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On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) More at IMDbPro »

• Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond novel "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" while Dr. No (1962) was being filmed. Fleming included a mention by name of Ursula Andress in the book. The title was shared by a rare British nautical novel of the 19th Century which was discovered by Fleming's friend Nicholas Henderson at a Portbello Road book stall in London.
  
  
• The title lent itself to a role-playing board game "James Bond 007: Role-Playing In Her Majesty's Secret Service" in 1983 and was produced up until 1987. It was released by Avalon Books' Victory Games and was designed by Gerard Christopher Klug. The cover art picture of James Bond was not based on George Lazenby but was an amalgam of the likeness of both Sean Connery and Roger Moore and most closely resembled the poster for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). The last three digits of its game book rules' ISBN were 007.
  
  
• The John Barry score for this movie was the first in the EON Production series to extensively use synthesizers and electric guitars.
  
  
• This is one of the most faithful adaptations of an Ian Fleming novel; virtually everything in the book occurs in the film. Staying so close to the source actually caused some continuity problems due to the different order of the films. For example, in this film neither Bond nor Blofeld recognize each other, despite having met face-to-face in the film version of "You Only Live Twice". Some details are different: Count Bleauville has his name changed to Count Bleauchamp, and Ruby Windsor is renamed Ruby Barrett. The situations of Bond's taking a leave of absence, and his discovery by Blofeld, are different. Tracy is not kidnapped. Blofeld is completely different is appearance to Telly Savalas, being described as having long silvery-white hair, an aquiline nose, a wrinkled forehead, a slender body, a nostril that has been eaten away by tertiary syphilis, and no earlobes. Savalas's Blofeld has none of these features - he doesn't even have a European accent. However, his earlobes were clipped back to serve a plot element.
  
  
• The main reason for George Lazenby refusing to reprise the role of James Bond was because he considered the tuxedo-clad secret agent to be out of touch with the newly liberated 1970s. Lazenby had been offered a seven picture deal and had signed a letter of intent to star in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). He had even been paid an initial fee installment which he later refunded.
  
  
• Whereas ads for "You Only Live Twice" loudly touted "Sean Connery IS James Bond", the marketing for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" downplayed the name of the replacement actor completely. This is the first and only time that the name of the actor playing Bond appears below the title, and in several of the ads for the film, there is an image of a faceless Bond. Since George Lazenby was a virtual unknown when he was cast as Bond, initial teaser advertising for the film emphasized the Bond character rather than the actor playing him. United Artists would later say that this marketing strategy was a mistake which hurt the film's performance at the box office.
  
  
• A Rolex worn by George Lazenby drew a bid of $40,373 at Christie's in London in 2003.
  
  
• For the opening sequence, railway sleepers (tracks) were buried under the sand to allow Bond's Aston Martin to drive on the beach.
  
  
• Whilst cracking open a safe in a Swiss lawyer's office, Bond reads a copy of "Playboy". This is a nod to the fact that "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" first appeared in "Playboy". "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was the first Ian Fleming's James Bond novels to be serialized in the magazine, appearing in the May 1963 issue of "Playboy". It was followed by You Only Live Twice (1967) in the April 1964 issue.
  
  
• Certain film techniques appear in the James Bond series for the first time in this picture: slow motion (when Bond is knocked out in his bedroom), flashback (Bond remembering Tracy being captured), and breaking the fourth wall (Bond turns to the camera and says, "This never happened to the other fellow").
  
  
• A double was used for Diana Rigg at the ice rink as the actress did not know how to skate.
  
  
• The stock car rink had to be specially constructed by flooding a flat field with water and then freezing it.
  
  
• Every year the Swiss army dynamite certain dangerous mountainsides to remove the threat of avalanches. As the storyline called for such an avalanche, the film production worked alongside the army in scouting appropriate sites for filming. Having chosen one, they were dismayed to discover that the avalanche occurred naturally before the crew could get there to film it so the resulting one seen in the film is a combination of stock footage, special effects, and clever use of close-ups and sound.
  
  
• Peter R. Hunt originally wanted to direct You Only Live Twice (1967) but when that assignment was given to Lewis Gilbert, he walked off the series and went on a round the world trip. Ironically he was in Tokyo when he bumped into Albert R. Broccoli and Gilbert who were prepping "You Only Live Twice". Broccoli asked Hunt to direct the second unit on that film with the promise of directing the next entry in the series.
  
