There are few movie franchises that have endured as long as our beloved Star Wars, and any cinematic franchise that endures across more than one decade is surely a dream of all film studio execs. However, there is one that has endured even longer than Star Wars and that’s Bond….James Bond.
Dr. No premiered 5th October 1962 and kick-started a movie franchise that today celebrates its sixtieth anniversary. With 27 films to date – 25 of which came from EON productions, the perennial home of the Bond franchise – 007 and the films set in a galaxy far, far away have helped nurture and grow the British film industry into what it has become today.
Because of that, many of the saga’s cast and crew have found their way in front of the camera lens (or gun barrel) of a 007 movie. Some have more notable appearances in one franchise or the other, while a handful have played major characters in both franchises.
In celebration of 007’s 60th anniversary we thought it would be fun to look back over those six decades to see which of those familiar faces have popped up in both franchises.
Christopher Lee – Count Dooku & Francisco Scaramanger
The Man With the Golden Gun (1973)
Roger Moore’s second Bond outing in 1975 saw him come face to face with hired assassin whose weapon of choice was a single bullet from a gun made from a pen, cufflink cigarette case and lighter. Slide whistles aside, Christopher Lee goes mano e mano against 007 in what can only be described as a titillating far east thrilling adventure.
Jeremy Bulloch – Boba Fett, HMS Ranger Crewman, Smithers
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983)
While it’s fair to say that between the two franchises, Jeremy Bulloch’s portrayal of bounty hunter Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi is more memorable than his appearances in the 007 films. Jeremy did make a trilogy of appearances in the Roger Moore era bond films, first as a Submarine Crewman in The Spy Who Love Me then as Q Labatory Department assistant Smithers in For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy, although Jeremy was mistakenly credited as Jeremy Bullock in Octopussy. Although many will automatically associate Jeremy with the original Mandalorian, his performance in the 007-verse was still smashing, Smithers.
Julian Glover – General Veers & Aristotle Kristatos
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
The year after Julian Glover laid waste to the Rebel Alliance’s base on Hoth he came close to besting James Bond as 007 returned back to Earth in the grounded For Your Eyes Only. Ari Kristatos was a Greek smuggler who was hired by the KGB to obtain the British ATAC (Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator.) Kristatos almost completed his mission, but an assault on Kristato’s monastery hideout by Bond, Melina Havaloch and Milos Columbo foils his plan when 007 hurls it over the side of the cliff, destroying it completely.
Jack Klaff – Red 4 (John D. Branon) & Apostis
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
South African born Jack Klaff played Rebel X-Wing pilot John D. Branon who flew as Red Four and gave his life in the Battle of Yavin, but in For Your Eyes Only Klaff played Apostis; one of Kristatos’ henchmen. Whilst Apostis’s death wasn’t as fiery as Branon’s, it was no meaningless spectacle when he fell some 1870 feet to his death from the top of the Holy Trinity Monastery that doubled as site of the climactic battle at the end of the film.
Brian Muir – Scuptor
The Spy Who Love Me (1977), For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983), A View to a Kill (1985), The Living Daylights (1987), Licence To Kill (1989), Goldeneye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Die Another Day (2002), SkyFall (2012)
With no less than ten credits for his work in the James Bond movies, Brian’s contribution to both Star Wars and James Bond history cannot be understated. Brian has been responsible for carving some of the most ornate and impressive sculptures seen in the Bond films, with my personal favourites being the Soviet Statue Graveyard in Goldeneye that included a 36ft Russian Solider and a pair of awesome looking bronze lions seen in the casino in Skyfall.
Richard Le Parmentier & Bruce Boa – Admiral Motti, General Rieekan & US Airforce aide and US Airforce General
Octopussy (1983)
The vision of Imperial General Motti (Richard Le Parmentier) sitting side by side with the Rebel Alliance’s General Carlist Rieekan (Bruce Boa) watching a circus show together is the stuff of either a warped fan fiction or someone’s tongue in cheek casting. Especially when they’re watching 007 disguised as a clown disarming a nuclear bomb.
Mads Mikkelson – Le Chiffe & Galen Erso
Casino Royale (2006)
The gamble of basically rebooting the James Bond franchise with 2006’s Casino Royale afforded the EON producers the opportunity to take a harder more mature line on Bond’s adventures, and this opened the door to cast Danish born Mads Mikkelson as the lead antagonist in arguably one of the best Bond movies to date. Le Chiffe (The cypher) goes head-to-head with Bond in a true test of courage and cunning when they go all in to win over $110million in a game of Texas Hold ’em Poker that Le Chiffe needs to win to continue to finance terrorism and Bond needs to win in part to save face as the best card player in Mi6.
John Hollis – Blofeld(?) & Lobot
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
There have been more actors play James Bond’s arch nemesis Ernst Stavo Blofeld than any other recurring character in the James Bond pantheon. Eight by my reckoning, if you include John Hollis who played the ‘The Man in the Wheelchair’ in For Your Eyes Only.
Due to legal battles worthy of its own trilogy of films, EON productions weren’t able to use the Blofeld name throughout the 70s and 80s (up to 2015’s Spectre), but the inclusion of Hollis’ bald head and white Persian cat by the 007 filmmakers makes it’s easy to assume that the chap who is impaled on the skid of a helicopter by Bond and is then deposited down a industrial chimney stack at the Beckton Gas Works in East London is in fact the hapless super villain. With Robert Rietti voicing Blofeld, Hollis had as many lines in For Your Eyes Only as he did as Lando’s cyborg assistant Lobot in The Empire Strikes Back.
