EDIT: I just looked it up on the Web. Actually, it was Frederick Stafford, who looked at lot like Gavin. But Kerwin Matthews played Hugh in Banco
Gavin apparently appeared as Hugo in Niente rose per OSS 117 in 1968 according to Imdb. I'd like to see some of these. It seems they used American actors in most or all of them. It's odd that the idea of an American Bond is considered to be a no-go, but the French were more than happy to cast Americans as Hugo.
I watched Linus Roache's debut on Law & Order -- try as he might to affect a thick New Yaaaaawwk accent, his Euro-ness shows through constantly.
Is that a permanent gig for Roache? I might have to start watching Law and Order. He's a terrific actor, but a New York accent is a hard one for a Brit to pull off. In fact, even American actors struggle with that one.
I wouldn't care if an American played Bond, so long as they could do a convincing English/Scottish/Irish/Australian accent. The only trouble is that I can't think of an American actor that can. I've said this before, but male English/Scottish/Irish/Australian actors seem to have an easier time sounding American than Americans have sounding English/Scottish/Irish/Australian.
Agree 100% with this. In other threads, I have had a go at people who insist an American could never play Bond. I must confess, my argument is theoretical, because I can't actually think of an American actor who could pull off the accent. I do remember being surprised to learn that Alessandro Nivola is American. He played a Brit quite well in Laurel Canyon and had him pegged as British (or maybe Italian). That movie really was Bizarro World -- you had Nivola playing a Brit, while Kate Beckinsale and Christian Bale played Americans.
I have come to the conclusion that you have to have a really great ear to go from British accent to American and vice versa -- and not many actors are very good at it. Hugh Laurie slips into his native tongue all the time on House, and the woman on CSI is even worse. Last week, I watched Linus Roache's debut on Law & Order -- try as he might to affect a thick New Yaaaaawwk accent, his Euro-ness shows through constantly.
My theory that Brits are better at American accents than the other way around may have more to do with the fact that there is more opportunity for British actors to play Americans than the other way around. There's a bigger pool of people giving American-accented English a try. I remember being really blown away to find out that Anthony LaPaglia wasn't an Italian American. When I first saw him play the housekeeper's brother on Frazier, I thought to myself "Gee -- that's an odd casting choice. But he does a pretty good job ..." )
Jeremy Brett (Sherlock!); Roy Thinnes; Oliver Tobias; Andrew Clarke; Lewis Collins (broke Bob Simmons' ribs!); Peter Snow (the newsreader!);
I'd love to see footage of the late, great Jeremy Brett doing a screentest for Bond. He was one hell of an actor.
Roy Thinnes. Interesting. I loved The Invaders when they used to show it on BBC2 in the 80's. Thinnes was really compelling. Mesmerising blue eyes and a touch of melancholy. Again I'd love to see footage of him.
Oliver Tobias. The Stud, as Bond. Jackie Collins could have written the screenplay. Her sister Joan as the villianess. Yikes.
Andrew Clarke. Played The Saint in a pilot for US television in 1987. Last saw him in Neighbours.
Lewis Collins. It's just as well his screentest didn't involve firing a gun. Never mind breaking Bob Simmond's ribs, he'd have shot him.
Peter Snow. That is bizarre. How did the man who ended up with a swingometer get a screentest as 007?
EDIT: I just looked it up on the Web. Actually, it was Frederick Stafford, who looked at lot like Gavin. But Kerwin Matthews played Hugh in Banco
Gavin apparently appeared as Hugo in Niente rose per OSS 117 in 1968 according to Imdb. I'd like to see some of these. It seems they used American actors in most or all of them. It's odd that the idea of an American Bond is considered to be a no-go, but the French were more than happy to cast Americans as Hugo.
It's funny- I don't mind most; I wasn't even offended by Costner playing Robin Hood, and an American Sherlock wouldn't upset me as long as they were a big enough star, but I would say that having an American accent from Bond wouldn't be right for me- not least because Bond has so many other action heroes to stand out from he needs every bit of uniqueness he can have- being British is definitely one of those!
EDIT: I just looked it up on the Web. Actually, it was Frederick Stafford, who looked at lot like Gavin. But Kerwin Matthews played Hugh in Banco
Gavin apparently appeared as Hugo in Niente rose per OSS 117 in 1968 according to Imdb. I'd like to see some of these. It seems they used American actors in most or all of them. It's odd that the idea of an American Bond is considered to be a no-go, but the French were more than happy to cast Americans as Hugo.
I'm no expert on the OSS 117 character, but it is a strange brew: an American playing a Frenchman who works for an American spy agency that had been defunct since WWII.
Jeremy Brett (Sherlock!); Roy Thinnes; Oliver Tobias; Andrew Clarke; Lewis Collins (broke Bob Simmons' ribs!); Peter Snow (the newsreader!);
I'd love to see footage of the late, great Jeremy Brett doing a screentest for Bond. He was one hell of an actor.
Roy Thinnes. Interesting. I loved The Invaders when they used to show it on BBC2 in the 80's. Thinnes was really compelling. Mesmerising blue eyes and a touch of melancholy. Again I'd love to see footage of him.
