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In Remembrance: Lois Maxwell
Maxwell appeared as Miss Moneypenny, secretary to James Bond’s Secret Service boss “M” in the very first Bond film Dr. No (1962) opposite Sean Connery. Their chemistry helped set the tone of Bond as a “ladies man,” even though the two characters were to forever remain chaste friends. Maxwell stayed with the series through Connery’s reign as the super spy, as well as George Lazenby’s one outing in the role and Roger Moore’s tenure in the part. Ultimately, Maxwell would appear in 14 Bond films, a record only bested by Desmond Llewelyn, who appeared in 19 Bond films as MI6 gadget inventor Q.
When Moore left the series after 1985’s A View To A Kill, series producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli called her to state that they would be recasting her role as well. It was a move she understood, realizing that how it would look for an older woman to be flirting with the new Bond, a much younger Timothy Dalton. She countered with the suggestion of herself taking the part of M. Although Broccoli dismissed the idea, saying that he felt audiences wouldn’t accept a female head of the British Secret Service, Maxwell was vindicated ten years later when Dame Judy Dench was cast in the role for 1995’s GoldenEye.
Born Lois Hooker on February 14, 1927 in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, Maxwell got her start in radio, appearing on a Canadian children’s radio series unbeknownst to her parents and under the name “Robin Wells.” By the age of 15 she was a member of the Canadian Army’s Entertainment Corps and journeyed to England with them. When her real age was discovered in 1944, she enrolled at the Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts to avoid deportation back to Canada. There she met and became friends with future Bond co-star Roger Moore.
By 1946, Maxwell had found her way to Hollywood, where she made her film debut in a small, uncredited role in the film A Matter Of Life And Death. A year later with only one other film role to her credit, she would appear in the Shirley Temple film That Hagen Girl and win herself a Golden Globe award for “Best Newcomer.” She stayed in Hollywood for another two years, but quality roles were lacking so she made her way to try her luck in Italian cinema in 1949.
Returning to England in the mid-1950s, Maxwell appeared in numerous films, culminating in a supporting role in Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 Lolita. This was also the year that she began her work in the James Bond franchise.
In addition to the Bond films, Maxwell appeared in two spy spoofs – 1967’s OK Connery, where she appeared with several other Bond series stars and Sean Connery’s brother Neil Connery and 1975’s From Hong Kong With Love – as well as numerous supporting roles in such films as Come Fly With Me (1963), Endless Night (1971) and Age Of Innocence (1977). Her final film was 2001’s The Fourth Angel. |
Lois Maxwell, the British actress who played Miss Moneypenny, the
secretary to cinematic spy James Bond’s boss but who only had eyes
for the dashing secret agent, has passed away on September 29, 2007
in Fremantle, Australia. She was 80.