Diamonds Are Forever: Film – Trivia- Lana Wood’s voice was dubbed.
- At the time that she was filming the scene in Bond’s hotel room, Lana Wood was unaware that her derrière would be visible through her pink panties.
- During the filming of Plenty O’Toole’s fall in the swimming pool, Lana Wood actually had her feet tied (albeit loosely) to a cement block on the bottom. Film crew members held a rope across the pool for her, with which she could lift her face out of the water to breathe between takes. Unfortunately, like most pools, this one had a sloping bottom, and the block was slipping into deeper water with each take. Eventually it reached a depth from which she could no longer get her face out of the water. Alert film crew members noticed this, and quickly jumped into the water to untie her feet, thus saving her from drowning for real. Wood, being a certified diver, remained calm during the ordeal, although she later admitted to a few “very uncomfortable moments” while she was unable to breathe.
- Actresses considered for the role of Tiffany Case included: Raquel Welch, Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway. Jill St. John had originally been offered the part of Plenty O’Toole but landed the female lead after impressing director Guy Hamilton during screen tests. St. John became the first American Bond girl.
- The original plot had Gert Fröbe returning as Auric Goldfinger’s twin from Goldfinger (1964) seeking revenge for the death of his brother.
- The death of Bond’s wife Tracy was originally planned for the opening sequence of this film, but was later added to the end of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) to “tidy up loose ends”.
- Upon release, this film broke Hollywood’s three-day gross record.
- Willard Whyte is obviously based on Howard Hughes. Hughes, however, played a more substantial role behind the scenes allowing EON to film inside his casinos and at his other properties. His fee was reputed to be one 16mm print of the film.
- This was the last Bond film by Eon to use SPECTRE or Blofeld. After this, writer Kevin McClory’s legal claim against the Fleming estate that he, and not Ian Fleming, had created the organisation for the novel “Thunderball” was upheld by the courts. Blofeld is seen but not identified later in For Your Eyes Only (1981), as Eon’s arrangements with the Fleming estate do not permit them to use McClory’s works.
- American actor John Gavin was signed to play James Bond in this film. At the last minute Sean Connery agreed to return as Bond for the sixth time in a two-picture deal and at an astronomical salary for the time. Producer Albert R. Broccoli insisted that Gavin be paid the full salary called for in his contract.
- Vehicles included Tiffany Case’s red 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Fastback sportscar; a silver and white Moon Buggy; a 1968 Cadillac hearse; a Hughes 500/OH-6A Cayuse; various Ford makes including a 1971 Ford Thunderbird driven by Mr. Witt and Mr. Kidd, 1971 Ford Econoline Van, 1969 and 1971 Ford Sedans and various 1970 and 1971 Ford Custom 500s as police vehicles; Honda ATC 90 and green Honda ATV motor tricycle dirt bikes; Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopter; Blofeld’s Bathosub mini-submarine; an airplane and cameo appearances of a new yellow Triumph Stag in Amsterdam and Aston Martin DBS in Q’s workshop.
- During the shooting period in Las Vegas, producer Albert R. Broccoli and Dana Broccoli were asleep in their hotel room suite one night when it was broken into and Dana’s jewelry stolen.
- Stuntwoman Donna Garrett was originally signed to play the character of Bambi.
- During one take of the fight in the elevator, actor Joe Robinson pulled off Sean Connery’s hairpiece.
- The site used for the Willard Whyte Space Labs (where Bond gets away in the Moon Buggy) was actually, at that time, a Johns-Manville gypsum plant located just outside of Las Vegas.
- Given all the business with caskets, cremation, etc., it’s interesting to note that producer Albert R. Broccoli once worked as a salesman and manager for the Long Island Casket Co., and Sean Connery once worked for an undertaker.
- Cameo: [Sammy Davis Jr.] at the casino playing roulette. This scene was later cut from the theatrical release. It can now be seen on the DVD’s Deleted Scenes.
- Bond’s escape through a moon landing “film set” refers to the popular conspiracy theory of the time that the real moon landings were faked.