Oliver Tobias. The Stud, as Bond. Jackie Collins could have written the screenplay. Her sister Joan as the villianess. Yikes.
Andrew Clarke. Played The Saint in a pilot for US television in 1987. Last saw him in Neighbours.
Lewis Collins. It's just as well his screentest didn't involve firing a gun. Never mind breaking Bob Simmond's ribs, he'd have shot him.
Peter Snow. That is bizarre. How did the man who ended up with a swingometer get a screentest as 007?
Ooh- good knowledge there; I must confess that I'm not familiar with all of those names. Apparently Peter Snow was considered to have the right look but was dismissed as soon as they discovered how tall he is: far too tall!
Ooh- good knowledge there; I must confess that I'm not familiar with all of those names. Apparently Peter Snow was considered to have the right look but was dismissed as soon as they discovered how tall he is: far too tall!
Snow would make a perfect Q though.
Peter Snow as Q. "Now pay attention 007. This is my latest invention. It's a swingometer. It enables you to measure the results of opinion polls, or voting patterns in general elections."
Thanks for this discussion. I have had the Ultimate DVD set for some time and had not found the Brolin Tests .... they were very interesting!
Casting Brolin would have been a re-creation of the Lazenby disaster! And believe me in 1969 GL was considered a disaster. Brolin's horrible hair-do could have been corrected, but the accent... Cubby was probably thinking about using George Baker again!
What I found really interesting was that replacing Roger was on the agenda as early as pre-Octopussy. Brolin's comments about his special treatment by Cubby Broccoli provide some additional insight into GL's meltdown. One can see that the "star treatment" might have unhinged an expierenced actor just as easily as it did the former choco-seller!!!
I saw John Gavin play OSS 117. It was on TV many years ago. He was dire. I remember thinking at the time thank god we got RM. Thats how bad he was. Mind you the script was terrible so he might have been better with the real thing.
John Gavin was a pretty solid actor, but not real busy when picked for 007. I recall he was good in "Psycho" - but had a pretty small part.
Never heard if he was going to try a British accent as Bond. At any rate it was United Artists who recognised that any hope of getting Connery was the best way to go. They realised that the million dollar salary was a cheap way to guarentee the box office.
It was Sean's second lazy preformance as Bond that did him in as 007 to the general public. Roger Moore was a godsend to EON, he was well known and his easy style was a good follow-up to Connery.
My theory that Brits are better at American accents than the other way around may have more to do with the fact that there is more opportunity for British actors to play Americans than the other way around. There's a bigger pool of people giving American-accented English a try.
Probably; although I can't think why- after all there must be more American actors than British ones just judging by the population size difference!
There's an odd fad in the US at the moment for TV shows starring Brits doing an accent: Hugh Laurie; Joely Richardson; Eddie Izzard; Minnie Driver (the last two even in the same show!) but they all seem to be doing very well so there's nothing wrong with it- it just seems like they're nicking jobs from proper Americans!
It's quite funny- in the UK we have a small contingent of American actors who manage to appear in pretty much everything because a genuine American comes in very handy- in fact most of them pop up in Bond films; that guy who is Bond's contact on the airbase in TND (recently seen in The Bourne Ultimatum) is one of the more familiar ones. I think you can see pretty much the whole complement in Spy Games. Shane Rimmer (also in many Bonds) was the main UK-based American actor for many years- he even popped up in Batman Begins! I reckon if you're an American actor not getting much work then going abroad must be a good idea!
My theory that Brits are better at American accents than the other way around may have more to do with the fact that there is more opportunity for British actors to play Americans than the other way around. There's a bigger pool of people giving American-accented English a try.
Probably; although I can't think why- after all there must be more American actors than British ones just judging by the population size difference!
That's true, but I was thinking more in terms of the number of roles out there, given the size of the industry in the US. With movies and TV shows mostly featuring American characters, there's more incentive for Brits to do a good American accent than the other way around. For a British actor, the ability to speak with an American accent might not necessarily help you, but it could hurt you by ruling you out for a lot of big roles. Take the upcoming Spielberg bio-pic about Lincoln. I think Liam Neeson is perfect for the part. I can't explain why, exactly, except that I see a general physical resemblance, especially if Neeson does a DeNiro in reverse and drops 30 pounds. But having a Kentucky-born prairie statesman sound like he grew up in Belfast would be a big problem. But Neeson does a pretty credible American accent, and he should be able to further disguise his natural voice if he does Lincoln's historically accurate Kentucky "twang." so I don't see that as a problem.
Got 'Octopussy' on DVD for Christmas. Thought the James Brolin screentest is excellent. Brolin wouldn't have made a good Bond at all but it's fun to see an american have a stab at it. What would have been good is if Sean Connery had come back for Octopussy and Brolin had played Bond in 'Never Say Never Again' :007)
Yep...And there's so many like that...:(|)
Sam Neill in TLD or Moore still on duty in AVTAK !
