Trivia For Live and Let Die 1973

* Sean Connery turned down the then astronomical sum of $5.5 million to play James Bond.

* Tenth James Bond movie and the eighth in the EON Productions official film series. First James Bond film to star Roger Moore as James Bond.

* "Live And Let Die" was the second James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming. It was first published in 1954. Its working title was "The Undertaker's Wind" which also provided the name of the seventeenth chapter. Story elements from the novel have also been used for the James Bond films For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Licence to Kill (1989).

* The producers made a conscious decision to make Roger Moore's Bond significantly different from Sean Connery's. For example, Bond never orders a vodka martini but drinks bourbon whiskey instead; the mission briefing occurs in his flat not the office (only the second time Bond's apartment is featured in the films after an appearance in Dr. No (1962)); Bond does not wear a hat; and he smokes cigars instead of cigarettes. In time, as Moore grew into the role, a lot of these differences were relaxed.

* The High Priestess Tarot card was deliberately designed to resemble Jane Seymour.

* The first Bond film to be set in a fictional country. The next one to do this would be Licence to Kill (1989) in 1989.

* The first Bond film which does not feature Q. The character did appear in Dr. No (1962) but under his real name of Major Boothroyd (he wasn't played by Desmond Llewelyn in that film either).

* Among the actors to test for the part of Bond were Julian Glover, John Gavin and Jeremy Brett. Frontrunner was Michael Billington. Although he lost the part to Roger Moore, Billington remained on the top of the list in the event that Moore would decline to come back for the next film. Billington ultimately played a brief villainous role in the pre-credit sequence of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).

* The first Bond film in which 007 has a liaison with an African American woman, Rosie Carver, played by Gloria Hendry. This meant that when the film was released in South Africa, all Hendry's love scenes were removed because of the apartheid policies of the South African government.

* The first of two films to feature Louisiana Sheriff J.W. Pepper, played by Clifton James. He returned in the following Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).

* The first of two film appearances in the Bond series for David Hedison, playing Felix Leiter. Hedison reprised the role in Licence to Kill (1989), becoming the only actor to have played the character more than once.

* The first Bond film to feature adult language. The old woman whose flying lesson is hijacked by Bond clearly utters the word "shit" (although this was dubbed out by US networks for showings on television). Sheriff Pepper also begins to say the word "fuck" but is cut off when Bond jumps over him in a speedboat.

* Bond's speedboat jump made it into the Guinness Book of World Records, a record that stood for three years. Clifton James' spontaneous character acting in that scene was kept in the final print.

* One of the actors to be considered for the part of Bond at an early stage was Burt Reynolds. This idea was quickly scotched when it was decided that he was too short and he was not British.

* The film encountered numerous problems and accidents during production, enough to make some of the crew and stuntmen believe that the film was cursed. The voodoo plotline was attributed to this nervousness.

* Geoffrey Holder choreographed his own dance sequences.

* ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine accused Paul McCartney of selling out to the establishment when it was announced that he would be providing the theme song to the next Bond film. As it transpired, McCartney became the first artist to be nominated for an Academy Award for a Bond theme.

* Sean Connery gave Roger Moore his personal seal of approval for inheriting his role, calling him "an ideal Bond".

* This marks only the second time in the film series that the pre-titles sequence does not feature James Bond (with 1963's From Russia with Love (1963) being the first, as it featured an agent impersonating Bond).

* The first time in the Bond franchise that a rock song was used as the theme.

* Geoffrey Holder hated working snakes. As he was playing Baron Samedi, he was called upon to handle lots of them. He was particularly against having to play the scene where his character falls into a coffin full of them. However, he was obligated to perform the scene without raising too much of a complaint because Princess Alexandra was visiting the set the day the scene was being filmed, and he didn't want to lose face in front of royalty.

* Paul McCartney paid for the orchestra featured in the title song from his own pocket.

* When 007 is held captive in a chair by Tee Hee, Roger Moore's quip "Butterhook" was improvised.

* Roger Moore was actively discouraged from raising his eyebrow as that was a trademark of his previous successful character, Simon Templar of "The Saint" (1962) fame.

* The boat chase through the bayous was originally written in the script as just "Scene 156 - The most terrific boat chase you've ever seen".

* Clifton James wore a padded stomach to make him more rotund.

* Early in the production, Roger Moore was hospitalized with kidney stones.

