The James Bond Bedside Companion (14 page)

I
n January of 1976, the THUNDERBALL film rights reverted back to Kevin McClory. He was also supposedly free to make further pictures based on "The Film Scripts." He therefore began planning to make his own Bond series. He contacted Len Deighton, author of such thrillers as
The Ipcress File
and
Funeral
in Berlin. McClory took "The Film Scripts" and built a new screenplay. The men collaborated on the script, which was provisionally called
James Bond of
the Se
cret
Service,
one of the original titles from "The Film Scripts." One day, McClory was visiting Sean Connery and asked if he might be interested in also collaborating on the script Connery had always expressed an interest in writing and directing, and surprisingly agreed to the offer. Together, McClory, Deighton, and Connery came up with a screenplay which McClory retitled
Warhead.
It was reported that during the writing of the script, Sean Connery became interested in not only directing the film, but starring as James Bond again as well.

Meanwhile, Eon Productions was preparing production on its latest,
The
Spy
Who Loved Me
,
again featuring Roger Moore. When Broccoli learned of McClory's plans to make
Warhead
,
he wasn't too pleased. As reported by John Brosnan in
James Bond
in the
Cinema,
further friction was caused when McClory and Sean Connery learned that some of the plot details of
The Spy Who Loved Me
were coincidentally similar to parts of
Warhead.
As a result, Broccoli ordered his scriptwriter to make last-minute changes in
The
Spy Who Loved Me
before filming began.

President Richard Schenkman (standing left) and members of the James Bond 007 Fan Club. (Photo by Charles Reilly, courtesy
of
Richard Schenkman.)

McClory tried in vain from 1976 to 1979 to finance
Warhead
but apparently, too many obstacles were placed in his way. The word on
Warhead
eventually disappeared from the public eye and the production seemed to have fallen through.

But
The Spy Who Loved Me
was released in the summer of 1977, this time produced by Broccoli alone. He proved that he could make a slick, entertaining Bond film without Harry Saltzman, and the film was the biggest success since
Thunderball
in 1965. One character in the film, a henchman called Jaws (portrayed by Richard Kiel), became something of a cult hero with kids, and the character would return in the next Bond film.

For Your Eyes Only
was originally announced to be the eleventh Bond film, but due to the success of
Star Wars
and
Close Encounters of the Third Kind,
United Artists and Cubby Broccoli changed their minds. The only Fleming title left which could incorporate an outer space theme was MOONRAKER, and that became the replacement.
Moonraker
,
released in the summer of 1979, and starring Roger Moore, represents the low point in the series. Nevertheless, it became the biggest grossing Bond film ever. According to
Variety
,
rentals in the United States and Canada only, by 1982, amounted to over $33,000,000.

In the fall of 1980, twenty-year-old Ross Hendry of Harrow, Middlesex, founded The James Bond British Fan Club. Since James Bond was a British
character, Hendry felt that his hero should not be represented only by an American fan club. In the three years since the club's formation, branches have opened in the United States, Germany, Australia, Norway, and all over England. The club distributes two publications:
007,
the regular club magazine, and
For Your Eyes Only,
a supplemental booklet of "hard-core" Bondian information. Information on how to join The James Bond British Fan Club appears at the back of this book.

In 1980, the Board of Directors of Glidrose decided it was time to bring back the
real
James Bond, the hero of the books. For some time, authors' names were tossed around, and eventually they had a list of six. First on that list was John Gardner.

John Gardner was born in 1926 in the little village of Seaton Delaval, in the northeast of England. He studied at Cambridge and St. Stephen's House, at Oxford. After serving in the Royal Marines during the war, Gardner wrote for the theatre for a while, then decided to try something else. After working on an autobiographical book, Gardner wrote
The Liquidator
,
published in 1964. It was an all-out spoof on James Bond, and quite a success. The main character was Boysie Oakes, who worked as an assassin for the British Secret Service. The problem was that Boysie Oakes was a coward and secretly hired hit men to do his dirty work for him! In addition, he became ill on airplanes. Gardner wrote other Boysie Oakes books and two novels about Sherlock Holmes' nemesis, Professor Moriarty. Two later books,
The Garden of Weapons
and
The Nostradamus Traitor
,
were more in the realistic style of John Le Carré. Another,
The Director
,
deals with backstage drama in the theatre.

