Monday, July 11, 2011

Deaver's model for James Bond

Jeffery Deaver tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that, just like Ian Fleming, songwriter Hoagy Carmichael was his visual model for James Bond in his novel, Carte Blanche.

"I printed out a picture from Wikipedia and put it up near my computer," Deaver says. "He's looking at the camera and not smiling, but he's a handsome man. Dark hair in a kind of Brylcreem style from the '20s and '30s. He has rather piercing eyes and looks kind of mysterious. Pictures can lie, and I know nothing about his personality, but that was the image I used."

Deaver isn't the first to find inspiration from Fleming's visual model for 007. Mike Grell's 1989 graphic novel, Permission To Die, drew Bond as Carmichael (pic here). Also, when Daniel Craig was rumored to be in the running as James Bond, IGN commented on his similarity to Carmichael which I covered in an article on CBn. This comparison was later picked up by the press and, I believe, even mentioned by Craig himself.

Read Deaver reconstructs the history of iconic British superspy 007 at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

3 comments:

  1. I'm beginning to think that Hoagy was secretly James Bond and that his singing career was simply a cover.

    Too bad the Official Secrets Act won't prove or disprove me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Hoagy Carmichael model for James Bond in Carte Blanche has actually been discussed for some time now. I suspect it's been a part of Jeffery Deaver's commentary notes as he's done his promotional tour to promote the book.

    If memory serves, he referenced this in his North Carolina presentation at McIntyre's Books on June 29. That was also the date that I met with him privately and photographed him with a number of Bond-related watches; I specifically remember that he'd mentioned Hoagy Carmichael as we discussed his Bond wearing a 34mm Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date in 2011, and Ian Fleming's Bond wearing a 36mm Rolex Explorer in 1963 (1962).

    Also take a look back at your own entries here on The Book Bond.

    On June 19, you wrote a post titled, "Jeffery Deaver begins US Carte Blanche book tour. All photos from that date to the Simon & Schuster VIP launch party in New York City, held June 14. The bottom photo, which you have captioned, "Jeffery Deaver's editor presenting him with a gift from Simon & Schuster at the Carte Blanche launch party in New York" is a collection of images selected to highlight Mr Deaver's James Bond intersections.

    Upper left is a photo of Jeffery Deaver (mostly obscured). Upper right is Ian Fleming, at Goldeneye, behind the desk where he typed his own first draft 007 manuscripts. Lower right is the Simon & Schuster cover for the US edition of Carte Blanche. Lower left (which is completely obscured by none other than my own arm and coat) is a photo of Hoagy Carmichael.

    A somewhat longer discussion of the photo that Jeffery Deaver had used, printed and taped the wall for view as he wrote, took place in connection with that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A photo of Carmichael is in that launch party gift? I didn't know that. This was the first mention that I've heard, but I guess it's been out there the whole time. Thanks, Dell.

    ReplyDelete

Legal Disclosure

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Translate