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Swedes in the Bond films

Interview with Terence Mountain about his work with Clint Eastwood, George Lazenby and Sean Connery

“I’ve always been a James Bond fan, and I saw Dr. No (1962) when I was 25 years of age and I said to myself, ‘I’d like to do that.’” The “that” was acting and damn if Terry Mountain didn’t go out and do it!

“I was brought up in the north of England in Lincolnshire during the War (WWII) and I always liked cowboy films and Johnny Weissmuller movies. I liked the action.” Terry recalled, adding that one of his few regrets is that he never did a cowboy film in his otherwise long and distinguished career.

Although uncredited, Terry’s first film was the 1965 British war drama The Hill (1964) starring none other than Sean Connery, then at the peak of his reign as 007. “I was working as a lifeguard and a couple blokes I was working with had done film work... so I went to London and applied for the film artists association and luck was with me: I got in, and they were looking for 400 men for the film. I was young and fit, had short hair and looked military.” As he was new in the business, Terry didn’t try to have a conversation with the Bond star but “we did look each other up and down a couple of times.”

Although he has great memories of working with Diana Rigg on an episode of The Avengers, he feels “My best work was with Roger Moore on The Saint. I did five episodes which I really enjoyed – and I’m still getting paid now!” Terry fondly recalled Sir Roger, saying, “He was terrific. A very sociable man and everyone liked working with him.”

He is also very proud of his work with American actor Steve Forrest in The Baron series in the mid 1960s. Like every actor, Terry went through a rejection phase, taking odd jobs to support himself. One of them was driving a Rolls Royce limo around town. “I had a great agent, Gabbi Howard, who put me up for everything,” Terry recalls. She told him they were casting the new James Bond movie and there might be a part in it for him. She set an audition for him – which he almost missed! “I had to pick up a client at Heathrow, and it was delayed. I couldn’t get there in time.” Although he missed his 11AM appointment, he did manage to get to Eon’s offices and caught casting director Dyson Lovell just as he was heading out for lunch. We chatted and he said, “I’ll see what I can do for you.” Then Terry made an offer that launched him into movie history: “I said, ‘Can I give you a lift?’” Lovell took one look at the polished Rolls waiting at the curb and jumped in. Terry dropped him off to pick up some flowers, then took him to his luncheon. On that ride, the casting director and the affable actor with the deep voice made a connection. Several days later Terry was summoned to Pinewood Studios to meet with Peter Hunt and stuntman George Leech. They both liked him [how could they not?] and the role of “Rafael” in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) was his. “I got a 10-week contract, I was 32 years of age, and this was the kind of break I was looking for,” Terry remembers.

Also landing the break of a lifetime was George Lazenby, a rugged Australian model with charm, looks and the confidence of 1000 men but NO acting experience. Reportedly after he confessed this fact to Peter Hunt, the director laughed and said, “You’ve just convinced the two most ruthless producers [Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli] in the business. You’re an actor!” Terry knew George already, having met him when he was doing the Big Fry candy commercials and Terry had played a muscleman. “We got along well together.” One can only imagine the immense pressure Lazenby, then only 29, was under as he took over one of cinema’s most coveted roles; but if he felt it, he didn’t show it. “George took it all in stride,” Terry recalls, adding, “he played everything perfectly. I was a big fan of his and still am... I’m only sorry he didn’t carry on in the role.” Terry also made a point of saying that he saw no evidence of any “bad blood” between George and his lovely co-star, Diana Rigg. According to him, they seemed to get along quite well and the oft-repeated line about Rigg eating garlic before a love scene was entirely made up by the press.

The opening scene of On Her Majesty's Secret Service featuring the iconic beach fight

Fan or not, his role required him to knock the hell out of his friend on camera – on a windswept beach in Portugal. “It was April, and the Atlantic was bloody cold, I can assure you.” They filmed their now iconic fight scene in the crashing surf and thought it was “in the can.” Not quite... “Peter wanted more footage; he wasn’t happy with the lighting and the camera angles.” Lazenby asked why stuntmen couldn’t brave the icy water and the director explained, “This is the opening sequence of the film. You have to be in the water.” Even Cubby got involved in the heated discussion which ended when a prop man produced two bottles of high-end brandy – “The best you could buy in Portugal.” Terry and George were instructed to, “Have a good pull, then get in the sea, let’s see some action and knock the fuck out of each other.” After several more swallows, they got back in the surf and created what is still one of THE epic fights of the entire Bond series. Miraculously there were no injuries – after all, Terry was fighting a brawler who clinched the Bond role by accidently knocking out a stuntman during his fight audition!


