On Her Majesty’s Secret Service - 12/18/69 The Last Great James Bond Movie Premiered (40 years ago)

12.18.09 | Perdogg

[Perdogg]

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 2 minutes and 44 seconds.

Pretitle Sequence “This Never Happened to the other Fellar”

Maurice Binder’s Title Sequence

The Real James Bond, George Lazenby (Born 09-05-1939)



Diana Rigg (born 07-30-1938) as the Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo



Telly Savalas (01-21-1922 – 01-22-1994) as Ernst Starvo Blofeld



Rest of the Cast

Gabriele Ferzetti as Marc-Ange Draco - Head of the Union Corse, a major crime syndicate and Tracy's father

Ilse Steppat as Irma Bunt - Blofeld's henchwoman who takes part in his quest to try and eliminate Bond.

Bernard Lee as M - Head of the British Secret Service.

Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny - M's secretary

George Baker as Sir Hilary Bray - Professor in the London College of Arms, who Bond impersonates in Piz Gloria

Yuri Borienko as Grunther - Blofeld's brutish chief of security at Piz Gloria who is killed by Bond's fiancée Tracy di Vicenzo, who pushes him onto a wall of spikes

Bernard Horsfall as Shaun Campbell - 007's colleague who tries to aid Bond in Switzerland on Operation Bedlam

Desmond Llewelyn as Q

Angela Scoular as Ruby Bartlett - an English girl at the clinic whom Bond beds

Catherine Schell as Nancy - another girl at the clinic Bond romances

Julie Ege as Helen - Scandinavian Girl at the Blofeld clinic

Virginia North as Olympe - Draco's female assistant

Music:

All Music by John Barry and song ‘We Have All the Time in the World' (words by Hal David and sung by Louis Armstrong)

All Music by John Barry and song ‘Do You Know How Christmas Trees are Grown?' (words by Hal David and sung by Nina)

“We Have all of the Time in the World” Fan tribute

Music Trivia:

One of the three Bond Films (besides "Dr. No" and "From Russia With Love") to feature an instrumental for the Main Title sequence.

Filming Locations :

Lisbon, Portugal; Murren, near Interlaken, Switzerland; St Moritz, Switzerland; College Of Arms and MI6, London, England, UK.

Best Quote:

Bond: "This never happened to the other fellow!"

Other Facts

Budget - $7,000,000 (approx.)

Total Box Office - $87,450,000

Running Time - 2 hours and 22 minutes

Bond’s Car: 1969 Aston Martin DBS

what On Her Majesty’s Secret Service might have looked like with Sean Connery

[Perdogg]

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

I agree...it’s the best of the bunch, including John Barry’s music score.

[abb]

Goldfinger. The best of all.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Later in "Gettysburg," as General James Johnston Pettigrew of North Carolina:

[P from Sheb]

Ba-da-de-dum de-dum-dum dum-due-de-de-dum-dum-dum da-da due-de-daat.

waa-waaa-whaaa-wahn-na ha waa nught waa nah nah

or something like that.

Wish is was on tonight.

[Son-Joshua]

This movie is not given the credit it deserves, nor is the book version arguably the best of the Fleming novels. Always hoped that there would be a follow up to this movie featuring Bond and Draco (Bond’s father in law) joining forces and finally kill off Blofeld. Draco had the resources and determination to use what ever was necessary to kill the man who murdered his daughter. Bond would seek vengeance for the death of his wife by a mad man who had constantly eluded Bond’s efforts to assassinate him. What a story line.

[x]

The Real James Bond, George Lazenby

I like saying that too.

It ticks Bond fans off, big time.

[Perdogg]

ping

[Mobties]

At the risk of sounding like a Trekkie, I thought the series would have done better with less Moore and more Lazenby.

I always thought the best quote was "Just a slight stiffness," but now that you've mentioned it, I think the "other guy" quote may have had something to do with Lazenby's brief tenure.

[yarddog]

I thought it was one of the few good James Bond movies but not the best. I personally liked Dr. No best and Goldfinger next. From Russia With Love and Thunderball were fairly good.

I also think Lazenby was a good Bond but still think Sean Connery was the best. Roger Moore was absolutely awful. A prissy pretty boy. Pierce Brosnan might have OK if the movies had not turned into cartoons by the time he was in them. As it is he was not very good.

I have read that Fleming did not care for Connery until he actually saw him in the movie then changed his mind and agreed he was a good choice.

[nkycincinnatikid]

It is the James Bond “Christmas” movie at our house.
Lazenby really wasn’t much of an actor but Diana Rigg, well she deserved an Oscar for her portrayal of Theresa Bond.
The best of all Ian Flemings novels was made into a very good film.

[Ge0ffrey]

On Her Majesty’s divorce docket: Shriver, Lazenby split
Comment Email Print Share
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Former tennis star Pam Shriver has filed for divorce from one-time James Bond actor George Lazenby.

Documents filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court cite “irreconcilable differences” for the end of the couple’s six-year marriage. The pair have three children together, including twins born in 2005.

Shriver is seeking custody of the children, with supervised visits for Lazenby.

The 46-year-old Shriver, who won 22 Grand Slam doubles titles, has served as a tennis commentator since retiring.

Lazenby, 68, is perhaps best known for his one-movie stint as James Bond in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.”

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2008/0807/pga_g_shriver_lazenby_sw_400.jpg

[omega4179]

I agree Goldfinger can’t be beat. I just love that Golf game and making Auric lose at cards.

[abb]

“This is gold, Mr. Bond. all my life I’ve been in love with its colour, its brilliance, its divine heaviness...”