- First Bond film to feature adult language (words like “bastard” and “Goddamn”), and the last to use it in any major sense until Licence to Kill (1989).
- The outdoor elevator scenes were shot at the (now demolished) Landmark casino.
- Because of Sean Connery’s high fee, the film’s special effects budget was significantly scaled back. Connery was reportedly paid $1.25 million (US) to return as James Bond, a figure unheard of in those days.
- George Lazenby was asked to come back as Bond for this film but declined.
- The moon buggy that Bond drives around during the chase in the desert had a problem in that the wheels kept falling off. In one scene where a car turns over you can see one of the wheels that had broken off the buggy rolling in the foreground.
- Reportedly, the final scene Sean Connery filmed as Bond (at least in the official film series) was the one in which an unconscious Bond is loaded into a coffin at the funeral home. So, Connery’s last ever day of playing James Bond for EON Productions was Friday the 13th August, 1971.
- The laser satellite’s reflector is actually the reflector from an old fashioned, non-electronic camera flash attachment.
- The two fighting girls in charge of watching Willard Whyte are named Bambi and Thumper. However, the last one (Trina Parks) had the name of her character changed in the Spanish-dubbed version, for uncertain reasons (apparently the joke would not be so understandable), and was re-named Pluto, due to the yellow bikini she wore.
- The Willard Whyte kidnap plot was based on a dream of Albert R. Broccoli. He had known Howard Hughes in Hollywood and dreamt he was going to meet his old friend in Las Vegas, but when he entered Hughes’s room it was occupied by an imposter.
- Albert R. Broccoli hated the line “Alimentary, Dr. Leiter,” which Bond says when asked the location of the diamonds in Peter Franks’s body. He thought no one would understand it referred to digestion. At the film’s premiere, two people in the front row burst out laughing at the line, and Broccoli quipped, “Big deal, they’re doctors.”
- Although the bulk of the film takes place in Las Vegas, no character ever says the words “Las Vegas” or even “Vegas”.
- Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny) wears a hat in her only scene to hide the fact that she had dyed her hair.
- Lana Wood had to stand on a box for some of her scenes with Sean Connery because, even in high heels, she was too small to fit into the frame with him.
- The character of Shady Tree (played by comedian Leonard Barr) is a reference to legendary old Las Vegas entertainer Shecky Greene.
- John Abineri is dubbed
- Richard Maibaum’s original idea for the ending was a giant boat chase across Lake Mead with Blofeld being pursued by Bond and all the Las Vegas casino owners who would be sailing in their private yachts, which, apparently, would include mock-ups of a Roman galley, a Chinese junk, etc. Bond would rouse the allies into action with a spoof of Lord Nelson’s famous cry, “Las Vegas expects every man to do his duty.” Alas, Maibaum was misinformed; there were no Roman galleys or Chinese junks in Las Vegas, and the idea was too expensive to replicate, so it was dropped. Maibaum may have thought the eventual oil rig finale a poor substitute, but it was originally intended to be much more spectacular. Armed frogmen would jump from the helicopters into the sea and attach limpet mines to the rig’s legs (this explains why frogmen appear on the film’s poster). Blofeld would have escaped in his BathoSub and Bond would have pursued him hanging from a weather balloon. The chase would have then continued across a salt mine with the two mortal enemies scrambling over the pure white hills of salt before Blofeld would fall to his death in a salt granulator. Permission was not granted by the owners of the salt mine, and it also made the sequence too long. Further problems followed when the explosives set up for the finale were set off too early; fortunately, a handful of cameras were ready and able to capture the footage.
- George A. Cooper is often wrongly credited with being in this project; undeniably this is due to confusion with a performer with a similar name.
- The license plate number of Peter Frank’s (Joe Robinson) sports car which James Bond (Sean Connery) steals is RVC 435H.
- The license plate number of Tiffany Case’s red 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Fastback sportscar that James Bond drives in Las Vegas was CA52H6.
- Final film of Bruce Cabot.
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- Entry created: December 28, 2006; 8:39; Last modified: August 15, 2009; 0:24
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