Why weren't Telly Savalas or Donald Pleasence called back for DAF?
Doctor Who
Posts: 62MI6 Agent
Is it known why either of these two guys weren't called back to replay the role of Blofeld in DAF?
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That aside, he looked much meaner in the Columbo episode (no scar in the face etc.) than as Blofeld.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
If I remember correctly, none of the main villains showed up in a second Bond movie at that time.
Was just part of the formula.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
What do you mean? Blofeld is the main villain back to back in three different movies (YOLT, OHMSS, and DAF).
I like him better than Savalas to be honest. Savalas reminded me too much of a thug, and the contrast between his commanding presence, with that of the obviously younger Bond, it made it seem like Blofeld was a father lecturing a young punk. Out of all the onscreen Blofelds I feel Pleasance is the only one who had came off as both creepy, sadistic, megalomaniac, and psychotic as well as intelligent - All features I tend to associate with Blofeld. Gray on the other hand played him too soft - like a corrupt CEO rather than a demented killer who executes his subordinates for to the slightest infraction.
The early movies were on almost permanent double bills which cycled around the cinema for years after their initial release.
Ah. The double bill. All day sitting in a cinema watching the movies over and over for the price of one ticket.
I mean, that the main villain actors from the previous movies did not return (well - mostly because their role has been killed admittedly) and the audiences may not have been used by repetitions of that kind on the bad side.
Of course you may object that Team Bond was repeated - but those where not villains and I guess that the main evil part had to be fresh.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
"- That is something to be afraid of."
I think people in the UK were used to actors playing different roles. It's amusing how many actors from the Bond films you'll see repeat in The Saint in different roles, and they'll even play different characters in episodes in the same series. I don't think we'll see things like this today because we no longer have an apparent actor shortage!
plus now we have DVD libraries or nettflix, we can compare and contrast and overanalyse these films at our convenience, whereas in 1971 we had to rely on our memories. I'm sure normal people never noticed the recycled supporting actors.
what were some examples of the pairings? I know I saw a ...Golden Gun/...Spy... doublebill the summer between the Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. I can imagine they might have wanted to pull OHMSS out of circulation, and that a YOLT /DAF double bill would be much more popular, but that just makes it additionally silly that they reused an actor from the earlier movie for a different character. Presuming the doublebills were already an established thing by 1971.
Maybe Pleasance was a fake Blofeld the whole time, and Dikko the real, undetected Blofeld who faked his own death? Savalas is yet another fake Blofeld, neatly explaining the apparent plothole in OHMSS
You could have watched The Saint in 1962 and seen Shirley Eaton play two different characters in episodes that aired less than two months apart. If I were watching the show then, I don't think I would have forgotten her! Or Justine Lord as two different characters in two episodes that aired less than a month apart, and then doing the same thing again a year later! On the other hand, Terry Moutain playing countless different background characters in the same year is forgettable.
But then, where was "Dikko's" wooden leg in DAF. Gray/Blofeld was pretty mobile in that one. Although, now I come to think of it, he did sit behind that desk in the penthouse suite quite a lot.
Maybe hiding the wooden leg!
Of course, this doesn't explain how Blofeld goes from average sized men in YOLT and OHMSS to a prancing giant in DAF, but maybe he wore lifts.
I actually like Gray's performance, including the CEO thing. If the film had had a darker tone, he wouldn't have been so effete, and it would have been closer to how Blofeld behaves in the book. But that he was so much like any other venal leader, business, industrial, military, or criminal, makes him authentic in concept.
Blofeld isn't in the book, GM! I'm with you in enjoying Gray's performance, and he was certainly capable of a much darker performance (The Devil Rides Out being the best example).
Donald Pleasence might have been a better Blofeld with more time to prepare for the role, rather than being cast at a moment's notice. He was definitely an excellent actor.
Pleasance seems too lightweight in stature in YOLT.
And also, what were EON doing between late 1965 and the start of shooting on YOLT that they left the villain casting so late. It was the first time they'd had a two year gap between movies, so they had time.
Or was it that they didn't have a script until late? Might explain some of the uneven quality of YOLT, especially later in the movie.
Blofeld had been cast in advance by Harry Saltzman with Czech actor Jan Werich.
About five days into shooting, both Cubby Broccoli and director Lewis Gilbert realised the casting wasn't working- Werich was coming across as too kind and grandfatherly, "a benevolent Santa Claus"- and he was replaced very quickly with Donald Pleasence (hence my comment above about "a moment's notice"). Pleasence reshot the scenes Werich had been already filmed in.
The scar is still unexplained.
There is one brief glimpse of Werich ( well the top of his head, you can see hair ) when Bond
Meets Blofeld in the Volcano control room.
From "James Bond In The Cinema” by John Brosnan:
“Pleasence tells how, in the make-up room at Pinewood, they tried him first with a hump to make him look more unusual, then with a limp, a beard and a lame hand. They finally settled on a scar.”
Whether this achieved "ze proper effuct" is arguable. A film critic described him as looking like an egg that had cracked on the boil.
John Brosnan used to pop into my shop a couple of times a year and sign any copies of his books that were in stock. He wrote under some pen names as well like Harry Adam Knight (HAK) - he had a really good sense of humour. He was a lovely man and loved James Bond but hated the way that the films had descended into "comedies" as he called them. He updated the original James Bond In The Cinema in the early 80's with some scathing comments and Cubby was successful in getting the book banned in the UK. I managed to get copies from the USA and they sold very well.
John suffered from alcoholism and passed away in the early part of this century. Unfortunately I didn't hear of his passing for some time and henceforth did not attend his funeral.
For fear of being sued, I'll be vague here: a certain book about the films of a well-known action star plagiarised part of Brosnan's book. Did he ever mention this, and have you ever heard about it? (I'll send more details by PM if you like, not wanting to derail this thread.)
Please feel free to PM me about John Brosnan.
What a terrible shame. James Bond at the Cinema was the first book about Bond I ever read, as the library near where I lived stocked it in the 70s. I was thrilled to find a charity shop copy last year. Back then John was the only Brosnan I associated with Bond!
I must admit I'm tempted to sign copies of my book when I see them in the shops, but I'm frightened I'd get turfed out for defacing the stock!
I've just googled your name - your books look most interesting - I am on my way to England tomorrow for a holiday and I will most certainly pick up a copy. I didn't usually sell books from new apart from the imports I got from the USA but these sort of books would have sold well in my shop. John was a gentleman and I always took a photo when he came in of him signing so I could offer a proof of provenance as a genuine signed book. I used to take him to lunch at the local pub when he came in and he was a very interesting raconteur and is sadly missed.