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In loving memory of Desmond Llewelyn - 'Q'.
1914 - 1999
Bond would be dead if it weren't for you.
Bio at bottom. Obituary
Year Title
Sean Connery
1962 Dr. No
1963 From Russia with love
1964 Goldfinger
1965 Thunderball
1967 You only live twice
George Lazenby
1969 On her majesty's secret service
Sean Connery
1971 Diamonds are forever
Roger Moore
1973
Live & let die
1974 The Man with the golden gun
1977 Spy who loved me
1979 Moonraker
1981 For your eyes only
1983 Octopussy
1985 View to a kill
Timothy Dalton
1987 The living daylights
1989 License to kill
Pierce Bronson
1995 Goldeneye
1997 Tommorow never dies
1999 The world is not enough
2002 Die Another Day
Sean Connery
83 Never say never again
- Desmond Llewelyn
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Mini biography (IMDB.com)
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Desmond Llewelyn was born in South Wales in 1914,
the son of a coal mining engineer. In high school, he worked as a
stagehand in the school's productions and then picked up sporadic
small parts. His family would not give up their effort to prevent him
from a life on stage, so an uncle who was a high ranking police
officer arranged for Llewelyn to take the department's physical exam.
"Thank God, I flunked the eye test, and they [police] wouldn't
take me. I suspect the inspector had a hangover because he also failed
this other chap I knew, who went out the same day and passed the
physical for the Royal Navy, which had a lot tougher test." After
failing the police exam, Llewelyn thought about becoming a minister,
realizing after a week-long retreat of quiet and meditation that the
ministry "was definitely not for me." Llewelyn persevered in
his acting quest, and was accepted to the Royal Academy for the
Dramatic Arts in the mid 1930s. The outbreak of World War II in
September 1939, halted his acting career, and Llewelyn was
commissioned as a second lieutenant in the British army. He was
assigned to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and was sent to France in early
1940. In a short time, his regiment was fighting the Germans, and
Llewelyn's company was holding off a division of German tanks.
Llewelyn explained that "eventually, the tanks broke through and
many of us jumped into this canal and started swimming down it to the
other side, figuring that our chaps were still over there. But the
Germans were the only ones there," and Llewelyn was captured, and
held as a prisoner
of war for five years. At one prison
camp, the prisoners
had dug a tunnel and were planning to escape the next morning.
Llewelyn was down in the tunnel doing some maintenance work in
preparation of the escape when the Germans found out about the tunnel
and caught him down in it, a crime that earned Llewelyn 10 days in
solitary, which Llewelyn called "a blessing of sorts. After
spending every day of several years sleeping in a room with 50 other
people, the quiet and privacy was rather nice." After the war,
Llewelyn returned to London and revived his career, eventually being
cast as his trademark Q in From
Russia with Love (1963). Since 1963, Llewelyn has appeared as Q in
every MGM/UA Bond film, except Live
and Let Die (1973). Llewelyn was omitted from Live
and Let Die (1973) because producers Harry
Saltzman and Albert
R. Broccoli felt that too much was being made of the gadgets and
they would play it down. Llewelyn said he "was quite
disappointed" at being left out of Live
and Let Die (1973). Fans, however, missed Q, and Llewelyn got a
call shortly after the release of Live
and Let Die (1973) telling him that he would be in the next Bond
film, Man with the Golden
Gun, The (1974). Llewelyn, who admits that his mechanical
abilities in real life are virtually nil, is geared up for the next
Bond movie. "I'd love to be in the next one," Llewelyn said.
"Of course, if you consider my age, they should have put me out
to grass a long time ago."
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