Joseph Wiseman, best known for his role as the titular Bond villian “Dr. No” has died. He was 91.
“You expect me to talk, Mr. Bond?”
“No, Dr. No. I expect you to die!”
Oops. Wrong villain!
I understand he was the last surviving villain from the original series of Bond movies. He definately nailed the concept of appearing scary because of a combination of being brilliant and crazy as a loon.
It’s kinda surprising to see how normal he looked apart from his most famous role.
He was also great as a crime boss in “Crime Story,” a 1980s (I think) police drama set in Chicago, and starring Dennis Farina as (what else?) a cop.
I’ll always remember him for his brilliant portrayal of a small-time hood in Detective Story(1951). It was only his second movie but his performance was flawless.
Great actor.
Besides Dr. No, Wiseman was apparently also the faceless Blofeld in that character’s first appearances. He therefore played more than one Bond villain in the series – the only actor I know of who did (Adolfo Celi appearing in Operation Kid Brother doesn’t count)
I had no idea he had still been alive.
I think his best role was Carl Morphus.
Well, technically, Charles Gray did that. Not counting his turn as good-guy Henderson in You Only Live Twice, Gray played Blofeld and at least two henchmen who’d had surgery to look like Blofeld in Diamonds are Forever.
Walter Gotell, perhaps. He was Morzeny in From Russia With Love, and General Gogol in six films, starting with The Spy Who Loved Me.
Henchmen don’t count.
If by “original series” you mean “Sean Connery era” Bond movies, you are correct:
Dr. No - Joseph Wiseman - very recently dead
From Russia With Love - (no real mega-villain here) - Lotte Lenya and Robert Shaw - both dead; (also, Walter Gottel and “Kronsteen” both dead)
Goldfinger - Gert Frobe - dead
Thunderball - Adolfo Celi - dead
You Only Live Twice - Donald Pleasance - very dead
OHMSS - Telly Savalas - dead (not a Connery movie)
Diamonds Are Forever - Charles Gray - dead (back to Connery)
Post-Connery era:
Live and Let Die - Yaphet Kotto - NOT dead
The Man with the Golden Gun - Christopher Lee - NOT dead
The Spy Who Loved Me - Curt Jurgens - dead
Moonraker - Michael Lonsdale - NOT dead (Richard Kiel also NOT dead)
For Your Eyes Only - Julian Glover - NOT dead
Octopussy - Louis Jordan - NOT dead (but long since retired from acting) (Kabir Bedi and Steven Berkoff also NOT dead)
Never Say Never Again (1983) - Klaus Maria Brandauer and Max Von Sydow - NOT dead (Connery’s only later appearance)(so far)
A View To A Kill - Christopher Walken - NOT dead
I didn’t look them up, but I don’t think any of the Dalton, Brosnan, etc., villains are dead. So basically, Wiseman was indeed the LAST of the classic Connery-era villains to croak…TRM
Is that true? I never knew that. I saw those movies when they first came out, and was VERY disappointed that our first real look at Blofeld (in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE) was SUCH a very different actor. The faceless Blofeld of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and THUNDERBALL was way more menacing, IMHO.
And for the sake of being a completist, let’s throw in Peter Lorre from the original TV production of “Casino Royale.”
This is what the IMDb has to say about Thunderball:
The way I’d heard it there had been no question about Wiseman doing it. And the same sources said he did it for From Russia With Love, although IMDb credits it to Pohlmann.