136-495: Metrocolor is the trade name used by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for films processed at their laboratory. Virtually all of these films were shot on Kodak 's Eastmancolor film. Although MGM used Kodak film products, MGM did not use all of Kodak's processes, and could not call their final product Eastmancolor. Kodak's products were used by MGM instead of having their film processed by Technicolor . MGM owned its own lab, located on its Culver City, California , lot until 1986, when it
272-511: A Las Vegas –based hotel and casino company (which it later divested in the 1980s). In 1981, the studio acquired United Artists . In 1986, Kerkorian sold MGM to Ted Turner , who retained the rights to the MGM film library, sold the studio lot in Culver City to Lorimar , and sold the remnants of MGM back to Kerkorian a few months later. After Kerkorian sold and reacquired the company again in
408-642: A comic book adaptation of the screenplay, written by Norman J. Nodel, was published in Britain as part of the Classics Illustrated anthology series. It was later reprinted in the United States by DC Comics as part of its Showcase anthology series, in January 1963. This was the first American comic book appearance of James Bond and is noteworthy for being a relatively rare example of
544-506: A reality competition show based on the franchise, 007: Road to a Million , was released on Amazon Prime Video . In 1958, the novel Moonraker was adapted for broadcast on South African radio, with Bob Holness providing the voice of Bond. According to The Independent , "listeners across the Union thrilled to Bob's cultured tones as he defeated evil master criminals in search of world domination". The BBC have adapted five of
680-527: A British comic being reprinted in a fairly high-profile American comic. It was also one of the earliest comics to be censored on racial grounds (some skin tones and dialogue were changed for the American market). With the release of the 1981 film For Your Eyes Only , Marvel Comics published a two-issue comic book adaptation of the film. When Octopussy was released in the cinemas in 1983, Marvel published an accompanying comic; Eclipse also produced
816-624: A Mark II Continental Bentley, which he used in the remaining books of the series. During Goldfinger , Bond was issued an Aston Martin DB Mark III with a homing device, which he used to track Goldfinger across France. Bond returned to his Bentley for the subsequent novels. The Bond of the films has driven a number of cars, including the Aston Martin V8 Vantage , during the 1980s, the V12 Vanquish and DBS during
952-568: A Mind to Kill , was published on 26 May 2022. Charlie Higson's first adult Bond novel, On His Majesty's Secret Service , was published on 4 May 2023 to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III and support the National Literacy Trust . The Young Bond series of novels was started by Charlie Higson and, between 2005 and 2009, five novels and one short story were published. The first Young Bond novel, SilverFin
1088-594: A bidding war which included Time Warner (the current parent of Turner Broadcasting ) and General Electric (the owners of the NBC television network at the time), MGM was acquired on September 23, 2004, by a partnership consisting of Sony Corporation of America , Comcast , Texas Pacific Group (now TPG Capital, L.P.), Providence Equity Partners , and other investors. After its bankruptcy in 2010, MGM reorganized, with its creditors' $ 4 billion debt transferred to ownership. MGM's creditors controlled MGM through MGM Holdings,
1224-507: A friend, "I am going to write the spy story to end all spy stories." On 17 February 1952, he began writing his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale , at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica, where he wrote all his Bond novels during the months of January and February each year. He started the story shortly before his wedding to his pregnant girlfriend, Ann Charteris, in order to distract himself from his forthcoming nuptials. After completing
1360-494: A game based on then-upcoming film Casino Royale : the game was cancelled because it would not be ready by the film's release in November of that year. With MGM losing revenue from lost licensing fees, the franchise was moved from EA to Activision . Activision subsequently released the 007: Quantum of Solace game on 31 October 2008, based on the film of the same name. A new version of GoldenEye 007 featuring Daniel Craig
1496-530: A host of new stars, among them Greta Garbo , John Gilbert , William Haines , Joan Crawford , and Norma Shearer (who followed Thalberg from Universal). Established names like Lon Chaney , William Powell , Buster Keaton , and Wallace Beery were hired from other studios. They also hired top directors such as King Vidor , Clarence Brown , Erich von Stroheim , Tod Browning , and Victor Seastrom . The arrival of talking pictures in 1928–29 gave opportunities to other new stars, many of whom would carry MGM through
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#17327802172291632-547: A huge role was Ida Koverman , Mayer's secretary and right hand. In 1937, Mayer hired Mervyn LeRoy , a former Warner Bros. producer/director as MGM's top producer and Thalberg's replacement. LeRoy convinced Mayer to acquire the film rights to the popular children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ; MGM purchased the rights from Samuel Goldwyn for $ 75,000 in 1938. MGM's hits in 1939 included The Wizard of Oz ; Ninotchka , starring Greta Garbo ; The Women , starring Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer ; and Gone with
1768-442: A licensed tabletop role-playing game , James Bond 007: Role-Playing In Her Majesty's Secret Service , was published by Victory Games (a branch of Avalon Hill ) and designed by Gerard Christopher Klug . It was the most popular espionage role-playing game for its time. In addition to providing materials for players to create original scenarios, the game also offered players the opportunity to have adventures modelled after many of
1904-459: A more masculine look. The first strip, Casino Royale was published from 7 July 1958 to 13 December 1958 and was written by Anthony Hern and illustrated by John McLusky. Most of the Bond novels and short stories have since been adapted for illustration, as well as Kingsley Amis's Colonel Sun ; the works were written by Henry Gammidge or Jim Lawrence (except for the adaptation of Dr. No which
2040-518: A neutral figure—an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department." Fleming decided that Bond should resemble both American singer Hoagy Carmichael and himself and in Casino Royale , Vesper Lynd remarks, "Bond reminds me rather of Hoagy Carmichael, but there is something cold and ruthless." Likewise, in Moonraker , Special Branch officer Gala Brand thinks that Bond
2176-575: A number of different Aston Martins for filming and publicity, one of which was sold in January 2006 at an auction in the US for $ 2.1 million to an unnamed European collector. In 2010, another DB5 used in Goldfinger was sold at auction for $ 4.6m million (£2.6 million). James Bond possesses a diverse set of skills that contribute to his effectiveness as a secret agent: Fleming's novels and early screen adaptations presented minimal equipment such as
2312-474: A number of successful films in the 1970s, including Westworld (1973), Soylent Green (1973), The Sunshine Boys (1975), The Wind and the Lion (1975), Network (1976) and Coma (1978). Despite these successes, MGM never reclaimed its former status. The MGM Recording Studios were sold in 1975. In 1979, Kerkorian issued a press statement that MGM was now primarily a hotel company. In 1980, MGM hit