* Ross Kananga (credited as "stunt coordinator") was the owner of the crocodile farm in which Bond escapes some hungry reptiles. Kananga did this stunt by himself wearing Roger Moore's clothes and shoes made of crocodile skin. The crocodile shoes was a fun idea of Roger Moore. It took five attempts to complete the stunt. During the fourth attempt, one of the crocodiles snapped at one of the shoes as it went by. The producers (while scouting locations) first took notice of Ross Kananga's farm from the sign out front which read: "WARNING; TRESSPASSERS WILL BE EATEN". This sign can be seen in the finished film. They liked Ross Kananga so much that the movie's villain, Dr. Kananga, was named after him.

* The tarot cards seen on the movie's main poster were "the Devil", "Death", "the Lovers" and "Fortune". There is actually a fifth card on the poster but James Bond's torso blocks any possible name of the card. There is also actually no tarot card called "Fortune" in the set of cards used for the film. This title of the "Fortune" card is the product of a bit of artistic license. The title is basically an abridgment of the actual "Wheel of Fortune" tarot card.

* "The James Bond 007 Tarot Book" was released to coincide with the movie. It included most of the tarot cards seen in the film, these being the Major Arcana Cards. The tagline on the book's dust-jacket read: "The only complete and authentic illustrated guide to the spreading and interpretation of the popular James Bond 007 tarot fortune-telling deck with card designs based upon Fergus Hall's unique paintings."

* The tarot cards say 007 on the back. Ironically, this reverse which has the 007 numbering on a red background cannot be seen in the "James Bond 007 Tarot Book". The tarot card "The High Priestess" was intended to be the likeness of Jane Seymour who played Solitaire.

* The Tarot cards used by Solitaire are the "Tarot of the Witches" deck and was created specifically for this movie by Fergus Hall.

* The main title song "Live and Let Die" by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney has been covered twice by other artists. The first was by Guns N' Roses and can be heard on their 1991 "Use Your Illusion I" album. The second was by Chrissie Hynde of the The Pretenders, the group who sang two songs for the The Living Daylights (1987) James Bond movie. This version of the "Live and Let Die" song can be heard only on the David Arnold's Bond song compilation album, "Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project".

* The name of Q Branch is named in the movie as the Special Ordinance Branch. It is the only Bond film that does not feature Q as played by Desmond Llewelyn during his tenure as Q between From Russia with Love (1963) and The World Is Not Enough (1999). Fans demanded his return in the next film, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).

* James Bond's gadget watch's ability to attract metal objects was due to a hyper-intensified magnetic field.

* The name of the address of the Fillet of Soul Restaurant was Dacca Street.

* First of two times to date that James Bond has been seen hang-gliding in the EON Productions official James Bond series. Very popular as a new sport in the 1970s, Roger Moore is the only actor to ever play James Bond and be seen hang-gliding. The second time was in Moonraker (1979).

* After this movie, the Felix Leiter character would not appear again in the EON Productions official series until The Living Daylights (1987), a gap of fourteen years.

* CIA Agent Rosie Carver's weapon was a Custom .38 Smith & Wesson gun with corrugated 3 inch stock and no serial number.

* Jamaica was used as the filming location for the fictitious country of San Monique. It was not called Jamaica as that country had already been used as a setting for Dr. No (1962). Jamaica is also a setting in the Ian Fleming James Bond novel "The Man With the Golden Gun" and the short stories "For Your Eyes Only" and "Octopussy".

* Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins for this movie include Pan American World Airways; Rolex Watches, particularly the Rolex Submariner 5513 watch; Bell Helicopters; Cadillac; Panasonic; Bollinger Champagne, beginning its relationship with the series; Pulsar Watches, particularly the Pulsar LED watch; General Motors Corporation (GMC) and its Chevrolet Motor Division; Jim Beam Bourbon; Arcana Cards / Agmueller and Cie / Games Systems; Budget Rent-A-Car; AMF Inc.; the Harley Davidson Motor Co. Ltd; the Glastron Boat Company whilst a video-game Live and Let Die (1988) (VG) was later published by Mindscape.

* Mr. Big / Dr. Kananga's main henchmen were Tee-Hee, Adam, Whisper and Baron Samedi.

* This is the only James Bond movie to ever have a supernatural theme.

* The Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney main title song charted in the USA on 7 July 1973 and peaked at the No. #2 spot where it stayed for three weeks. In the UK it debuted on 9 July 1973 and went to No. #9. The album charted in the USA on 28 July 1973 and topped at No. #17.

