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You Only Live Twice (1967) More at IMDbPro »

• The novel of "You Only Live Twice" was the last Ian Fleming James Bond novel published during his lifetime. Released on 16 March 1964, it was the twelfth novel in the series. For the first time in the James Bond film series, the screen story bore little resemblance to the source novel. Some characters and the Japanese setting remain intact, but the two stories are radically different.
  
  
• The primary reason for converting the Toyota 2000GT coupes into convertibles was Sean Connery's height; he was simply too tall to fit into the GT which was notoriously too small for anyone over 5'8". Connery's height was 6'2".
  
  
• Little Nellie is based on the real-life Wallis Autogyro. Its inventor, Wing Commander K.H. Wallis, actually flew Little Nellie in the film. The machine was incorporated into the plot after production designer Ken Adam heard Wallis in a radio interview discussing his invention. Wallis had to log 85 flights in total to film the sequence. It was all filmed outside of Japan because Japanese Law forbade the firing of rockets in the air.
  
  
• The film's CD Soundtrack sleeve notes state that the "You Only Live Twice" song sung by Nancy Sinatra charted in the USA on 24 June 1967 and went to the No. #44 spot. In the UK, it entered the charts on 5 July 1967 and peaked at No. #11. The soundtrack album debuted in the US charts on 15 July 1967 where it peaked at the No. #27 spot.
  
  
• James Bond participates in a Japanese wedding ceremony in the film. Mercifully, he uses a false name, otherwise this would mean he would have been still married under Japanese law when he wed Tracy di Vincenzo in the next film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
  
  
• Tsai Chin, who played Bond's playmate in the opening pre-credit sequence, returned to the Bond franchise nearly 40 years later when she played one of the players in Le Chiffre's big poker match in Casino Royale (2006).
  
  
• Teru Shimada, who plays Mr Osato, was working as a caretaker when he was cast in the role.
  
  
• In the novel, Ian Fleming describes Blofeld's hide-out as being a castle on the coast. Ken Adam discovered that this could never be. The Japanese never built their castles directly on the coast for fear of typhoons. Hence the creation of the elaborate volcano set.
  
  
• Ken Adam's volcano set was constructed at Pinewood Studios outside London and consisted of a movable helicopter platform, a working monorail system, a launch pad and a full scale rocket mock-up that could simulate lift-off. 700 tonnes of structural steel and 200 miles of tubular steel were used. Adam once said that the set used more steel than that used for the London Hilton Hotel. The set also used 200 tonnes of plaster, 500,000 tubular couplings and over 250,000 square yards of canvas were all employed in the construction of the set which cost just over $1 million.
  
  
• The face of Ernst Stavro Blofeld is shown for the first time in a movie. Of all the many actors who have played Blofeld, it is the interpretation by Donald Pleasence in this film which is the source for the Mike Myers parody of the character as Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movie spoofs. Blofeld appeared in later Bond movies, played by a different actor each time.
  
  
• Bond producer Barbara Broccoli grew up in the behind-the-scenes world of James Bond and as a child during location shooting in Japan for this movie she caught a fever from the Japanese custom of sleeping on the floor. James Bond star Sean Connery's star status provided him with a comfortable bed and he generously relinquished it so she could properly fight her illness.
  
  
• James Bond does not drive a car in this film. This is the only EON Productions James Bond film to date in which James Bond does not drive a vehicle.
  
  
• The name of the book that Miss Moneypenny throws to James Bond in her office was "Instant Japanese: A Pocketful of Useful Phrases" by Masahiro Watanbe and Kei Nagashima, first published in 1964.
  
  
• The literal translations of some of this film's foreign language titles include One Doesn't Live More Than Twice (France); It Only Lives Twice (Latin America); 007 Dies Twice (Japan); One Only Lives Twice / A Man Doesn't Live More Than Twice (Germany); James Bond In Japan (Norway & Greece); You Live Only Twice (Finland); With 007 You Only Live Twice (Brazil & Portugal) and 007 Seized The Rocket Base (China).
  
  
• The name of the island appearing in the photograph obtained by James Bond from Osato's safe was one the isles of Matsu (or Mazu), located off the People's Republic of China's south-eastern coast.
  
  
• Reportedly, the noise made during the shooting of the film's grand finale on the volcano set scared Blofeld's white cat that it ran away. It wasn't found for days and it was eventually discovered hiding in some of the set's rafters. Apparently, footage of the scaredy cat wound up in the finished movie when Blofeld's security shutters are enforced.
  