2448-442: A number of such title characters (e.g. Richard Hannay and Bulldog Drummond ). The documentary included James Bond in dramatised scenes from Goldfinger —notably featuring 007 being threatened with the novel's circular saw, rather than the film's laser beam—and Diamonds Are Forever . In 1991, a spin-off animated series, James Bond Jr. , was produced with Corey Burton in the role of Bond's nephew, James Bond Jr. In 2022,
2584-591: A one-hour show in 1954 as part of the CBS series Climax! . The Bond films are renowned for a number of features, including their soundtracks , with the theme songs having received Academy Award nominations on several occasions, and three wins. Other important elements which run through most of the films include Bond's cars, his guns, and the gadgets with which he is supplied by Q Branch . The films are also noted for Bond's relationships with various women, who are popularly referred to as " Bond girls ". Ian Fleming created
2720-418: A one-hour television adventure, "Casino Royale" , as part of its Climax! series. The episode aired live on 21 October 1954 and starred Barry Nelson as "Card Sense" James Bond and Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre. The novel was adapted for American audiences to show Bond as an American agent working for "Combined Intelligence", while the character Felix Leiter —American in the novel—became British onscreen and
2856-453: A one-off comic for Licence to Kill , although Timothy Dalton refused to allow his likeness to be used. New Bond stories were also drawn up and published from 1989 onwards through Marvel, Eclipse Comics , Dark Horse Comics and Dynamite Entertainment . Eon Productions, the company of Canadian Harry Saltzman and American Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli , released the first cinema adaptation of an Ian Fleming novel, Dr. No (1962), based on
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#17327802172292992-509: A pair of Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz . Lot 3, 40 acres (160,000 m ) of back-lot property, was sold off for real-estate development. In 1971, it was announced that MGM was in talks with 20th Century-Fox about a possible merger, a plan which never came into fruition. Under Aubrey, MGM also sold off MGM Records and its overseas theater holdings. Through the 1970s, studio output slowed considerably as Aubrey preferred four or five medium-budget pictures each year along with
3128-488: A private company. New management of its film and television production divisions was installed. In 1924, movie theater magnate Marcus Loew had a problem. He had bought Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919 for $ 3 million, to provide a steady supply of films for his large Loew's Theatres chain. However, he found that his new property only provided a lackluster assortment of films. Seeking to solve this problem, Loew purchased Goldwyn Pictures in 1924 for $ 5 million to improve
3264-713: A remake—failed: Cimarron (1960), King of Kings (1961), Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1961), and, most notoriously, Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). The Cinerama film The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (also 1962), the first film in Cinerama to actually tell a story, was also a financial failure. One other big-budget epic that was a success, however, was the MGM-Cinerama co-production How
3400-470: A share of takings from syndication. After initial reluctance, Fleming, who felt the strips would lack the quality of his writing, agreed. To aid the Daily Express in illustrating Bond, Fleming commissioned an artist to create a sketch of how he believed James Bond looked. The illustrator, John McLusky , however, felt that Fleming's 007 looked too "outdated" and "pre-war" and changed Bond to give him
3536-416: A smattering of low-budget fare. In October 1973 and in decline in output, MGM closed its distribution offices then outsourced distribution for its films for a ten-year period to United Artists . UA also purchased MGM's music publishing arm, Robbins, Feist & Miller plus half of Canadian record label Quality Records . Kerkorian had largely distanced himself from the operations of the studio, focusing on
3672-567: A subsidiary of Amazon MGM Studios, MGM is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA); it was a founding member before leaving in the 2005 acquisition. MGM was the last studio to convert to sound pictures—nonetheless, from the end of the silent film era through the late 1950s, it was the dominant motion picture studio in Hollywood. It was slow to respond to the changing legal, economic, and demographic nature of
3808-425: A symbolic low point when David Begelman , earlier fired by Columbia following the discovery of his acts of forgery and embezzlement, was installed as MGM's president and CEO. In 1980, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. split its production and casino units into separate companies: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Film Co. and MGM Grand Hotels, Inc. The rise of ancillary markets was enough to allow MGM to increase production to 10-15 films
3944-581: A very nice lady at that!" Boothroyd suggested that Bond should swap his Beretta for a 7.65mm Walther PPK and this exchange of arms made it to Dr. No . Boothroyd also gave Fleming advice on the Berns-Martin triple draw shoulder holster and a number of the weapons used by SMERSH and other villains. In thanks, Fleming gave the MI6 Armourer in his novels the name Major Boothroyd and, in Dr. No , M ,
4080-680: A writer and producer who had found success at running RKO Pictures . Lavish musicals were Schary's focus, and hits like Easter Parade (1948) and the popular films of Mario Lanza (including The Toast of New Orleans (1950) and The Great Caruso (1951)) helped keep MGM profitable. In August 1951, Mayer was fired by MGM's East Coast executives and he was replaced by Schary. Gradually cutting loose expensive contract players (including $ 6,000-a-week Judy Garland in 1950 and "King of Hollywood" Clark Gable in 1954), saving money by recycling existing movie sets instead of building costly new scenery, and reworking expensive old costumes, Schary managed to keep
4216-620: A year compared to three to six in the previous decade, but first it needed to revive its distribution unit. James Bond The James Bond franchise focuses on the titular character , a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming , who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have written authorised Bond novels or novelisations: Kingsley Amis , Christopher Wood , John Gardner , Raymond Benson , Sebastian Faulks , Jeffery Deaver , William Boyd , and Anthony Horowitz . The latest novel
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4352-486: A year in Technicolor with Northwest Passage (1939) being one of the most notable of this era. In addition to a large short-subjects program of its own, MGM also distributed the shorts and features produced by Hal Roach Studios , including comedy shorts starring Laurel and Hardy , Our Gang and Charley Chase . The studio's distribution deal with Roach lasted from 1927 to 1938, and MGM benefited in particular from
4488-727: A year to a more manageable 25 features per year. During this period, MGM released several very successful musicals with stars such as Judy Garland , Fred Astaire , Gene Kelly , and Frank Sinatra . Audiences began drifting to television in the late 1940s, and MGM and the other studios were finding it increasingly difficult to attract them to theaters. With its high overhead expenses, MGM's profit margins continued to decrease. Word came from Nicholas Schenck in New York to find "a new Thalberg" who could improve quality while paring costs. Mayer thought he had found this savior in Dore Schary ,
