The James Bond franchise makes mega-stars out of the actors that have portrayed 007 over the years, from Sir Sean Connery to Pierce Brosnan, Sir Roger Moore and Daniel Craig.
All in all, six actors have had the popular spy’s licence to kill bestowed upon them, portraying Bond in his pulse-pounding onscreen adventures.
The actor who played Bond most (legitimately) was Sir Roger, who appeared in seven of Eon’s official Bond productions, while Australian model and former car salesman George Lazenby played 007 only once.
Most recent Bond Craig capped off his Bond outings with 2021’s To Time To Die, and it’s become almost a national pastime in the three years since to speculate over who may replace him.
However, author Ian Fleming, creator of Bond – who was inspired by Fleming’s real-life work alongside the top-secret combat Special Operations Executive during World War Two – also wrote other enduring characters.
These too appeared in the Bond films, fresh from the pages of his novels – ones such as M and Miss Moneypenny.
But the actor who appeared the most times in a 007 film played a character that wasn’t technically written by Fleming (although his branch was mentioned) – and that’s Desmond Llewelyn as Q, standing for ‘quartermaster’.
Q has been in almost every single James Bond movie, portrayed by a few different actors including Monty Python star John Cleese, Bafta-winner Ben Whishaw and Peter Burton, who appeared in Dr No as Major Boothroyd, the predecessor to the film interpretation of the role. (Llewelyn’s Q is later referred to as Major Boothroyd in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me, however.)
Remarkably, Llewelyn, who was born in 1914, and whose 17-film career as Q spanned 36 years, was reportedly only ever paid a day rate for his usually short appearances in each film.
James Bond did not make him a star, however it did make the jobbing British thespian – who had acted onstage with Laurence Oliver and Vivien Leigh before appearing in Olivier’s 1948 film version of Hamlet – instantly recognisable.
In his role as MI6’s quartermaster over decades-worth of films, Llewelyn did get to hand Bond some of his most memorable gadgets, usually with his memorable line: ‘Pay attention, 007.’
That includes everything from the trick briefcase in From Russia With Love, which helped Sir Sean’s Bond smuggle a Russian defector across the continent, to the agent’s specially equipped and modified Aston Martin DB5 and the Ericsson phone with a screen in Tomorrow Never Dies that basically gave Brosnan’s Bond a (very) smartphone years ahead of the rest of us.
And let’s not forget Licence to Kill’s exploding toothpaste, the Lotus Esprit S1 Submarine Car from The Spy Who Loved Me and, of course, GoldenEye’s exploding pen.
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There’s also Die Another Day’s baffling invisible car and the classic – very cool – jetpack from Thunderball, while Q also got to join 007 outside his lab in both Octopuss* and Licence to Kill.
While his career already included appearances in films like They Were Not Divided, The Lavender Hill Mob and Cleopatra, being part of the 007 franchise allowed Llewelyn to earn a good living via commercials.
The Welsh actor and Rada graduate appeared in adverts for brands including Ford, Heineken, LG and Reach toothbrushes – as well as ones to promote the classic GoldenEye 007 and Tomorrow Never Dies video games.
Over the years, Q and Bond had a strained relationship in the movies that developed slowly into affection.
By the time Llewelyn’s Q told Bond of his impending retirement in 1999’s The World Is Not Enough, Brosnan’s 007 expresses his hope that it’s not coming up ‘too soon’.
Llewelyn was then able to make a grand exit with quite some style, telling Bond as Q: ‘I’ve always tried to teach you two things: First, never let them see you bleed.’
When Bond asked for the second, he then added, ‘Always have an escape plan’, before being lowered out of view on a platform.
This wasn’t intended to be the veteran actor’s final appearance as Q, necessarily.
The actor announced that he intended to continue in the role in an interview on the DVD extras of his final film ‘as long as the producers want me and the Almighty (God) doesn’t’.
Tragically, he was killed in a car accident aged 85 just three weeks after the premiere of The World Is Not Enough.
The late Sir Roger Moore, who died aged 89 in 2017, spoke at his funeral.
As it stands, the popular Llewelyn remains the actor who has appeared in the most Bond films, and playing the same character, ahead of Lois Maxwell who played Miss Moneypenny in 14 films.
She first appeared in Dr No as well, and last appeared in 1985’s A View to A Kill with Sir Roger.
However, he could lose his title as the person to appear onscreen acting in the most Bond films in the future if cameos are taken into consideration.
Producer Michael G. Wilson, half-brother to fellow producer Barbara Broccoli, is believed to have appeared uncredited in scenes in 16 007 movies so far, just one behind Llewelyn, although one of these was cut from the final version of Skyfall.
He first appeared in Goldfinger in 1964 as a soldier at Fort Knox, and was last seen onscreen in 2015’s Spectre as a government official alongside Max Denbigh’s C (played by Andrew Scott).
But the impact of Llewelyn an his run on the franchise as a whole onscreen is unlikely to be surpassed any time soon.
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