On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: Film – Trivia- Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond novel On Her Majesty’s Secret Service while Dr. No (1962) was being filmed.
- Joanna Lumley makes one of her first screen appearances in this film. Unlike other “Avengers” actors and actresses (Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Honor Blackman), she is the only one to have appeared in a Bond film *before* starring in “The Avengers” (1961).
- There are many reasons why George Lazenby only made one appearance as James Bond. According to the DVD Documentary, here are some of the main reasons: 1. Lazenby’s youthful cockiness rankled Albert R. Broccoli’s nerves. One incident mentioned is Lazenby skiing down the slopes on his own (resulting in the broken arm) and a moment of arrogance on Lazenby’s part that spoiled a cast and crew party. 2. The notoriously harsh British tabloids writing up unfavorable stories about Lazenby and how he fails to measure up to Sean Connery, thereby swaying public opinion against the film before it was released. One incident cited by Lazenby was during an interview with a reporter in the commissary in which Diana Rigg jokingly yelled from across the room “I’m having garlic for lunch, darling! I hope you are too!” This lead to an article in which Rigg supposedly hated Lazenby so much that “She eats garlic before love scenes”. 3. Lazenby, believing that the Bond series was over in the wake of more sophisticated films like The Graduate (1967)and Easy Rider (1969), mentioned to his agent that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to play Bond again. The producers heard this and were not too pleased. Although some claim the film was a box-office failure, it was in fact a huge hit, recouping more than ten times its cost and becoming the second highest grossing film of the year at the worldwide box-office.
- George Lazenbyand Diana Riggwere rumored to have had a bad relationship on set. This was a rumor started after Rigg joked to Lazenby over lunch one day before filming a love scene that “I’m having garlic – I hope you are too!” Further evidence of this bad blood was an exchange of open letters from the two in the British press after filming finished.
- The building used for Blofeld’s clinic called Piz Gloria, is a restaurant located atop the Schilthorn Mountain in the Bernese Oberlands. The only public access to the restaurant is by cable car (from Mürren or Stechelberg). The Piz Gloria was the first established revolving mountain restaurant in the world.
- Since George Lazenby was a virtual unknown when he was cast as Bond, initial teaser advertising for the film emphasized the Bond character rather than the actor playing him. Several ads in fact utilized an image of a “faceless” Bond. United Artists would later say that this marketing strategy was a mistake which hurt the film’s performance at the box office.
- The German inscription on the wall of Piz Gloria briefly seen during the final battle means “Reconciliation of Nature and Technology”.
- Timothy Dalton and Roger Moore were both offered the role of James Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), but both turned it down. Dalton felt he was too young at the time, and Moore was still under his contract in the TV series “The Saint” (1962).
- Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond novel On Her Majesty’s Secret Service while Dr. No (1962) was being filmed.
- “Orbis non sufficit”, is Latin for “the world is not enough”. This is the motto of James Bond’s family and is mentioned in both Ian Fleming’s original novel and this film. It was later used as a Bond film title in its own right for The World Is Not Enough (1999)
- Production of the film was twice delayed. It was initially planned to have been the Bond film to follow Goldfinger (1964), but Thunderball (1965) was made instead. It was going to be filmed after Thunderball (1965) as well but scheduling conflicts with filming during winter prevented this. Later, the film was to have been released in 1967, but You Only Live Twice (1967) was produced for that year instead.
- George Lazenby’s one and only performance as James Bond. By the time the film was released, he had quit the role, and turned down a multi-picture deal because he was led to believe that the tuxedo-clad superspy would become an anachronism in the forthcoming Woodstock era. (He would later express regrets about this decision.)
- At the wedding, Draco and M are seen discussing an occasion where M’s department cost Draco three men. M says, “Ah, yes, November 1964–the bullion job.” This may be a reference to the Fort Knox caper in Goldfinger (1964), implying Draco was once in league with Auric Goldfinger.
- George Lazenby was previously a car salesman with a part time job as a male model. He was also well-known in Britain as “The Big Fry man,” after the chocolate bar commercials he starred in, carrying an outsize bar on his hunky shoulder.
- The search for a new Bond was compared with the search for Scarlett O’Hara, and 413 actors audition for the role. George Lazenby was determined to get the role, he spent most of what money he had on a Saville Row suit and a Rolex watch, then while having a Bond type haircut Albert R. Broccoli walked into the same salon, made the connection and later offered him the part.
- Blofeld’s headquarters was a partially completed restaurant on top of Mount Schilthorn. The owners allowed filming on condition EON paid $125,000 to refit the interior and construct a helicopter pad. When the restaurant opened it was given the name Piz Gloria used in the film.
- Actors considered for the part of Tracy Draco included Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve. Reportedly, Bardot was the first choice of direct Peter R. Hunt but she ironically decided to star opposite the former James Bond Sean Connery in Shalako (1968). Diana Rigg was finally chosen partly because of her appearance as Emma Peel in British TV’s spy series “The Avengers” (1961).
- Director Peter R. Hunt had previously edited many 007 films, the job of editor (and second unit directing) went to John Glen.
- Lyrics were originally intended for John Barry’s main theme, but were later rejected in favor of Louis Armstrong’s memorable rendition of “We Have All The Time In The World”. This love theme composed by John Barry and written by Hal David was the last song ever recorded by Louis Armstrong.
- As Bond clears out his desk, we see Honeychile’s knife from Dr. No (1962), Grant’s garrote/watch from From Russia with Love (1963), and a re-breather from Thunderball (1965). A bit of the theme music from each film is played as we see the appropriate item.
- As Bond passes a janitor in Draco’s headquarters, the man can be heard whistling the Goldfinger (1964) theme.
- George Baker provides the voice of Bond when 007 is pretending to be Sir Hilary Bray.
