Entertainment December 28, 2020

• Casino Royale Cast Women 2019
• Eva Green
• Casino Royale Cast Women

Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress and Orson Welles pictures on a lobby card for 'Casino Royale.' Source: IMDB

Casino (1995) Full Cast & Crew. Directed by (1) Writing credits (3) Cast (168) Produced by (3) Cinematography by (1) Film Editing by (1) Casting By (1). Cast (in credits order) verified as complete. Evelyn Tremble (James Bond - 007) Ursula Andress. Vesper Lynd (007) David Niven.

The 1967 James Bond comedy Casino Royale assembled one of the greatest cast lists in movie history, including Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, Orson Welles, Ursula Andress, David Niven, William Holden, Barbara Bouchet, George Raft, Deborah Kerr and more. The list of stars makes the poster look like a page out of a phone book -- well, if you look past Robert McGinnis' iconic image of a body-painted pistol-packin' model. This farce, which featured numerous James Bonds and which isn't at all part of the Eon 007 canon (which had kicked off with Sean Connery in Dr. No five years earlier), is the sort of kitchen-sink '60s comedy that tried to be hip but seems incredibly square today. It also tried to be funny, with mixed results.

Bond, James Bond, the seductive secret agent with no equal, never encountered a situation without a pun at the ready. Unless, of course, you’re talking about Casino Royale” that starred Woody Allen, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, and Orson Welles as opposed to Sean Connery or Daniel Craig. The ‘67 Casino Royale in no way resembles a James Bond film because it really isn’t one. Producer Charles K. Feldman secured the rights from Ian Fleming but failed to rope in any of the major players. So instead, Feldman, coming off the major success of the purposely incongruous, “What’s New, Pussycat,” went the spoof route for his swing at 007.

Casino Royale was a star-studded debacle -- not an unsuccessful film, owing probably to its A-list cast, but not a classic. It was painful to watch at the time (as contemporary reviews make clear); today it's kitschy fun for the dated visuals and verges on so-bad-its's-good. Eon productions, the company headed by the Broccoli family that is responsible for the Bond cinematic canon, was horrified by the tarnishing of the James Bond brand. Ever since, Eon has been famously protective of the rights to Ian Fleming's work, lest some other inferior version of the secret agent make it to the big screen. (Eon's failure to lock down exclusive rights to Thunderball resulted in the non-canon Never Say Never Again, but that's another story.)

Woody Allen As Jimmy Bond (Dr. Noah)

The controversial but undoubtedly talented Woody Allen, who was primarily a writer and standup comedian, signed on to play Jimmy Bond in Casino Royale after his successful experience with Feldman on What’s New, Pussycat. Unfortunately, Allen probably didn’t realize that Feldman would use as many as six directors all shooting at the same time without consulting one another.

Naturally, that created some confusion, to say the least. Apparently, said confusion delayed Allen’s final day of shooting so many times, he left the set in a huff and flew directly to New York without even changing out of his costume. Such angst was common during Casino Royale. Part of the problem may have laid with the fact that most of the stars had no idea they signed on for a comedy and not a real James Bond movie.

In a hilarious letter penned to a friend, Allen lays out the litany of problems with the film:

I haven't begun filming yet but saw the sets for my scenes. They are the height of bad pop art expensive vulgarity. Saw rushes and am dubious to put it mildly, but probably the film will coin a mint. (Not money, just a single peppermint.) I play the villain (okay to give that out) and also James Bond's bastard nephew (not all right to give that out) and my part changes every day as new stars fall in. ... I would like it emphasized and made quite clear that I am not a writer of Casino. I'm adding a few ad-lib jokes to my own part but that's all. In fact ... we demanded a letter saying my name cannot appear on screen as a writer. This because everyone who contributed a comma is demanding his name on the film.

Peter Sellers As Evelyn Tremble (James Bond 007)

Sellers was another of the actors playing a James Bond (there are at least four) in Casino Royale, and was also alarmed by the chaotic nature of the concept and shoot -- so much so that he hired his own writer, Terry Southern, to write his dialogue so he could outshine Allen and Orson Welles. He also made the executive decision to play it straight, despite starring in what amounted to Monty Python’s version of James Bond.

His decision to not go along with the tone of the film created extraordinary tension between Peter Sellers and Orson Welles as well as director, Val Guest. Allegedly, Sellers and Welles hated each other so much that they couldn't be in the same room together. Their scene at the gambling table had to be shot over multiple days, with doubles standing in for the other actor. Supposedly, the rift between Sellers and Welles started when Princess Margaret, with whom Sellers was familiar, visited the set and completely ignored him to swoon over Welles. Guest, on the other hand, was so sick of Sellers' behavior that he fired him before the actor had even finished all his scenes. Rewrites were required to remove Sellers from the film.

