52 years since filming began on On Her Majesty's Secret Service

By: Steven Jay Rubin

Published:
2020-10-21

On Her Majesty's Secret Service Piz Gloria

The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia presents This Day in James Bond History - marking the first day of shooting on the sixth James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), starring George Lazenby as Ian Fleming's 007.

On this day in 1968, director Peter Hunt was working on an interior sequence inside the Piz Gloria restaurant atop the Schilthorn peak in Switzerland, which was playing the mountaintop headquarters of Ernest Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas).

Blofeld was posing as a world-famous allergist, helping a bevy of gorgeous women with various food allergies. In reality, he’s turning them into messengers of death for the world’s agriculture and livestock. But Blofeld isn’t the only one in disguise.

James Bond (George Lazenby) arrives as Sir Hilary Bray Baronet, a heraldry expert from the London College of Arms, commissioned to determine Blofeld’s claim to be Count Balthezar de Bleuchamp.

The discovery of Piz Gloria was a coup for the production. They had originally investigated the abandoned underground fortresses that constituted the Magninot Line in France. Piz Gloria was better – much better.

Production notes on On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Source: MGM/EON Productions)

• 7 October 1968: George Lazenby was presented to the press as the 2nd actor to play James Bond
• 21 October 1968: Lazenby shot his first scene as Bond in the reception of Piz Gloria
• 23 October 1968: Filming took place on the scene that introduced Blofeld’s ‘Angels of Death’
• 9 November 1968: Director Peter Hunt shot Bond’s arrival at Piz Gloria, posing as Sir Hilary Gray
• 5 November 1968: Hunt shot Bond’s dinner with the Angels of Death ()
• 14 November 1968: Hunt shot Bond’s fight with Braun and Felsen in the cowbell room
• 23 November 1968: Hunt filmed Bond and the Angels of Death playing on the helipad
• 4 December 1968: Hunt shot the action-packed rescue of Tracy di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg)
• 8 December 1968: Hunt was shooting Bond climbing over the cable cars
• 16 December 1968: Hunt shot part of the attack sequence on Piz Gloria
• 18 December 1968: Hunt shot the beginning of Bond and Blofeld’s ski chase
• 6 January 1969: Hunt shot the scene in which Blofeld attempts (and fails) to seduce Tracy
• 9 January 1969: Hunt began shooting 007 and Blofeld’s climactic gunfight
• 4 February 1969: Hunt began shooting 007’s seduction of Tracy
• 24 February 1969: The crew shot the scene in which Bond escapes Blofeld’s henchmen at the ice rink
• 17 March 1969: Shooting began on the casino scenes
• 15 April 1969: Lois Maxwell (Moneypenny) shot her first scene with new Bond George Lazenby
• 30 April 1969: Filming began on Bond and Tracy’s wedding in Estoril, Portugal
• 9 May 1969: Hunt shot Draco's birthday scene at the Vinhus Estate, Zambujal
• 3 June 1969: Lazenby & Rigg filmed skiing shots (in Pinewood's North Tunnel)
• 20 June 1969: George Lazenby completed shooting, making this his last day as Bond

All text. Copyright © 2020 Steven Jay Rubin. All rights reserved.

Tags:

#articles

#george_lazenby

#on_her_majestys_secret_service

#schilthorn_piz_gloria

#steven_jay_rubin

Tag Cloud

52 years since filming began on On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The discovery of Piz Gloria was a coup for the production. They had originally investigated the abandoned underground fortresses that constituted the Magninot Line in France. Piz Gloria was better – much better.

Production notes on On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Source: MGM/EON Productions)

Tag Cloud