- The film performed admirably, outgrossing its nearest competitor almost two to one at the U.S. box office where, according to Variety, it was the most popular film in the country for four solid weeks. It generated enough rentals at the box-office to claim ninth position on the box office chart for the year 1970. The persistent belief that it was a flop arises from its disappointing showing in comparison to the previous three Sean Connery Bond films, all of which made twice as much money.
- Sean Connery was offered a then very large salary of $1 million to make this film but declined.
- To date, George Lazenby is the youngest actor to portray 007 at age 30.The rest of the actors and their ages, in no particular order: Sean Connery – 31, Roger Moore – 45, Timothy Dalton – 42, Pierce Brosnan – 41 and Daniel Craig – 38.
- George Lazenby also bears the distinction of being the only 007 actor who was born and raised outside the United Kingdom. He’s from Australia. (Pierce Brosnan was born in Ireland but moved to the UK when fairly young.)
- Q calls Bond by his first name for possibly the only time in the series, following the wedding.
- Just before the opening credits, after Tracy runs away from him, Bond turns to the camera and says, “This never happened to the other fellow,” a sly reference to the previous Bond, Sean Connery. It is also the only time the “fourth wall” is broken in the series.
- A sequence filmed but cut from the final print occurs after Bond visits the real Hillary Bray at the College of Arms. In the cut scene, Bond discovers an enemy agent spying on him. He follows the villain to a train station and kills him.
- When James Bond is searching for his family tree the man says that an old ancestor’s motto was “The World is not enough”. This became the 19th James Bond film’s title. Towards the end of the The World Is Not Enough (1999), James Bond says “The World is not enough. Family Motto”.
- Director Cameo: [Peter R. Hunt] is seen, although obscurely, directly following the opening credits. In the bottom left hand corner of the Universal Exports brass plaque, he is seen reflected whilst walking past the building.
- Actors considered for the role of Bond included: Adam West, Bob Campbell, Anthony Rogers, Hans De Vries, John Richardson, and Roy Thinnes.
- Gabriele Ferzetti’s voice was dubbed by David de Keyser, who would later appear in the next Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
- Ian Fleming’s original novel is significant as it was the first James Bond book written and published after the start of the long-running film series. The original novel even included a cameo by Ursula Andress, who had co-starred in the first Bond film, Dr. No (1962).
- A scene showing Bond murdering an enemy agent who is following him was shot, but left incomplete as George Lazenby was injured and Peter R. Hunt deemed the scene extraneous to the thrust of the plot.
- Features the only signature gun barrel sequence of all Bond films in which Bond drops down on one knee while shooting at the audience.
- Tracy’s red convertible, that she calls her big M, is a very rare 1969 Mercury Cougar CJ428 convertible supplied by the Ford Motor Company.
- Vehicles included James Bond’s dark green 1969 Aston Martin DBS (ie is S not 5); Tracy’s red 1969 Ford Mercury Cougar convertible; Draco’s Rolls-Royce Corniche; Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopters; a Mercedes sedan and Irma Bunt’s pursuing black Mercedes-Benz 600; a Bell 204 HUEY; two bobsleds; and various stock cars in the stock car rally.
- The license plate number of James Bond’s dark green 1969 Aston Martin DBS was GKX 8G.
- The role of Irma Bunt was the only English language role for German actress Ilse Steppat. It would also be her final role. She died less than a week after this film was released.
- While looking for a place to shoot the Piz Gloria interior scenes, the filmmakers came across a restaurant high in the Alps that was under construction. They agreed to complete the interior and provide a helicopter pad in exchange for being allowed to film there. The restaurant benefited so much from the publicity that it retains the name of Piz Gloria to this day.
- Most of Brian Grellis’s performance was removed from the final print.
- George A. Cooper is often wrongly credited with being in this film.
- The Playboy magazine that James Bond is seen “reading” while in the lawyer’s office is the February 1969 issue featuring centerfold Lorrie Menconi (the cover of the magazine and the top part of her centerfold can be seen).
- The producers originally intended to explain the change of lead actors in the film by saying that Bond had undergone plastic surgery because his “old” face was now too well known by foreign spies and terrorists for him to go undercover, but they then decided not to refer at all to the change, and thus hopefully minimize the public attention being paid to Lazenby replacing Connery.
- Willy Bogner performed some spectacular skiing feats for the filming of chase sequences for this film. These included skiing backwards downhill with a hand-held camera, sometimes placing it between his legs and being towed behind a bobsleigh along the bobsled course.
- Most close-ups of principal actors skiing were actually filmed back at Pinewood Studios as back-projection process shots. The principal actors were not allowed to ski in the film due to insurance regulations.
- Cameraman John Jordan developed a special helicopter harness for filming aerial shots of the mountain slopes and the film’s action sequences. He would hang eighteen feet below the chopper from a large round metal support apparatus.
- Many Olympic ski competitors as well as other ski experts contributed as body doubles, extras and supporting roles for performing the necessary skiing sequences in the film. The principal actors were not allowed to ski in the film due to insurance regulations.
- The literal translation of one of this film’s foreign language titles included “The Queen’s 007” for the country of Japan.
- Originally, director Peter R. Hunt intended the death of Tracy (Diana Rigg) to be the pre-titles teaser for Diamonds Are Forever (1971). But once George Lazenby was fired as Bond, the sequence was added to the end of O.H.M.S.S. Originally, that film ended with the crane shot of James and Tracy driving away from the wedding.
- In the original take of the final scene featuring Tracy’s death, Lazenby came to tears. Director Peter R. Hunt then made them shoot the scene again because he said that, “Bond does not cry.” There were only two takes shot.
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- Entry created: December 28, 2006; 0:27; Last modified: August 30, 2009; 19:57
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