Canadian actress (1927?2007)
Lois Ruth Maxwell
(born
Lois Ruth Hooker
; February 14, 1927 ? September 29, 2007) was a Canadian actress who portrayed
Miss Moneypenny
in the first fourteen Eon-produced
James Bond
films
(1962?1985),
[1]
from
Dr. No
in 1962 to
A View to a Kill
in 1985. She did not appear in the
1967
adaptation of
Casino Royale
, nor in the 1983 remake of
Thunderball
,
Never Say Never Again
, as the production was not Eon's, though she did, as a similar character, appear in the spoof
O.K. Connery
.
She began her film career in the late 1940s, and won the
Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer
for her performance in
That Hagen Girl
(1947). Following a number of small film roles, she became dissatisfied and travelled to Italy, where she worked in film from 1951 to 1955. After her marriage, she moved to the United Kingdom, where she appeared in several television productions, and later Canada, and Switzerland.
In 2001, she was diagnosed with
colorectal cancer
and moved to
Western Australia
, where she lived with her son until her death in 2007, at 80.
Life and career
[
edit
]
Early life
[
edit
]
Maxwell was born in
Kitchener, Ontario
, to Ruth Adelaide Wells, a nurse, and William Victor Hooker, a teacher.
[2]
Maxwell was raised in
Toronto
and attended
Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute
. She gained her first job working as a waitress at Bigwin Inn, a summer resort on
Bigwin Island
in
Lake of Bays, Ontario
.
During
World War II
she ran away from home, aged 15,
[2]
to join the
Canadian Women's Army Corps
, a unit formed to release men for combat duties. CWAC personnel were secretaries, vehicle drivers, and mechanics, who performed every conceivable noncombat duty. Maxwell quickly became part of the Army Show in Canada. Later, as part of the Canadian Auxiliary Services Entertainment Unit, she was posted to the United Kingdom, where she performed music and dance numbers to entertain the troops, often appearing alongside Canadian comedians
Wayne and Shuster
.
Maxwell's true age was discovered when the group reached London. To avoid her being repatriated to Canada, she was discharged; she subsequently enrolled at the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
,
[2]
where she became friends with fellow student
Roger Moore
. Moore was later her on-screen colleague, in the
James Bond
film series
, from
Live and Let Die
(1973) to
A View to a Kill
(1985).
Career
[
edit
]
Moving to
Hollywood
at the age of 20, Maxwell won the actress
Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer
for her role in the
Shirley Temple
drama
That Hagen Girl
(1947).
[3]
In 1949, she participated in a later famous
Life
magazine photo layout, in which she posed with other up-and-coming actresses,
Marilyn Monroe
,
Cathy Downs
,
Suzanne Dalbert
,
Enrica Soma
,
Laurette Luez
and
Jane Nigh
. It was at this time that she changed her surname from Hooker to Maxwell, a name borrowed from a
ballet dancer
friend.
[4]
The rest of her family also took this name.
[5]
Most of Maxwell's work consisted of minor roles in
B films
.
[3]
Tiring of Hollywood, she moved back to Europe, living in Rome for five years (1950?1955).
[6]
There she made a series of films, and at one point became an amateur race driver.
[4]
One of her Italian films was an adaptation of the opera
Aida
(1953), in which Maxwell played a leading role,
lip-synching
to another woman's vocals and appearing in several scenes with the then unknown
Sophia Loren
.
While visiting Paris, she met her future husband, TV executive Peter Marriott. They married in 1957 and moved to London, where their daughter Melinda and son Christian were both born (in 1958 and 1959). Maxwell appeared with
Patrick McGoohan
in the British television series
Danger Man
as his accomplice in the 1959 episode "Position of Trust".
During the 1960s, Maxwell appeared in many TV series and in films outside the Bond series, in both the UK and Canada. She guest-starred in two episodes of
The Saint
[4]
and later in one episode of
The Persuaders!
;
[6]
in both of which she appeared alongside Roger Moore. She provided the voice of Atlanta for the
Supermarionation
science-fiction children's series
Stingray
[4]
and starred in the
CBC
series
Adventures in Rainbow Country
from 1970 to 1971.
Maxwell had a minor role as a nurse in
Stanley Kubrick
's
Lolita
(1962).
[7]
In 1963 Maxwell played a machine gun-firing nurse in the series
The Avengers
(episode "The Little Wonders", which was first aired on 11 January 1964). She had a guest appearance in an episode of the
ITC
series
The Baron
("Something for a Rainy Day", 1965), as an insurance investigator.
Role as Miss Moneypenny
[
edit
]
Maxwell lobbied for a role in the
James Bond
film
Dr. No
(1962), after her husband had suffered a heart attack, and they needed the money. Director
Terence Young
, who had turned her down on the grounds that she "looked like she smelled of soap", offered her either Miss Moneypenny or Bond's girlfriend,
Sylvia Trench
, but Maxwell was uncomfortable with the idea of a
revealing scene
outlined in the screenplay. The role as
M
's secretary guaranteed just two days' work at a rate of £100 per day, and Maxwell supplied her own clothes for the filming.
[8]
She played Moneypenny in the first 14 Eon Bond films, including
Dr. No
(1962),
From Russia with Love
(1963),
Goldfinger
(1964),
Thunderball
(1965),
You Only Live Twice
(1967),
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
(1969),
Diamonds Are Forever
(1971),
Live and Let Die
(1973),
The Man with the Golden Gun
(1974),
The Spy Who Loved Me
(1977),
Moonraker
(1979),
For Your Eyes Only
(1981),
Octopussy
(1983), and
A View to a Kill
(1985).
