James Bond's 'Q' Dies

Pzykotic writes "The great actor Desmond Llewelyn, who played Q in all but 2 Bond films died in a head-on car crash in England today at age 85. I loved that guy, he will be sorely missed." Here's the BBC story. 72 readers submitted this news before we got it posted, so obviously Mr. Llewelyn was a bit of a geek icon, eh? Update: 12/19 07:51 by CT : I just watched Thunderball last night. God he was cool.

Comments

Strangely prophetic...

[Syberghost]

...that they introduced his successor in the latest film.


He will be missed.

CNN too

[raskolnik]

Here's a CNN article on it as well
"You should never have your best trousers on when you turn

Really sad..

[ChrisUK]

This is *really* sad. Just today, in our local mall, I noticed that he was signing books tonight, so I guess that Mr. Llewellyn must have been on his way back from the signing when he crashed the car. I was going to go to the event, but ended up seeing the new Arnie flick with some friends instead. Now I know what I *should* have done. He'll be missed, that's for sure. :(

Chris.

Q helped hold the franchise together

[Scudsucker]

As others have said, Llewelyn was the constant in the series; everyone else has changed. I think the current M actress has had the part longer than any other, one Money Penny actress had a long run at it but there have been 3 different ones in the last four movies, and everbody knows how many different Bond actors we've had. Hell, Bond's friend in the CIA, Feilix Lighter (sp) even managed to change races between movies.

How fortunate (for the Bond fans anyway) that they set up Q's succession in The World Is Not Enough. Cleese is a good choice, not only because he's a good actor but because he wont try to be like Llewelyn's Q. He'll be geeky and techy, but it looks like he has a low opinion of Bond and I look forward to watching them quibble in furture movies.

I hope Cleese will be able to stay on as long as Llewelyn did, and I also hope the other actors (like the one that plays M) stick around for a long time. I think it adds a lot to a running series if you keep the same people or objects around, like Llewelyn as Q or the Tardis in Dr. Who. Now they just need to find some Sophia Loren type chick (one that still looks great in her 60's) at the age of 18 to play Money Penny. :-)

Goodbye Desmond, thanks for helping to make Bond into what he his today. You will be missed as one of the great geek heroes of this century.

Let Me Die A Youngman's Death

[Paul Crowley]

Let me die a youngman's death
not a clean & in between
the sheets holy water death
not a famous-last-words
peaceful out of breath death

When I'm 73
& in constant good tumour
may I be mown down at dawn
by a bright red sports car
on my way home
from an all night party

Or when I'm 91
with silver hair
& sitting in a barber's chair
may rival gangsters
with ham fisted tommy guns burst in
& give me a short back and insides

Or when I'm 104
& banned from the Cavern
may my mistress
catch me in bed with her daughter
& fearing for her son
cut me up into little pieces
& throw away every piece but one

Let me die a youngman's death
not a free from sin tiptoe in
candle wax and waning death
not a curtains drawn by angels borne
what a nice way to go death

(Roger McGough)
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