# Q...rest in peace **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277 "2002-08-23T19:03:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/1 "2002-08-23T19:03:14Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/2 "2002-08-23T19:10:00Z")
It is 100% false. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/3 "2002-08-23T21:30:34Z")
And here I thought John DeLancie had died. Whew. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/4 "2002-08-24T01:10:53Z")
It would seem kind of ridiculous. Bond is Bond, whomever plays him. Nah, can’t see it happening. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/5 "2002-08-24T05:03:41Z")
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](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0061287) recently left the Circles. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/6 "2002-08-24T06:21:16Z")
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). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/7 "2002-08-24T11:12:52Z")
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: > [@](#): > > [Bond] puffed away at his cigarette. If only it had been a trick one - magnesium flare, or anything he could throw in the man’s face! If only his Service went in for those explosive toys! 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. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/8 "2002-08-24T11:16:17Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/9 "2002-08-24T11:28:26Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/10 "2002-08-24T16:12:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Corbomite \* > \*\*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. > > \*\* Nope, same guy always. ---
**Author:** ![wayward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a87d85/32.png) [@wayward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wayward)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/11 "2002-08-24T23:06:50Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/12 "2002-08-25T07:05:18Z")
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”. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/13 "2002-08-25T15:37:20Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by Enola Straight_ > **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**. ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/14 "2002-08-25T23:02:50Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-rest-in-peace/125277/15 "2002-08-26T00:01:16Z")
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