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Desmond Llewelyn 1940.
The son of a mining engineer, Desmond Wilkinson Llewelyn was born in Newport, Wales, on 12th September 1914. Educated at Radley College, he worked on school drama productions with small acting roles and, forsaking the chance of studying for ordination, secured a small part in the 1939 film comedy Ask a Policeman. However, the war intervened, and he was commissioned from Sandhurst into the Royal Welsh Fusiliers on 21st January 1940.
Serving with the 1st Battalion, Llewelyn was captured during the retreat to Dunkirk and became a POW. A troublesome inmate, he was eventually transferred to the notorious Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle, where he was incarcerated alongside such notables as RAF fighter ace Douglas Bader, Charles Upham VC and Bar and David Stirling, founder of the SAS. After the war, Llewelyn worked on the stage and secured occasional roles in the burgeoning British film industry. In 1950, another former army officer, Terence Young, directed the semi-autobiographical film about the Guards Armoured Division, They Were Not Divided. Seeking actors with military experience, he cast Llewelyn as a tank commander. However, the seismic change in Llewelyn’s career was not immediately apparent as he appeared in small roles in a further 15 films over the next twelve years.
In 1962, Young directed the first official James Bond film, Dr. No, which was an unexpectedly huge commercial success. The producers immediately followed up with From Russia with Love, and Young cast Llewelyn in the role of ‘Q’ – Major Boothroyd, the head of the MI6 weapon and quartermaster department. Over the next 36 years, Llewelyn appeared in 16 further Bond films, the only exception being Live and Let Die, which does not include any reference to ‘Q’. Although an instantly recognised and much-loved character in the Bond films, the franchise did not make his fortune as Llewelyn was paid a day rate and did not share in the film’s immense profits. However,
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