  
• Footage of the US Jupiter spacecraft in the film is actually film of the real Gemini spacecraft which flew between 1965 and 1966. The Gemini spacecraft were used for testing of such activities as EVA and docking for the Apollo space project which was to follow. Ironically, the Soviet spacecraft in the film were called Gemini (the name of the real life US spacecraft) and their designs were based on inaccurate UK perceptions of what the Russian Voskhod and Vostok spacecraft looked like, something which was not known until 1967 after the film had wrapped shooting.
  
  
• Two 2000GTs were remodeled to convertibles and featured in the James Bond movie You Only Live Twice. One is displayed at Toyota's headquarters today while the other is in a private collection of a Toyota executive. (When the Encore movie channel aired James Bond films in early 2005, a 2000GT convertible which was located in South Africa was in the process of a restoration for the Cars of the Stars museum.)
  
  
• A song composed by Robbie Williams extensively sampled the title theme from You Only Live Twice (1967). The song called "Millenium" was composed sampling the main string sample from the John Barry original theme. It was the first solo UK number one hit for Williams on 19 September 1998. Also, its music video included a number of James Bond 007 iconography and imagery.
  
  
• The original theme song, also composed by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse was recorded by Julie Rogers, lyricist Don Black's sister-in-law. It was released on a limited-edition CD in 1992.
  
  
• The 2002 James Bond novel "The Man With The Red Tattoo" written by Raymond Benson is also set in Japan. Benson also wrote a direct sequel to the Ian Fleming "You Only Live Twice" novel entitled "Blast From The Past". It's a short-story which was first published in January 1997 in "Playboy" magazine. This story was cut by about a third and the uncut version was released for the first time in October 2008 in Pegasus Books' Benson omnibus "The Union Trilogy".
  
  
• The female leads Mie Hama and Akiko Wakabayashi both appeared in Kingu Kongu tai Gojira (1962) (English title: King Kong vs. Godzilla), and Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (1965) (English title: What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)). The latter was a James Bond movie imitation which attracted them to the producers of genuine James Bond movies. A flaw was soon discovered: neither actress knew any English. Wakabayashi was cast as Kissy and Hama as Aki and both were tutored in English. Hama was having too much difficulty with English, so the two actresses swapped roles to give her the role of Kissy, which had fewer lines.
  
  
• While in Japan, Sean Connery and his wife Diane Cilento were hounded by the international press. During news conferences the press insisted on referring to Connery as James Bond. Local newsmen attempted to photograph him in a rest room. Thirty extra private security guards were hired to combat the excess noise and hindrance but even the guards started to take photos. Connery was allegedly photographed on a toilet and the picture published in a Tokyo newspaper. Halfway through filming, Connery announced he would not be returning as James Bond. To ease the tension the producers removed his contractual obligation to do one more 007 movie, despite being offered $1 million. After the film wrapped, Connery was reportedly asked whether he found Japanese women attractive to which he allegedly replied, "No," causing many Japanese to call him bad names. This faux pas turned out to be based on a mistranslation on a day when Connery was exhausted after an intensive day's filming. Connery didn't go out of his way to be too personable with the interviewer who was aghast that the actor showed up in a casual T-shirt with baggy trousers and sandals. "Is this how James Bond dresses?" he asked, to which Connery replied tersely "I'm not James Bond, I'm Sean Connery, a man who likes to dress comfortably."
  
  
• The title of "You Only Live Twice" comes from a haiku (or poem) included in the Ian Fleming novel on which the film is based. It goes: "You only live twice. Once when you are born. And once when you look death in the face." In the novel, the poem is written by James Bond for his friend Tiger Tanaka. Due to a badly-worded attribution at the front of the novel, the poem is sometimes incorrectly believed to have been written by a Japanese poet called Matsuo Basho (See: Bashô Matsuo.) It is clarified in the novel that it should not be considered a haiku at all i.e. it is a poor attempt at writing poetry by Bond after being taught how to do so. The novel and it's epigraph explain that the haiku is "after Basho" i.e. written in the style of the famous 17th Century Japanese poet.
  
