I was noticing in some old comic books: alongside the XRay Specs and Sea Monkeys, there were ads to mail order life size posters of David McCallum, he mustve been quite the teenybopper sex symbol back in the day
so whats Sapphire and Steel like? I know he was paired with Joanne Lumley, another actor of interest to us connoisseurs of vintage SpyMania
A few weeks ago I bought two box sets of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." (as I've discussed in other threads) and have been happily working my way them. Not so happily, now. RIP Mr McCallum.
And yes, @caractacus potts, he was very much a teenybopper sex symbol back then- magazines, pin-ups, he even made a record. I enjoyed much of his subsequent TV work such as "Colditz" and "The Invisible Man" but like Napoleon (no, our Napoleon) I couldn't get into "Sapphire and Steel".
RIP David MacCallum, mostly known to me from his role in The Great Escape, as well as the much poorer knock off of 633 Squadron called Mosquito Squadron. I've obviously heard about his work on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. but I've never seen any of it.
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,871MI6 Agent
Sad to hear of the death of David McCallum on the TV Breakfast News this morning. He was great in The Man From UNCLE. I remember enjoying the show as part of my interest in Bond and classic 1960s spy shows more generally when they were repeated on TV in the mid-1990s. I remember hearing that David McCallum actually got more fan mail than his co-star Robert Vaughan which was surprising as Napoleon Solo was meant to be the main hero of the series as opposed to Illya Kuryakin. The general public can sometimes tell you otherwise! At least he had a good full life and made it to 90.
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
He told the story in a BBC interview I recall, where he was palled up with the posh dippy bloke off Four Weddings - not like that in real life of course - in a boozy restaurant setting where old actors reminisce. He told how he was interviewed for Bond as Connery was throwing in the towel in the early 70s - this being a time when just about every British actor and beyond was tested for the part - and Gambon said he admitted to producer Harry Saltzman that he wasn't sure why they were considering him. When Saltzman asked why, Gambon replied - and you have to imagine him saying this with a glass of red in his hand, or a cigar, in his unexcited, lugubrious drawl; 'Because I'm balding and I've got tits.' Saltzman - no personal friend of the departing actor - replied, 'Sean Connery's got a toupe, and he's got tits. We have to put ice blocks on them before love scenes.' Gambon then said in the interview that due to his brilliant interaction he assumed he might have got the role but it turned out - and again, he told this in a downbeat matter of fact manner with nary an inflection of regret, that he hadn't.
In the same interview Sir Michael Gambon told how he would prank gullible Americans dining with him in West End restaurants by saying that once perk of being a knight was that you could ask any woman to go to bed with you and they had to oblige. He would then wander over to an adjacent table to an attractive woman and lean over and quietly say 'I'm playing a practical joke on my American friends' explaining the situation and asking 'Would you go along with it'?' Invariably they would and pick up their handbag and depart for one of the rooms upstairs, the Americans looking incredulous and aghast.
Gambon was great in the 80s Dennis Potter serial The Singing Detective and I liked him in Daniel Craig's Layer Cake.
A minor drag of the Harry Potter films is that having so many acting greats in it, when they go that's the first thing to get mentioned, like when some papers announced Laurence Oliver, star of Clash of the Titans, dies...
Just learned that Gynis Johns - best known for her role as Mrs Banks, the singing suffragette in Mary Poppins is - wait for it, wait for it - 100 years old today!!!
Yeah, shame about Matthew Perry. You'd think he'd have come through it given his entertaining memoirs of the last couple of years but that's the thing, you never really do. Not sure that someone with his mental health, physical health and addiction issues should be in a hot tub, certainly on his own... Some things really don't go well together.
One of his lines in Friends stayed with me - when ladies man Joey was explaining how he was trying to restrain himself a bit more, not go in for casual sex on a first date, explaining that instead he treats it differently, it's like he goes for a drink or a meal and it's like a normal date as ever, they just don't have sex. Chandler: 'Sounds like a normal date to me...'
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,871MI6 Agent
edited October 2023
Sad to hear of the untimely death of Matthew Perry. I've seen very little of Friends but I did have one former co-worker say that I reminded them of Chandler Bing. I assume this was on account of my dry wit and sarcasm. This SNL skit I've always found hilarious:
Now he's one I admit I thought must have died years ago so I heard this news with mixed feelings, glad he hadn't, sad he's gone. Absolutely terrific in Lethal Weapon 2 at a time when, okay, Robert Davi was pretty damn good in License to Kill but LW2 is the Bond movie for that year, okay along with Indy 3 and Batman. Ackland was also good in White Mischief, another fine film, and he pops up in many a movie on Talking Pictures TV.
The Grim Reaper seems to come in threes around this time. Former Chancellor Alistair Darling too.