Comments
Gavin apparently appeared as Hugo in Niente rose per OSS 117 in 1968 according to Imdb. I'd like to see some of these. It seems they used American actors in most or all of them. It's odd that the idea of an American Bond is considered to be a no-go, but the French were more than happy to cast Americans as Hugo.
Is that a permanent gig for Roache? I might have to start watching Law and Order. He's a terrific actor, but a New York accent is a hard one for a Brit to pull off. In fact, even American actors struggle with that one.
My theory that Brits are better at American accents than the other way around may have more to do with the fact that there is more opportunity for British actors to play Americans than the other way around. There's a bigger pool of people giving American-accented English a try. I remember being really blown away to find out that Anthony LaPaglia wasn't an Italian American. When I first saw him play the housekeeper's brother on Frazier, I thought to myself "Gee -- that's an odd casting choice. But he does a pretty good job ..."
I'd love to see footage of the late, great Jeremy Brett doing a screentest for Bond. He was one hell of an actor.
Roy Thinnes. Interesting. I loved The Invaders when they used to show it on BBC2 in the 80's. Thinnes was really compelling. Mesmerising blue eyes and a touch of melancholy. Again I'd love to see footage of him.
Oliver Tobias. The Stud, as Bond.
Andrew Clarke. Played The Saint in a pilot for US television in 1987. Last saw him in Neighbours.
Lewis Collins. It's just as well his screentest didn't involve firing a gun. Never mind breaking Bob Simmond's ribs, he'd have shot him.
Peter Snow. That is bizarre. How did the man who ended up with a swingometer get a screentest as 007?
It's funny- I don't mind most; I wasn't even offended by Costner playing Robin Hood, and an American Sherlock wouldn't upset me as long as they were a big enough star, but I would say that having an American accent from Bond wouldn't be right for me- not least because Bond has so many other action heroes to stand out from he needs every bit of uniqueness he can have- being British is definitely one of those!
I'm no expert on the OSS 117 character, but it is a strange brew: an American playing a Frenchman who works for an American spy agency that had been defunct since WWII.
Ooh- good knowledge there; I must confess that I'm not familiar with all of those names. Apparently Peter Snow was considered to have the right look but was dismissed as soon as they discovered how tall he is: far too tall!
Snow would make a perfect Q though.
Peter Snow as Q. "Now pay attention 007. This is my latest invention. It's a swingometer. It enables you to measure the results of opinion polls, or voting patterns in general elections."
Daniel Craig's Bond: "That's f*** all use Q."
Casting Brolin would have been a re-creation of the Lazenby disaster! And believe me in 1969 GL was considered a disaster. Brolin's horrible hair-do could have been corrected, but the accent... Cubby was probably thinking about using George Baker again!
What I found really interesting was that replacing Roger was on the agenda as early as pre-Octopussy. Brolin's comments about his special treatment by Cubby Broccoli provide some additional insight into GL's meltdown. One can see that the "star treatment" might have unhinged an expierenced actor just as easily as it did the former choco-seller!!!
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
Never heard if he was going to try a British accent as Bond. At any rate it was United Artists who recognised that any hope of getting Connery was the best way to go. They realised that the million dollar salary was a cheap way to guarentee the box office.
It was Sean's second lazy preformance as Bond that did him in as 007 to the general public. Roger Moore was a godsend to EON, he was well known and his easy style was a good follow-up to Connery.
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
Probably; although I can't think why- after all there must be more American actors than British ones just judging by the population size difference!
There's an odd fad in the US at the moment for TV shows starring Brits doing an accent: Hugh Laurie; Joely Richardson; Eddie Izzard; Minnie Driver (the last two even in the same show!) but they all seem to be doing very well so there's nothing wrong with it- it just seems like they're nicking jobs from proper Americans!
It's quite funny- in the UK we have a small contingent of American actors who manage to appear in pretty much everything because a genuine American comes in very handy- in fact most of them pop up in Bond films; that guy who is Bond's contact on the airbase in TND (recently seen in The Bourne Ultimatum) is one of the more familiar ones. I think you can see pretty much the whole complement in Spy Games. Shane Rimmer (also in many Bonds) was the main UK-based American actor for many years- he even popped up in Batman Begins! I reckon if you're an American actor not getting much work then going abroad must be a good idea!
That's true, but I was thinking more in terms of the number of roles out there, given the size of the industry in the US. With movies and TV shows mostly featuring American characters, there's more incentive for Brits to do a good American accent than the other way around. For a British actor, the ability to speak with an American accent might not necessarily help you, but it could hurt you by ruling you out for a lot of big roles. Take the upcoming Spielberg bio-pic about Lincoln. I think Liam Neeson is perfect for the part. I can't explain why, exactly, except that I see a general physical resemblance, especially if Neeson does a DeNiro in reverse and drops 30 pounds. But having a Kentucky-born prairie statesman sound like he grew up in Belfast would be a big problem. But Neeson does a pretty credible American accent, and he should be able to further disguise his natural voice if he does Lincoln's historically accurate Kentucky "twang." so I don't see that as a problem.
Yep...And there's so many like that...:(|)
Sam Neill in TLD or Moore still on duty in AVTAK !