4624-490: Is With a Mind to Kill by Anthony Horowitz, published in May 2022. Additionally, Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond , and Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character , Moneypenny . The character—also known by the code number 007 (pronounced "double-oh-seven")—has also been adapted for television, radio, comic strips, video games and film. The films constitute one of
4760-446: Is "certainly good-looking ... Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way. That black hair falling down over the right eyebrow. Much the same bones. But there was something a bit cruel in the mouth, and the eyes were cold." Fleming endowed Bond with many of his own traits, including sharing the same golf handicap, the taste for scrambled eggs, and using the same brand of toiletries. Bond's tastes are also often taken from Fleming's own as
4896-490: Is the sixth actor to play Bond in the Eon series. There have also been two independent Bond film productions: Casino Royale (a 1967 spoof starring David Niven ) and Never Say Never Again (a 1983 remake of an earlier Eon-produced film, 1965's Thunderball , both starring Connery). The James Bond franchise is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time . Casino Royale has also been adapted for television, as
5032-826: The Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service , introduces him to Bond as "the greatest small-arms expert in the world". Bond also used a variety of rifles , including the Savage Model 99 in "For Your Eyes Only" and a Winchester .308 target rifle in "The Living Daylights". Other handguns used by Bond in the Fleming books included the Colt Detective Special and a long-barrelled Colt .45 Army Special . The first Bond film, Dr. No , saw M ordering Bond to leave his Beretta behind and take up
5168-546: The Columbia film It Happened One Night (1934). Mayer and Irving Thalberg's association began warmly, but eventually relations between the two became strained; Thalberg preferred literary works and expensive costume pictures over the lower-budget, family-oriented crowd pleasers Mayer wanted. Thalberg, always physically frail, was removed as head of production in 1932. Mayer encouraged other staff producers, among them his son-in-law David O. Selznick , but no one seemed to have
5304-517: The Eon Productions Bond films appeared in print, James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me and James Bond and Moonraker , both written by screenwriter Christopher Wood , the series of novels did not continue until the 1980s. In 1981, the thriller writer John Gardner picked up the series with Licence Renewed . Gardner went on to write sixteen Bond books in total; two of the books he wrote were novelisations of Eon Productions films of
5440-510: The Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008. Several of the songs produced for the films have been nominated for Academy Awards for Original Song , including Paul McCartney 's " Live and Let Die ", Carly Simon 's " Nobody Does It Better ", Sheena Easton 's " For Your Eyes Only ", Adele 's " Skyfall ", Sam Smith 's " Writing's on the Wall ", and Billie Eilish 's " No Time to Die ". Adele won
5576-583: The Howard Hughes film Hell's Angels (1930), now had a big break and became a Hollywood sex symbol and one of MGM's most admired stars. Despite Harlow's gain, Garbo arguably remained the biggest star at MGM. Shearer was still a money maker despite her screen appearances becoming scarce, and Crawford continued her box-office popularity until 1937. MGM also received a boost through the man who would become known as "King of Hollywood", Clark Gable. Gable's career took off to new heights after he won an Oscar for
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5712-579: The Looney Tunes ' sister series, Merrie Melodies . The Happy Harmonies regularly ran over budget, and MGM dismissed Harman and Ising in 1937 to start its own animation studio . After initial struggles with a poorly received series of The Captain and the Kids cartoons, the studio rehired Harman and Ising in 1939, and Ising created the studio's first successful animated character, Barney Bear . However, MGM's biggest cartoon stars would come in
5848-499: The MGM Grand Hotel , investing $ 120 million into that project. Another portion of the backlot was sold in 1974. The last shooting done on the backlot was the introductory material for That's Entertainment! (1974), a retrospective documentary that became a surprise hit for the studio. That's Entertainment! was authorized by Dan Melnick , who was appointed head of production in 1972. Under Melnick's regime, MGM produced
5984-614: The Nintendo 64 followed by 007 Racing for the PlayStation on 21 November 2000. In 2003, the company released James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing , which included the likenesses and voices of Pierce Brosnan, Willem Dafoe , Heidi Klum , Judi Dench and John Cleese , amongst others. In November 2005, Electronic Arts released a video game adaptation of 007: From Russia with Love , which involved Sean Connery's image and voice-over for Bond. In 2006, Electronic Arts announced
6120-407: The eponymous 1958 novel and featuring Sean Connery as 007 . Connery starred in a further four films before leaving the role after You Only Live Twice (1967), which was taken up by George Lazenby for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). Lazenby left the role after just one appearance and Connery was brought back for his last Eon-produced film Diamonds Are Forever . Roger Moore
6256-530: The pseudonym Kate Westbrook, who is depicted as the book's "editor". The first instalment of the trilogy, subtitled Guardian Angel , was released on 10 October 2005 in the UK. A second volume, subtitled Secret Servant was released on 2 November 2006 in the UK, published by John Murray . A third volume, subtitled Final Fling was released on 1 May 2008. In 1954, CBS paid Ian Fleming $ 1,000 ($ 11,346 in 2023 dollars ) to adapt his novel Casino Royale into
6392-569: The 1930s, MGM produced approximately 50 pictures a year, though it never met its goal of releasing a new motion picture each and every week (it was only able to release one feature film every nine days). Loew's 153 theaters were mostly located in New York, the Northeast, and Deep South; Gone with the Wind (1939) had its world premiere at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. A fine reputation
6528-477: The 1930s: Clark Gable , Jean Harlow , Robert Montgomery , Spencer Tracy , Myrna Loy , Robert Taylor , Jeanette MacDonald , and Nelson Eddy among them. MGM was one of the first studios to experiment with filming in Technicolor . Using the two-color Technicolor process then available, MGM filmed portions of The Uninvited Guest (1924), The Big Parade (1925), and Ben–Hur (1925), among others, in
6664-443: The 1950 film, The Titan: Story of Michelangelo was telecast by ABC in 1952, but that was a documentary.) Beginning in 1959, and lasting until 1991, telecasts of The Wizard of Oz became an annual tradition, drawing huge audiences in homes all over the U.S. and earning additional profits for MGM. The studio was all too happy to see Oz become, through television, one of the two or three most famous films MGM has ever made, and one of
6800-442: The 1950s two weeks after the events of Goldfinger , it contains material written, but previously unreleased, by Fleming. Trigger Mortis was released on 8 September 2015. Horowitz's second Bond novel, Forever and a Day , tells the origin story of Bond as a 00 agent prior to the events of Casino Royale . The novel, also based on unpublished material from Fleming, was released on 31 May 2018. Horowitz's third Bond novel, With
