Composer Thomas Newman, brought into the 007 fold by Sam Mendes for Skyfall, was born on 20th October 1955 in Los Angeles, replacing house composer David Arnold.
Newman has a long history with Mendes, scoring the director’s first feature film American Beauty, followed by Road to Perdition, Jarhead and Revolutionary Road and has many more feature film credits dating back to 1984 with Reckless.
Joseph Wiseman, who appeared as the very first Bond villain in Dr No (1962), died on 19th October 2009.
Although Wiseman preferred to be remembered for his stage career, he is best known for playing Dr Julius No after coming to the attention of Harry Saltzman in the film Detective Story (1951).
Julius W Harris who played Tee Hee Johnson in Live And Let Die died on 17th October 2004 in California aged 81.
Harris had worked as a nurse and a bouncer in the jazz clubs of New York before winning his first screen role in Nothing But a Man (1964). He later appeared in blaxploitation movies such as Superfly and Shaft’s Big Score, before securing the role of Tee Hee in Live And Let Die, which was notably influenced by the blaxploitation genre.
Götz Otto, who played Mr Stamper in Tomorrow Never Dies was born in Dietzenbach, West Germany on 15th October 1967.
Tanya Roberts, who played Stacey Sutton in A View to a Kill was born in New York on 15th October 1955.
The third actor to play 007 in the official EON series, Roger Moore, was born on 14th October 1927 in Stockwell, London, the son of a policeman.
Moore took over after Sean Connery left the series for the second time following Diamonds Are Forever, playing Bond in a very different way to Connery’s portrayal. Although his Bond films are not to everyone’s taste, he remains the longest serving 007. His full list of Bond films is:
Live And Let Die (1973)
The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Moonraker (1979)
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Octopussy (1983)
A View To A Kill (1985)
Daniel Craig was announced as the new James Bond on 14th October 2005.
Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson introduced the rather nervous Craig at an event on HMS Belfast on the Thames. Craig arrived on a speedboat accompanied by the Royal Marines and immediately came under attack by part of the fan base, as well as a sustained attack by the UK tabloid press throughout the filming of Casino Royale.
Of course, Craig got to have the last laugh as Casino Royale was a huge success.
Ben Whishaw, who was introduced as gadget master Q in Daniel Craig’s third outing as 007, was born on 14th October 1980.
Prior to Skyfall, Whishaw appeared in Layer Cake, also staring Daniel Craig and played Sebastian Flyte in a film adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, as well as a variety of other roles in film, TV and theatre, including the voice of Paddington Bear.