  
• Novelist Simon Raven was brought in to polish the dialog, notably the exchanges between Tracy and Blofeld.
  
  
• Bond's sliding along the ice whilst firing a machine gun in the attack on Piz Gloria was a spur-of-the-moment idea from director Peter R. Hunt.
  
  
• Bond and Tracy's wedding day took 5 days to shoot.
  
  
• The first Bond film in which 007 used skis. As this is a 1960s Bond movie, it is interesting to note that the first and big 60s Bond star Sean Connery never did a skiing or snow sequence Bond movie, his James Bond only ever drives through snow-capped mountains in Goldfinger (1964).
  
  
• This was the longest Bond film, at 140 minutes, until the appearance of Casino Royale (2006) in 2006 which runs 4 minutes longer.
  
  
• George Lazenby made the announcement that he would not be reprising the part of James Bond even before the film was released.
  
  
• George Lazenby wanted to do most of his own stunts but the studio wouldn't allow him. During the shooting of one of the stunt scenes, Lazenby actually broke his arm, thereby delaying the filming of many of his later scenes. When Bond is taken to Blofeld's lab at Piz Gloria, Lazenby's broken arm in its cast is hidden by his coat which was draped over his arm. Blofeld's guard removes it from him as Lazenby was unable to do so. The guard removing the jacket was played by Yuri Borionko who ironically had had his nose broken by Lazenby in the screen test fight scene that the actor had done to land the part.
  
  
• The scenes from previous Bond films, as seen in the opening credits are as follows. *First Set. *Honey Ryder from Dr. No (1962), standing on the beach. *Dr. No (1962) from the film of the same name, in front of his underground aquarium. *Tatiana Romanova from From Russia with Love (1963), messing around with her hair. *Pussy Galore from Goldfinger (1964), in the barn scene. *Second Set. *The title character from _Goldfinger_. *Assorted Bond girls from the Goldfinger (1964) / Thunderball (1965) era. *The "Flaming Car Crash" scene from Thunderball (1965). *Third set. *Emilio Largo, the main villain from Thunderball (1965). *Aki from You Only Live Twice (1967). *Kissy Suzuki from You Only Live Twice (1967). *A swordsman from You Only Live Twice (1967). *Blofeld's volcano lair exploding from the end of You Only Live Twice (1967). Goldfinger is the only other Bond film to show previous movies' footage in its opening credits.
  
  
• In order to help get himself the part of James Bond, George Lazenby went to the same tailor and barber that worked with Sean Connery so when he showed up at Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman's production offices, he'd look more like Connery. Coincidentally, Broccoli was present in the barber's shop when Lazenby showed up for his haircut. This in part did help him establish an image and led to getting the role of James Bond.
  
  
• As Bond clears out his desk, we see Honeychile's knife from Dr. No (1962), Grant's garrote/watch from From Russia with Love (1963), and a re-breather from Thunderball (1965). A bit of the theme music from each movie is played as we see the appropriate item.
  
  
• Joanna Lumley makes one of her first screen appearances in this movie. Unlike other "Avengers" actors and actresses (Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Honor Blackman), she is the only one to have appeared in a Bond movie *before* starring in "The Avengers" (1961). Despite having a very small part as one of Blofeld's girls, she spent two months on the production, dubbing the voices of a whole line up of international beauties in German, Chinese and Norwegian accents, in addition to teaching many of the actresses who played Blofeld's patients how to crochet, which some of them can be seen doing on film. With time, some of the women preferred crocheting garments over attending parties for the cast. Joanna Lumley has also read an abridged version of the Ian Fleming novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service on BBC Radio 4.
  
  
• There are many reasons why George Lazenby only made one appearance as James Bond. According to the DVD Documentary, here are some of the main reasons: 1. Lazenby's youthful cockiness rankled Albert R. Broccoli's nerves. One incident mentioned is Lazenby skiing down the slopes on his own (resulting in the broken arm) and a moment of arrogance on Lazenby's part that spoiled a cast and crew party. 2. The notoriously harsh British tabloids writing up unfavorable stories about Lazenby and how he fails to measure up to Sean Connery, thereby swaying public opinion against the movie before it was released. One incident cited by Lazenby was during an interview with a reporter in the commissary in which Diana Rigg jokingly yelled from across the room "I'm having garlic for lunch, darling! I hope you are too!" This lead to an article in which Rigg supposedly hated Lazenby so much that "She eats garlic before love scenes". 3. Lazenby, believing that the Bond series was over in the wake of more sophisticated films like The Graduate (1967)and Easy Rider (1969), mentioned to his agent that he wasn't sure if he wanted to play Bond again. The producers heard this and were not too pleased. Although some claim the film was a box-office failure, it was in fact a huge hit, recouping more than ten times its cost and becoming the second highest grossing film of the year at the worldwide box-office.
  
