Interview by Jon Auty

JA: How special are the Bond films to work on?

RA: To me the Bond films are always very special. They’ve taken the action/adventure movie to new heights and each one seems better than the last. It doesn’t matter who you are, when you get a call to do any kind of job on a Bond film you’re excited.

Bond films are always great fun and a joy to work on, but the real bonus is that on a Bond film you can be pretty sure that you are working with and learning from, some of the best people in the film business.

Bond films have endured and over the years have become a hallmark of quality in the film industry worldwide and of course Bond films are usually made in Britain and personally I hope that long may they continue.

JA: Which Bond films have you worked on?

RA: My first was ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ which we filmed in 1976 at Pinewood. I remember watching Lewis Gilbert editing a sequence that I was involved in and putting it on the cutting room floor.

JA: Why?

RA: I was one of the submarine crew members and I had to throw a grenade, just at the moment I let go of it I’m shot with machine gun fire and blood ‘squibs’ go off under my tunic, but the timing was wrong and only the one went off. So there I was pretending to die from a flesh wound! The final version has me just throwing the grenade and then Lewis cut to an explosion.

JA: You worked on ‘Never Say Never Again’ didn’t you?

RA: Yes with Vic (Armstrong). I was a prison guard and was to check Bond’s cell, but he’s not there. So I see that the bars on the window have been bent, I lean over to have a look and…Wham! I’m thrown into the sea.

Vic was doubling for Connery and he grabs hold of my gun and throws me over the top of him.

JA: How far was the fall?

RA: About 70ft

JA: Not into water surely?

RA: No into an air bag.

JA: You’re also in the new Bond film ‘The World Is Not Enough’

RA: That’s right. Vic was second unit Director and Simon Crane was Stunt Co-ordinator. We were shooting the boat chase sequence on the Thames and at Chatham Docks. At one point I was sitting in a restaurant opposite Greg Powell and Rocky Taylor, when Bond comes in through the wall in the Q-boat. It was an absolutely fabulous sequence and Greg’s brother Gary was the boat driver for the barrel roll later on in the docklands that was a unique stunt. As I said before, Bond films always have an appeal and if the action continues to be this good, they will continue.

Many thanks to Roy for his help and co-operation.

Photographs ©1981 Handmade films, ©1977 MGM/Danjaq LLC, ©1983 Warner Brothers,  ©1999 MGM/Danjaq LLC