6936-656: The 1990s, he expanded MGM by purchasing Orion Pictures and the Samuel Goldwyn Company , including both of their film libraries. Finally, in 2005, Kerkorian sold MGM to a consortium that included Sony Pictures . In 2010, MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and reorganization . After reorganization, it emerged from bankruptcy later that year under its creditors' ownership. Two former executives at Spyglass Entertainment , Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum , became co-chairmen and co-CEOs of MGM's new holding company . After Barber's departure in 2018,
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#17327802172297072-786: The 2000s, as well as the Lotus Esprit ; the BMW Z3 , BMW 750iL and the BMW Z8 . He has, however, also needed to drive a number of other vehicles, ranging from a Citroën 2CV to a Routemaster Bus, amongst others. Bond's most famous car is the silver grey Aston Martin DB5 , first seen in Goldfinger ; it later featured in Thunderball , GoldenEye , Tomorrow Never Dies , Casino Royale , Skyfall and Spectre . The films have used
7208-509: The American ornithologist James Bond , a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies . Fleming, a keen birdwatcher himself, had a copy of Bond's guide and he later explained to the ornithologist's wife that "It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born". He further explained that: When I wrote
7344-495: The American Musical Academy of Arts Association to handle all of their press and artist development. The AMAAA's main function was to develop the budding stars and to make them appealing to the public. Stars such as Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, and Jeanette MacDonald reigned as the top-paid figures at the studio. Another MGM actress of the era, Jean Harlow , who had previously appeared in
7480-606: The BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award for UK Developer of the Year in 1998, and sold over eight million copies worldwide, grossing $ 250 million, making it the third- best-selling Nintendo 64 game . It is frequently cited as one of the greatest video games of all time . In 1999, Electronic Arts acquired the licence and released Tomorrow Never Dies on 16 December 1999. In October 2000, they released The World Is Not Enough for
7616-491: The Eon Productions film adaptations, albeit with modifications to provide challenges by preventing players from slavishly imitating Bond's actions in the stories. For the first five novels, Fleming armed Bond with a Beretta 418 until he received a letter from a thirty-one-year-old Bond enthusiast and gun expert, Geoffrey Boothroyd , criticising Fleming's choice of firearm for Bond, calling it "a lady's gun—and not
7752-512: The Fleming novels for broadcast: in 1990 You Only Live Twice was adapted into a 90-minute radio play for BBC Radio 4 with Michael Jayston playing James Bond. The production was repeated a number of times between 2008 and 2011. On 24 May 2008 BBC Radio 4 broadcast an adaptation of Dr. No . The actor Toby Stephens , who played Bond villain Gustav Graves in the Eon Productions version of Die Another Day , played Bond, while Dr. No
7888-463: The Loew's merger going through. Schenck and Mayer had never gotten along (Mayer reportedly referred to his boss as "Mr. Skunk"), and the abortive Fox merger increased the animosity between the two men. From the outset, MGM tapped into the audience's need for glamor and sophistication. Having inherited few big names from their predecessor companies, Mayer and Thalberg began at once to create and publicize
8024-532: The Loews theater chain and the three studios on April 17, 1924, celebrated with a fete on April 26, 1924. Mayer became head of the renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with 24-year-old Irving Thalberg as head of production. Final approval over budgets and contracts rested with New York City-based Loews Inc., while production decisions rested with the production headquarters in Culver City. MGM produced more than 100 feature films in its first two years. In 1925, MGM released
8160-573: The Rain (1952), and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). However, Brigadoon (1954), Deep in My Heart (1954), It's Always Fair Weather (1955), Invitation to the Dance (1956), and Les Girls (1957) were extravagant song and dance flops, and even the now-classic The Band Wagon (1953) and Silk Stockings (1957) lost money upon their initial releases. In 1952, as a settlement of
8296-537: The Rings: The Return of the King also did in 2003. During this period, MGM fell into a questionable practice that eventually nearly doomed the studio: an entire year's production schedule relied on the success of one big-budget epic film each year. This policy began in 1959, when Ben–Hur proved profitable enough to carry the studio through 1960. However, four succeeding big-budget epics—like Ben–Hur , each
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#17327802172298432-624: The Second World War, admitting that Bond "was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war". Among those types were his brother, Peter , who had been involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war. Aside from Fleming's brother, a number of others also provided some aspects of Bond's make up, including Conrad O'Brien-ffrench , Patrick Dalzel-Job , Bill "Biffy" Dunderdale and Duško Popov . The name James Bond came from that of
8568-420: The US. American writer Jeffery Deaver was then commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications to produce Carte Blanche , which was published on 26 May 2011. The book turned Bond into a post-9/11 agent, independent of MI5 or MI6. On 26 September 2013, Solo by William Boyd , set in 1969, was published. In October 2014, it was announced that Anthony Horowitz was to write a Bond continuation novel. Set in
8704-575: The Walther PPK, which Bond used in eighteen films. In Tomorrow Never Dies and the two subsequent films, Bond's main weapon was the Walther P99 semi-automatic pistol . In the early Bond stories Fleming gave Bond a battleship-grey Bentley 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 Litre with an Amherst Villiers supercharger . After Bond's car was written off by Hugo Drax in Moonraker , Fleming gave Bond
8840-484: The West Was Won (1962), with a huge all-star cast. King of Kings , while a commercial and critical bomb at the time, has since come to be regarded as a film classic. The losses caused by these films led to the resignations of Sol Siegel and Joseph Vogel who were replaced by Robert M. Weitman (head of production) and Robert O'Brien (president). The combination of O'Brien and Weitman seemed to temporarily revive
8976-446: The Wind , starring Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler . Although Gone With the Wind was produced by Selznick International Pictures , the film was distributed by MGM as part of a deal for producer David O. Selznick , Mayer's son-in-law, to obtain the services of Gable as well as financial assistance necessary for Selznick to complete the film. After Selznick International foundered in 1944, MGM acquired
9112-520: The actual authorship of the music has been a matter of controversy for many years. In 2001, Norman won £30,000 in libel damages from The Sunday Times newspaper, which suggested that Barry was entirely responsible for the composition. The theme, as written by Norman and arranged by Barry, was described by another Bond film composer, David Arnold , as "bebop-swing vibe coupled with that vicious, dark, distorted electric guitar, definitely an instrument of rock 'n' roll ... it represented everything about
9248-404: The award at the 85th Academy Awards , Smith won at the 88th Academy Awards , and Eilish won at the 94th Academy Awards . For the non-Eon produced Casino Royale , Burt Bacharach 's score included " The Look of Love " (sung by Dusty Springfield ), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. In 1983, the first Bond video game, developed and published by Parker Brothers ,
