Bernard Lee

Best remembered as 'M' in the James Bond films, 'Bernard Lee' (qv) was a popular character player in British films throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Born into a theatrical family, he made his stage debut at age six and later attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He first appeared on the West End stage in London in 1928, and continued to work in the theatre during the 1930s, taking only occasional film roles.It was only after World War II that he concentrated his efforts on the cinema, and was much in demand in British films of the 1950s as friendly authority figures, including army sergeants, police detectives or navy officers. Detectives became a particular specialty, and he played this role in more than a dozen films, including _The Blue Lamp (1950)_ (qv), _Beat the Devil (1953)_ (qv) and _The Detective (1954)_ (qv). In the early 1960s, he also made regular appearances as police detectives in the _The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre (1959)_ (qv) second feature series, usually as "Inspector Meredith". He also made memorable appearances in _The Third Man (1949)_ (qv), _Operation Disaster (1950)_ (qv), _Glory at Sea (1952)_ (qv), _Pursuit of the Graf Spee (1956)_ (qv), _Dunkirk (1958)_ (qv) and _Whistle Down the Wind (1961)_ (qv).He was effectively cast against type in only two films, as the union agitator in _The Angry Silence (1960)_ (qv), and as a disgruntled civil servant who becomes a spy for the Russians in _Shadow of Treason (1964)_ (qv).In 1962, he made his first appearance as the head of the British secret service in the first James Bond film, _Dr. No (1962)_ (qv). He went on to be featured in the next ten films in the series, appearing with 'Sean Connery' (qv), 'George Lazenby' (qv) and, later, 'Roger Moore' (qv) as Bond, and will probably be considered the definitive "M" by more than one generation of Bond fans.::Jeff Watts <jeffwattsuk@yahoo.co.uk>