JAMES BOND - OCTOPUSSY - TONY MEYER, Grischka

Description: JAMES BOND - OCTOPUSSY - TONY MEYER as Grischka - Autograph Card - Rittenhouse 2011. Anthony "Tony" Meyer (born 24 July 1947) is a retired English actor of the 1970s and 1980s. He is the twin of David Meyer who has often appeared alongside him in film. Career The Meyer twins are best known for appearing as henchmen in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy. They are circus performers with a talent for knife throwing. In the film the twins were known as Mischka and Grischka. Anthony played Grischka (credited as Twin Two). His career was at its peak in the 1980s. Filmography Play for Today (1972, TV) - McCallister The Duchess of Duke Street (1976, TV) - Mr. Ellis Hamlet (1976) - Hamlet/Laertes (Anthony Meyer) Secret Army (1977, TV) - Luftwaffe Policeman The Third Walker (1978) - Étienne Blanchard Venom (1981) - Martin The Draughtsman's Contract (1982) - The Poulencs Octopussy (1983) - Grischka (Anthony Meyer) State of Wonder (1984) - Jesus Snakes and Ladders (1989, TV) – Donald Octopussy (1983) is the thirteenth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond film series, and the sixth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's title is taken from a short story in Ian Fleming's 1966 short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights, although the film's plot is original. It does, however, include a scene inspired by the Fleming short story "The Property of a Lady" (included in 1967 and later editions of Octopussy and The Living Daylights), while the events of the short story "Octopussy" form a part of the title character's background and are recounted by her. Bond is assigned the task of following a general who is stealing jewels and relics from the Soviet government. This leads him to a wealthy Afghan prince, Kamal Khan, and his associate, Octopussy, and the discovery of a plot to force disarmament in Europe with the use of a nuclear weapon. Octopussy was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, and was released in the same year as the non-Eon Bond film Never Say Never Again. The film was written by George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Maibaum, and Michael G. Wilson, and was directed by John Glen. Plot While trying to escape from East to West Berlin, British agent 009 is fatally wounded and dies after reaching the residence of the British Ambassador, dressed as a circus clown and carrying a fake Fabergé egg. MI6 immediately suspects Soviet involvement and, after seeing the real egg appear at an auction in London, sends James Bond to investigate and find out the identity of the seller. At the auction, Bond is able to swap the real egg with the fake and engages in a bidding war with exiled Afghan prince Kamal Khan, forcing Khan to pay £500,000 for the fake egg. Bond follows Khan back to his palace in Rajasthan, India, where Bond defeats Khan in a game of backgammon. Bond escapes with his contact Vijay, foiling the attempts of Khan's bodyguard Gobinda to kill the pair. Bond is seduced by one of Khan's associates, Magda, and notices that she has a blue-ringed octopus tattoo. Bond permits Magda to steal the real Fabergé egg fitted with listening and tracking devices by Q, while Gobinda captures and takes Bond to Khan's palace. After Bond escapes from his room he listens in on the bug in the Fabergé egg and discovers that Khan is working with Orlov, a Soviet general, who is seeking to expand Soviet control into West-Central Europe. After escaping from Khan's palace, Bond infiltrates a floating palace in Udaipur, India, and there finds its owner, Octopussy, a wealthy business woman and smuggler, and an associate of Khan. She also leads the Octopus cult, of which Magda is a member. Octopussy has a personal connection with Bond: she is the daughter of the late Major Dexter-Smythe, whom Bond was assigned to arrest for treason. Bond allowed the Major to commit suicide rather than face trial, and Octopussy thanks him for offering her father an honorable alternative, whilst inviting Bond to stay on as her guest. Earlier in Khan's palace and later in Octopussy's palace, Bond finds out that Orlov has been supplying Khan with priceless Soviet treasures, replacing them with replicas while Khan has been smuggling the real versions into the West via Octopussy's circus troupe. Orlov is planning to meet Khan at Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) in East Germany, where the circus is scheduled to perform. Gobinda sends his comrades to kill Bond, but he and Octopussy gain the upper hand when the henchmen break into the palace. Bond learns from Q that Vijay has been killed by the goons. Travelling to East Germany, Bond infiltrates the circus and finds out that Orlov replaced the Soviet treasures with a nuclear warhead, primed to explode during the circus show at a US Air Force base in West Germany. The explosion would trigger Europe into seeking disarmament in the belief that the bomb was a US one that detonated by accident, leaving its borders open to a Soviet invasion. Bond takes Orlov's car, drives it along the train tracks and boards the moving circus train. Orlov gives chase, but is killed at the border by East German guards, after they mistake Orlov for a defector. Bond kills the twin knife-throwing assassins Mischka and Grischka to avenge the murder of 009, and, after falling from the train, commandeers a car to get to the airbase. Bond penetrates the base, and disguises himself as a clown to evade the West German police. He attempts to convince Octopussy that Khan has betrayed her by showing her one of the treasures found in Orlov's car, which she was to smuggle for him. Octopussy realizes that she has been tricked, and assists Bond in deactivating the warhead. Bond and Octopussy return separately to India. Bond arrives at Khan's palace just as Octopussy and her troops have launched an assault on the grounds. Octopussy