Posted on 06/06/2015 5:59:06 PM PDT by Perdogg
With a voice that sounded as if it was preserved in oak and dark good looks straight out of a Bronte novel, it’s a surprise that Richard Johnson (who died today) never became an A-list film star. However, the career which he carved out on stage and screen was probably far more interesting – and durable – than a life at the mercy of a big studio would have allowed.
Certainly his bid for the big time was thwarted early on. MGM, who had been impressed with his performance in Never So Few (1959), signed him to a multi-million pound deal, and yet his next role, in Biblical epic King of Kings, ended up in the editing suite dustbin.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Want to see the actor that should’ve got the role instead of Craig ? Watch Clive Owen (currently doing the series, “The Knick.”). I was lobbying for his casting. I liked 2 other JB portrayers, George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton. Roger Moore was OK, but he played it like he was still doing “The Saint.” Brosnan was too insufferable. Connery, of course, was the gold standard.
Turn is a good show...Any wonder why AMC is kicking network Tv butt
Sad that this week is the last episode of the season.
I don’t recognize him.
Of course Connery was the best. I had the pleasure of seeing “Goldfinger” on the big screen for first time today.
But I don’t think Johnson would’ve been too bad of a 2nd choice.
He got a chance to play a very James Bondian mid 1960s updating of the 1920s English fictional detective Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond in the best of the 1960s Bond knockoff films, “Deadlier Than The Male” with Elke Sommer.
It’s currently available on youtube if you’ve never seen it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhdjmZ_uJZU
I think it comes the closest in quality to an official Bond film. I rank it higher than the James Coburn/Derek Flint films(and I quite enjoy those as well).
However, avoid the dreadful sequel to it Johnson made called “Some Girls Do”. It’s so campy it makes the Dean Martin/Matt Helm films look like “From Russia With Love”.
actually, Bulldog Drummond came before Bond. I.F. based the Bond series after Drummond.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/damian-lewis-frontrunner-replace-daniel-5890480
A ginger Bond? Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?
Whatever. I still haven’t watched a 007 flick since “Die Another Day”.
I think Brucina Jenner should be cast as James and Jenny Bond.
That, I’d watch.
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