Birthday of James Bond director John Glen
By: Anders Frejdh
Published:
2015-05-15
A celebration of editor, 2nd unit director and James Bond film director John Glen on his birthday. John holds the record for directing the most James Bond films, with a total of 5; this is every Bond film in the 1980’s.
With this page,
From Sweden with Love would like to celebrate John Glen and officially thank him for accepting our invitation to come to our
James Bond festival in Stockholm on 19-21 September 2014.
"Happy birthday John, your contribution to the James Bond film series and legacy of 007 are forever!"
Friends and colleagues from the James Bond films on John Glen:
"John would keep all the very worst takes, including me scratching my crotch or blinking whenever I fired a gun. All in good fun, and incredibly bad taste, and most definitely for our eyes only."
–
Sir Roger Moore
"Very hard working director, a pleasure to work for." –
Albert Moses, Saddrudin in
Octopussy
"John was totally professional and easy-going. Inconceivable that he would have been badly tempered!" –
Andreas Wisniewski, Necros in
The Living Daylights
"John was always great fun to work with and because of his background as an Editor he knew exactly what he wanted, what he needed and how it would all work together. So refreshing to work like that, especially in today’s world." –
John Richardson, SFX, miniatures, model and visual effects supervisor on nine James Bond films
"One of the nicest men I've ever met. He is a well-grounded Taurian and completely unflappable in all circumstances. Still today I'm immensely grateful that he chose me to play Magda in
Octopussy." –
Kristina Wayborn
"A very cozy man, just like Desmond Llewelyn [Q in 17 James Bond films]. Sympathetic, calm and a very kind gentleman. Never heard him say a bad word about anyone." –
Mary Stavin, one of the circus girls in
Octopussy and Kimberley Jones in
A View to a Kill
"John is a very amiable man, who always had a smile on his face. Lovely to see him at the
30th anniversary reunion of Octopussy in 2013." –
Safira Afzal, one of the circus girls in
Octopussy
"Gentle. Kind. Genius." –
Virginia Hey, Rubavich in
The Living Daylights
About John Glen:
John Glen was born in Sunbury-on-Thames, England, UK.
He is a giant in the Bond world with credits from no less than eight movies in the series. He was editor / 2nd Unit Director for
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969),
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and
Moonraker (1979) (1979).
John was offered the chance to direct
For Your Eyes Only (1981) and continued to direct every other James Bond film in the 80's;
Octopussy (1983) (1983),
A View to a Kill (1985),
The Living Daylights (1987) and
Licence to Kill (1989).
John also worked with
Roger Moore on several occasions outside the James Bond series. With Roger in a starring role, he was second unit director on
Gold (1974),
Shout at the Devil (1976) and
The Wild Geese (1978). In 1980 he directed Roger in
The Sea Wolves. Among other film credits from John Glen's amazing career are director of
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992) and
The Point Men (2001)
In 2001, John Glen came out with his autobiography
For My Eyes Only: My Life with James Bond which we strongly recommend every Bond scholar to read.
In September 2007, we interviewed John exclusively for FSWL and Roger Moore's official website, read our
interview with John Glen.
In 2012, for the
50th anniversary of the first James Bond film (
Dr. No), John has attended various special events including
a director's panel in Las Vegas and
a film festival in Oman.
John is currently working on an updated and revised version of his autobiography for publication in the fall to coincide with the release of the 24th James Bond film,
SPECTRE.
Photo above:
John Glen with
Paul Johnston, British Ambassador in Sweden, at our James Bond gala in Stockholm on 20th September 2014. Photo by
Cawa Media. © From Sweden with Love.
For more information about John Glen's film career, check out his profile on IMDB:
www.imdb.com/name/nm0322515/
Tags:
#james_bond_directors
#john_glen