Glidrose contacted Gardner through a go-between, who asked the author if he might be interested. A three-book deal was eventually worked out. Glidrose reportedly kept close tabs on Gardner while he wrote the first book, carefully monitoring it. One important change Gardner made was updating James Bond's world to the 1980s, but he kept the character more or less the same age as he was in the sixties. Bond does seem a little older, a little wiser, but he certainly isn't the sixty-one-year-old he should be according to "Fleming's Bond."

In the spring of 1981, Gardner's first Bond book was published. Titled LICENSE RENEWED, it was published in England by Jonathan Cape (in association with Hodder and Stoughton) and in the United States by Richard Marek Publishers. The book was a bestseller, despite lukewarm reviews from critics and Bond fans alike. The British jacket had an attractive Richard Chopping illustration (designed by Mon Mohan) of a Browning 9mm pistol with a string of pearls and yellow roses.

In the summer, the 12th James Bond film was released.
For Your Eyes Only
,
which again featured Roger Moore in a tougher, grittier characterization, marked a return to the more serious, original format of the early films. It was the best Bond film since
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
and the film grossed in the $25 million range.

Also that summer, Chicago film historian Jim Schoenberger discovered a kinescope of the original CBS-TV presentation of the hour-long
Casino Royale
in a pile of dusty old film cannisters. A special public showing was arranged, and Barry Nelson (who potrayed
Bond in the film) appeared to talk about it. Around this same time, Richard Schenkman obtained permission to reprint three of the
Daily Express'
comic strip versions of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE, and DOCTOR NO. The James Bond 007 Fan Club published the book.

James Bond's new father: John Gardner. Gardner is posing with Bond's latest wheels: a Saab 900 Turbo. (Photos courtesy of Saab-Scania of America, Inc.)

In March, 1982, Albert R. Broccoli received the Living G. Thalberg award from the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Thalberg is an annual award given to producers for outstanding achievement. The Bond films had been deemed the most successful film series of all time, and Broccoli appeared at the Oscar Awards ceremonies on March 29 to receive the trophy. A series of film clips were shown, and Roger Moore presented the award.

Also that spring, producer Jack Schwartzman purchased a license to make one James Bond film based on the original copyright assignment of "The Film Scripts" and the film rights to the THUNDERBALL novel to Kevin McClory. A new script was begun by Lorenzo Semple, Jr., and the film would be directed by Irvin Kershner
(The Empire
Strikes Back).
Most importantly, Sean Connery agreed to return to the role of James Bond. Apparently the film was to be a remake of
Thun
derball.
By September, the film was underway with a working title of
Never Say Never Again
(which reportedly was coined by Connery's wife). Connery's co-stars would be Barbara Carrera and Klaus Maria Brandauer, and filming was scheduled to begin in the Bahamas in the fall with Kevin McClory as executive producer.

In May, John Gardner's second James Bond novel was published by Coward, McCann and Geoghegan. Titled FOR SPECIAL SERVICES, the book featured a return of SPECTRE in a newly formed reorganization. LICENSE RENEWED was published in paperback as well, and other Ian Fleming titles were reissued by Berkley Books. FOR SPECIAL SERVICES was published in Britain in September by Jonathan Cape (in association with Hodder and Stoughton) and the jacket, designed and illustrated by Bill Botten, featured a giant python.

A resurgence of the James Bond Phenomenon appeared to be on the horizon in the first half of 1983, the 30th anniversary of the publication of CASINO ROYALE. John Gardner's third Bond novel, ICEBREAKER, was published in America in April by Putnam's and in Britain by Cape/Hodder in the summer. Bill Botten's jacket for the British edition showed a skeleton hand clutching ski equipment in the snow. Despite poor reception by critics in both countries, ICEBREAKER remained on the
New York
Times
Bestseller list for several weeks, surpassing the sales of Gardner's previous efforts. Glidrose Publications announced that Gardner had been signed to continue writing in Ian Fleming's footsteps; there would be even more Gardner/Bonds in the future, with ROLE OF HONOR being title number four.