* Ian Fleming based the Bond Girl Solitaire's name on the Jamaican Solitaire bird. Her actual full name in the novel is Simone Latrelle but this is never mentioned in this movie.

* Timothy Dalton was one of the actors considered to be the new James Bond after the last Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever (1971), which was Sean Connery's last Eon Productions Bond movie, but Dalton considered himself too young for the part.

* In New Orleans Bond uses taxicab, which has a label 'bonded drivers' on its back.

* On the set, one of the crocodiles at the Crocodile Farm was called "Old Albert" - named after one of the producers, Albert R. Broccoli.

* Roger Moore had to undertake very quick crash course in bus driving so as to be able to drive a double-decker bus for the motorbike/bus chase sequence.

* The title song by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney was the first song from an EON Productions James Bond movie to be nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar). The first song to be nominated from any James Bond movie was for "The Look Of Love" by Burt Bacharach and Hal David from Casino Royale (1967)

* Around the time Roger Moore got the part of James Bond, his home telephone number ended in the digits OO7.

* The character of Quarrel, Jr. is a direct reference to the first Bond film, Dr. No (1962) which also featured a character named Quarrel. The original novel takes place before Dr. No (in which, as in the movie version, Quarrel is killed) and features the first appearance of the character.

* Vehicles included a green blue yellow white London AEC Regent III RT type double-decker bus pursued by two 1973 Chevrolet Novas police motorbikes; a Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopter; white Coronado; Mini Moke; Ford US sedans; yellow New York taxis; 1973 Chevrolet Impala convertible; Cessna 172 light aircraft; Quarrel Jnr's boat; Glastron GT-150 speedboat, Billy-Bobs Glastron-Carlson CV21 Jet Boat. A Glastron Carlson CV19 Jet Boat; 1973 Chevrolet Bel Air; 1972 Dunham converted Cadillac El Dorado coupe; white 1971 Cadillac Fleetwood Pimpmobile and a Les Dunham Coach Corvorado i.e. a Chevrolet Corvette with Cadillac Eldorado body panels / fiberglass molding.

* The registration number of the Dr. Kananga's poppy field helicopter was FH 3.

* United Artists wanted an American to play Bond: Burt Reynolds, Paul Newman and Robert Redford were all considered. Producer Albert R. Broccoli, however, insisted that the part should be played by a Briton and put forward Roger Moore.

* The Tarot card deck used by Solitaire features contemporary paintings by Fergus Hall, "Courtesy of the Portal Gallery Limited, London, England". A duplicate set was published in Switzerland by Agmueller and Cie, distributed worldwide by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. New York. The cards in the film had a red, patterned background featuring the "007" emblem, but the commercial set is blue instead (same pattern).

* Roger Moore should not have been available for the part since at the time he was committed to "The Persuaders!" (1971), but when the show flopped in the U.S. he was prematurely released from his contract. Moore was author Ian Fleming's original choice for Bond, but he was committed to "The Saint" (1962) when the earlier films were in production.

* All of Moore's contracts include an unlimited supply of hand-rolled Monte Cristo cigars (in one 007 movie the final bill comes to 3176.50 pounds).

* This is the first 007 score not to involve John Barry; former Beatles producer George Martin did the job instead.

* The power-boat jump over the causeway set the world record for distance: 110 feet. The second boat was not scripted to collide with the police car, but after this happened while shooting the stunt, the script was changed to accommodate it.

* In an attempt to shift the focus away from Bond's gadgetry, Q does not appear.

* Roger Moore becomes the first actor to perform the gun-barrel sequence without a hat.

* Roger Moore had been in the running to play Bond as early as 1962, but was considered too young looking, even though he was older than Sean Connery.

* We see Bond's apartment for the second and (to date) final time in the series. Among the fixtures is a machine for making coffee that is treated as a gadget. Today's audiences will easily recognize it as either an espresso or cappuccino machine, which were uncommon in 1973.

* Among other actors considered for the role of Bond: John Gavin, Simon Oates, John Ronane, Michael McStay and Michael Billington.

* Gayle Hunnicutt was signed to play Solitaire, but had to pull out when she became pregnant.

* Roger Moore and Jane Seymour caught dysentery while shooting in Jamaica.

* The character of Baron Samedi was rumored to make a return in a future Bond film, which explains his appearance on the front of the train at the end of the film.

* The first Bond film to be filmed 'flat' (i.e. with spherical lenses rather than using the Panavision anamorphic widescreen process) since Goldfinger (1964).

