CommanderBond.net takes a look at some of the birthdays and past events of the James Bond series that have taken place during the month of October…

Article originally posted: 1 October 2005
Last updated: 1 October 2009


MOMENTS IN 007 HISTORY

October 4

* 1973: Sean Connery divorced Diane Cilento, his wife of 11 years. The couple had mutually come to the decision that their marriage had irrevocably broken-down.

October 5

* 1983: Asteroid 9007 James Bond was discovered by Antonin Mrkos at the Klet Observatory in the Czech Republic. It is named in honour of Ian Fleming.

October 6

* 1962: The world premiere of Dr. No, the first “official” James Bond film, was held at the Pavilion cinema in London.

* 1980: Preparations began for the large fight aboard Columbo’s shipping boat. The scene from For Your Eyes Only featured nearly 30 extras.

* 1984: A View to a Kill’s 4th Unit, headed by special effects supervisor John Richardson, shot plates of the Golden Gate Bridge that were used for fight sequences between the actors back at Pinewood. Later that night, shooting of the burning San Francisco City Hall began.

October 7

* 1959: Ian Fleming told Ivor Bryce that he hadn’t heard anything from Hitchcock about possibly doing a film based on Thunderball.

* 1983: Never Say Never Again, the second “unofficial” James Bond film, was released in the United States.

* 1984: John Richardson and the A View To A Kill crew filmed stunt men fighting atop the real Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Also, filming of the fire atop San Francisco’s City Hall continued.

October 8

* 1963: From Russia With Love had its first press screening.

October 9

* 1996: Variety reported that Kevin McClory was planning to make a James Bond film called Warhead 2000 A.D. to go against Tomorrow Never Dies.

October 10

* 1963: The British premiere of From Russia With Love, the second “official” James Bond film, was held at the Pavilion cinema in London, England.

October 14

* 2005: Daniel Craig is announced as the sixth official James Bond 007. He makes his debut the following year in Casino Royale.

October 15

* 1980: The cast and crew of For Your Eyes Only moved to the cliffs near the Old Fort in Corfu to film the scene where Bond kicks Locque’s car off the cliff.

October 16

* 1972: The crew of Live and Let Die shot the famous boat jump in the Louisanna Bayou.

* 1980: The For Your Eyes Only cast and crew arrived in Meteora, Greece, to find the local monks are no longer willing to allow them to film on their land

October 17

* 1980: Monks in the monastic community of Meteora, Greece, closed their monasteries to visitors and hung blankets and canvas sheets to create a visual blight in protest of the nearby filming of For Your Eyes Only, the twelfth “official” James Bond film. Although permission for the filming had been granted by Greek authorities and the Greek church, the monks claimed that the filmmakers offended the sanctity of the area with scenes ’smothered with terror, sex and violence.’ The film crew eventually decided to build their own monastery on an adjacent rock that had been unused thus far.

October 20

* 1959: Kevin McClory told Ivor Bryce that he thinks he can get Jack Whittingham to write a script for Thunderball for £6000. McClory believed they must hurry to sign Whittingham as he knew that Walt Disney wanted to put him under contract.

* 1966: John Pearson’s The Life Of Ian Fleming was first published in England by Jonathan Cape.

October 21

* 1954: James Bond made his first screen appearance, played by Barry Nelson in the Climax! television production of Casino Royale.

* 1959: Ian Fleming completed the second draft of the Thunderball story incorporating some of Jack Whittingham’s ideas.

* 1968: Principal photography on On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the sixth “official” James Bond film, began at the Piz Gloria restaurant in Switzerland.

October 24

* 1954: Kevin McClory told Ivor Bryce that he had reduced Jack Whittingham’s fee of £6000 to £5000 and that Ian Fleming thought they should “engage” him immediately. Whittingham reduced his fee with the understanding that the then untitled Thunderball script would be the first in a series of screenplays.

October 27

* 1959: An agreement was drawn up between Jack Whittingham and Xanadu Productions to complete the first screenplay based on the James Bond character.

* 1986: Filmmakers of The Living Daylights filmed at Malcom Forbes’ residence in Morraco where they discover his re-enactments of famous war battles using miniature figurines. It inspired the filmmakers to use the idea in their film.

October 28

* 1960: Ian Fleming assigned Thunderball to Trustees at Glidrose Productions.

October 29

* 2008: The world premiere of Quantum of Solace, the twenty-second “official” James Bond film, was held at the Odeon Cinema, Leicester Square in London, England.

October 30

* 1952: The infant son of Anne and Ian Fleming was christened Caspar Robert Fleming. The godparents were Mrs. Anthony Eden, Peter Fleming, Noël Coward, Cecil Beaton, and Duff Dunbar.

October 31

* 1966: David Davenport, doubling for Sean Connery, began filming the first scenes shot on the huge volcano set in You Only Live Twice.

* 1986: The special effects crew for The Living Daylights filmed miniatures of the Hercules cargo plane and Bond’s jeep at Ouarza At, Morocco.

* 2008: Quantum of Solace, the first James Bond videogame from Activision, was released in the United Kngdom.

* 2008: Quantum of Solace, the twenty-second “official” James Bond film, was released in the United Kngdom.


BIRTHS

* 1st – 1903, Richard Loo (Hai Fat, The Man with the Golden Gun)
* 2nd – 1910, Jack Whittingham (Screenplay (story), Thunderball & Never Say Never Again)
* 4th – 1953, Tchéky Karyo (Defense Minister Dmitri Mishkin, GoldenEye)
* 4th – 1984, Rachel McDowall (Anna, Quantum of Solace)
* 5th – 1919, Donald Pleasence (Ernst Stavro Blofeld, You Only Live Twice)
* 6th – 1942, Britt Ekland (Mary Goodnight, The Man With The Golden Gun)
* 14th – 1927, Roger Moore (James Bond, 1973-1985)
* 15th – 1955, Tanya Roberts (Stacey Sutton, A View To A Kill)
* 15th – 1967, Götz Otto (Stamper, Tomorrow Never Dies)
* 17th – 1928, Tessa Prendergast (Costume Design, Dr. No)
* 18th – 1900, Lotte Lenya (Rosa Klebb, From Russia With Love)
* 18th – 1916, Anthony Dawson (Professor Dent, Dr. No)
* 24th – 1940, Martin Campbell (Director, GoldenEye & Casino Royale)
* 25th – 1965, Mathieu Amalric (Dominic Greene, Quantum of Solace)
* 27th – 1915, Harry Saltzman (Producer, 1962-1974)
* 27th – 1939, John Cleese (R/Q, The World Is Not Enough/Die Another Day)
* 29th – 1974, Cecilie Thomsen (Prof. Inga Bergstrom, Tomorrow Never Dies)
* 30th – 1925, Louis Blaazer (Pleydell-Smith, Dr. No)


DEATHS

* 3rd – 1975, Caspar Fleming (Son of Ian Fleming)
* 4th – 1988, Margaret Lacey (Mrs. Whistler, Diamonds are Forever)
* 10th – 1985, Orson Welles (Le Chiffre, Casino Royale (1967))
* 16th – 1981, William Holden (CIA Chief Ransome, Casino Royale (1967))
* 16th – 1992, Vladek Sheybal (Kronsteen, From Russia with Love / Le Chiffre’s Representative, Casino Royale (1967))
* 17th – 2004, Julius Harris (Tee Hee, Live and Let Die)
* 22nd – 1983, Paul Hardwick (Soviet Chairman, Octopussy)
* 22nd – 2000, Anthony Chinn (Decontamination Technician, Dr. No)

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