Jacqueline Bisset As Miss Goodthighs

Even more disturbing, Sellers, during one of his serious ad-libs, also shot Jacqueline Bisset in the face with a blank. The gunpowder burned her face and the tiny shards from the round actually made her bleed. As Bisset remembered,

First I thought I had been actually shot and then when I realized it had been a blank, I thought I'd been blinded. My face looked like a shower spout of pinpricks leaking blood. I was panicked whenever I had a scene with Peter Sellers. To get shot in your first scene with a big star, that is a nightmare.

To cap it all off, Sellers punched friend and director Joseph McGrath in the face when he complained about the actor’s behavior.

David Niven As Sir James Bond

Niven was actually Ian Fleming’s first choice for the real James Bond, but was overruled by producers who selected Sean Connery. Niven got his chance, of sorts, to play “Sir James Bond” in what Woody Allen called “a madhouse” of a production. Niven's character is in a sense the 'real' James Bond, a dashing and successful British secret agent who retired 20 years before the film begins but is drawn out of retirement. In the face of an imminent and convoluted threat, Sir James Bond decrees that all MI6 agents be renamed 'James Bond' to confuse the villains (and, unfortunately, the audience).

When considering Casino Royale, it’s better to think of it as an Austin Powers movie rather than an actual James Bond movie. Thanks to the complete chaos involved from top to bottom, it doesn’t really work any other way.

Joanna Pettet As Mata Bond

As Mata Bond, Joanna Pettet plays the daughter of the legendary femme fatale/spy Mata Hari. Her father, from whom she is estranged, is Sir James Bond (Niven). Bond, a famous ladies' man, finds old habits die hard, even around his own daughter, who tends to dress in skimpy belly-dancing outfits. He's also constantly cracking wise about Mata Hari's sexual aptitude and enthusiasm:

Mata Bond: Oh! You want me to be a spy - like mum, huh? Well.

Casino Royale Cast Women 2019

Sir James: Family tradition, my dear.

Mata Bond: Do I get an exploding brief case and a secret transmitter?

Sir James: That won't be necessary.

Mata Bond: Well, I have to have some equipment.

Sir James: Your mother wiped out three divisions of infantry and five brigades of cavalry and, well, frankly, she had much less equipment than you have.

Pettet continued to make movies for years after Casino Royale, but never had a hit. She was considered a virtual Sharon Tate lookalike, which is interesting because she and Tate were actually good friends in real life. Pettet was one of the last people to see Sharon Tate alive, having been at the pregnant actress' house the day she was murdered. In Quentin Tarantino's film Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood, Pettet was played by Rumer Willis.

Orson Welles As Le Chiffre

Orson Welles played the evil mastermind, “Le Chiffre” and got the role, ironically, in part thanks to Sellers’ recommendation. Unfortunately, whether it was Princess Margaret’s unintentional snub of Sellers, her fawning over Orson Welles, or Welles' own adamant desire to perform magic in the movie, the two Hollywood heavyweights despised one another almost immediately.

We certainly aren’t taking sides but stories like Sellers demanding a set be taken down because he had a dream in which his mother disapproved of the background, making the animosity understandable. Interestingly, the iconic polymath Orson Welles, director of the masterpiece Citizen Kane, attributed the relative success of the film to an ad featuring a naked tattooed woman.

Ursula Andress As Vesper Lynd (007)

Ursula Andress played Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale and unlike her subsequent movies which earned her the nickname, 'Ursula undress,' did not actually get naked. She did wear a skin color bodysuit that assuredly got many men hot under the collar and likely led to years of research by internet sleuths. Unlike her male counterparts who sparred like wild animals, Andress stirred clear of most of the controversy surrounding the cast of the film. She did, however, manage to get an eye injury while feeding deer at Hampton Court.

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Tags: Cast Lists From Popular Movies David Niven James Bond Orson Welles Peter Sellers Ursula Andress Woody Allen

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Kellar Ellsworth

Writer

Vesper Lynd is a fictional character featured in Ian Fleming's 1953 James Bond novel Casino Royale. She was portrayed by Ursula Andress in the 1967 James Bond parody, which is only slightly based on the novel, and by Eva Green in the 2006 film adaptation.

