Desmond Llewelyn
Desmond Llewelyn | |
---|---|
Born | Desmond Wilkinson Llewelyn 12 September 1914 Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales |
Died | 19 December 1999 Eastbourne, East Sussex, England | (aged 85)
Alma mater | Radley College |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1939–1999 |
Spouse |
Pamela Pantlin (m. 1938) |
Children | 2 |
Military career | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | Second World War |
Desmond Wilkinson Llewelyn (Welsh:
Biography
Early life
Llewelyn was born on 12 September 1914 at Blaen-y-Pant House in Bettws,
While Llewelyn originally wanted to be a minister, he became involved in theatrical productions during his education at Radley College. Initially working as a stagehand, he was encouraged to take on more acting roles by his fellow pupil Dennis Price. During his education, Llewelyn gained renown as a skilled sportsman, particularly as a rugby player and he remained a fan of the game throughout his life.[7] The young Llewelyn would play rugby for Newport RFC and can be seen wearing the club tie in The Living Daylights as well as that of Malpas Cricket Club in Octopussy.[8]
Despite the objections of his father Llewelyn decided to pursue an acting career, and was accepted into the
Second World War
Llewelyn's nascent acting career was paused by the
Acting career
After the war Llewelyn continued his career as an actor, returning to television work in
In 1950, Llewelyn drew on both his war experience and Welsh background to play a supporting role as "'77 Jones" a Welsh tank commander in the film They Were Not Divided directed by Terence Young. Throughout the 1950s Llewelyn appeared in a number of small roles in films such as The Lavender Hill Mob, Valley of Song, A Night to Remember, Knights of the Round Table, Sword of Sherwood Forest and an appearance in The Curse of the Werewolf the 1961 Hammer Horror film.
James Bond series
In 1963 Terence Young asked Llewelyn to read for the part of
Llewelyn would become a staple of the film series for over thirty years, playing 'Q' the
His last appearance as Q prior to his death was in
In 1967, Llewelyn portrayed 'Q' alongside
Although Llewelyn became one of British cinema's most recognisable characters and an important and long-standing element in the 'Bond' franchise, 'Q' did not make Llewelyn rich—the actor was merely paid 'by the day' for his few hours of work on-set and did not share in the money made by the films. Nevertheless, because Llewelyn was considered one of the franchise's major institutions and also immensely popular among Bond fans, Llewelyn starred in several commercials, including ones to promote the video games GoldenEye 007 and Tomorrow Never Dies.
Other roles
Llewellyn continued to act in other roles throughout his tenure as 'Q', notably appearing the 1963 film
The Bond film Live and Let Die was filmed during the third series of Follyfoot, and Llewelyn was written out of the series for three episodes so he could appear in the film. However, the Bond producers ultimately decided to leave the character out of the film anyway, much to Llewelyn's annoyance.[10]
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1995 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at London's Hyde Park Hotel, during a press launch for the new Bond film, GoldenEye.[7]
Personal life
Llewelyn married Pamela Mary Pantlin in Kensington in May 1938. The couple had two sons, Charles Ivor (b. 1949) and Justin Cather (1953-2012). Despite playing an inventor in the Bond films, Llewelyn always maintained that he was totally lost in the world of technology, a trait that also plagued his successors, John Cleese and Ben Whishaw. A biography entitled Q: The Biography of Desmond Llewelyn was written by Sandy Hernu, and subsequently released on 1 November 1999.
Death
On 19 December 1999, Llewelyn was driving alone from a book signing event when his
Llewelyn's death occurred three weeks after the premiere of The World Is Not Enough. Roger Moore, who starred with Llewelyn in six of his seven Bond films, spoke at his funeral on 6 January 2000[13] at St Mary the Virgin Church in Battle, Sussex.[14] The service was followed by a private cremation at Hastings Crematorium, with the ashes given to Llewelyn's family.[14]
His widow, Pamela Mary Llewelyn, died in East Sussex in 2001, also aged 85. His son, Justin Llewelyn, died in 2012, aged 59.[15]
Selected filmography
- Ask a Policeman (1939) as Headless Coachman (uncredited)
- Captain Boycott (1947) as Gentleman on Train (uncredited)
- Hamlet (1948) as Extra (uncredited)
- Adam and Evelyne (1949) as Undetermined Supporting Role (uncredited)
- The Chiltern Hundreds (1949) as First guardsman (uncredited)
- Guilt Is My Shadow (1950) as Pub customer
- They Were Not Divided (1950) as '77 Jones
- The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) as First guardsman (uncredited)
- Valley of Song (1953) as Lloyd as Schoolmaster
- Operation Diplomat (1953) as Police Constable at barrier (uncredited)
- Knights of the Round Table (1953) as A Herald (uncredited)
- Stryker of the Yard (1953)
- A Night to Remember (1958) as Seaman at Steerage Gate (uncredited)
- Further Up the Creek (1958) as Chief Yeoman (uncredited)
- Corridors of Blood (1958) as Assistant at operations (uncredited)
