james bond trivia

(Dr. No) The armorer who gives Bond his Walther PPK at the start of the film is Major Boothroyd, who in the next film, From Russia with Love (1963) would be played by Desmond Llewellyn. Beginning with Goldfinger (1964), the “armorer” would forever be known as “Q” (for “Quartermaster”).

(Dr. No) Fleming was so impressed by Connery’s performance as 007 that he gave his character Scottish ancestry.

(From Russia With Love) “Q”/ Major Boothroyd played by Desmond Llewelyn appears for the first time. This character was played by Peter Burton in Dr. No (1962). When Burton was unable to return for this film, the role was recast with Llewelyn in the part. Llewelyn would reprise the role of “Q” in 17 subsequent Bond films (18 performances in all), the most times a single actor has played the same role in major motion picture history.

(Goldfinger) The producers had to pay for the Aston Martin, but after the success of the film, both at the box office and for the company, they never had to spend money on a car again.

(Goldfinger) The typeface of “Pussy Galore’s Flying Circus” on the banner is the same as that on Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

(Goldfinger) Tilly Masterson’s Ford Mustang was supposedly the first appearance by a Mustang in a major motion picture. The Mustang was introduced in April of 1964 and Goldfinger was released in December. Ford supplied many cars to the film including the CIA agents’ Thunderbird, all of Goldfinger’s goons cars, and the Lincoln Continental that is crushed.

(Goldfinger) Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 was actually two cars, one of which wasn’t really a DB5 at all. The gadgets were built into a DB4 Vantage which Aston Martin had used as the prototype for the DB5 model, which went into production in 1963. A production DB5 was also supplied, for close-ups. It’s easy to tell the two cars apart - the “gadget” car has a chrome trim around the rear number plate, the close-up car doesn’t, the close-up car has orange reflectors on the front wings but the gadget car doesn’t.