Daniel Craig – FN1824 & James Bond
Casino Royal (2006,) Quantum of Solice (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), No Time to Die (2021)
Playing James Bond affords you some amazing privileges; you get to travel the world, drive fast cars and spend time in the company of even faster women, wear fantastic, tailored clothes and sport the latest high-end watches. It seems you’re also in position to ask to be in a Star Wars film – and why wouldn’t you?!
Thats exactly what the most recent 007 Daniel Craig did.
Whilst at Pinewood Studios in 2014 for a costume fitting Craig bumped into Spectre’s Second Assistant Director Ben Dixon who happened to also be working on The Force Awakens. Seizing the opportunity, Craig asked Dixon for a favour and after a brief consult with Star Wars director J.J. Abrams, Craig found himself not only donning the new First Order Stormtrooper Armour but sharing a scene with Daisy Ridley’s Rey who mind tricks the hapless FN-1824 into undoing her restraints and leaving his weapon so she can make her escape from Starkiller Base.
The crew dubbed Craig’s trooper as FN-007 which in my mind is a far catchier, albeit obvious, trooper designation.
Simon Kassianides – Axe Woves & Yusef Kabira
Quantum of Solace (2008)
One of the more recent Star Wars actors who appeared in the Bond-verse is The Mandalorian’s Simon Kassianides. Simon played Yusef Kabira, a member of the shadowy organisation Quantum (a proto-Spectre before EON acquired the rights to use SPECTRE again) who seduces high-ranking women with valuable connections, getting them to give up government assets as ransom for himself in fake kidnappings where he is supposedly held hostage.
Max Von Sydow- Lor San Tekka & Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Never Say Never Again (1983)
Another remake of Thunderball and one of only two non-EON production James Bond films to date saw Max Von Sydow take on white cat stroking duties and Sean Connery once again saving the world from nuclear destruction. Never Say Never Again was released the same year as Octopussy, but delays pushed it back a couple of months and saw the EON production film marginally outgross it. Interestingly, both Bonds used a Walther P5 that year as opposed to the standard Walther PPK
David Prowse – Darth Vader & Frankenstein’s Monster
Casino Royale (1967)
Dave Prowse has played some of cinema’s greatest villains, and if you were to say that included his stint as Frankenstein’s Monster in 1967’s Casino Royale then you’d be dead wrong. Simply because in it, he’s actually rather nice, and very helpful.
It’s fair to say that anyone who has ever seen 67’s non-EON Casino Royale will attest to the fact that it is equal distance away from being total genesis and absolute bonkers. With something like a total of six directors working on the picture and eleven writers (one of which was Ian Fleming) it’s amazing the film actually made it on to the silver screen. In it we see eight different secret agents all taking on the name of James Bond to confuse their enemy in a film that bears little resemblance to the story of Casino Royale, but as the film gets close to its surreal ending viewers are treated to David Niven’s James Bond asking directions to passing Dave Prowse dressed as the mute Frankenstein’s Monster, who leads him to the door he was looking for. What a helpful chap.
Interesting to note that Prowse did go on to play the Monster in Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, which also starred Peter Cushing as Dr Frankenstein three years before the pair would play master and monster in A New Hope.
Irvin Kershner – (Crew) Director
Empire Strikes Back (1980), Never Say Never Again (1983)
As it’s already been mentioned, Never Say Never Again was based on the story of Thunderball that producer Kevin McClory along with Ian Fleming and Jack Wittingham developed, leading to Fleming writing the novel and McClory being made producer of the EON Productions film of the same name. Skip to the 1980s and having successfully directed The Empire Strikes Back, Kershner was tapped to direct Connery’s last hurrah as the British super spy.
Kershner pulls in Empire’s First Assistant Director David Tomblin and cinematographer for the first three Indiana Jones movies Douglas Slocombe.
Other notables
Bob Anderson – (Crew) Stunt Co-ordinator From Russia With Love & Casino Royale ‘67, Sword Master Die Another Day
Paul Brooke – Bunky For Your Eyes Only
Michael Culver – Man in a Punt From Russia With Love, Vulcan Bomber Crewman Thunderball
Ken Coombs – Gendarme A View to a Kill, MI6 Computer Operator Goldeneye
Dermot Crowley – Lieutenant Kamp Octopussy
Anthony Forest – USS Wayne Crewman The Spy Who Loved Me
Garrick Hagon – USS Wayne Crewman The Spy Who Loved Me
Alan Harris – Q Branch Technician (firing ‘Ghetto Blaster’) The Living Daylights
Christopher Munke – USS Wayne Crewman The Spy Who Loved Me
Shane Rimmer – Cmdr. Carter The Spy Who Loved Me
George Roubicek – Astronaut (2nd American Spacecraft) You Only Live Twice, Stromberg One Captain The Spy Who Loved Me
Peter Roy – 006 Thunderball, Casino Patron Never Say Never Again, Rear Admiral Skyfall
Tina Simmons – German Woman in Circus Octopussy, Racehorse Owner A View to a Kill, Agent The Living Daylights, Telephonist Goldeneye, SPECTRE member No Time to Die
Clem So – Casino Guest Skyfall, SPECTRE Agent No Time to Die
John Stears -(Crew) Special Effects From Russia With Love, Goldfinger Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
David Tattersall – (Crew) Director of Photography Die Another Day
- Hardcover Book
- Gratton, Tessa (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 352 Pages - 10/04/2022 (Publication Date) - Random House/Star Wars (Publisher)