9384-551: The booby-trapped attaché case in From Russia, with Love , although this situation changed dramatically with the films. However, the effects of the two Eon-produced Bond films Dr. No and From Russia with Love had an effect on the novel The Man with the Golden Gun , through the increased number of devices used in Fleming's final story. For the film adaptations of Bond, the pre-mission briefing by Q Branch became one of
9520-481: The canton of Vaud , Switzerland. Fleming did not provide Bond's date of birth, but John Pearson 's fictional biography of Bond, James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007 , gives Bond a birth date on 11 November 1920, while a study by John Griswold puts the date at 11 November 1921. Whilst serving in the Naval Intelligence Division, Fleming had planned to become an author and had told
9656-558: The character you would want: It was cocky, swaggering, confident, dark, dangerous, suggestive, sexy, unstoppable. And he did it in two minutes." Barry composed the scores for eleven Bond films and had an uncredited contribution to Dr. No with his arrangement of the Bond Theme. A Bond film staple are the theme songs heard during their title sequences sung by well-known popular singers. Shirley Bassey performed three Bond theme songs, with her 1964 song " Goldfinger " inducted into
9792-528: The classic television version of Dr. Seuss 's How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) featuring the voice of Boris Karloff . Tom and Jerry folded in 1967, and the animation department continued with television specials and one feature film, The Phantom Tollbooth . A revived Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation was in existence from 1993 to 1999. In 1959, MGM enjoyed what is quite probably its greatest financial success of later years, with
9928-492: The company had purchased the rights to Never Say Never Again from Taliafilm. As of 2015 , Eon holds the full adaptation rights to all of Fleming's Bond novels . " cocky, swaggering, confident, dark, dangerous, suggestive, sexy, unstoppable." — David Arnold The " James Bond Theme " was written by Monty Norman and was first orchestrated by the John Barry Orchestra for 1962's Dr. No , although
10064-554: The decision. Mayer was active in the California Republican Party and used his political connections to persuade the Justice Department to delay final approval of the deal on antitrust grounds. During this time, in the summer of 1929, Fox was badly hurt in an automobile accident. By the time he recovered, the stock market crash in the fall of 1929 had nearly wiped Fox out and ended any chance of
10200-452: The earlier Hanna and Barbera shorts, they did receive positive reviews in some quarters. In 1963, the production of Tom and Jerry returned to Hollywood under Chuck Jones and his Sib Tower 12 Productions studio (later absorbed by MGM and renamed MGM Animation/Visual Arts ). Jones' group also produced its own works, winning an Oscar for The Dot and the Line (1965), as well as producing
10336-413: The end of MGM's animation department, as the studio determined it could generate the same amount of revenue by reissuing older cartoons as it could by producing and releasing new ones. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, by then the heads of the MGM cartoon studio, took most of their unit and made their own company, Hanna-Barbera Productions , a successful producer of television animation. In 1956, MGM sold
10472-422: The extravagant and successful Ben-Hur , taking a $ 4.7 million profit that year, its first full year. Also in 1925, MGM, Paramount Pictures and UFA formed a joint German distributor, Parufamet . Marcus Loew died in 1927, and control of Loew's passed to Nicholas Schenck. In 1929, William Fox of Fox Film Corporation bought the Loew family's holdings with Schenck's assent. Mayer and Thalberg disagreed with
10608-404: The failure of the big-budget epic Raintree County (1957) prompted the studio to terminate Schary's contract. Schary's reign at MGM had been marked with few legitimate hits, but his departure (along with the retirement of Schenck in 1955) left a power vacuum that would prove difficult to fill. Initially Joseph Vogel became president and Sol Siegel head of production. In 1957 (by coincidence,
10744-591: The few films that nearly everybody in the U.S. has seen at least once. Today The Wizard of Oz is regularly shown on the Turner -owned channels, no longer just once a year. In animation, MGM purchased the rights in 1930 to distribute a series of cartoons that starred a character named Flip the Frog , produced by Ub Iwerks . The first cartoon in this series (titled Fiddlesticks ) was the first sound cartoon to be produced in two-color Technicolor. In 1933, Ub Iwerks canceled
10880-572: The fictional character of James Bond as the central figure for his works. Bond is an intelligence officer in the Secret Intelligence Service , commonly known as MI6. Bond is known by his code number, 007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander . Fleming based his fictional creation on a number of individuals he came across during his time in the Naval Intelligence Division and 30 Assault Unit during
11016-459: The first million-dollar executive in American history. The company remained profitable, and an increase in MGM's "series" pictures ( Andy Hardy starring Mickey Rooney , Maisie starring Ann Sothern , The Thin Man starring William Powell and Myrna Loy , and Dr. Kildare / Dr. Gillespie with Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore ) is cited as evidence of Mayer's restored influence. Also playing
11152-531: The first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument ... when I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, [James Bond] is the dullest name I ever heard. On another occasion, Fleming said: "I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, 'James Bond' was much better than something more interesting, like 'Peregrine Carruthers'. Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be
11288-465: The form of the cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry , created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in 1940. The Tom and Jerry cartoons won seven Academy Awards between 1943 and 1953. In 1941, Tex Avery , another Schlesinger alumnus, joined the animation department. Avery gave the unit its image, with successes like Red Hot Riding Hood , Swing Shift Cinderella , and the Droopy series. Avery left
11424-438: The full rights to Gone With the Wind . While The Wizard of Oz was a critical hit, the production costs for the film were so expensive it took 20 years before it turned a profit. Within one year, beginning in 1942, Mayer released his five highest-paid actresses from their MGM contracts: Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Jeanette MacDonald and Myrna Loy. After being labeled " box office poison ", Crawford's MGM contract
11560-477: The government's restraint-of-trade action, United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. 334 US 131 (1948), Loews, Inc. gave up control of MGM. It would take another five years before the interlocking arrangements were completely undone, by which time both Loews and MGM were losing money. In 1956, Schary was ousted from MGM in another power struggle against the New York-based executives. Cost overruns and
11696-469: The last two books— The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy and The Living Daylights —published posthumously. All the books were published in the UK through Jonathan Cape. After Fleming's death, a continuation novel, Colonel Sun , was written by Kingsley Amis (as Robert Markham ) and published in 1968. Amis had already written a literary study of Fleming's Bond novels in his 1965 work The James Bond Dossier . Although novelisations of two of