[nkycincinnatikid]

I liked that post, Thanks

[uncbob]

After Thunderball they were all gimmicked up typical Hollywood take a good thing and run it into the ground
schlock

[Perdogg]

you are welcome!

[omega4179]

[pissant]

Didn’t care for Lazenby but Diana Rigg is hotter than a chicken pot pie

[potlatch]

Thanks Perdogg, have an idea devolve is scouting up all his great graphics on this. He has webpages full.

[JoeProBono]

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

He did a great job as Pettigrew.

[devolve]

.

I may be a tad slow on getting graphics, pages, etc. tonight

[nkycincinnatikid]

I have thought and thought about it, and decided that Lazenbys best line occurs when he visit M at his estate.
M is mounting butterflies as Bond is ushered in and Bond states something like “unusualy small for a Pollycloris Bergenatis, and M says something like “I didn’t realize your knowledge extended to Lepidoptery” or some such.
That was awesome.

[potlatch]

You need to get one of your Bond pages checked out and in perfect shape. You have every poster. I kindof think that "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" posters were some of the least attractive. Some of yours; CLICK for music

[devolve]

.

Top left (half) is Mrs. Emma Peel photograph from “The Avengers” TV series

I made lots of retro-mod posters and graphics from different scenes in all the Bond movies

Some of the original 007 posters were a tad lame or boring - so I made some to fill in the gaps and confuse SPECTRE

The Moneypenny-Bond-M photograph never existed as I created it as a composite

[potlatch]

I searched through several of your 007 and Bond folders and you didn’t have much on this particular movie. Your one profile page with all of them is great but has one picture missing;

http://domania.us/Oaccess/Bond/d-Locations.html

[devolve]

.

Oh yeah

My Sean Connery profile page with links - and auto-background music

I just saved to an email to myself - bottom graphic link is dead

I should be able to find it or swap in another appropriate graphic

[potlatch]

You have some even better Bond pages but I didn’t find them.

[Perdogg]

One of my favorite tracks in Goldfinger

[yarddog]

I always thought Gert B. Frobe as Auric Goldfinger was the best of all the Bond villains. I am not even sure why, just something about him was intriguing or interesting.

[devolve]

.

Yup

Cars, other 007 webpage themes

I got carried away with a never-ending 007 profile page back a while

[potlatch]

Your big 007 one is really good though. Think it became hard for you to ‘open’, lol.

[potlatch]

Thanks, that was good. devolve can’t view you tube and I never watched that movie. Is the pretty blond all through it the same one who is painted gold and dies?

I could do screen captures and make a slideshow of it.

[Perdogg]

This a screen test of Sam Neil for the James Bond role

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfl9atd-Wq8&feature=related

[fieldmarshaldj]

It’s too bad we didn’t hear Herr Frobe’s actual speaking voice in the movie. I think they thought his German accent too thick. You can hear his real voice in some other films, it’s similar to the person who dubbed it in GF, but not 100%.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I saw that and the James Brolin (?!?) clips. Neill is a bit, I’m not sure, but he’s not quite right as JB, either. Maybe it’s a stiffness, or just a peculiarity about him, he strikes me as someone better suited to play a villain. Come to think of it, he might not be such a bad choice to play one in an upcoming JB film. I’d suggest a rogue ex-Double-Oh agent, but that’s practically been done to death.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Quite so. I’d almost forgotten about that. Draco would’ve wanted Blofeld dead just as much as JB and that all fell by the wayside with DAF, which unfortunately kicked off all the ‘70s JB silliness.

[SJSAMPLE]

The slide on the Beretta (?) is locked back.
I wish the prop guys would pay attention once in a while.

[Guenevere]

One of my favorites...

[meowmeow]

Wow - I’ve watched Gettysburg a half dozen times and never noticed! Cool - thanks for pointing that out!

[Perdogg]

Did you notice all of Bond’s clothing was from Slazenger?

[yarddog]

Interesting. I never knew Goldfinger’s voice was dubbed.

[buccaneer81]

The slide on the Beretta (?) is locked back.

Should be a Walther PPK.

[SJSAMPLE]

Bond showed a preference for the Beretta as early as “Dr. No”. Remember, he was forced by “Q” to take the Walther.

Something about the slide and barrel say “Beretta”, but I could be wrong.

[SJSAMPLE]

Sorry, it was “M” that force the Walther upon Bond.

[SJSAMPLE]

Looking at it again, it could be a PPK.
I thought the trigger guard had more of a taper, but the early models might not have.

[Perdogg]

In Novel, Major Boothroyd gave Bond a S&W Airweight as well.

[yarddog]

An interesting and surprisingly little known fact is that Major Boothroyd was a real person and that was his real name.

He wrote Fleming, telling him how much he enjoyed his first Bond novel. He corrected Fleming’s designation of the Beretta as something like 6.75mm, as a .25 was really 6.35. He also told Fleming that a real OO7 would not have used a .25.

It turned out that a friend of Fleming at Holland & Holland had already corrected him on the .25 caliber but had not mentioned the Beretta as unsuitable. Fleming wrote Maj. Boothroyd and asked for a good suggestion of a spy’s gun and the Major wrote him back with the PPK in .32 idea.

To Major Boothroyd’s embarrassment, Fleming described the .32 as “hitting like a brick through a plate glass window.” as of course Boothroyd knew it was no powerhouse.

They became friends and Major Boothroyd said that Fleming, while not knowledgeable on guns was an excellent shot.

There is more to the story but I am tired of typing.