John Bernard Lee (10 January 1908 – 16 January 1981), better known as Bernard Lee, was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven James Bond films. Lee's career spanned 1934 to 1979, beginning on stage at the age of six. He was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Although best remembered for the Bond series, he appeared in over one hundred films, as well as on stage and television dramatisations. Lee was known for his roles as authority figures, often playing military characters or policemen and highlights in his career included The Third Man, The Blue Lamp, The Battle of the River Plate and Whistle Down the Wind.
He died on 16 January 1981, at age 73 after suffering from stomach cancer.
Read more about Bernard Lee: Life and Career, Death, Selected Stage Credits
Famous quotes containing the words bernard and/or lee:
“The great danger of conversion in all ages has been that when the religion of the high mind is offered to the lower mind, the lower mind, feeling its fascination without understanding it, and being incapable of rising to it, drags it down to its level by degrading it.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.... Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
—Harper Lee (b. 1926)