Interesting to see what the news outlets lead with. The BBC's 1 O'Clock News led with Darling (okay, led with the Rail Dispute resolution), didn't even mention Shane McGowan in its opening headlines. The BBC News website leads with McGowan.
Brigit Forsyth who played Thelma, Bob's wife, in comedy classic Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? has died at 83. I was enjoying that sitcom on telly earlier this year. Her 'sister' in the show, Anita Carey, died earlier this year too. That only leaves Terry (James Bolam) and his sister Audrey (Sheila Fearn) as the surviving members, though of course the writers are still with us, our own Ian Le Frenais and Dick Clement, who script doctored Never Say Never Again.
She was great as Thelma, she managed to convey that combination of liberated sexy 1970s woman with a prim, prickly suburban streak.
Loved his stuff with Wings, in particular his song on Band on the Run. Also on Mul of Kintyre and certainly in the video of Wonderful Christmastime, both smash hits, both seasonal favourites..
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,937Chief of Staff
Sad to hear of the passing of Denny Laine, Macca always picked good musicians…🍸
@Napoleon Plural I like Wonderful Christmastime too (and MoK), but Denny didn't play on it 🙂
YNWA 97
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,871MI6 Agent
I'm a fan of Paul McCartney and Wings though wasn't really familiar with that guitarist's name. I did once briefly meet former Wings guitarist Henry McCullough in a second hand bookshop though which was nice. Sadly he suffered a stroke shortly after that and was unwell for a good few years until his death. McCullough played the guitar on LALD and did the famous guitar solo on the Wings song "My Love".
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
Comments
RIP Ilya Kuryakin
I was noticing in some old comic books: alongside the XRay Specs and Sea Monkeys, there were ads to mail order life size posters of David McCallum, he mustve been quite the teenybopper sex symbol back in the day
so whats Sapphire and Steel like? I know he was paired with Joanne Lumley, another actor of interest to us connoisseurs of vintage SpyMania
That's sad about David McCallum. Sapphire and Steel was a weird show.
A few weeks ago I bought two box sets of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." (as I've discussed in other threads) and have been happily working my way them. Not so happily, now. RIP Mr McCallum.
And yes, @caractacus potts, he was very much a teenybopper sex symbol back then- magazines, pin-ups, he even made a record. I enjoyed much of his subsequent TV work such as "Colditz" and "The Invisible Man" but like Napoleon (no, our Napoleon) I couldn't get into "Sapphire and Steel".
RIP David MacCallum, mostly known to me from his role in The Great Escape, as well as the much poorer knock off of 633 Squadron called Mosquito Squadron. I've obviously heard about his work on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. but I've never seen any of it.
Sad to hear of the death of David McCallum on the TV Breakfast News this morning. He was great in The Man From UNCLE. I remember enjoying the show as part of my interest in Bond and classic 1960s spy shows more generally when they were repeated on TV in the mid-1990s. I remember hearing that David McCallum actually got more fan mail than his co-star Robert Vaughan which was surprising as Napoleon Solo was meant to be the main hero of the series as opposed to Illya Kuryakin. The general public can sometimes tell you otherwise! At least he had a good full life and made it to 90.
Sad to hear that Sir Michael Gambon, a one time Bond contender I believe, has died aged 82, RIP.
To me, he will always be The Singing Detective, “Into each life some rain must fall”…
He told the story in a BBC interview I recall, where he was palled up with the posh dippy bloke off Four Weddings - not like that in real life of course - in a boozy restaurant setting where old actors reminisce. He told how he was interviewed for Bond as Connery was throwing in the towel in the early 70s - this being a time when just about every British actor and beyond was tested for the part - and Gambon said he admitted to producer Harry Saltzman that he wasn't sure why they were considering him. When Saltzman asked why, Gambon replied - and you have to imagine him saying this with a glass of red in his hand, or a cigar, in his unexcited, lugubrious drawl; 'Because I'm balding and I've got tits.' Saltzman - no personal friend of the departing actor - replied, 'Sean Connery's got a toupe, and he's got tits. We have to put ice blocks on them before love scenes.' Gambon then said in the interview that due to his brilliant interaction he assumed he might have got the role but it turned out - and again, he told this in a downbeat matter of fact manner with nary an inflection of regret, that he hadn't.
In the same interview Sir Michael Gambon told how he would prank gullible Americans dining with him in West End restaurants by saying that once perk of being a knight was that you could ask any woman to go to bed with you and they had to oblige. He would then wander over to an adjacent table to an attractive woman and lean over and quietly say 'I'm playing a practical joke on my American friends' explaining the situation and asking 'Would you go along with it'?' Invariably they would and pick up their handbag and depart for one of the rooms upstairs, the Americans looking incredulous and aghast.
Gambon was great in the 80s Dennis Potter serial The Singing Detective and I liked him in Daniel Craig's Layer Cake.