11832-663: The latter of whom MGM supported. MGM and other film studios deducted a days pay from each of their employees to raise an anti-Sinclair fund that amounted to $ 500,000. Irving Thalberg was to lead MGM's anti-Sinclair campaign and the studio recruited Carey Wilson to create a series of anti-Sinclair propaganda films. These films, directed by Felix E. Feist , included fake newsreels of Sinclair supporters who were portrayed as bums and criminals. They were shown in Californian movie theaters, with one episode featuring hired actors as Sinclair supporters speaking with foreign accents. During
11968-512: The longest continually running film series and have grossed over US$ 7.04 billion in total at the box office, making James Bond the fifth-highest-grossing film series to date, which started in 1962 with Dr. No , starring Sean Connery as Bond. As of 2021 , there have been twenty-five films in the Eon Productions series . The most recent Bond film, No Time to Die (2021), stars Daniel Craig in his fifth portrayal of Bond; he
12104-450: The manuscript for Casino Royale , Fleming showed it to his friend (and later editor) William Plomer to read. Plomer liked it and submitted it to the publishers, Jonathan Cape , who did not like it as much. Cape finally published it in 1953 on the recommendation of Fleming's older brother Peter , an established travel writer. Between 1953 and 1966, two years after his death, twelve novels and two short-story collections were published, with
12240-439: The mid-1950s, MGM could make a claim its rivals could not: the studio never lost money, although it did produce an occasional disaster such as Parnell (1937), Clark Gable's biggest flop. MGM was the only Hollywood studio that continued to pay dividends during the 1930s. MGM stars dominated the box office during the 1930s, and the studio was credited for inventing the Hollywood stable-of-stars system as well. MGM contracted with
12376-471: The motifs that ran through the series. Dr. No provided no spy-related gadgets, but a Geiger counter was used; industrial designer Andy Davey observed that the first ever onscreen spy-gadget was the attaché case shown in From Russia with Love , which he described as "a classic 007 product". The gadgets assumed a higher profile in the 1964 film Goldfinger . The film's success encouraged further espionage equipment from Q Branch to be supplied to Bond, although
12512-435: The motion picture industry during the 1950s and 1960s; and although its films often did well at the box office, it lost significant amounts of money throughout the 1960s. In 1966, MGM was sold to Canadian investor Edgar Bronfman Sr. , whose son Edgar Jr. would later buy Universal Studios . Three years later, an increasingly unprofitable MGM was bought by Kirk Kerkorian , who slashed staff and production costs, forced
12648-470: The musical The Broadway Melody (1929), however, was both a box-office success and won the Academy Award as Best Picture of the Year. MGM was the last major studio to convert to sound. The studio's first all-color, "all-talking" sound feature with dialogue was the musical The Rogue Song in 1930. MGM included a sequence made in Technicolor's superior new three-color process, a musical number in
12784-502: The otherwise black-and-white The Cat and the Fiddle (1934), starring Jeanette MacDonald and Ramon Novarro . The studio then produced a number of three-color short subjects including the musical La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1935); the first complete Technicolor feature was Sweethearts (1938) with MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, the earlier of the popular singing team's two films in color. From then on, MGM regularly produced several films
12920-503: The process. MGM released The Viking (1928), the first complete Technicolor feature with a synchronized score and sound effects, but no spoken dialogue. With the arrival of " talkies ", MGM moved slowly and reluctantly into the sound era, releasing features like White Shadows in the South Seas (1928) with music and sound effects, and Alias Jimmy Valentine (1928) with limited dialogue sequences. Their first full-fledged talkie,
13056-463: The quality of the theaters' products. However, these purchases created a need for someone to oversee his new Hollywood operations, since longtime assistant Nicholas Schenck was needed in New York headquarters to oversee the 150 theaters. A solution came in the person of Louis B. Mayer , head of Louis B. Mayer Pictures. Loew bought the Mayer studio for $ 75,000. Loews Incorporated completed the merger of
13192-402: The release of its nearly four-hour Technicolor epic Ben–Hur , a remake of its 1925 silent film hit, loosely based on true story—despite being adapted from the novel by General Lew Wallace . Starring Charlton Heston in the title role, the film was critically acclaimed, and won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, a record that held until Titanic matched it in 1997 and The Lord of
13328-765: The role of Bond. The result of a court case in the High Court in London in 1963 allowed Kevin McClory to produce a remake of Thunderball titled Never Say Never Again in 1983. The film, produced by Jack Schwartzman 's Taliafilm production company and starring Sean Connery as Bond, was not part of the Eon series of Bond films. In 1997, the Sony Corporation acquired all or some of McClory's rights in an undisclosed deal, which were then subsequently acquired by MGM , whilst on 4 December 1997, MGM announced that
13464-458: The same name: Licence to Kill and GoldenEye . Gardner moved the Bond series into the 1980s, although he retained the ages of the characters as they were when Fleming had left them. In 1996, Gardner retired from writing James Bond books due to ill health. In 1996, the American author Raymond Benson became the author of the Bond novels. Benson had previously been the author of The James Bond Bedside Companion , first published in 1984. By
13600-535: The shorts, The Dogway Melody (1930), spoofed MGM's hit 1929 musical The Broadway Melody . MGM entered the music industry by purchasing the "Big Three" starting with Miller Music Publishing Co. in 1934, then Robbins Music Corporation. In 1935, MGM acquired a controlling interest in the capital stock of Leo Feist, Inc. , the last of the Big Three. In the 1934 California gubernatorial election Democratic Upton Sinclair ran against Republican Frank Merriam ,
13736-711: The studio in 1953, leaving Hanna and Barbera to focus on the popular Tom and Jerry and Droopy series. After 1955, all cartoons were filmed in CinemaScope until MGM closed its cartoon division in 1957. In 1961, MGM resumed the release of new Tom and Jerry shorts, and production moved to Rembrandt Films in Prague , Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) under the supervision of Gene Deitch , who had been hired away from Terrytoons . Although Deitch's Tom and Jerry cartoons were considered to be vastly inferior to
13872-515: The studio running much as it had through the early 1940s, though his sensibilities for hard-edged, message movies would never bear much fruit. One bright spot was MGM musical pictures, under the aegis of producer Arthur Freed , who was operating what amounted to an independent unit within the studio. MGM produced some well-regarded and profitable musicals that would later be acknowledged as classics, among them An American in Paris (1951), Singin' in
14008-515: The studio sought to be acquired by another company to pay its creditors. In May 2021, Amazon acquired MGM for US$ 8.45 billion ; the deal closed in March 2022. In October 2023, Amazon Studios absorbed MGM Holdings and rebranded itself as Amazon MGM Studios. As of 2023, its most commercially successful film franchises include Rocky and James Bond , while its most recent television productions include Fargo and The Handmaid's Tale . As
