Saturday, September 12, 2009

Oh Grow Up 007!

The well-armed fellow above is one Desmond Llewelyn, born this day 1914, in Newport, Wales. There was quite a bit of competition for today's hero, but Desmond won out after some careful thought. Originally, Desmond wanted to be a minister, but found some odd jobs at the local theatre that sparked his interest in acting.His family was none too pleased about his desire for the stage, and forced him to take the test for becoming a policeman, he failed the eye test, and the acting world was made richer by that failure. World War II put the brakes on his career for a while, and he spent five years as a German prisoner of war. His first appearance as the character that makes him my hero, "Q," was in 1963's From Russia With Love. He was the gadget man, the guy that gave James Bond all those cool trinkets that kept him alive. He went on to appear in a total of seventeen Bond films, more than any other actor. Surprisingly, he only spends about 30 minuets on camera. His most famous line is "I never joked about my work, 007," but My favourite line of his is "oh, grow up 007." Being Q never made Llewelyn rich, he was only paid by the day for his services, and did not share in the profits, but he made the 007 franchise rich with his supreme acting skill, and talent. In contrast to his character, Llewelyn was famously inept at gadgets, claiming that he could not even set a video recorder, or put a kettle on to boil properly. But, for being the head of the department that kept James Bond (another hero for another day) alive, and for delivering witty lines with style, and aplomb, Desmond Llewelyn (September 12th, 1914- December 19th, 1999, in a car accident at the age of 85) you are my hero of the day.

1 comment:

chall said...

oh, I loved him. Wonder if the movies would have even been good without him?

So, the battle was between him and Gatling? (Surely, not Jung....) I find it sad that Gatling is famous for his gun since he did a great thing for agriculture. ah well, killing is always going to be more lucrative I guess...