Bernard Lee
Bernard Lee | |
---|---|
![]() Lee in Beat the Devil (1953) | |
Born | John Bernard Lee 10 January 1908 |
Died | 16 January 1981 London, England | (aged 73)
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1924 – 1981 |
Spouses | Gladys Merredew
(m. 1934; died 1972)Ursula McHale (m. 1975) |
Children | 1 |
Family | Jonny Lee Miller (grandson) |
John Bernard Lee (10 January 1908 – 16 January 1981) was an English actor, best known for his role as
Early life
Lee was born on 10 January 1908,
Early acting career
After graduating from RADA in the 1930s, Lee began working in repertory theatre in Cardiff and in Rusholme, Manchester, before beginning work on the West End stage in thrillers, such as Blind Man's Bluff.[7] He also played comedic roles, such as in the play Ten Minute Alibi with Arthur Askey.[6]
Lee's screen debut was in The Double Event (1934),[8] followed by a role as Cartwright in Berthold Viertel's Rhodes of Africa (1936), a biopic of Cecil Rhodes, in which he starred alongside Walter Huston, Oscar Homolka, and Basil Sydney. Although Lee was in wartime service in the army between 1940 and 1946,[9] he had managed to act in several films earlier which were released between 1939 and 1943, including Murder in Soho, The Frozen Limits, and Let George Do It! (known in the US as To Hell with Hitler, 1940) with George Formby.[10]
Military service
Lee served with the
Film and stage actor
In the late 1940s, Lee returned to the stage whilst also developing a successful film career. He had appeared in Murder in Soho (1939) then in
During the 1950s, Lee had a long run on stage, appearing as Able Seaman Turner in Seagulls Over Sorrento,[7] a role he later reprised in the film of the same name with Gene Kelly (released in the US as Crest of the Wave).[14] Lee starred opposite Gregory Peck in The Purple Plain (1954), playing a Royal Air Force medical officer based in Burma during the late Second World War and portrayed Captain Patrick Dove in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's war film The Battle of the River Plate (1956), based upon the battle of the same name. He starred alongside John Gregson, Anthony Quayle and Peter Finch. George Lovell remarked that Captain Patrick Dove was played "ponderously by Bernard Lee, but he forms a much closer bond with the battleship's commander, Captain Langsdorff (Peter Finch)."[15] The film was the fourth most popular film in Britain in 1957.[16] Other films of this period include The Spanish Gardener (1956), Dunkirk (1958), Beyond This Place (1959), Whistle Down the Wind (1961), and The L-Shaped Room (1962).
James Bond series
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/61/Bernard_lee.jpg/170px-Bernard_lee.jpg)
In 1962 Lee was cast in the role that The Illustrated Who's Who of the Cinema described as his best remembered,
Terence Pettigrew, in his study British film character actors: great names and memorable moments agreed, noting that Lee was a "gruff, reliable, no-nonsense role character actor",[8] with "kindly eyes, droll manner and expressly Anglo-Saxon level-headedness".[8] In 1967, Lee appeared in O.K. Connery, a spoof of the James Bond film series which starred Connery's brother Neil Connery, Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny), and several former actors of the series. During this period he also appeared in several ITC television productions such as The Baron, Man in a Suitcase, and Danger Man. In 1972, he portrayed Tarmut the sculptor in Terence Fisher's Hammer Horror picture Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, alongside Peter Cushing, Shane Briant, and David Prowse; it was not released until 1974.[24]
Personal life
On 30 January 1972, Lee's first wife,
Three years after the fire, Lee married television director's assistant Ursula McHale.[29] Lee's first marriage produced a daughter, Ann, who also followed her father onto the stage, and did so with his blessing, Lee saying "She's doing what she wants to do and enjoying every moment of it."[22] Ann later married Alan Miller, a stage actor and later stage manager at the BBC: their son is the British actor Jonny Lee Miller.[32][33][34] Lee's hobbies included golf, fishing, reading, music and sailing.[5]
Death
In November 1980, Lee was admitted to the Royal Free Hospital in London, suffering from stomach cancer. He died there on 16 January 1981, six days after his 73rd birthday;[35] his wife Ursula was present at his death.[3][13] After his death, Ursula joined Exit (now Dignity in Dying) after witnessing Lee's suffering.[36] Lee was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on Friday, January 23, 1981.
Lee died after filming began on For Your Eyes Only, but before he could film his scenes as M.[37] Out of respect for Lee, no replacement was found, and the script was rewritten so that the character was said to be on leave.[38] A year after Lee's death, Terence Pettigrew summarised his acting work as a "Gruff, reliable, no-nonsense role character actor, whose many credits include policemen, servicemen, father figures, and spy chiefs. Mostly shows the honest, hard-working face of officialdom, with only very occasional lapses."[8] Lee was replaced in the role of M by Robert Brown, who acted with Lee in The Spy Who Loved Me.
Filmography and other works
From 1962 to 1979 Lee featured in eleven James Bond films as the character M, Bond's superior:[39]
Year | Film |
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1962 | Dr. No |
1963 | From Russia with Love |
1964 | Goldfinger |
1965 | Thunderball |
1967 | You Only Live Twice |
1969 | On Her Majesty's Secret Service |
1971 | Diamonds Are Forever |
1973 | Live and Let Die |
1974 | The Man with the Golden Gun |
1977 | The Spy Who Loved Me |
1979 | Moonraker |
References
Notes
- ^ Two reliable and independent sources (the British Film Institute (BFI) and the 1981 reference work Who's Who in the Theatre, Volume 1) have differing locations for Lee's place of birth, with Parker showing London and the BFI listing Cork, stating "Some sources give London as birthplace".[3] The 1938, 1942 and 1943 editions of the International Motion Picture Almanac also claim he was born in County Cork.[4]
Citations
- ISBN 9798887710723.