Terence Mountain and George Lazenby in the iconic beach fight sequence for On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Copyright © 1969 Danjaq S.A. & United Artists Corporation. All rights reserved.

Terry thought Gabriele Ferzetti was a great actor, “But I wasn’t very keen on Kojak (American star Telly Savalas). I thought he was miscast. I think it should have been a European actor – a German, Norwegian or Swede, but there we are...”

For many actors, one appearance in a Bond film is it, but two years later, Terry found himself back at Pinewood, this time with Bond #1, Sean Connery, for a guard part in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Bob Simmons was back coordinating stunts and said “There’s a part I think you’d be right for. I would like to introduce you to Guy Hamilton.” Simmons walked Terry over to the suave British director and suggested him for one of Blofeld’s guards. Hamilton agreed, but right before cameras were set to roll, he asked Terry and George Lane-Cooper (who played the hand-trap guard) to recite “Hold it, get your hands up.” Cooper had a heavy Cockney accent, but Terry’s rich voice boomed across the soundstage – so much so that Connery, who was wrapping up an interview with a journalist, turned around and said, “Who the fuck is that?” Terry got the line!


George Lane-Cooper, Charles Gray and Terry Mountain in Diamonds Are Forever. Copyright © 1971 Danjaq S.A. & United Artists Corporation. All rights reserved.

Once again, Terry didn’t have a chance to catch up with Big Tam even though he was just feet away. “Connery was going through a divorce and didn’t want to do the film. He was keeping to himself.”

Terry found his “boss”, Charles Gray to be a “very commanding actor… he conducted himself perfectly.” Then, his part done, Terry was out – which is how it was in those days. “We did what we were trained to do” he adds.

Another much-loved movie Terry snagged a role in was the 1968 war action classic, Where Eagles Dare. He met the young director, Brian G. Hutton who cast him right away. After getting into costume, he walked onto the set and none other than Liz Taylor came over to him. “It was Liz Taylor’s birthday. She said, ‘We’re having some cake and champagne, come over and have some with us.’” Soon Terry was eating cake and sipping bubbly with the hottest couple of the era – Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. “I worked with Burton again when I played the Executioner in Anne of the Thousand Days. I saw Burton again and he nodded at me.”


Terence Mountain in Where Eagles Dare directed by Brian G. Hutton. Copyright © 1968 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). All rights reserved.

When asked about Clint Eastwood, Terry remembers, “He had done seven years of Rawhide and those Italian westerns, but he wasn’t the big star we knew later.” Early one morning he found himself in the makeup chair next to Clint, “We shook hands, and we didn’t speak in our scene, but it worked.”


Terence Mountain with Clint Eastwood in Where Eagles Dare. Copyright © 1968 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). All rights reserved.

As with any lengthy career, there are a few regrets. One of them is Terry not joining the new British Stunt Registry in the early 70s because, “To get into it, you had to pay £250 so I didn’t join it because I wanted to be an actor... I should have carried on with stuntwork.” That said, Terry is very grateful for the roles he did land, saying, “I was more than pleased to be a bit part player and have these opportunities working with Eastwood, Burton, Sean, Roger and George Lazenby.”

Terry had an interesting encounter with Bond director Martin Campbell at Pinewood a few years ago. “He was sitting on the floor in the Main Admin lobby and I walked over and said, ‘Martin, we worked on The Professionals together.’” Campbell seemed to recall Terry, who then made a major faux pas by saying, “When I knew you 40 years ago you had a terrific head of black hair. Now you’ve lost it.’” That didn’t sit well with the director who became irate [can you blame him?] but, as Terry acknowledges, “I’m sure I won’t work with Martin Campbell again!” The actor chuckles, adding, “It’s very easy to upset people in the business these days.”

Terry’s latest cinematic role landed in his lap when he went to get some furniture reupholstered and the woman mentioned her husband was a young director. She looked Terry up and put the two together. The result was a cameo in Tales from the Great War, a WWI comedy/drama. “It went very well indeed.”

As he looks back on his career, he feels his proudest moments were the beach fight with his pal, George Lazenby, on On Her Majesty's Secret Service and his moments with Sean Connery in Diamonds Are Forever. “As an actor, you can’t get better than that.”

Text by Mark Cerulli. Copyright © 2025 From Sweden with Love. All rights reserved.

Photo on top:
Terence Mountain on top of Schilthorn in 2019. Photo by Sascha Braun. All rights reserved.

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