
appear in a total of 15 "Doctor Who" episodes throughout
his career. His film credits include two outings opposite Roger
Moore: "Gold" in
1974 and "Shout at the Devil" in 1976. His other notable
credits include "Brass
Target" (1978), "Gandhi" (1982) and "Braveheart" (1995).
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Mitchell Hooks (1923-2013)
American artist and illustrator Mitchell Hooks, who gave the
world their first look at a stylized Sean Connery as 007 on the
1962 'Dr. No' poster, died in March 2013 aged 89. Perhaps his
best known work worldwide are his movie poster designs, especially
his series of quad posters for
the first James Bond film, 'Dr. No'. As well as creating a stylized
illustrations of Sean Connery as James Bond for the UK quad poster,
which would be used again for the later US theatrical campaign,
he also drew the line-art illustrations that feature behind the
colourful character poses. A lot of his work would be repurposed
for the international posters. Hooks was elected to the Society
of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1999.
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Above: US one sheet.
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David C. Anderson (1941-2013)
Assistant director David C. Anderson, who worked with Terence
Young on his three James Bond films,died of cancer in Richmond,
England, on Sunday 4th August 2013 at the age of 72 following a
short illness. Anderson assisted Young on "Dr. No" (1962), "From
Russia With Love" (1963) and "Thunderball" (1964).
During his six decades in the industry, he also went worked with
fellow-007
director Lewis Gilbert on his non-Bond outings.
On the small screen he was assistant director on five episodes
of 'The Saint' when
Roger Moore was in the title role. His other film credits included:
1969's "The Prime of Miss Jean
Brodie",
1970's "The Kremlin Letter", 1975's "The Man Who Would Be
King", 1976's "The Eagle Has Landed", 1978's "The Deer Hunter",
1979's "Quadrophenia", 1980's "Flash Gordon", 1988's "Tequila
Sunrise" and
1991's "What About Bob?"
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Commander Ken Wallis (1916-2013)
Commander Ken Wallis, known the world over to James Bond fans
as the inventor and pilot of the auto-gyro seen in the 1967 adventure "You
Only Live Twice" as Little Nellie, died aged 97 on Sunday
1st September 2013 in the village of Reymerston in Norfolk, England.
His daughter Vicky said her father passed away after "a
long and successful life doing what he wanted." Wing Commander
Kenneth Horatio Wallis MBE, DEng (hc), CEng, FRAeS, FSETP, PhD
(hc), RAF (Ret'd), was a leading exponent on
autogyros and has held, and in some cases still holds, 34 records
related to them.
It is his work as inventor and pilot of autogyros for which
Wallis is best known to Bond fans around the world. He developed
the craft for "reconnaissance, research & development,
surveillance and military purposes" but was weary of other
building their own kits from plans, insisting that although
the design is simple, they had to be built to proper standard.
Wallis' signature contribution
his autogyro was the offset gimbal rotor head. Wallis produced
the craft under the company Wallis Autogyros Ltd run by his cousin
in Cambridge.
Q-Branch's 'Little Nellie' was in fact model WA-116 from Wallis'
stable of autogyros. For the film, Little Nellie was kitted out
with a range of armourments by MI6's Q-Branch, so that Bond could
survey the volcanic islands of Japan in safety. She was accompanied
by her "dad", Q himself, who demonstrated some of the
modifications to 007. Such modifications included twin forward-facing
machine guns, two 1.75" rockets, smaller heat seeking missiles
and aerial mines. Nellie is equipped with short-range radio so
that the pilot can communicate with her "dad" at all
times, and a camera broadcasts a pilot's view so that he can
better be aided by the ground-staff. She is transported to Japan
in several packing cases and assembled by able bodies provided
by the Japanese secret service - overseen by Q of course.
Wallis was awarded an MBE in 1996, and a long
over-due campaign medal for his 28 bomber missions over Germany
during WWII in July 2013. Last October, he was given a lifetime
contribution to aerospace award by the Guild of Air Pilots and
Air Navigators. He was also the President of the Norfolk and
Suffolk Aviation Museum, and Patron of the Wolf Preservation
Foundation.
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Not Forgetting...
Lou Angeli (1951-2013) - "License To Kill" camera operator
Pete Barnes (1960-2013) - Helicopter pilot, "Die Another
Day"
Paul Bhattacharjee (1960-2013) -
MI6 medical officer in "Casino
Royale"
Charlotte Brosnan (1971-2013) - Daughter of Pierce Brosnan
Lewis Collins (1946-2013)
- 'The Professionals' star and James Bond auditionee
Jacques Fonteray (1918-2013) - "Moonraker" costume designer
Michael France (1962-2013) - "GoldenEye" screenwriter
Vinnie Gerardo (1930-2013) - "Live And Let Die" assistant cameraman
Trevor Rutherford (?-2013) - "Live And Let Die" sound operator
Mark Sutton (1971-2013)
- Stuntman, James Bond in London Olympics opening ceremony
Derek Watkins (1945-2013)
- Trumpeter on every Bond film soundtrack from "Dr. No" to "Skyfall"