- ^ a b Parker 1981, p. 413.
- ^ a b c "Lee, Bernard". BFI Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
- ^ IMPA 1942, p. 355.
- ^ Evening Times. p. 5. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- ^ a b c d "Obituary: Mr Bernard Lee". The Times. 19 January 1981. p. 12.
- ^ a b c Billington, Michael (19 January 1981). "Bond's loss". The Guardian. p. 9.
- ^ a b c d Pettigrew 1982, p. 120.
- ^ McFarlane 2005, p. 407.
- ^ Aldgate & Richards 2007, p. 82.
- ^ "Anna Neagle Most Popular Actress". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 3 January 1948. p. 3. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
- ^ Pettigrew 1982, p. 118.
- ^ a b "Bernard Lee is Dead; British Actor Had Roles in James Bond Movies". The New York Times. 18 January 1981. p. 28.
- ^ "Crest of the Wave(1954)". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
- ^ Lovell 2000, p. 224.
- ^ Anderson, Lindsay; Dent, David (8 January 1958). "Time For New Ideas". The Times. London. p. 9.
- ^ Lloyd, Fuller & Desser 1983, p. 260.
- ^ "Actor Lee in Bond Films Dead". London. Associated Press. 17 January 1981.
- ^ Cork & Stutz 2007, p. 154.
- ^ Rubin 2003, p. 227-228.
- ^ Smith & Lavington 2002, p. 15.
- ^ a b "Talented Bernard Lee – typical British actor". The Spokesman-Review. 20 February 1960. p. 80. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- ^ Pomerance 2004, p. 184.
- ^ Pykett 2008, p. 52.
- ^ Luck, Norman (31 January 1972). "Cottage fire kills wife of actor Bernard Lee". Daily Express. p. 8.
- ^ Warner 1975, p. 52.
- ^ "Two convicted of robbing actor". The Times. 13 September 1972. p. 2.
- ^ Waite, Keith (29 January 1975). "The secret of M". Daily Mirror. p. 11.
- ^ Sunday Express. p. 1.
- ^ Sloan, Robin Adams (12 February 1981). "A friend in need". The Spokesman-Review. p. 61. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- ^ Britton 2006, p. 149.
- ^ McFarlane, Brian. "Lee, Bernard (1908–1981)". Screenonline. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 4 May 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
- ^ Reid, Vicki (3 October 2009). "Jonny Lee Miller: interview". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- ^ "Jonny Lee Miller". BuddyTV. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- ^ "Spy Chief M Dies". United Press International. 17 January 1981.
- ^ "Mercy death call by M widow". Daily Mirror. 24 January 1981. p. 9.
- ^ Barnes & Hearn 2001, p. 138.
- ^ Pfeiffer & Worrall 1998, p. 98.
- ^ Rubin 2003, p. 227.
Sources
- Aldgate, Anthony; ISBN 978-1-84511-445-9. Archivedfrom the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- Barnes, Alan; Hearn, Marcus (2001). Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang!: the unofficial James Bond film companion. Batsford Books. ISBN 978-0-7134-8182-2.
- Britton, Wesley Alan (30 October 2006). Onscreen And Undercover: The Ultimate Book of Movie Espionage. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-99281-1.
- Cork, John; Stutz, Collin (2007). James Bond Encyclopedia. London: Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 978-1-4053-3427-3.
- Gifford, Denis (1986). The British film catalogue 1895–1985: a reference guide. London: David & Charles Plc. ISBN 978-0-7153-8835-8.
- ISBN 978-0-684-18826-3.
- International Motion Picture Almanac. Groton, Massachusetts: Quigley Publishing Company. 1942. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- Kabatchnik, Amnon (2011). Blood on the Stage, 1950–1975: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery and Detection: An Annotated Repertoire. Plymouth, Devon: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7783-2. Archivedfrom the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-690-01204-0.
- Lloyd, Ann; Fuller, Graham; Desser, Arnold (1983). The Illustrated who's who of the cinema. London: Orbis Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85613-521-7.
- Lovell, George (28 December 2000). Consultancy, Ministry & Mission. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-86012-312-5.
- McFarlane, Brian (2005). The Encyclopedia of British film. London: Methuen Publishing. ISBN 978-0-413-77526-9.
- Parker, John (1981). Who's who in the theatre, volume 1. Bristol: Pitman. ISBN 0-8103-0235-7.
- Pettigrew, Terence (1982). British film character actors: great names and memorable moments. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7153-8270-7. Archivedfrom the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- Pomerance, Murray (2004). Bad: Infamy, Darkness, Evil, and Slime on Screen. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-5940-9.
- Pfeiffer, Lee; Worrall, Dave (1998). The essential Bond. London: Boxtree Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7522-2477-0.
- Pykett, Derek (20 July 2008). British Horror Film Locations. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3329-2.
- ISBN 978-0-8065-1892-3.
- Rubin, Steven Jay (2003). The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-141246-8.
- ISBN 978-1-86064-254-8.
- Smith, Jim; Lavington, Stephen (2002). Bond films. London: Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-7535-0709-4.
- ISBN 978-0-491-01952-1.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Bernard Lee at the better source needed]
- Bernard Lee at the BFI's Screenonline
- Bernard Lee at IMDb
- Bernard Lee at the TCM Movie Database