attempts to kill Khan, but is captured by Gobinda. While Octopussy's team, led by Magda, overpower Khan's guards, Khan and Gobinda abandon the palace, taking Octopussy as a hostage. Bond pursues them as they attempt to escape in their plane, clinging to the fuselage and disabling the tailplanes. In a struggle with Bond, Gobinda takes a deadly plummet off the roof of the plane and Bond rescues Octopussy from Khan, the pair jumping onto a nearby cliff only seconds before the plane crashes into a mountain, killing Khan. While M and General Gogol discuss the transport of the jewelery, Bond recuperates with Octopussy aboard her private boat in India. Cast Roger Moore as James Bond, MI6 agent 007. Maud Adams as Octopussy: A jewel smuggler and wealthy businesswoman. Louis Jourdan as Kamal Khan: An exiled Afghan prince. Kristina Wayborn as Magda: trusted subordinate and henchman to Octopussy and Khan. Kabir Bedi as Gobinda: Khan's bodyguard. Steven Berkoff as General Orlov: A Soviet general who works with Khan to bomb a US airbase. David Meyer and Anthony Meyer as Mischka and Grischka: Orlov's knife-throwing henchmen who are performers in Octopussy's circus. Desmond Llewelyn as Q: MI6's gadget designer. Llewelyn was disappointed because he was unable to travel to India since his scenes were filmed at Pinewood Studios. Robert Brown as M: Head of the British Secret Service and Bond's superior. Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny: M's secretary. Michaela Clavell as Penelope Smallbone: Moneypenny's assistant. Walter Gotell as General Gogol: KGB leader working to stop Orlov. Vijay Amritraj as Vijay: Bond's MI6 ally in India. Geoffrey Keen as Fredrick Gray: The British Minister of Defence. Douglas Wilmer as Jim Fanning: Antiquities expert who accompanies Bond at the Faberge auction. Albert Moses as Sadruddin: Head of MI6 station in India, assigned to assist Bond. Paul Hardwick as Soviet Chairman: presides over meeting between Orlov and Gogol. Eva Reuber-Staier as Rublevitch: Gogol's secretary. Peter Porteous as Lankin: Orlov's underling who has created the fake Faberge eggs. Andy Bradford as 009: Undercover 00 agent who has infiltrated Octopussy's circus. Killed by Mischka and Grischka. Gary Russell plays one of the teenagers in the car that taunts Bond after refusing to give him a lift. Production The title 'Octopussy' comes from the Ian Fleming collection of short stories Octopussy and The Living Daylights. Hardly any of the plot of the short story "Octopussy" is used, however, with its events simply related by Bond as the family backstory for one of the main characters. The scene at Sotheby's is, though, drawn from the short story "The Property of a Lady" (included in 1967 and later editions of the collection), while Kamal Khan's reaction following the backgammon game is taken from Fleming's novel Moonraker. Due to a non-Eon Bond film, Never Say Never Again being released in 1983, Octopussy saw Roger Moore returning for the role, though he had shown interest in departing from James Bond after For Your Eyes Only. George MacDonald Fraser was hired to work on an early draft of the script and he proposed that the story be set in India. Following For Your Eyes Only, Roger Moore had expressed a desire to retire from the role of James Bond. His original contract had been for three films, which was fulfilled with The Spy Who Loved Me. Subsequent films were negotiated on a film-by-film basis. Given his reluctance to return for Octopussy, the producers engaged in a semi-public quest for the next Bond, with both Timothy Dalton and James Brolin being suggested. However, when the rival Never Say Never Again was announced, the producers re-contracted Moore in the belief that an established actor in the role would fare better against Sean Connery. Brolin's three screentests were publicly released for the first time as a special feature named James Brolin: The Man Who Would Be Bond in the Octopussy Ultimate Edition DVD. The producers were initially reluctant to feature Maud Adams again because her previous character was killed in The Man with the Golden Gun. Sybil Danning was announced in Prevue magazine in 1982 as being Octopussy, but was never actually cast. Faye Dunaway was deemed too expensive. Barbara Carrera said she turned down the role to take a part in the competing Bond film Never Say Never Again. In the book A Star is Found: Our Adventures Casting Some of Hollywood's Biggest Movies, casting director Jane Jenkins revealed that the Bond producers told her that they wanted a South Asian actress to play Octopussy, so she looked at the only two Indians in a then predominantly white Hollywood, Persis Khambatta and Susie Coelho. Afterwards, she auditioned white actresses, like Barbara Parkins, who she felt could pass for Indian. Finally, Albert R. Broccoli announced to her that they would cast Swedish-born Maud Adams, darken her hair, and change a few lines about how she was raised by an Indian family. A different plotline, with Adams' British father exposed as a traitor, was used instead. As for Adams, she asked to play Octopussy as a European woman and was granted this, but on the title character's name, she felt the producers "went too far". Octopussy is also the first film to feature Robert Brown as M, following the death of Bernard Lee in 1981. Desmond Llewelyn would get an expanded role as Q in this film. One of Bond's MI6 allies in India was played by Vijay Amritraj, a popular professional tennis player. His character not only shares the same first name with him, but he is also a tennis instructor. He uses a tennis racket as a weapon during the auto rickshaw chase, which is accompanied by the sound of a tennis ball being hit and scenes of onlookers turning their heads left and right as if they are watching a tennis match.

Price: 21.99 GBP

Location: Hexham

End Time: 2025-01-13T01:25:19.000Z

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