● Danish Modern design by Bodil Kjær(born 1932) made its first Bond appearence in "From Russia With Love" (EON 1963) in several sequences showing Ernst Stavro Blofeld sitting behind Kjær's iconic Office Desk from 1959.
In "You Only Live Twice" (EON 1967) Bodil Kjær's free-standing wood and aluminum table reappears several times. In the film's teaser sequence, delegates from the three superpowers USA, USSR and United Kingdom are each seated behind Office Desks.
Time code (Blu-ray): 03:56-05:02
In this blog series James Bond•O•Rama.dk will attempt to cover every connection to Denmark seen on-screen in the James Bond 007 film series. If you spot a detail that we have missed, please fill us in!
● Shortly before Oddjob (Harold Sakata) knocks out James Bond (Sean Connery) with a karate chop, Bond opens the fridge at Hotel Fontainebleau to get a suitably chilled bottle of Dom Perignon '53 for himself and Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton). The fridge also contains four golden cans of Danish Carlsberg beer as well as a green can placed upside down.
Time code (Blu-ray): 15 minutes 56 seconds.
● As James Bond is saying goodbye to Tilly Masterson (Tania Mallet) at a Swiss gas station, the Danish flag is waving in the wind on the opposite side of the road. Thanks to flag spotter extraordinaire Rikart Købke for noticing this detail.
Time code (Blu-ray): 40 minutes.
● Danish connections in "Dr. No" (1962)
● Danish connections in "From Russia with Love" (1963)
In this new blog series James Bond•O•Rama.dk will attempt to cover every connection to Denmark seen on-screen in the James Bond 007 film series. If you spot a detail that we have missed, please fill us in!
● When Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) and Kronsteen (Vladek Sheybal) are reporting to their leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Eric Pohlmann) on a SPECTRE boat, he is sitting at a desk created by Danish furniture designer Bodil Kjær (born 1932).
Cabinetmakers E. Pedersen & Søn produced the free-standing working table from Pao Ferro wood on a chromium-plated steel frame. Kjær originally designed the desk in 1959 as part of the "Office Units" collection for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This very fotogenic example of Danish Modern later found its way onto the silver screen in "You Only Live Twice" (EON 1967) and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (EON 1969). Allegedly, both Sean Connery and Michael Caine privately owned Bodil Kjær desks. Today a company called Karakter Copenhagen is still manufacturing the Office Desk albeit in oak or walnut with an aluminum frame.
Bodil Kjær's Office Desk at Karakter Copenhagen (external site)
In this new blog series James Bond•O•Rama.dk will attempt to cover every connection to Denmark seen on-screen in the James Bond 007 film series. If you spot a detail that we have missed, please fill us in!
● In this scene from "Dr. No", the receptionist at the Jamaican hotel where James Bond (Sean Connery) is staying hands him a telegramme and a car key. On the wall behind the receptionist (Malou Pantera) you can clearly see the Danish flag known as the Dannebrog. It's the second flag from the left with a white cross on a red backing.
Time code (Blu-ray): 00:41:22
● A year before Marguerite LeWars appeared as the villainous "freelance" press photographer in "Dr. No", the young actress was crowned Miss Cherry Heering in a Jamaican beauty contest. The title was named after a internationally successful Danish brand of cherry liqueur which at the time was produced in the Copenhagen neighbourhood of Christianshavn.
Thanks to flag spotter Rikart Købke.
Peter Bonke (born 1942) was a promising young star of Danish theatre in the early 1970's. The handsome actor appeared sporadically in Danish film comedies such as "Hussar Honeymoon" (1970) before his disappoinment with the roles offered to him in his homeland caused him to relocate permanently to Paris in 1975.
Three years after his move to France, Peter Bonke got a speaking part in "Moonraker" which EON Productions was shooting in French studios at the time. Bonke plays one of the American space marines entering Drax' space station in the final twenty minutes of the film. Even though Bonke's character has a name - it's "Sergeant Parish" according to the tag on his silver uniform - the actor is uncredited in the end credits as well as on IMDb. To our knowledge, Bonke has yet to be named in any of the numerous James Bond encyclopedias published since "Moonraker" came out in 1979. The resurfacing of a 1978 clipping from the Danish weekly Billed-Bladet which featured a photo of Bonke on the set in Studios de Boulogne outside Paris prompted Bond•O•Rama.dk to reach out to Bonke, a hitherto unknown Danish James Bond 007 connection.
"It was a long time ago and only a brief spell even though I'd say it was a bit more than just a walk-on," 78-year-old Peter Bonke confirmed in an e-mail to Bond•O•Rama.dk. Bonke actually speaks a few lines of dialogue in "Moonraker" although he appears to have been dubbed by an American actor.
These days, Peter Bonke is unable to recall any specific details about his James Bond shoot. "It's a very distant memory, all but lost in the fog of time," he states before adding: "If it had been a Sean Connery Bond movie it would probably have made a greater impression on me!!!"
With thanks to Peter Bonke, Henrik Huus Mikkelsen and Casper Nielsen.
