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Monday, 27 March, 2000, 17:00 GMT
James Bond's tribute to 'Q'
![]() Desmond Llewelyn appeared in 17 Bond films
Former James Bond actor Roger Moore led a tribute to his long-time screen colleague Desmond Llewelyn telling a packed memorial service how 007 films would never be the same again.
Moore and a host of Bond stars joined family and friends of the 85-year-old actor to bid an emotional final farewell, three months after he died in a car crash. But while Moore, Bond number three, was in attendance, the four other 007s - Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan - were unable to be there. Stars such as Christopher Lee and Lisa Stansfield attended the one-hour service at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, central London. Gobbledegook Calling Llewelyn - who played the inventive gadget master Q - "a wonderful man" - Moore said the actor had never taken himself too seriously. He told the 250-strong congregation: "I was the bane of his life. He had to say probably the worst gobbledegook that any actor could be asked to perform. "He had technical words to say that never seemed to make any sense." Moore revealed how he used to tease Llewelyn by rewriting his lines on the prompt boards, to make him say silly things. "He was a wonderful man to work with," said Moore. "He had a wonderful sense of humour.
"No Bond film was complete without Q and his gadgets.
"I would go further and say I do not think a Bond film would be complete without Desmond Llewelyn." Llewelyn starred with Moore in six of Moore's seven Bond films, and played Q in 17 out of the 19 movies to date. The actor once said the "curse" of his role as gadget king was that he was useless with real gadgets and even had difficulty using a bank cash machine. Passion for Welsh rugby His son Justin, 45, said his father had loved to talk about Bond and had always had time to talk to fans and sign autographs. "I think I can safely say that until letters and e-mails began arriving from all over the world after his death, we had no idea how many lives he touched. "Although they had never met him, he was a part of their lives." He said his father had passionately believed in Wales and had been one of Welsh rugby's biggest fans.
Llewelyn's elder son Ivor, 50, told the service his father had been deeply saddened by the gradual demise of Pamela, his wife of 61 years, who has
Alzheimer's and has been in a nursing home for the past three-and-a-half years.
She was not at the service. He said: "My parents never lost their love for each other." He said letters from his father's fans showed how he had had a natural gift for friendship, kindness and generosity. "Above all, to his family, he was quite simply a marvellous father, father-in-law and grandfather," he said. Musical tribute There were tears shed by some when one of the most memorable Bond scenes - All The Time In The World, sung by Louis Armstrong for the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service - was played through loudspeakers. Four large screens showed images from Llewelyn's life, including pictures of his time in the Royal Welch Fusiliers during the war, on the set of various Bond movies and with his family. Christopher Lee who starred opposite Roger Moore as Bond villain Scaramangar in the Man With The Golden Gun, said afterwards: "He had the sort of personality that transferred itself from the screen to the audience. "That does not often happen in this day and age. "You immediately wanted to shake his hand and talk to him and have a beer with him. He exuded such warmth on the screen and that was how he was in real life." Samantha Bond, who played Moneypenny in the last 007 movie, The World Is Not Enough gave a reading at the service - after the Lord's Prayer - of Peace by Henry Vaughan and Crossing The Bar by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The congregation then sat in silence as the church filled with the sounds of the male voice choir of the Lucknow Band of the Prince of Wales' Division singing Sospan Fach and Ar Hyd y Nos.
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