Page 257 - They Also Served

followed by a detective inspector in The Blue Lamp and a naval captain in Battle of the River Plate, the fourth most popular British film of 1957. Indeed, he was only cast out of type twice, as a trade union agitator in The Angry Silence (1960) and as a traitorous spy in Shadow of Treason (1964).
In 1962, Lee was cast as ‘M’, the head of MI6, in the first of the Eon Productions James Bond films Dr. No. Lee’s interpretation of the character was close to Ian Fleming’s in the Bond books, with one critic commenting: ‘He was the very incarnation of Fleming’s crusty admiral’. Over the next 17 years, Lee played ‘M’ in eleven Bond films, while his new-found fame as a household name opened the doors for many television appearances in series such as Man in a Suitcase and Danger Man.
During the filming of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, a spooked horse caused Lee to fall into a fence. His leg was badly cut and, as there was no doctor on set, it was stitched up by the local vet. In January 1972, Lee’s life was marred by tragedy when fire broke out in his 17th-century cottage in Kent. Trapped upstairs, he climbed out of a window but, by the time he returned with a ladder from the garage, Gladys had died. The following month he was mugged by two youths in London and, severely depressed, turned to drink and was soon on the verge of bankruptcy.
However, a chance meeting with actor Richard Burton in a pub (where else?) turned his life around. They had appeared together in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) and Burton sent him a cheque to clear his debts, with a note: ‘Everyone has a spot of trouble once in a while’. Lee married again in 1975 and returned to acting. Admitted to hospital with cancer, Bernard Lee died in January 1981. He had already been cast as ‘M’ in For Your Eyes Only but died before his scenes could be filmed. Out of respect, the role was not filled, with the explanation that ‘M’ was ‘away on leave’. In total, Lee appeared in 91 films, 52 television programmes and 58 stage productions.
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