  
• Actors considered for the part of Tracy Draco included Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve. Reportedly, Bardot was the first choice of director Peter R. Hunt but she ironically decided to star opposite the former James Bond Sean Connery in Shalako (1968). Diana Rigg was finally chosen partly because of her appearance as Emma Peel in British TV's spy series "The Avengers" (1961).
  
  
• The only James Bond film which is both entirely set and entirely filmed in Europe.
  
  
• The picture of Tracy's mother was a photograph of Diana Rigg's own mother.
  
  
• First time M's home (called Quarterdeck in this movie) is seen in a James Bond movie in the series. Casino Royale (2006) was the second. M's home is also seen in the unofficial Casino Royale (1967).
  
  
• A tagline on an unused piece of poster artwork read: The New Bond. 007 and Bride.
  
  
• The Maginot Line was a key contender for the major mountain location before the production settled on Mount Schilthorn and Piz Gloria.
  
  
• Winter sports seen in the movie included downhill skiing, bobsled toboggan, ice-skating, stock car racing on ice and curling, the last item being played on the top deck of Piz Gloria.
  
  
• Vehicles included James Bond's dark green 1969 Aston Martin DBS (not to be confused with a DB5); Tracy's red 1969 Ford Mercury Cougar convertible; Draco's Rolls-Royce Corniche Mulliner Park Ward Drophead Coupé; 007 ascends to Piz Gloria in a Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter; a Mercedes sedan and Irma Bunt's pursuing black Mercedes-Benz 600; three Bell 204 HUEY helicopters with dummy Red Cross markings for the attack on Piz Gloria; a cable car to Piz Gloria; two bobsleds; and various stock cars in the stock car rally.
  
  
• "Nympahlis Polychloris," the species of butterfly that James Bond detects at M's home, is a fictional taxon.
  
  
• James Bond is said to be a descendant of Sir Otto Le Bon. 16 years after this movie, Simon Le Bon and his band Duran Duran sang the title song to the later James Bond movie, A View to a Kill (1985). In that song's music video, Simon Le Bon makes a joke based on his name's similarity to James Bond.
  
  
• The film was originally rated M by the MPAA in the USA. It was subsequently re-rated PG.
  
  
• Ilse Steppat's only ever English language role was as Irma Bunt in this movie. She was not able to enjoy her new success. She died of a heart attack less than a week after the release of this film. The character of Irma Bunt was intended for a time to return in the next James Bond movie, Diamonds Are Forever (1971). But because of her passing, the character did not return.
  
  
• The German inscription on the wall of Piz Gloria briefly seen during the final battle means "Reconciliation of Nature and Technology".
  
  
• Timothy Dalton and Roger Moore were both offered the role of James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), but both turned it down. Dalton felt he was too young at the time, and Moore was still under his contract in the TV series "The Saint" (1962).
  
  
• "Orbis non sufficit", or The World Is Not Enough (1999) is both the motto of James Bond's family in this movie, and the title of a Bond film 30 years later. As an in-joke, both movies involve a rich family noted for not having earlobes.
  
  
• At the wedding, Draco and M are seen discussing an occasion where M's department cost Draco three men. M says, "Ah, yes, November 1964 - the bullion job." This may be a reference to the Fort Knox caper in Goldfinger (1964), implying Draco was once in league with Auric Goldfinger. But M could not be referring to Goldfinger's Fort Knox caper for two reasons: 1) he alluded to Draco getting away with a large portion of the job while nothing was stolen; and 2) it's cold in Kentucky by November yet except for Goldfinger, nobody is wearing a coat, and the leaves on the trees have yet to turn.
  
  
• George Lazenby was previously a car salesman with a part time job as a male model. He was also well-known in Britain as "The Big Fry man," after the chocolate bar commercials he starred in, carrying an outsize bar on his hunky shoulder.
  