* The white "pimpmobile" is actually a Chevrolet Corvette fitted with the fiberglass molding of a Cadillac Eldorado - the vehicle was marketed as the "Corvorado" by Dunham Coach of Boonton, New Jersey. Other Dunham conversions featured in the film included a Cadillac Fleetwood and Eldorado (seen parked in front of the Fillet of Soul restaurant). Les Dunham stated that he kept possession of the Corvorado after the film was completed; it has been modified several times for appearances in other films and/or car shows. He claimed that the car was used in the film Super Fly (1972).

* Diana Ross was considered for the role of Solitaire.

* According to Paul McCartney, after the director heard the title song, complete with orchestra and all, he said "Yeah, that's good for a demo but when are you going to do the real record!"

* Madeline Smith, who played Miss Caruso said that additional awkwardness of a bedroom scene was created by Roger Moore's overprotective wife who was on the set during the filming.

* In order to establish the effect of Bond unzipping Miss Caruso's blue dress with his magnetic watch, a thin wire was attached to the zipper from the watch to create the effect.

* Roger Moore was 45 when he made his debut as 007, making him the oldest actor to do so. The youngest was George Lazenby who made his debut at age 29.

* The license plate of the car that picks up Bond in New York and his luggage ticket were the same, 545-BBB.

* Solitaire's supernatural power of second sight was called Obeah.

* The billboard sign during the boat chase read: "Louisiana - The Sportsman's Paradise Welcomes You".

* The license plate of the white "pimpmobile" was 347-NDG.

* The address on the registration of the white "pimpmobile" was 33 E. 65th St., New York, NY 10021.

* Bond's bungalow in San Monique was # 12.

* Bernard Lee was very ill during filming, causing the producers to consider replacing him as M with Kenneth More.

* Robert Dix is dubbed by Shane Rimmer.

* At one stage, the Bond girl character of Honey Rider from Dr. No (1962) was considered returning in this movie but this idea was withdrawn.

* In the original novel, there is a scene in which Felix Leiter is taken and tortured by sharks, and his body (still alive albeit badly injured) is taken and left with the note "he disagreed with something that ate him." This scene was not used in the film version, but was used in Licence to Kill (1989)

* The literal translations of some of this film's foreign language titles include: The Dead Slave / It Is Them To Die (Japan); Live And Leave To Die (France); Allow To Leave Alone To Die (Poland); To Live And Let Die (Norway) and With 007 You Live And Let It Die (Brazil).

* On his DVD audio-commentary, Roger Moore considers Live and Let Die (1973) to be his second best Bond picture after The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).

* Roger Moore's mother was a great fan of silent star Richard Dix. Moore was able to get Dix's son a small part in "Live and Let Die". He plays the agent who is murdered at his own New Orleans funeral in the pre-credits teaser.

* Special security was added for the shooting of the scenes in New York's Harlem District.

* This was the first ever James Bond movie that was seen by Daniel Craig, the sixth actor to play Bond in the official series.

* 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 Die and Let Live (2006); Live and Let Live (2008); Live and Let Ride (2000); whilst the working title for Spy Hard (1996) was "Live and Let Spy". TV episodes of various series have known to be called "Live and Let Go"; "Give and Let Give"; "Live and Let Live"; "Love and Let Love"; "Live and Let Kai!"; "Love and Let Die"; "Live and Let Diet"; "Lib and Let Lib"; "To Live and Let Diorama"; "Shiv and Let Die"; "Live and Let Breathe"; "Live and Let Spy"; "Live and Let Dynamo "; "Live and Let Dye" and "Live and Let Fly".

>>> WARNING: Here Be Spoilers <<<

Trivia items below here contain information that may give away important plot points. You may not want to read any further if you've not already seen this title.

* SPOILER: The first Bond film in which 007 commits a political assassination, Kananga being a head of state.

* SPOILER: First ever actor in a James Bond movie to be play two villain characters in the one film. Yaphet Kotto played the two villains, both Mr. Big and Dr. Kananga. They are technically one person but are two separate characters. Later in the series, Sean Bean would play both Janus and Agent 006 Alec Trevalyan in GoldenEye (1995). And in Die Another Day (2002), Toby Stephens and Will Yun Lee would play the two-in-one Gustave Graves and Colonel Moon respectively.

* SPOILER: The cities where three Mi6 agents were killed at the start of the movie were New York City, New Orleans and the capital of the fictitious country San Monique.