In Memoriam

By MI6 Staff

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Bernard Horsfall (1930-2013)
The actor who played Shaun Campbell, Bond's contact in Switzerland in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" has passed away unexpectedly on 29th January 2013 at the age of 82. Horsfall was born in Hertfordshire, England, on 20th November 1930. He began his TV acting career in the late '50s with a series of bitparts in made-for-TV films, before securing the lead in the now little-remembered "Captain Moonlight: Man of Mystery". For much of the '60s, he served as a guest star on various now-classic TV series, including "The Avengers", "Z Cars", "The Saint" and a notable part as Chancellor Goth in the "Doctor Who" story arc "The Mind Robber", in which he played opposite Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. He went on to appear in a total of 15 "Doctor Who" episodes throughout his career. His film credits include two outings opposite Roger Moore: "Gold" in 1974 and "Shout at the Devil" in 1976. His other notable credits include "Brass Target" (1978), "Gandhi" (1982) and "Braveheart" (1995).

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Mitchell Hooks (1923-2013)
American artist and illustrator Mitchell Hooks, who gave the world their first look at a stylized Sean Connery as 007 on the 1962 'Dr. No' poster, died in March 2013 aged 89. Perhaps his best known work worldwide are his movie poster designs, especially his series of quad posters for the first James Bond film, 'Dr. No'. As well as creating a stylized illustrations of Sean Connery as James Bond for the UK quad poster, which would be used again for the later US theatrical campaign, he also drew the line-art illustrations that feature behind the colourful character poses. A lot of his work would be repurposed for the international posters. Hooks was elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1999.

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Above: US one sheet.

David C. Anderson (1941-2013)
Assistant director David C. Anderson, who worked with Terence Young on his three James Bond films,died of cancer in Richmond, England, on Sunday 4th August 2013 at the age of 72 following a short illness. Anderson assisted Young on "Dr. No" (1962), "From Russia With Love" (1963) and "Thunderball" (1964). During his six decades in the industry, he also went worked with fellow-007 director Lewis Gilbert on his non-Bond outings. On the small screen he was assistant director on five episodes of 'The Saint' when Roger Moore was in the title role. His other film credits included: 1969's "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie", 1970's "The Kremlin Letter", 1975's "The Man Who Would Be King", 1976's "The Eagle Has Landed", 1978's "The Deer Hunter", 1979's "Quadrophenia", 1980's "Flash Gordon", 1988's "Tequila Sunrise" and 1991's "What About Bob?"

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Commander Ken Wallis (1916-2013)
Commander Ken Wallis, known the world over to James Bond fans as the inventor and pilot of the auto-gyro seen in the 1967 adventure "You Only Live Twice" as Little Nellie, died aged 97 on Sunday 1st September 2013 in the village of Reymerston in Norfolk, England. His daughter Vicky said her father passed away after "a long and successful life doing what he wanted." Wing Commander Kenneth Horatio Wallis MBE, DEng (hc), CEng, FRAeS, FSETP, PhD (hc), RAF (Ret'd), was a leading exponent on autogyros and has held, and in some cases still holds, 34 records related to them.

It is his work as inventor and pilot of autogyros for which Wallis is best known to Bond fans around the world. He developed the craft for "reconnaissance, research & development, surveillance and military purposes" but was weary of other building their own kits from plans, insisting that although the design is simple, they had to be built to proper standard. Wallis' signature contribution his autogyro was the offset gimbal rotor head. Wallis produced the craft under the company Wallis Autogyros Ltd run by his cousin in Cambridge.

Q-Branch's 'Little Nellie' was in fact model WA-116 from Wallis' stable of autogyros. For the film, Little Nellie was kitted out with a range of armourments by MI6's Q-Branch, so that Bond could survey the volcanic islands of Japan in safety. She was accompanied by her "dad", Q himself, who demonstrated some of the modifications to 007. Such modifications included twin forward-facing machine guns, two 1.75" rockets, smaller heat seeking missiles and aerial mines. Nellie is equipped with short-range radio so that the pilot can communicate with her "dad" at all times, and a camera broadcasts a pilot's view so that he can better be aided by the ground-staff. She is transported to Japan in several packing cases and assembled by able bodies provided by the Japanese secret service - overseen by Q of course.

Wallis was awarded an MBE in 1996, and a long over-due campaign medal for his 28 bomber missions over Germany during WWII in July 2013. Last October, he was given a lifetime contribution to aerospace award by the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. He was also the President of the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum, and Patron of the Wolf Preservation Foundation.

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Not Forgetting...
Lou Angeli (1951-2013) - "License To Kill" camera operator
Pete Barnes (1960-2013) - Helicopter pilot, "Die Another Day"
Paul Bhattacharjee (1960-2013) - MI6 medical officer in "Casino Royale"
Charlotte Brosnan (1971-2013) - Daughter of Pierce Brosnan
Lewis Collins (1946-2013) - 'The Professionals' star and James Bond auditionee
Jacques Fonteray (1918-2013) - "Moonraker" costume designer
Michael France (1962-2013) - "GoldenEye" screenwriter
Vinnie Gerardo (1930-2013) - "Live And Let Die" assistant cameraman
Trevor Rutherford (?-2013) - "Live And Let Die" sound operator
Mark Sutton (1971-2013) - Stuntman, James Bond in London Olympics opening ceremony
Derek Watkins (1945-2013) - Trumpeter on every Bond film soundtrack from "Dr. No" to "Skyfall"