Robert Brown (British actor)

Robert Brown
Brown as M in Licence to Kill, 1989
Born	Robert James Brown (1921-07-23)23 July 1921 Swanage, Dorset, England, United Kingdom
Died	11 November 2003(2003-11-11) (aged 82) Swanage, Dorset, England, United Kingdom
Cause of death	Cancer
Years active	1949–1991
Spouse(s)	Rita Becker (m. 1955–2003; his death); 2 children

Robert James Brown (23 July 1921 – 11 November 2003) was a British actor known for his portrayal of M in the James Bond films, succeeding Bernard Lee, who died in 1981.

Brown made his first appearance as M in Octopussy in 1983.

Brown was born and died in Swanage, Dorset, England. Before appearing in the Bond films, he had a long career as a bit-part actor in films and television. He had a starring role in the 1950s television series Ivanhoe where he played Gurth, the faithful companion of Ivanhoe, played by Roger Moore. He had previously made an uncredited appearance as a castle guard in the unrelated 1952 film Ivanhoe. He had an uncredited appearance as the galley-master in Ben-Hur (1959) and as factory worker Bert Harker in the BBC's 1960s soap opera The Newcomers. In One Million Years B.C. (1966), he played grunting caveman Akhoba, brutal head of the barbaric "Rock tribe".

Brown first started in the James Bond franchise in the film The Spy Who Loved Me as Admiral Hargreaves, appearing alongside Lee. After Lee's sudden death in 1981, the producers, instead of hiring a replacement, decided to leave M out of For Your Eyes Only out of respect for the actor and trade his lines with M's Chief of Staff Bill Tanner. In 1983, they cast Brown to portray M on the recommendation of Bond actor Roger Moore, his Ivanhoe co-star and father of his goddaughter Deborah. It is not clear as to whether he was the same character as Lee's M or a different M, perhaps a promoted Hargreaves. The official Bond film canon recognizes Brown's M as a promoted Hargreaves, but this remains a subject of debate. He would later be succeeded by Judi Dench in the film GoldenEye (1995).

Filmography

Altogether, Robert Brown starred in five James Bond films.

• The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) – Admiral Hargreaves (possibly the same character as M he would play in subsequent films)
• Octopussy (1983) – M
• A View to a Kill (1985) – M
• The Living Daylights (1987) – M
• Licence to Kill (1989) – M

Other films:

• The Third Man (1949) – Policeman in sewer (coincidentally Bernard Lee is also in this film)
• Out of True (1951) - Dr. Dale
• Ivanhoe (1952) - Castle Guard
• Noose for a Lady (1953) - Jonas Rigg
• The Dark Avenger (1955) - First French Knight
• A Hill in Korea (1956) – Private O'Brien
• The Man Who Never Was (1956) – French
• The Abominable Snowman (1957) - Ed Shelley
• The Steel Bayonet (1957) - Company Sergeant Major Gill
• Campbell's Kingdom (1957) - Ben Creasy
• Passport to Shame (1958) - Mike
• Ben-Hur (1959) – Rowing Overseer
• The Challenge (1960) - Bob Crowther
• Sink The Bismark (1960) - unnamed officer aboard HMS Devonshire
• A Story of David (1961) - Jashobeam
• The 300 Spartans (1962) - Pentheus
• Billy Budd (1962) – Arnold Talbot
• Mystery Submarine (1963) - Coxswain Drage
• Clash by Night (1963) - Mawsley
• Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow (1963) - Sam Farley
• The Masque of the Red Death (1964) - Guard
• Operation Crossbow (1965) - Air Commodore
• One Million Years B.C. (1966) – Akhoba
• Private Road (1971) - Mr Halpern
• 1000 Convicts and a Woman (1971) - Ralph
• Demons of the Mind (1972) - Fischinger
• Mohammad, Messenger of God (1976) – Otba
• Jesus of Nazareth (1977) - Elder
• Warlords of Atlantis (1978) - Briggs
• The Passage (1979) - Major
• Lion of the Desert (1981) - Al Fadeel

External links

• Robert Brown at IMDb