I’ve heard a rumor about the next 007 movie: To honor the late Desmond Llewellyn , the final scene of the movie will have a funeral with full military honors for Q.
When Pierce Brosnan and John Cleese step up to be pall bearers,
they are joined by none other than ALL PREVIOUS BONDS!
Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton
bear the casket with Brosnan and Cleese to Q’s final resting place during the closing credits.
Can anyone substantiate this rumor?
It is 100% false.
And here I thought John DeLancie had died. Whew.
It would seem kind of ridiculous. Bond is Bond, whomever plays him. Nah, can’t see it happening.
Count me in with Max Carnage in reckoning this thread was Delancie related.
As for ‘Q’/bond - was he not played by several actors over the last 40 years? Still a jolly-good-show to Desmond Llewellyn if he’s left the Circles.
Leo McKern, “Number Two” of The Prisoner recently left the Circles.
It would be nice, but I find it hard to believe that Connory would be willing to do it. He’s not overly fond of Bond and the Broccoli brothers (one of the reasons he agreed to do Never Say Never Again was because it wasn’t a Broccoli bros. production).
Actually, there was a ton of “Number Two” actors (as the IMDb reference shows). Leo McKern is better known for his defence lawyer series Rumpole of the Bailey, which made Perry Mason and Matlock look like illiterate hacks.
Llewelyn played Q in all the Bond movies with a few exceptions:
[ul][li]Doctor No - played by Peter Burton[/li][li]Live and Let Die - no Q character appeared[/li][li]Never Say Never Again - played by Alec McCowan[/li][li]Casino Royale - played by Geoffry Bayldon[/li][/ul]
The last two on that list weren’t Broccoli productions, so it’s fair to say the Llewelyn was the only “real” Q.
In the Fleming novels, Major Boothroyd (i.e. Q) was a semi-recurring character, but “Q” wasn’t a person; rather “Q-branch” was the section of the Secret Service that made up gimmicks and gizmos and whatnot, though these were pretty mundane compared to what we saw in the movies; mostly things like throwing daggers concealed in shoe soles and secret hiding places and whatnot. Near the end of the novel From Russia with Love, Bond faces the assassin Donovan Grant and tries to keep his cool:
At the end of this novel, Bond tries to draw his Berreta .25 but is hampered when the silencer gets caught in the holster. Bond faces the music for this at the beginning of the next novel, Live and Let Die, when Major Boothroyd dismisses the Bereta as a “ladies’ gun” and issues Bond the nastier Walther PPK 7.62mm. This scene was adapated and used at the beginning of the movie Doctor No, where Peter Burton played the role for the first and only time, before Llewelyn inherited it.
Whoops, made a mistake. The followup to the novel From Russia with Love was, in fact, Doctor No (not Live and Let Die), and the gun exchange takes place in that novel.
Hmmm, that’s what I get for relying on memory. The Walther PPK issued to Bond in the novel Doctor No is 7.65mm, not 7.62.
Nope, same guy always.
I must admit I like the idea. I think it would be a good, respectful send-off for both the character and the actor.
Apart from the bit about all previous Bonds appearing. That would be implying that within the 007 world, ‘James Bond’ is a title rather than a name and all these different people have held it. Which, let’s be honest, is just ridiculous.
I always figured, James Bond 007 was a post that was filled, just like M or Q.
Judy Dench is the new M…acknowledged by Brosnan/Bond when he recalled how her predecessor had a bottle of premium booze in his drawer.
John Cleese is the new Q…Bond wondered if that made him “R”.
John Cleese is actually listed at the IMDb as “R” in both The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day.
R could concievably be the title of a Trainee Q, since in the released films the Q position has been held by Desmond. Since Die Another Day is not actually released yet it would be possible that R has not yet been “promoted” to Q. In fact while the actor himself has died, the character as yet has not. If you follow me…
I quite like the idea that James Bond 007 could be a title more than anything else. It sure helps with the suspension of disbelief involved in watching the films for so many years.
The character in Never Say Never Again was not Q, but one “Algernon.” Despite this character being a fill-in for Q (rights issues to the letter, I guess), I don’t think it right to say the actor played Q in this production.
Sir Rhosis