  
• Blofeld's headquarters was a partially completed restaurant on top of Mount Schilthorn. The owners allowed filming on condition EON paid $125,000 to refit the interior and construct a helicopter pad. When the restaurant opened it was given the name Piz Gloria used in the film. The only public access to the restaurant is by cable car (from Mürren or Stechelberg). The Piz Gloria was the first established revolving mountain restaurant in the world.
  
  
• Director Peter R. Hunt had previously edited many 007 movies, the job of editor (and second unit directing) went to John Glen.
  
  
• Lyrics were originally intended for John Barry's main theme, but were later rejected in favor of Louis Armstrong's memorable rendition of "We Have All The Time In The World". This love theme composed by John Barry and written by Hal David was the last song ever recorded by Louis Armstrong. A re-mix of the song "We Have All The Time In The World" was a No. #3 hit in the UK twenty five years after the movie was originally released. The song has also been covered by Iggy Pop and it can be heard on the David Arnold Bond song compilation album, "Shaken and Stirred: the David Arnold James Bond Project". This album also features a cover of the film's OHMSS main title theme performed by The Propellerheads.
  
  
• As Bond passes a janitor in Draco's headquarters, the man can be heard whistling the Goldfinger (1964) theme.
  
  
• George Baker provides the voice of Bond when 007 is pretending to be Sir Hilary Bray.
  
  
• The film performed admirably, out-grossing its nearest competitor almost two to one at the U.S. box office where, according to Variety, it was the most popular film in the country for four solid weeks. It generated enough rentals at the box-office to claim ninth position on the box office chart for the year 1970. The persistent belief that it was a flop arises from its disappointing showing in comparison to the previous three Sean Connery Bond films, all of which made more than 100 million dollars worldwide, whereas this film grossed 87 million worldwide.
  
  
• Sean Connery was offered a then very large salary of $1 million to make this film but declined.
  
  
• As of 2009, George Lazenby is the youngest actor to portray 007 at age 29 during filming. The rest of the actors and their ages, in no particular order: Sean Connery - 31, Roger Moore - 45, Timothy Dalton - 40, Pierce Brosnan - 41 and Daniel Craig - 38.
  
  
• George Lazenby also bears the distinction of being the only 007 actor who was born and raised outside the United Kingdom. He's from Australia. (Pierce Brosnan was born in Ireland but moved to the UK when fairly young.)
  
  
• Director Cameo: [Peter R. Hunt] is seen, although obscurely, directly following the opening credits. In the bottom left hand corner of the Universal Exports brass plaque, he is seen reflected whilst walking past the building.
  
  
• Actors considered for the role of Bond included: Adam West, Bob Campbell, Anthony Rogers, Hans De Vries, Jeremy Brett, John Richardson, and Roy Thinnes.
  
  
• Gabriele Ferzetti's voice was dubbed by David de Keyser, who would later appear in the next Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
  
  
• A scene showing Bond murdering an enemy agent who is following him was shot, but left incomplete as George Lazenby was injured and Peter R. Hunt deemed the scene extraneous to the thrust of the plot.
  
  
• Features the only signature gun barrel sequence of all Bond films in which Bond drops down on one knee while shooting at the audience. It's also the only version of the sequence where the descending blood completely erases Bond's image, leaving only the red circle.
  
  
• Most of Brian Grellis's performance was removed from the final print.
  
  
• George A. Cooper is often wrongly credited with being in this film.
  
  
• The Playboy magazine that James Bond is seen "reading" while in the lawyer's office is the February 1969 issue featuring centerfold Lorrie Menconi (the cover of the magazine and the top part of her centerfold can be seen).
  
  
• The producers originally intended to explain the change of lead actors in the film by saying that Bond had undergone plastic surgery because his "old" face was now too well known by foreign spies and terrorists for him to go undercover, but they then decided not to refer at all to the change, and thus hopefully minimize the public attention being paid to George Lazenby replacing Sean Connery. However, after the opening action sequence, right before the titles, Bond states "This never happened to the other fellow," an intentionally comedic reference to the change in actors.
  
  
• Willy Bogner performed some spectacular skiing feats for the filming of chase sequences for this movie. These included skiing backwards downhill with a hand-held camera, sometimes placing it between his legs and being towed behind a bobsleigh along the bobsled course.
  