  
• Before the title sequence there is an outdoor shot of a Russian radar station, where US and Soviet leaders are having a crisis meeting. This was in fact filmed at Magerø in the Oslo fjord in Norway (uncredited), to get a Nordic winter light feel to the footage. The dome-shaped radar station is still in operation today, run - as it was then - by the Norwegian military.
  
  
• While scouting for locations in Japan, the chief production team was nearly killed. On 5 March 1966, Producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, Director Lewis Gilbert, Cinematographer Freddie Young and Production Designer Ken Adam were booked to leave Japan on BOAC flight 911 departing Tokyo for Hong Kong and London. Two hours before their Boeing 707 flight departed, the team were invited to an unexpected ninja demonstration and so missed their plane. Their flight took off as scheduled and twenty five minutes after take-off the plane disintegrated over Mt Fuji, killing everybody on board. The incident brought with it an unsettling reality to the meaning of the title "You Only Live Twice".
  
  
• Director Lewis Gilbert originally turned down the directing job on this movie.
  
  
• After it was discovered that both Mie Hama playing Kissy Suzuki couldn't swim, Sean Connery's then wife, actress Diane Cilento, doubled for her in her swimming scenes wearing a black wig. Some reports claims that Hama could not do them because of stomach cramps.
  
  
• A number of actors were asked to play Blofield before Donald Pleasence, but all has stage or TV commitments which made them unable on accept the role. Producer Harry Saltzman, who had an eccentric choice for actors to play villains, had originally hired the fabled Czech actor Jan Werich to play Blofeld. Werich was the personification of sophisticated intellectual humor in Czech theater and film, and was known as the "Wise Clown". Casting a clown as a demonic villain backfired during production: It was felt that Werich looked too much like Father Christmas to be menacing and he was released after a week's shooting.
  
  
• The Toyota 2000GT was a sports car produced between 1967 and 1970 in very limited numbers, (approximately 351) by Toyota in Japan. The only convertibles ever built were for You Only Live Twice (1967). Toyota entered the 2000GT in competition at home, coming third in the 1966 Japanese Grand Prix and winning the Fuji 24-Hour Race in 1967. In addition, the car set several world records for speed and endurance in a 72-hour test. The few surviving examples are very expensive collectibles.
  
  
• Charles Gray (Henderson) would later play Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). In 1967, he played in The Night of the Generals (1967) opposite Donald Pleasence, who plays Blofeld in this film.
  
  
• Much of the story structure of this film would be re-used extensively in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) as well as Moonraker (1979) and then again for Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).
  
  
• Local Japanese girls cast as extras refused to wear bikinis in publicity photo shoots. On the intervention of producer Albert R. Broccoli, consent was able to be achieved.
  
  
• Akiko Wakabayashi playing Aki could not drive a motor-vehicle so six stuntmen created the illusion of her driving the white Toyota 2000GT convertible by attaching a cable and pulling it from outside frame.
  
  
• Eva Renzi turned down the role of Bond-Girl Helga Brandt which finally went to Karin Dor.
  
  
• First Bond film in which 007 does not visit Britain at all. Because of this plot point, M and Miss Moneypenny are given portable offices - a gimmick reused in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979) and The Living Daylights (1987).
  
  
• First film to show James Bond in his Royal Navy uniform and to clearly indicate that he holds the rank of Commander.
  
  
• Actor Tetsurô Tanba (Tanaka) later became a religious leader in Japan.
  
  
• Despite being a major character in this film, Kissy Suzuki's name is never mentioned once on screen. Nor do we learn Aki's last name. Both situations are unique among major Bond film characters.
  
  
• The outside scenes at Osato Chemicals is taken at Hotel New Otani, Tokyo.
  
  
• The ship from which 007 was buried at sea was the Royal Navy ship H.M.S. Tenby (F65). The scene was filmed in the winter, which didn't go over too well with the crew, who had to wear tropical gear for the scene. It was shot several times as the "body" didn't sink the first time.
  
  
• John Jordan ("Aerial Unit Camera") lost his leg while working on the film.
  
  
• Last Bond film to make extensive use of voice dubbing. In this film and most of those made previously, many of Bond's leading ladies and villains were overdubbed by other actors. This practice rarely occurred in future Bond films.
  
  
• Tiger Tanaka's voice was dubbed by series regular Robert Rietty, but one line remains in his own voice - he speaks Japanese to the girls bathing him and Bond.
  