Maxwell appeared in the Italian spy spoof
O. K. Connery
in 1967, with
Bernard Lee
(who played M) and
Sean Connery
's brother
Neil
.
[8]
In the same year, she portrayed Moneypenny in a made-for-TV special,
Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond
, in which she co-starred with
Kate O'Mara
and
Desmond Llewelyn
.
The role of Moneypenny was nearly recast after Maxwell demanded a pay raise for
Diamonds Are Forever
(1971). However, the producers felt it important to incorporate the regular character, and it was ultimately decided during production to add the scene where, disguised as a
customs officer
, she gives Bond his travel documents at the
Port of Dover
. Maxwell and Sean Connery filmed their lines separately and were not present together for the short scene.
[9]
[10]
Moneypenny's undercover policewoman's cap disguises the hair Maxwell had already dyed in preparation for another part.
[8]
Maxwell stayed on as Moneypenny when her former classmate Roger Moore assumed the role of 007 in
Live and Let Die
(1973). She reprised her character, weeping for the death of Bond, in a short scene with Bernard Lee in the French comedy
Bons baisers de Hong Kong
(1975).
During the filming of
A View to a Kill
(1985), her final appearance as Moneypenny, producer
Albert R. Broccoli
pointed out to her that they were the only cast or crew members from
Dr. No
who had not yet left the series. Maxwell asked that Moneypenny be killed off, but Broccoli recast the role instead.
[8]
According to author
Tom Lisanti
, Maxwell's Moneypenny was seen as an "anchor", and her flirtatious relationship with Bond provided the films with dramatic
realism
and
humanism
; for Moneypenny, Bond was "unobtainable", freeing the characters to make outrageous sexual
double entendres
.
Later life
[
edit
]
Maxwell's husband died in 1973, having never fully recovered from his heart attack in the 1960s. Maxwell subsequently returned to Canada,
[6]
settling in
Fort Erie, Ontario
, where she lived on Oakes Drive. She spent her summers at a cottage outside
Espanola, Ontario
, where she wrote a weekly column for the
Toronto Sun
under the
pseudonym
"Miss Moneypenny" from 1979 until 1994,
[6]
and became a businesswoman working in the textile industry. In 1994, she returned to the UK once again to be nearer to her daughter Melinda, retiring to a cottage in
Frome
,
Somerset
. A plaque has been placed on her home there by the Frome Society of Local Study.
[11]
Death
[
edit
]
Following surgery for
colorectal cancer
in 2001, Maxwell moved to
Perth
, Western Australia, to live with her son Christian's family. She remained there, working on her autobiography, until her death at
Fremantle Hospital
on 29 September 2007.
Of his friend's death, Sir
Roger Moore
said to
BBC Radio 5 Live
, "It's rather a shock. She was always fun and she was wonderful to be with and was absolutely perfect casting [...] It was a great pity that, after I moved out of Bond, they didn't take her on to continue in the
Timothy Dalton
films. I think it was a great disappointment to her that she had not been promoted to play M. She would have been a wonderful M."
[1]
Partial filmography
[
edit
]
Television
[
edit
]
Miscellaneous
[
edit
]
- James Bond: Licence to Thrill
- TV Movie documentary (1987) as Herself
- In Search of James Bond with Jonathan Ross
- TV Movie documentary (1995) as Miss Moneypenny
- Behind the Scenes with 'Thunderball'
- Video documentary (1995) as Herself / Miss Moneypenny
- Inside 'Octopussy'
- Video documentary short (2000) as Herself
- Terence Young: Bond Vivant
- documentary video short (2000) as Herself
- Inside 'Dr. No'
- Video documentary short (2000) as Herself
- James Bond: A BAFTA Tribute
- TV Movie documentary (2000) as Herself
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Bond star Lois Maxwell dies at 80"
.
BBC News
. 30 September 2007
. Retrieved
30 September
2007
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Lois Maxwell As Secretary To James Bond"
.
The Gettysburg Times
.
Associated Press
. 1 June 1967 – via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
a
b
Tom Lisanti (2002).
Film Fatales: Women in Espionage Films and Television, 1962?1973
. Louis Paul.
McFarland & Company
.
ISBN
0-7864-1194-5
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Lois Maxwell"
. 30 September 2007
. Retrieved
3 February
2018
– via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ^
Obituary,
The Daily Telegraph
, reprinted in
The Age
, 3 October 2007, Businessday, p. 13.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Canada's Lois Maxwell, who played Moneypenny, dies"
.
www.cbc.ca
. Retrieved
3 February
2018
.
- ^
Pulleine, Tim (30 September 2007).
"Obituary: Lois Maxwell"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
3 February
2018
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Alan Barnes
(2000).
Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang!: The Unofficial James Bond 007 Film Companion
.
Marcus Hearne
.
Sterling Publishing Company
.
ISBN
0-7134-8645-7
.
- ^
Chapman, James,
Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films
(Cinema and Society). I. B. Taurus Books, 2008. pp. 101?102
ISBN
978-1845115159
- ^
D'Abo, Maryam
&
Cork, John
,
Bond Girls are Forever: The Women of James Bond
. Harry N. Abrams Books, 2003. p. 87
ISBN
978-0810943025
- ^
"Plaques"
. 16 June 2016
. Retrieved
2 June
2019
.
External links
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