Guy Hamilton, who directed four James Bond films, has died aged 93.
Former 007 actor Sir Roger Moore tweeted that he was “incredibly, incredibly saddened to hear the wonderful director Guy Hamilton has gone to the great cutting room in the sky. 2016 is horrid”.
Hamilton directed Sir Roger in Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun.
He also directed Sir Sean Connery in Goldfinger and Diamonds are Forever.
A hospital on the Spanish island of Majorca – where Hamilton lived – confirmed to the Associated Press that the film-maker had died there on Wednesday.
Bond producers EON have paid tribute in a statement:
“We mourn the loss of our dear friend Guy Hamilton who firmly distilled the Bond formula in his much celebrated direction of Goldfinger and continued to entertain audiences with Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun.
“We celebrate his enormous contribution to the Bond films.”
Hamilton’s other films included The Battle of Britain, Force 10 From Navarone, Evil Under the Sun and The Mirror Crack’d.
He went to school in England but his family lived in France and he started his career in French cinema in the 1930s.
He started out as a tea boy in a French studio, and said he “discovered how a studio worked the hard way”.
He was British director Carol Reed’s assistant for five years, but finally moved to become a director after the war.
Hamilton said he wanted to be a director before the age of 30 and he “squeezed in just” and directed The Colditz Story, the Devil’s Disciple, Funeral in Berlin.
He came to Bond as producer Cubby Broccoli was an old friend.
“He said ‘how would you like to make Goldfinger?’ I said ‘I would absolutely love to’, because I had a very clear idea of what I would like to do and how I’d like to go about it and it was a very happy experience.”
Hamilton said many people thought there was a formula for making a Bond film but he didn’t agree.
But he said the key to Bond’s survival was “that anyone to do with Bond is not lazy”.
“I work very hard, I drive people very hard”, he admitted.
He was at the helm at the golden age of Bond films and oversaw when the role passed from Sean Connery to Roger Moore in 1973.
Speaking about his style of directing he said he wanted value for money.
“In the making of Bond films we are some of the meanest toughest film makers. If we spend a million dollars it had better be up there on the screen.”
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Source: BBC