  
• Most close-ups of principal actors skiing were actually filmed back at Pinewood Studios as back-projection process shots. The principal actors were not allowed to ski in the movie due to insurance regulations.
  
  
• Cameraman John Jordan developed a special helicopter harness for filming aerial shots of the mountain slopes and the film's action sequences. He would hang eighteen feet below the chopper from a large round metal support apparatus.
  
  
• Many Olympic ski competitors as well as other ski experts contributed as body doubles, extras and supporting roles for performing the necessary skiing sequences in the movie. The principal actors were not allowed to ski in the movie due to insurance regulations.
  
  
• The literal translations of some of this film's foreign language titles include On Her Majesty's Service (Sweden & Israel); The Queen's 007 (Japan); On The Secret Service of Her Majesty (Belgium, Canada, France and West Germany); To Serve Her Majesty (Italy); 007 On Her Majesty's Service (Brazil & Portugal); 007 On Her Queen's Service (Spain); To Her Majesty's Secret Service (Denmark) and 007 Seized The Snow Mountain Castle (China & Norway)
  
  
• James Bond tells Draco, regarding Tracy, "Her price is far above rubies or even your million pounds," The first six words are from the Bible's Proverbs 31:10, which describes a worthy woman.
  
  
• Former ITN newsreader Carol Barnes filmed scenes with the Angels of Death after showing up to the set with her friend Jenny Hanley. She can be briefly seen serving drinks at the first meal Bond attends.
  
  
• Last full length feature film of Brian Worth.
  
  
• Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins for this movie include the Aston Martin 1969 DBS; Hennessy Brandy; Playboy Magazine; Campari; the Ford Motor Company, particularly the 1969 Ford Mercury Cougar Convertible; Jack Daniel's Whiskey; Schilthorn Piz Gloria Revolving Restaurant; Krug Champagne; Dom Perignon Champagne, particularly a Dom Perignon '57; and Rolex Watches including the Rolex Submariner 5513 and Rolex Chronograph 6238 watches.
  
  
• 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 No. 1 of the Secret Service (1977); Agent of the Secret Service (Agent sekretnoy sluzhby (1978)); "The X's: On Her Majesty's Postal Service/Pinheads (#1.7)" (2006); and "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!: 9001: A Mario Odyssey/On Her Majesty's Sewer Service (#1.27)" (1989) whilst a working title for Never Say Never Again (1983) was "James Bond of the Secret Service'. A 1982 James Bond novel by John Gardner (VIII)' was entitled "For Special Services".
  
  
• Cameo: [George Leech] The stuntman as a strangled SPECTRE skier.
  
  
• Cameo: [Richard Graydon] The stuntman as Draco's driver
  
  
• The Royal World Premiere of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) was held on Thursday 18 December 1969 at the Odeon Theatre, Leicester Square, London in the presence of the Duke of Kent and the Duchess of Kent. George Lazenby attended the event sporting a beard.
  
  
• The first line of the Ian Fleming "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" James Bond novel read: "It was one of those Septembers when it seemed that the summer would never end."
  
  
• The last line of the Ian Fleming "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" James Bond novel read: "The young patrolman took a last sacred look at the motionless couple, hurried over to his motor cycle, picked up the hand-microphone, and began talking urgently to the rescue headquarters".
  
  
• The film's CD Soundtrack sleeve notes state that the soundtrack album debuted in the US Charts on 7 February 1970 where it peaked at the No. #103 spot.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• First film since Dr. No (1962) to put the production credit over the sniper scope intro.
  
  
• First film since From Russia with Love (1963) to use an instrumental opening theme. As of 2009, no other film in the series since has done so.
  
  
• The poetry that Tracy quotes to Blofeld ('Thy dawn, O Master of the World, thy dawn ... ') is derived from a speech in James Elroy Flecker's play, 'The Story of Hassan of Bagdad and How He Came to Make the Golden Journey to Samarkand'.
  
  

• SPOILER: The only James Bond movie where both the main villain (Ernst Stavro Blofeld) and sidekick (henchwoman Irma Bunt) survive and are neither captured, nor arrested, nor killed.
  
  
• SPOILER: In the original take of the final scene featuring Tracy's death, George Lazenby came to tears. Director Peter R. Hunt then made them shoot the scene again because he said that, "Bond does not cry." There were only two takes shot.
  
  

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