  
• Was promoted in America with an NBC-TV special entitled Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond (1967) (TV) the title being taken from Tanaka's first line in the film. The line was also a tagline for the movie. The special featured clips from the film, behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with the cast.
  
  
• There were two Toyota 2000GT convertibles built for this movie; one of them is at Toyota's headquarters, other is in a private collection. There's also a replica at Cars of the Stars Motor Museum, featuring actual control panel used in the film.
  
  
• Only Bond film in which 007 refers to Miss Moneypenny by the nickname "Penny". This nickname was also used on occasion in the original Ian Fleming novel series.
  
  
• Eon productions considered hiring Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's production company - the company that made their Supermarionation shows such as "Stingray" (1964), "Thunderbirds" (1965), and "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" (1967) - to help out with the film's SFX work; it would not be until The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) that Derek Meddings, chief FX technician for the Andersons, would go to work on a Bond film.
  
  
• Peter R. Hunt was the original editor. The producers were not happy with the film, and pleaded with Hunt to return as editor. He did this on the condition that he could direct the next Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
  
  
• Burt Kwouk as SPECTRE Agent No. #3 is dubbed. Kwouk had previously played Mr. Ling in the earlier James Bond movie Goldfinger (1964).
  
  
• In the German-dubbed version Spectre is called Spectre for the first time; it had the name Phantom in the previous movies.
  
  
• In order to gain some measure of authenticity for the team of stuntmen who would double as Ninja in the climactic battle in the volcano, the producers enlisted the help of Japan's only practicing Ninja master, 34-year-old Masaaki Hatsumi who had inherited the tradition from his then retired teacher Toshitsugu Takamatsu. Both Takamatsu and Hatsumi had advised during the production of the first two of the Japanese "Shinobi No Mono" Ninja Assassins series of films produced in Japan between 1962 and 1966, and not only did the film provide an opportunity for Hatsumi to give more credibility to the Ninja characters, but also allowed him a few brief moments of screen time aboard Tiger Tanaka's private train, as he interrupts Bond and Tanakas Sake discussion to announce that the photographs are ready for viewing.
  
  
• Retired US Air Force Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Russhon acted as a technical advisor, military liaison, helped set up a product-placement deal with Sony, attended the location scout, assisted with obtaining important transportation means and advised on the logistics for working in Japan.
  
  
• Vehicles featured included the Wallis WA-116 auto-gyro, affectionately known as the "Little Nellie" gyro-copter; Aki's white Toyota 2000 GT convertible with gadget control panel and Sony TV monitor; Tiger Tanaka's Japanese edition of the Boeing-Vertol Sea Knight; a twin-blade Boeing Kawasaki-Vertol KV-107 11 tandem-rotor helicopter fitted with a super electro-magnet; Tiger Tanaka's private underground train; a black Toyota Crown 2300, a Bond pursuing vehicle; the ship Ning-Po; a Toyota Crown S40; the US Jupiter 16 two-man spacecraft; a 1964 Dodge Polara; four black Kawasaki/Bell 47G-3 helicopters that attack Little Nellie; a Japanese taxi car; a single-engine Meyers 200A plane that Helga Brandt traps Bond in; a Brantley B2; the two-man spacecraft Bird 1 SPECTRE two-stage space rocket; an Aerospatiale Alouette 316B helicopter that takes 007 to the Ninja School; a monorail in Blofeld's Volcano lair; an inflatable round yellow lifeboat; and an M1 British diesel-electric submarine for both Bond's burial and rescue at sea.
  
  
• In the article "The Oriental Beauties of You Only Live Twice", published with a pictorial in the June 1967 issue of "Playboy" Magazine, screenwriter Roald Dahl claimed that he assembled his script to a formula already established in the previous films in the series, and that he never took the script seriously. In fact, he said that the formula was strictly enforced by the producers, who would broach no deviation. This was not the first connection of the film with the magazine: An excerpt of Ian Fleming's original novel had appeared in the April 1964 issue of "Playboy".
  
  
• A scene where a helicopter grabs a car of Spectre with a magnet was an idea conceived by Dana Broccoli, wife of producer Albert R. Broccoli.
  
  
• Out of simple courtesy on Bond's part, this is the only film in which he accepts a Martini (from Henderson) that it stirred, not shaken. This is an intentional joke by the producers, not a mistake by either of the actors.
  
  
• This was the only Sean Connery Bond movie never to receive any BBFC cuts.
  