14144-431: The studio to produce low-quality, low-budget fare, and then ceased theatrical distribution in 1973. The studio continued to produce five to six films a year that were distributed through other studios, usually United Artists . Kerkorian did, however, commit to increased production and an expanded film library when he bought United Artists in 1981. MGM ramped up internal production, and kept production going at UA, which
14280-416: The studio's output. This management-by-committee resulted in MGM losing its momentum, developing few new stars, and relying on the safety of sequels and bland material. ( Dorothy Parker memorably referred to the studio as "Metro-Goldwyn-Merde". ) Production values remained high, and even "B" pictures carried a polish and gloss that made them expensive to mount. After 1940, production was cut from 50 pictures
14416-509: The studio. MGM released David Lean 's immensely popular Doctor Zhivago (1965), later followed by such hits as The Dirty Dozen (1967), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Where Eagles Dare (1968). However the company's time was taken up fighting off proxy attacks by corporate raiders , and then MGM backed another series of box office failures, including the musical remake of Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) and Ryan's Daughter (1970). Weitman moved over to Columbia in 1967 and O'Brien
14552-472: The success of the popular Laurel and Hardy films. In 1938, MGM purchased the rights to the Our Gang series from Roach and production of the successful series moved to the MGM studios, where it continued until 1944. From 1929 to 1931, MGM produced a series of comedy shorts called All Barkie Dogville Comedies , in which trained dogs were dressed up to parody contemporary films and were voiced by actors. One of
14688-460: The sure touch of Thalberg. As Thalberg's health deteriorated in 1936, Mayer could now serve as his temporary replacement. Rumors had begun circulating for some time that Thalberg was leaving MGM to set up his own independent company; his premature death at age 37 in September 1936 cost MGM dearly. After Thalberg's untimely death, Mayer became head of production, as well as studio chief, becoming
14824-417: The television rights for The Wizard of Oz to CBS , which scheduled it to be shown in November of that year. In a landmark event, the film became the first American theatrical fiction film to be shown complete in one evening on prime time television over a major American commercial network. ( Olivier's version of Hamlet was shown on prime time network TV a month later, but split in half over two weeks, and
14960-492: The time he moved on to other, non-Bond related projects in 2002, Benson had written six Bond novels, three novelisations and three short stories. After a gap of six years, Sebastian Faulks was commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications to write a new Bond novel, which was released on 28 May 2008, the 100th anniversary of Fleming's birth. The book—titled Devil May Care —was published in the UK by Penguin Books and by Doubleday in
15096-588: The unsuccessful Flip the Frog series and MGM began to distribute its second series of cartoons, starring a character named Willie Whopper , that was also produced by Iwerks. In 1934, after Iwerks' distribution contract expired, MGM contracted with animation producers/directors Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising to produce a new series of color cartoons. Harman and Ising came to MGM after breaking ties with Leon Schlesinger and Warner Bros. and brought with them their popular Looney Tunes character, Bosko . These were known as Happy Harmonies , and in many ways resembled
15232-541: The year Mayer died), the studio lost money for the first time in its 34-year history. After Spencer Tracy left MGM in 1955, the only major star remaining under contract from MGM's heyday was Robert Taylor ; by 1960, MGM had released Taylor and the last of its contract players, with many either retiring or moving on to television. In 1958, MGM released what is generally considered its last great musical, Arthur Freed's Cinemascope color production of Gigi , starring Leslie Caron , Maurice Chevalier , and Louis Jourdan . It
15368-617: Was MGM's asset value, which included subsidiary businesses, real estate, and the value of 45 years' worth of glamour associated with the name, which he attached to a Las Vegas hotel and casino . As for film-making, that part of the company was bleeding money and was quickly and severely downsized under the supervision of James T. Aubrey Jr. With changes in its business model including fewer pictures per year, more location shooting and more distribution of independent productions, MGM's operations were reduced. Aubrey sold off MGM's accumulation of props, furnishings and historical memorabilia, including
15504-463: Was adapted from the novel by Colette , and written by the team of Lerner and Loewe , who also wrote My Fair Lady and Camelot . Gigi was a box-office and critical success which won nine Academy Awards , including Best Picture . From it came several hit songs, including "Thank Heaven For Little Girls", "I Remember It Well", the "Waltz at Maxim's", and the Oscar-winning title song. The film
15640-472: Was also adapted and released as a graphic novel on 2 October 2008 by Puffin Books. In October 2013 Ian Fleming Publications announced that Stephen Cole would continue the series, with the first edition scheduled to be released in Autumn 2014. The Moneypenny Diaries are a trilogy of novels chronicling the life of Miss Moneypenny , M 's personal secretary. The novels are written by Samantha Weinberg under
15776-492: Was appointed to the role of 007 for Live and Let Die (1973). He played Bond a further six times over twelve years, before being replaced by Timothy Dalton for two films. After a six-year hiatus, during which a legal wrangle threatened Eon's productions of the Bond films, Irish actor Pierce Brosnan was cast as Bond in GoldenEye (1995); he remained in the role for a total of four films through 2002. In 2006, Daniel Craig
15912-603: Was bought by Pathé Communications (led by Italian publishing magnate Giancarlo Parretti ) in 1990, but Parretti lost control of Pathé and defaulted on the loans used to purchase the studio. The French banking conglomerate Crédit Lyonnais , the studio's major creditor, then took control of MGM. Even more deeply in debt, MGM was purchased by a joint venture between Kerkorian, producer Frank Mancuso , and Australia's Seven Network in 1996. The debt load from these and subsequent business deals negatively affected MGM's ability to survive as an independent motion picture studio. After
16048-444: Was bracketed by two productions of Ben Hur . It divested itself of the Loews movie theater chain and, in 1956, expanded into television production. In 1969, businessman and investor Kirk Kerkorian bought 40% of MGM and dramatically changed the operation and direction of the studio. He hired new management, reduced the studio's output to about five films per year, and diversified its products, creating MGM Resorts International as
16184-482: Was continuing to thrive, particularly with the lucrative James Bond film franchise. It also incurred significant amounts of debt to increase production. The studio took on additional debt as a series of owners took charge in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1986, Ted Turner bought MGM, but a few months later, sold the company back to Kerkorian to recoup massive debt, while keeping the library assets for himself. The series of deals left MGM even more heavily in debt. MGM
