Bond On Bond by Roger Moore Read Free Book Online

suggested, ‘You come in here, and follow him over there.’
    ‘Why do I always have to follow
him
?’ she asked.
    ‘Because, dear, he is f***ing James Bond!’ Lewis helpfully replied.
    To be perfectly honest, ladies cast in a Bond film were primarily signed because of their beauty, charm, charisma and, oh yes, a little acting ability helped too. It’s no great secret that Nikki Van Der Zyl dubbed many of the voices in the sixties films, because their accents were considered a little too heavy, but their outstanding beauty made them much sought-after individuals.
    The lovely Cassandra Harris played Countess Lisl. She was joined by her young husband for the premiere. Cubby thought he could be a candidate for Bond …
     
    If you’re going to fool around in a wardrobe, I suggest you do it with the delectable Madeline Smith.
    Not all were very experienced in screen acting technique, and I recall all too well a sequence when cigarette smoke (or actually a stun gas) had to be blown into my face. For smoke, talcum powder was substituted, and instead of blowing it slightly to the side of my face the lady in question blew it straight into my eye – not just in one take, but in four. It wasn’t one of my favourite days.
    Just ahead of a rather large set piece, involving big explosions, another leading lady wondered why my make-up man had presented me with a set of earplugs. I explained the noise would be rather deafening. ‘Oh well, that won’t bother me as I’ll stand near you.’ I had to explain that it was
me
they were trying to kill.
    Towards the end of my tenure, I believe I was extraordinarily patient and good-willed with two leading ladies who became obsessive about dashing back to their handbags after every take to re-apply lipstick and face powder. I’d wait and wait for them to reappear with another layer, say a line and then disappear again. This went on incessantly and wasted so much time. When they weren’t looking, I decided to take the lipsticks out of the bags, and built a little pile of them, along with powder puffs and mirrors, but the ladies never really noticed as, without flinching, they dipped their hand in to their bottomless bags to produce yet another one. Heaven only knows how many sets they owned.
    The character of Goodnight appears in Ian Fleming’s books
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
and
You Only Live Twice
as Bond’s secretary, before becoming a fully-fledged Bond girl in
The Man With The Golden Gun.
Britt Ekland was a great fan of the books and lobbied the producers to cast her in the role. Then, as is often the way in this business, she read an article saying Swedish actress Maud Adams had been confirmed as the next Bond girl. Her heart sank. Of course, she then received a call to say she had got the part after all, Maud was playing the villain’s girlfriend, Andrea Anders.
    My Swedish friend Britt Ekland.
Bon appétit
, and Goodnight.
    On James Bond Island the crew rigged up explosions for the finale of the movie, when Scaramanga’s HQ goes up in smoke. Everything was carefully timed for us to run from A to B as the explosions went off. Rather worryingly, the cameras were set up offshore on boats.
    Guy Hamilton called ‘Action!’ and I ran. But Britt hesitated for a moment. I was faced with a split-second decision: carry on running, or be the gallant hero and go back for her. I turned around, grabbed and pulled her forward, towards me. I then felt all the tiny hairs on her back singe after the first explosion. I’m such a hero.
    Barbara Bach, former model and wife-to-be of Ringo Starr, was quite a different Bond girl in that she was the Soviet oppo of Jim. As agent Triple-X she perhaps had the most prominent starring role since Diana Rigg in
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
.
    Maud Adams as
Octopussy
.
    Cubby was under huge pressure to get everything right on this film, and I know he had spent a long time looking for the perfect girl. He answered the question of why Barbara