This page uses content from the Desmond Llewelyn biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Desmond Wilkinson Llewelyn (September 12, 1914 – December 19, 1999) was a Welsh actor, famous for playing the fictional character of Q in the James Bond series of films.

Early life and career

Born in Newport, Wales in 1914, Llewelyn was the son of a coal mining engineer. He originally wanted to be a minister but during his education at Radley College he worked as a stagehand in the school's productions and then picked up sporadic small parts.

The outbreak of World War II in September 1939 halted his acting career, and Llewelyn was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the British army, serving with the Royal Welch Fusiliers. In 1940, he was captured by the German army in France, and was held as a POW for five years. During this period he appeared in a number of theatrical productions as well as taking part in attempted escape activities.

Since 1963's From Russia with Love, Llewelyn appeared as Q (the quartermaster of the MI6 gadget lab known as Q-branch) in every James Bond film, except Live and Let Die (1973), until The World Is Not Enough (1999). He had originally been chosen for the role as he had previously worked with the director Terence Young on the 1950 war film They Were Not Divided. In the 2002 film Die Another Day, John Cleese, who played the character R, the assistant to Q in The World Is Not Enough, was promoted to the head of Q-branch, thus taking on the title of Q. Llewelyn appeared in other films such as the 1981 PBS production of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde and also a small appearance in the famous musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and in the Ealing comedy The Lavender Hill Mob (1951). He acted on stage and appeared in the British television series Follyfoot - his commitments filming that series were the reason why he did not appear in Live and Let Die.

Death

Llewelyn was killed in a road accident on December 19, 1999 after returning home from a booksigning promoting his autobiography. His Renault Megane car collided head-on with another on the A27 road near the village of Lindfield, West Sussex. He died shortly afterwards; he was 85. Roger Moore spoke at his funeral.

Trivia

• Llewelyn's final Bond film, The World Is Not Enough, had been released only a few weeks before his death, and in his final scene in the picture he is shown being lowered into the ground beside a BMW Z8 at the Scotland headquarters while saying the line, "Always have an escape plan". Although the film had alluded to Q's retirement (though not stated that it was imminent) and introduced John Cleese's character as heir presumptive, Llewelyn had stated not long before his death that he had no plans to retire and that he would continue playing Q "as long as the producers want me and the Almighty doesn't."From an interview on the DVD of The World Is Not Enough.

• In an interview before his death, Llewelyn stated that of all the actors to have portrayed James Bond, he felt that Timothy Dalton's performance was the closest to the way Bond was portrayed in the original novels.

• Contrary to his gadget-expert character in the Bond films, Llewelyn always maintained that he was totally lost in the world of technology.

Reference

External links

• Obituary at Salon.com
• Desmond Llewelyn fan page

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the biographical information on this page under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.