16320-529: Was dramatised for Radio 4; it featured a full cast again starring Stephens as Bond. In May 2014 Stephens again played Bond, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service , with Alfred Molina as Blofeld, and Joanna Lumley (who appeared in the 1969 film adaptation) as Irma Bunt. In 1957, the Daily Express approached Ian Fleming to adapt his stories into comic strips, offering him £1,500 per novel and
16456-402: Was forced to resign a few years later. In the mid-1960s, MGM began to diversify by investing in real estate. Edgar Bronfman Sr. purchased a controlling interest in MGM in 1966 (and was briefly chairman of the board in 1969), and in 1967 Time Inc. became the company's second-largest shareholder. In 1969, Kirk Kerkorian purchased 40 percent of MGM stock. What appealed to Kerkorian
16592-697: Was founded on April 17, 1924, and has been owned by the Amazon MGM Studios subsidiary of Amazon since 2022. MGM was formed by Marcus Loew by combining Metro Pictures , Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures into one company. It hired a number of well-known actors as contract players—its slogan was "more stars than there are in heaven"—and soon became Hollywood's most prestigious filmmaking company, producing popular musical films and winning many Academy Awards . MGM also owned film studios, movie lots, movie theaters and technical production facilities. Its most prosperous era, from 1926 to 1959,
16728-495: Was gained for lavish productions that were sophisticated and polished to cater to an urban audience. Still, as the Great Depression deepened, MGM began to economize by "recycling" existing sets, costumes, and furnishings from previous projects. This recycling practice never let up once started. In addition, MGM saved money because it was the only one of the big five studios that did not own an off-site movie ranch . Until
16864-414: Was given the role for Casino Royale (2006), which rebooted the series. Craig appeared for a total of five films. The series has grossed well over $ 7 billion to date, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film series . In 1967, Casino Royale was adapted into a parody Bond film starring David Niven as Sir James Bond and Ursula Andress as Vesper Lynd. Niven had been Fleming's preference for
17000-430: Was his behaviour, with Bond's love of golf and gambling mirroring Fleming's own. Fleming used his experiences of his career in espionage and all other aspects of his life as inspiration when writing, including using names of school friends, acquaintances, relatives and lovers throughout his books. It was not until the penultimate novel, You Only Live Twice , that Fleming gave Bond a sense of family background. The book
17136-481: Was played by David Suchet . Following its success, a second story was adapted and on 3 April 2010 BBC Radio 4 broadcast Goldfinger with Stephens again playing Bond. Sir Ian McKellen was Goldfinger and Stephens' Die Another Day co-star Rosamund Pike played Pussy Galore. The play was adapted from Fleming's novel by Archie Scottney and was directed by Martin Jarvis . In 2012, the novel From Russia, with Love
17272-457: Was produced by MGM's trailer department as one of the compilation and promotional shows that imitated Disney's series Disneyland which was also on ABC . Parade was canceled by ABC in the 2nd quarter of 1956. MGM took bids for its movie library in 1956 from Lou Chesler and others, but decided on entering the TV market itself. Chesler had offered $ 50 million for the film library. MGM Television
17408-453: Was released for the Atari 2600 , Atari 5200 , Atari 8-bit computers , Commodore 64 , and ColecoVision . Since then, there have been numerous video games either based on the films or using original storylines. In 1997, the first-person shooter video game GoldenEye 007 was developed by Rare for the Nintendo 64 , based on GoldenEye . The game received highly positive reviews, won
17544-632: Was released for the Wii and a handheld version for the Nintendo DS in November 2010. A year later a new version was released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 under the title GoldenEye 007: Reloaded . In October 2012 007 Legends was released, which featured one mission from each of the Bond actors of the Eon Productions' series. In November 2020, IO Interactive announced Project 007 , an original James Bond video game, working closely with licensors MGM and Eon Productions . From 1983 to 1987,
17680-524: Was renamed "Clarence Leiter". In 1964 Roger Moore appeared as "James Bond" in an extended comedy sketch opposite Millicent Martin in her ATV TV series Mainly Millicent , which also makes reference to "007". It was written by Dick Hills and Sid Green . Undiscovered for several years, it reappeared as an extra in the DVD and Blu-ray release of Live and Let Die . In 1973, a BBC documentary Omnibus : The British Hero featured Christopher Cazenove playing
17816-552: Was sold by then-owner Ted Turner to Lorimar , which then sold it to a consortium including Technicolor. This film technology article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures , commonly shortened to MGM ) is an American media company specializing in film and television production and distribution based in Beverly Hills, California . Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
17952-480: Was started with the hiring of Bud Barry to head up the operation in June 1956. MGM Television was to distribute its films to TV (starting with the networks), TV production and purchasing TV stations. TV production was expected to start with the 1957–58 season and was to include half-hour remakes of, or series based on, its pictures. Initial feature film sales focused on selling to the networks. The year 1957 also marked
18088-490: Was terminated and she moved to Warner Brothers, where her career took a dramatic upturn. Garbo and Shearer never made another film after leaving the lot. Of the five stars, Loy and MacDonald were the only two whom Mayer later rehired, in 1947 and 1948 respectively; Crawford returned to MGM after Mayer's departure for the musical drama Torch Song in 1953. Increasingly, before and during World War II, Mayer came to rely on his "College of Cardinals"—senior producers who controlled
18224-518: Was the first to be written after the release of Dr. No in cinemas, and Sean Connery 's depiction of Bond affected Fleming's interpretation of the character, henceforth giving Bond both a dry sense of humour and Scottish antecedents that were not present in the previous stories. In a fictional obituary, purportedly published in The Times , Bond's parents were given as Andrew Bond, from the village of Glencoe , Scotland , and Monique Delacroix, from
18360-641: Was the last MGM musical to win a Best Picture Oscar, an honor that had previously gone to The Broadway Melody (1929), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), and An American in Paris (1951). The last musical film produced by the " Freed Unit " was an adaptation of the Broadway musical Bells Are Ringing (1960) with Judy Holliday and Dean Martin . However, MGM did release later musical films, including an adaptation of Meredith Willson 's The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) with Debbie Reynolds and Harve Presnell . MGM's first television program, The MGM Parade ,
18496-551: Was written by future Modesty Blaise creator Peter O'Donnell ) with Yaroslav Horak replacing McClusky as artist in 1966. After the Fleming and Amis material had been adapted, original stories were produced, continuing in the Daily Express and Sunday Express until May 1977. Several comic book adaptations of the James Bond films have been published through the years: at the time of Dr. No 's release in October 1962,
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