  
• Actor and Stuntman Joe Robinson instructed Sean Connery in the art of Judo for the scene where Bond has to fight with Blofeld's giant bodyguard Hans near the end of the film. Robinson also doubled the actor Ronald Rich who portrayed Hans. He would later appear as diamond smuggler Peter Franks in 1971's Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
  
  
• In Sept. 1972, United Artists was widely exhibiting this film on a double bill with Thunderball (1965) with the tag line "The 2 Biggest Bonds of All".
  
  
• Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins for this movie include Toyota, particularly the Toyota 2000GT; Stolichnaya Vodka; Sony Electronics, a Sony TV monitor is seen in the Toyota 2000GT; Jack Daniel's Whiskey; Suntory Old Whisky; Rolex Watches, James Bond wears a Rolex Submariner; Dom Perignon Champagne, particularly a Dom Perignon '59; and Martini & Rossi Vermouth.
  
  
• Cameo: [Vic Armstrong] The stuntman as First Ninja abseiling down the volcano lair.
  
  
• Cameo: [Richard Graydon] The stuntman as a Russian Cosmonaut.
  
  
• A number of titles of movies and TV shows went on to spoof or reference this film's title after it was released. These include You Only Live Once [La vida es una sola (1992)]; Tu seras terriblement gentille (1968) [You Only Live Once aka You Only Love Once]; You Only Die Once (1993) (V); You Love Only Once [Samo jednom se ljubi (1981)]; "You Only Live Once" (2000); and You Only Lego Twice (2002) whilst TV episodes have known to be called You Only Live Once; You Only Die Once; You Only Die Twice; You Only Come Once; You Only Scare Twice; You're Only Young Twice; You Only Move Twice; You Only Lick Twice; and You Only Love Twice.
  
  
• The film's Royal World Premiere was held on 12th June 1967 at the Odeon Theatre, Leicester Square, London and was attended by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. The Gala Charity Premiere Benefit was sponsored by the Variety Club of Great Britain and was held in aid of two charities, the YMCA and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund.
  
  
• A cover version of the film's title song "You Only Live Twice" was recorded by 'Bjork' for David Arnold's Bond song compilation album, "Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project". However, the song was not included on the compilation album. The song is apparently available as a download from Bjork's website.
  
  
• Henchmen and henchwomen in the film included Hans, Helga Brandt, Irma Bunt, Mr. Osato, and SPECTRE Agents No. #3 and No. #4.
  
  
• The first line of the Ian Fleming James Bond novel "You Only Live Twice" read: "The geisha called 'Trembling Leaf', on her knees beside James Bond, leant forward from the waist and kissed chastely on the right cheek."
  
  
• The fifth film in the official James Bond series and also was the fifth for Sean Connery as James Bond, Bernard Lee as M and Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny. And it was the fourth for Desmond Llewelyn as Q.
  
  
• In the "You Only Live Twice" novel, Blofeld masquerades under the pseudonym Dr. Shatterhand and is killed at the end. Ernst Stavro Blofeld was named after Tom Blofeld with whom James Bond creator Ian Fleming went to school at Eton. His son is cricket commentator Henry Blofeld. Blofeld's birthdate as given in the literature is the same date as Ian Fleming's birthday which is 28 May 1908.
  
  
• The last lines of the Ian Fleming James Bond novel "You Only Live Twice" read: "But then of course, he didn't know that his name was James Bond. And, compared with the blazing significance to him of that single Russian word on the scrap of paper, his life on Kuro, his love for Kissy Suzuki, were, in Tiger's phrase, as of little account as sparrow's tears."
  
  
• Alexander Knox who played the American Secretary of Defense (uncredited) was re-voiced by an unknown actor. Although Canadian by birth, Knox's natural speaking voice carried a strong British accent.
  
  
• The rocket pistol, and cigarette rocket, were real-life weapons that were featured after the manufacturer paid for the product placement. It was hoped they would become standard military and intelligence equipment; however, they proved to be too expensive, clumsy, and unreliable, and ceased production a few years later.
  
  
• This is the first film in the series where James Bond does not wear his trademark tuxedo.
  
  
• The only Bond film in which all the action takes place in a single country. The MI6 headquarters, for the first time, does not appear.
  
  
• According to the novel, Ernst Stavro Blofeld's date of birth is May 28, 1908. This is the exact birthdate of Bond creator Ian Fleming.
  
  

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