In the novel, the character explains that she was born 'on a very stormy evening', and that her parents named her 'Vesper', Latin for 'evening'. Fleming created a cocktail recipe in the novel that Bond names after her. The 'Vesper martini' became very popular after the novel's publication, and gave rise to the famous 'shaken, not stirred' catchphrase immortalised in the Bond films. The actual name for the drink (as well as its complete recipe) was mentioned on screen for the first time in the 2006 film adaptation of Casino Royale.^[1]

In 1993, journalist Donald McCormick claimed that Fleming based Vesper on the real life of Polish agent Krystyna Skarbek, who was working for Special Operations Executive.^[2]

Novel biography[edit]

Vesper works at MI6 headquarters being a personal assistant to Head of section S. She is lent to Bond, much to his irritation, to assist him in his mission to bankrupt Le Chiffre, the paymaster of a SMERSH-controlled trade union. She poses as a radio seller, working with Rene Mathis, and later as Bond's companion to infiltrate the casino in Royale-Les-Eaux, in which Le Chiffre frequently gambles. After Bond takes all of Le Chiffre's money in a high-stakes game of baccarat, Vesper is abducted by Le Chiffre's thugs, who also nab Bond when he tries to rescue her. Both are rescued after Le Chiffre is murdered by a SMERSH agent, but only after Bond has been tortured.

Vesper visits Bond every day in the hospital, and the two grow very close; much to his own surprise, Bond develops genuine feelings for her, and even dreams of leaving the service and marrying her. After he is released from the hospital, they go on a holiday together and eventually become lovers.

Vesper has a terrible secret, however - she is a double agent working for Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) and worked with Bond only because she was ordered to see that he did not escape Le Chiffre. (Her kidnapping was staged to lure Bond into Le Chiffre's clutches.) Before she met Bond, she had been romantically involved with a PolishRAF operative. This man had been captured by SMERSH and revealed information about Vesper under torture. Hence, SMERSH was using this operative to blackmail Vesper into helping them. After Le Chiffre's death, she is initially hopeful that she can have a fresh start with Bond, but she realizes this is impossible when she sees a SMERSH operative with an eye patch, Adolph Gettler, tracking her and Bond's movements. Consumed with guilt and certain that SMERSH will find and kill both of them, she commits suicide, leaving a note admitting her treachery and pledging her love to Bond.

Bond moves at top speed through all the Kübler-Ross model stages of grief following Vesper's death, eventually seeing past his sense of loss the clear implications of her espionage. He renounces her only as 'a spy,' packing her away as a memento in the box room of his life and recalling his professional identity immediately within the present situation. Through to his superiors on the telephone, with quiet emergency he informs them of Vesper's treasonous identity, adding, upon a request for confirmation, 'Yes, dammit, I said 'was.' The bitch is dead now.'

However, Bond's genuine feelings for Vesper never fade. Fleming's tenth novel, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, reveals that Bond makes an annual pilgrimage to Royale-Les-Eaux to visit her grave. In Diamonds Are Forever, Bond skips the song 'La Vie En Rose' in Tiffany Case's hotel room 'because it has memories for him'; this is a song closely associated with Vesper in Casino Royale. In the novel Goldfinger, when Bond has been severely poisoned and believes he is about to enter heaven, he worries about how to introduce Tilly Masterton, who he believes has died along with him, to Vesper.

Film biography[edit]

1967[edit]

In the 1967 version of Casino Royale, Lynd was portrayed by Ursula Andress, who had portrayed another Bond girl, Honey Ryder, in the 1962 film version of Dr. No.^[3]

In this version, which bore little resemblance to the novel, Vesper is depicted as a former secret agent who has since become a multi-millionaire with a penchant for wearing ridiculously extravagant outfits at her office ('because if I wore it in the street people might stare'). Bond (played by David Niven), now in the position of M at MI6, uses a discount for her past due taxes to bribe her into becoming another 007 agent, and to recruit baccarat expert Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers) into stopping Le Chiffre (played by Orson Welles).

Vesper and Tremble have an affair during which she eliminates an enemy agent sent to seduce Tremble ('Miss Goodthighs'). Ultimately, however, she betrays Tremble to Le Chiffre and SMERSH, declaring to Tremble, 'Never trust a rich spy' before killing him with a machine gun hidden inside a bagpipe. She presumably does this for the same reason she does in the novel, as she remarks that it isn't for money but for love. Though her ultimate fate is not revealed in the film, in the closing credits she is shown as an angel playing a harp, showing her to be one of the 'seven James Bonds at Casino Royale' killed by an atomic explosion.

Eon films[edit]

In the 2006 film version of Casino Royale, Vesper Lynd is a foreign liaison agent from the HM Treasury's Financial Action Task Force assigned to make sure that Bond adequately manages the funds provided by MI6. Vesper is initially skeptical about Bond's ego and at first is unwilling to be his trophy at the hold 'em poker tournament hosted by Le Chiffre. However, she assists Bond when Lord's Resistance Army leader Steven Obanno attacks him, knocking a gun out of Obanno's hand and giving Bond the chance to kill him.