A minor drag of the Harry Potter films is that having so many acting greats in it, when they go that's the first thing to get mentioned, like when some papers announced Laurence Oliver, star of Clash of the Titans, dies...
Roger Moore 1927-2017
RIP Sir Michael Gambon - underrated great.
Just learned that Gynis Johns - best known for her role as Mrs Banks, the
singingsuffragette in Mary Poppins is - wait for it, wait for it - 100 years old today!!!Roger Moore 1927-2017
Saddened to read of the death of Burt Young at 83, best known as Paulie from the Rocky movies, RIP.
Sir Bobby Charlton has passed aged 86, RIP
Just read that Richard Roundtree, AKA Shaft, has died aged 81, RIP
Rest in peace, Matthew Perry. He gave me countless good laughs in the Friends series.
I was surprised to read that one. 54 isn't an age to die at.
RIP to all three greats; Richard Roundtree, forever Shaft; Matthew Perry, forever Chandler; Sir Bobby Charlton, forever England.
Yeah, shame about Matthew Perry. You'd think he'd have come through it given his entertaining memoirs of the last couple of years but that's the thing, you never really do. Not sure that someone with his mental health, physical health and addiction issues should be in a hot tub, certainly on his own... Some things really don't go well together.
One of his lines in Friends stayed with me - when ladies man Joey was explaining how he was trying to restrain himself a bit more, not go in for casual sex on a first date, explaining that instead he treats it differently, it's like he goes for a drink or a meal and it's like a normal date as ever, they just don't have sex. Chandler: 'Sounds like a normal date to me...'
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Sad to hear of the untimely death of Matthew Perry. I've seen very little of Friends but I did have one former co-worker say that I reminded them of Chandler Bing. I assume this was on account of my dry wit and sarcasm. This SNL skit I've always found hilarious:
Be more gullible.
RIP Joss Ackland, aged 95.
Now he's one I admit I thought must have died years ago so I heard this news with mixed feelings, glad he hadn't, sad he's gone. Absolutely terrific in Lethal Weapon 2 at a time when, okay, Robert Davi was pretty damn good in License to Kill but LW2 is the Bond movie for that year, okay along with Indy 3 and Batman. Ackland was also good in White Mischief, another fine film, and he pops up in many a movie on Talking Pictures TV.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Missed the news about Joss Ackland, good innings though, RIP
Terry Venables has also passed away aged 80, RIP.
Yes. I just heard that El Tel, Terry Venables, has passed away. Manager of the best England team I have ever seen playing football.
"Henry Kissinger, how I'm missing yer ...".
Like him or not, Kissinger was one of the central figures of the cold war. RIP
Shane McGowan front man for the Pogues has died aged 65, RIP. Given his hell raising lifestyle, not a bad innings all things considered…
'It's the most fatal time, of the year...'
The Grim Reaper seems to come in threes around this time. Former Chancellor Alistair Darling too.
Interesting to see what the news outlets lead with. The BBC's 1 O'Clock News led with Darling (okay, led with the Rail Dispute resolution), didn't even mention Shane McGowan in its opening headlines. The BBC News website leads with McGowan.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Brigit Forsyth who played Thelma, Bob's wife, in comedy classic Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? has died at 83. I was enjoying that sitcom on telly earlier this year. Her 'sister' in the show, Anita Carey, died earlier this year too. That only leaves Terry (James Bolam) and his sister Audrey (Sheila Fearn) as the surviving members, though of course the writers are still with us, our own Ian Le Frenais and Dick Clement, who script doctored Never Say Never Again.
She was great as Thelma, she managed to convey that combination of liberated sexy 1970s woman with a prim, prickly suburban streak.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Yes, RIP Brigit Forsyth, great as Thelma and superb with Rodney Bewes as Ferris. Always enjoy watching Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads.
Sad to hear of her passing and indeed so many of the cast, makes me feel old!
RIP Brigit Forsyth. The Likely Lads was brilliant - right up there with Only Fools And Horses and Fawlty Towers as all-time best sitcoms.
Sad news - Moody Blues singer and Wings guitarist Denny Laine has died, aged 79.
Loved his stuff with Wings, in particular his song on Band on the Run. Also on Mul of Kintyre and certainly in the video of Wonderful Christmastime, both smash hits, both seasonal favourites..
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Sad to hear of the passing of Denny Laine, Macca always picked good musicians…🍸
@Napoleon Plural I like Wonderful Christmastime too (and MoK), but Denny didn't play on it 🙂
I'm a fan of Paul McCartney and Wings though wasn't really familiar with that guitarist's name. I did once briefly meet former Wings guitarist Henry McCullough in a second hand bookshop though which was nice. Sadly he suffered a stroke shortly after that and was unwell for a good few years until his death. McCullough played the guitar on LALD and did the famous guitar solo on the Wings song "My Love".