For more than 50 years, James Bond has enthralled, amused, excited and entertained like no other screen hero. And there’s only one man who photographed these iconic characters from the beginning - legendary photographer Terry O’Neill.
“I photographed the first Bond film, but I’ve lost all the pictures,” he jokingly remembers. “When we started, we all thought it was going to be a one or two film thing. We never dared to think it was going to turn into this huge franchise. What’s great about it, and I think it’s the real secret to why it’s been so successful for so many years, is that with each decade, each James Bond, they have really kept up with the times. Sean Connery in the 1960s was cool and classic; he really fits that decade. Roger Moore in the 1970s added more humour; very Cary Grant. In the 1980s, Pierce Brosnan came aboard and added a real style. Then everyone questioned Daniel Craig - but now look - he’s the perfect modern Bond.
“The women, too, I must have photographed at least 25 Bond girls; Ursula Andress, Barbara Bach, Britt Ekland. Jill St. John was a great Bond girl. She wasn’t just a pretty face with a great body, she had a good brain and she hit it off with Sean Connery right away. I think she was the first real female character to compete with Bond on screen.”
While photographing ‘Goldfinger’, Terry captured one of his most iconic shots. “I was with Honor Blackman doing some publicity stills and I couldn’t resist the opportunity. She is the perfect pin-up. We went down to the beach and I wrote ‘Pussy’ on the sand. Her character, Pussy Galore, was meant to be very feline - very agile. But when they took the film to America, no one realized that her character’s name meant something quite different.”
Being James Bond does come with a certain set of privileges. “Sean Connery wasn’t afraid to muck about and he had a wicked sense of humour. He was a working class lad and he was easy going. Always up for a bit of a laugh. When there wasn’t much going on on-set, Sean and I would sometimes just walk around. I remember once in Las Vegas, in-between takes, we wandered down to the casino floor to have a little flutter on the slots. We’d also take little trips backstage at the Vegas shows because we both knew that all the showgirls wanted to be photographed with James Bond.”
And how did the famous ‘Golfing on the Moon’ photo happen? “It was all over the news,” Terry remembers. “Astronaut Alan Shepard was playing golf on the moon and those images were front-page in every paper. I knew that Sean always had his clubs with him - so I thought, what a great shot. James Bond playing golf on the moon.”
“I was also asked to take photos during the James Bond spoof film ‘Casino Royale’. That film probably has one of the greatest casts in history. Orson Welles, Peter Sellers, David Niven, Woody Allen, Ursula Andress - these were the top actors at the time - doing a “spoof !” The film was a turkey when it was released but it’s gone on to become a cult classic. I got some great shots of Ursula as Vesper Lynd on the roulette wheel. People don’t think of Ursula as a funny lady - but she really has great comedic talent.”
Although O’Neill has retired his camera for the most part, he still keeps in touch with James Bond. “They’ve all become really good friends. I recently did a shoot with Pierce Brosnan for the clothing brand Hackett. He is one of the most professional and charming men I’ve ever worked with. And Roger Moore is a great mate. He was a great joker on-set, was always a lot of laughs. Roger was kind enough to lend his signature to one of my photos - the classic Roger Moore as James Bond portrait - so now we can offer that photo signed by me and Roger. He still does that classic eyebrow raise.”
As for the future? “I’m really looking forward to who they are going to choose for the next James Bond,” Terry says, with a twinkle in his eye.