She retreats to the shower afterwards, feeling she has blood on her hands from helping to kill Obanno. Bond sits next to her and kisses the 'blood' off her fingers to provide comfort, and they return to the casino. His kindness does not prevent her from doing her job, however; she refuses to bankroll him after he misreads Le Chiffre at the table and loses his table stakes. Shortly afterwards, Vesper saves Bond's life. Poisoned by Le Chiffre's girlfriend, Valenka, Bond struggles unsuccessfully to connect a key wire to his automatic external defibrillator and enters cardiac arrest, but Vesper arrives in time to connect the wire properly, enabling the machine to revive him.^[1][3]

After Bond wins the tournament, Le Chiffre kidnaps Vesper, and Bond gives chase. They fall into Le Chiffre's trap and are tortured by him and his thugs, but are ostensibly saved by Quantum henchman Mr. White, who shoots and kills Le Chiffre for misappropriating the organisation's funds.^[4]

Eva Green

While both are hospitalized to recover, Bond and Vesper fall deeply in love, and Bond plans to resign from the service to be with her. As in the novel, Bond and Vesper go on vacation to Venice, both of them hoping to start a new life. Unknown to Bond, however, Vesper embezzles the tournament winnings and intends to deliver them to a gang of Quantum henchmen. Leading the group is Adolph Gettler, who (like his novel counterpart) has been spying on the two agents since they arrived in Venice, and was spotted by Vesper, much to her visible dismay.

When Bond receives a timely phone call from M and realizes Vesper's scheme, he pursues her as Gettler takes her hostage and throws her in a caged elevator while he and his fellow thugs battle Bond. He eliminates them, including Gettler, but in the process causes the building to flood and start sinking. Vesper resigns herself to death and, after apologizing to James, locks herself in, even as Bond frantically tries opening the elevator. In a final gesture, she kisses Bond's hands as if to clear him of guilt; she begins to run out of air and drowns. Bond finally extricates her and attempts to revive her using CPR, to no avail.

As in the novel, Bond copes with his lover's death by renouncing her, saying 'The job's done and the bitch is dead.' M chastises him, assuming that, when held captive by Le Chiffre, Vesper had cut a deal with her Quantum blackmailers to spare Bond in exchange for the tournament money, pressured by their kidnapping of her boyfriend Yusef. When Bond opens Vesper's mobile phone left in their Venice hotel room, he discovers her note for him with Mr. White's phone number; this enables Bond to track down and confront him at the movie's end.

At the end of the 2008 film Quantum of Solace, Yusef is revealed to be an agent working for Quantum, asked to seduce high-ranking women in the world's intelligence agencies. He is then 'kidnapped' by Quantum, and the women are forced to become double agents in the hope of securing his freedom. This information vindicates Vesper in Bond's eyes, as he realizes she was coerced to embezzle the winnings in Casino Royale. He does not kill Yusef, but leaves him to MI6 and tells M that she was right about Vesper. As he walks away, he drops Vesper's necklace in the snow.^[5]

In the 2015 film Spectre, Bond finds a VHS video tape in Mr. White's hotel room in Morocco labelled 'Vesper Lynd Interrogation'. Ernst Stavro Blofeld, whose Spectre organization is the power behind Quantum, taunts Bond by explicitly taking credit for Vesper's death as part of his personal vendetta against him.

Related character[edit]

The character of Vesper Lynd does not appear in the 1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale. Instead, the character was replaced by a new character named Valerie Mathis, played by Linda Christian, who is depicted as an American. She also betrays Bond (played by Barry Nelson), but comes to his rescue after he is shot by Le Chiffre (played by Peter Lorre). Valerie does not die in this adaptation.

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abDeMichael, Tom (2012). James Bond FAQ: All That's Left to Know About Everyone's Favorite Superspy. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN978-1-4803-3786-2.
2. ^McCormick, Donald (1993). The Life of Ian Fleming. Peter Owen Publishers. p. 151.
3. ^ ^abCawthorne, Nigel (2012). A Brief Guide to James Bond. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN978-1-84901-829-6.
4. ^Pratt, Benjamin (October 2008). Ian Fleming's Seven Deadlier Sins and 007's Moral Compass. Front Edge Publishing. ISBN978-1-934879-12-2.
5. ^Newby, Richard (4 December 2019). ''No Time to Die' and Finding Closure for Daniel Craig's Bond'. The Hollywood Reporter.

Casino Royale Cast Women