In Memoriam of Dr No actor Stanley Morgan (1929-2018)

By: Anders Frejdh

Published:
2018-09-11

FSWL is very sad to report the passing of our friend and supporter Stanley Morgan (1929-2018), Casino concierge in the first James Bond film from 1962, Dr No, directed by Terence Young. Stanley died in Cheshire, UK, on 24th August 2018. Our thoughts now goes to Stanley's family and friends, in particular to his wife Linda.

Stanley Morgan was born on 10 November 1929 in Liverpool. He worked variously as a bank clerk, sewing machine salesman, debt collector and radio actor. In 1951 he emigrated to Canada where he spent some time at the Bank of Nova Scotia before emigrating yet again in 1955 – this time to Southern Rhodesia, where his interest in performing began. In 1958, he won an award for “Best Actor of the Year” and was sponsored to return to London to act professionally.

Author? Actor? Serious novelist? Stanley Morgan was all these things. And more!

In the 1960's he co-starred in a number of British films such as The L-Shaped Room, Seance on a Wet Afternoon, Night Train To Paris, and Konga. Stanley also had a pivotal role as the Casino Concierge in some iconic scenes for the first Bond film - Dr No - opposite Sean Connery as Ian Fleming's James Bond.
Sean Connery and Stanley Morgan in Dr No

Sean Connery and Stanley Morgan in Dr No

Stanley Morgan with Sean Connery in DR NO. Copyright © 1962 Danjaq S.A. & United Artists Corporation. All rights reserved.

Around this time he also featured in TV commercials such as Camay Soap, Black and Decker Tools and Esso Petrol. Then an advertising producer suggested he make a 'voice-over' test tape for Whiskas cat food... and a whole new career was launched. During the next ten years he did the voice-overs for some 500 commercials - Esso, Shell, British Army, Castella Cigars, Whiskas, Kodak etc - and became one of the top voice-over artists of the era.

In the late 1960's and throughout the 1970's he turned his hand to writing and wrote a series of books detailing the adventures of a happy-go-lucky ladies man, Russ Tobin. The first million sales of Tobin occurred in 1973. In recent years, Stan told us: "Granada [now Mayflower] presented me with a gold pen which I still have but have never used!"
Total sales of the Tobin books were around 10 Million(!) - without the benefit of critical review or any substantial advertising. He sold particularly well in Australia, New Zealand, India and the Far East, and, to nobody's surprise, was banned in 1970s South Africa.

Interestingly, Ian Fleming's literary agent Peter Janson-Smith was Stanley's first agent, circa 1968, recommended to him by Granada manager Olwyn Birch who had bought the rights to his first Russ Tobin book, The Sewing Machine Man.

"I can't remember how many Tobin books Peter's agency handled, but despite their growing commercial success, I think their jokey/risque nature became a bit of a challenge for the agency and I moved on. I did hear that one of his staff felt obliged to read my MS on the train covered by brown paper in case it was overseen by a member of the public!"

Stanley also gave us a trilogy based around a dodgy airline, and somewhere along the way found time to write a couple of serious adventure books, a handful of sex-comedies and later on in the 1980's and 90's some serious novels which eluded critical acclaim, suffered from publishing disasters and are as a result, devilishly hard to come by.

Since writing his first novel in 1968, Stanley wrote more than 40 books spanning four decades. His Tobin novels and others were available at the time in airport departure lounges, train stations and the like - easy-going, hilarious reading for long boring journeys. Nowadays these works of genius can be located through Amazon UK, eBay and AbeBooks.

FSWL and the rest of the Bond Community will miss Stanley, a true gent and great fun to chat to. Rest in peace, sir.

Andreas Wisniewski, Burt Kwouk, Stanley Morgan, Anders Frejdh and Gavan O'Herlihy in London 2007. Photo by Mark Honeyball.

For more information Stanley Morgan's long career, check out her www.stanleymorgan.co.uk.

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In Memoriam of Dr No actor Stanley Morgan (1929-2018)

Author? Actor? Serious novelist? Stanley Morgan was all these things. And more!

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