- Sapphire (1959) as Police Constable (uncredited)
- Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960) as Wounded Fugitive (uncredited)
- Gorgo (1961) (uncredited)
- The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) as 1st Footman (uncredited)
- Only Two Can Play (1962) as Clergyman on Bus (uncredited)
- The Pirates of Blood River (1962) as Tom Blackthorne (uncredited)
- Cleopatra (1963) as Senator (uncredited)[16]
- From Russia with Love (1963) as Boothroyd / Q
- The Silent Playground (1963) as Dr. Green
- Goldfinger (1964) as Q
- The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965) as Jailer (uncredited)
- Thunderball (1965) as Q
- You Only Live Twice (1967) as Q
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) as Mr. Coggins
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) as Q
- Diamonds Are Forever (1971) as Q
- The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) as Q
- The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) as Q
- The Golden Lady (1979) as Professor Dixon
- Moonraker (1979) as Q
- For Your Eyes Only (1981) as Q
- Octopussy (1983) as Q
- A View to a Kill (1985) as Q
- The Living Daylights (1987) as Q
- Prisoner of Rio (1988) as Commissioner Ingram
- Licence to Kill (1989) as Q
- Merlin (1993) as Professor Mycroft
- GoldenEye (1995) as Q
- Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) as Q
- The World Is Not Enough (1999) as Q
- The Millennium Disaster: Computer Crash 2000 (1999) as Peregrin Morley
Other appearances
- Dangerman: Episode "The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovergrove" 1964 as Charles - Doorman
- James Bond: Licence to Thrill – TV Movie documentary (1987) as Himself
- Wogan(1989) – episode – Licence to Kill Special
- 30 Years of James Bond – TV Movie documentary (1992) as Himself
- The Goldfinger Phenomenon – Video documentary short (1995) as Himself
- Behind the Scenes with 'Thunderball' – Video documentary (1995) as Himself / Q
- GoldenEye: The Secret Files – TV Short documentary (1995) as Himself
- In Search of James Bond with Jonathan Ross – TV Movie documentary (1995) as Q
- This Is Your Life – TV Series documentary – Desmond Llewelyn (1995) as Himself
- The World of James Bond – TV Movie documentary (1995) as Himself
- Countdown to Tomorrow – Documentary (1997) as Himself / Q
- The Secrets of 007: The James Bond Files- TV Movie documentary (1997) as Himself / Q
- James Bond: Shaken and Stirred – TV Movie documentary (1997) as Himself
- License to Thrill – Short (1999) as Q
- The Making of 'The World Is Not Enough' – Video documentary short (1999) as Himself
- Exclusive – TV Series documentary – Episode dated 21 November 1999 (1999) as Himself – Interviewee
- The Bond Cocktail – TV Movie documentary (1999) as Himself
- Highly Classified: The World of 007 – Video documentary (1998) as Q
- The James Bond Story – TV Movie documentary (1999) as Himself / Q
- Inside "From Russia with Love" – Video documentary short (2000) as Himself
- Inside "Moonraker" – Video documentary short (2000) as Himself
- Inside Q's Lab – Video documentary short (2000) as Himself / Q
- Terence Young: Bond Vivant – Video documentary short (2000) as Himself
- Now Pay Attention 007: A Tribute to Actor Desmond Llewelyn – TV Movie documentary (2000) as Himself
References
- ^ GRO Register of Births: DEC 1914 11a 490 NEWPORT M. – Desmond W. Llewelyn, mmn = Wilkinson
- ^ GRO Register of Deaths: JUN 2000 A70E 247 EASTBOURNE – Desmond Wilkinson Llewelyn, DoB = 12 September 1914, aged 85
- ^ "Desmond Llewelyn Biography ((?)-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
- ^ "Desmond Llewelyn – An Obituary". Archived from the original on 2 February 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2007.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Desmond Llewelyn Biography". Retrieved 19 November 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Very First Production Bentley Up For Sale". Motor Authority. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Hyde, Robert. "Llewelyn, Desmond Wilkinson (1914 - 1999), actor". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ^ Spaiser, Matt (7 September 2015). "Q's History Through Ties". Bond Suits. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
- ^ From an interview on the DVD release of The World Is Not Enough.
- ^ "Llewelyn's last interview (with reference to Follyfoot and Live and Let Die)". Follyfoot-tv.co.uk. 19 December 1999. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
- ^ "Bond actor killed in crash". BBC News. 19 December 1999. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
- ^ "Road death of Q actor accidental". The Guardian. London. 14 June 2000. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
- ^ "James Bond's tribute to 'Q'". BBC News.
- ^ a b "Mourners remember 'Q'". BBC News. 6 January 2000. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
- ^ "Eventing commentator Justin Llewelyn dies". horsetalk.co.nz. 11 December 2012. Archived from the original on 4 May 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
- ISBN 9780786409877.
External links
- Obituary at Salon.com Archived 28 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- Desmond Llewelyn at IMDb
- Desmond Llewelyn at the BFI's Screenonline
- The Follyfoot forum