Bob Simmons

Born: 1922-03-31

Bob Simmons (Fulham, London, England, 31 March 1923 – 21 October 1987) was an English actor and stunt man who worked in many British-made films, most notably the James Bond series. Simmons was a former Army Physical Training Instructor at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst who had initially planned to be an actor but thought a career in performing stunts would be more lucrative and interesting. Simmons first worked for Albert R. Broccoli and Irving Allen's Warwick Films on the film The Red Beret, which included future Bond film regulars director Terence Young, screenwriter Richard Maibaum and cameraman, later director of photography Ted Moore. Simmons later worked in many other Warwick Films and worked for Allen in his The Long Ships and Genghis Khan, where he had his eye injured when kicked by a horse. When Albert R. Broccoli began to produce the James Bond films, Simmons tested as an actor for the Bond role, but until his death in 1987, he became the stunt coordinator for every Bond film except From Russia with Love, which he joined later in the production, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and The Man with the Golden Gun. He appeared in the gun barrel sequence for Sean Connery in three James Bond films: Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and Goldfinger. Simmons is the only person to officially perform the scene, while not starring in the main role of James Bond. Simmons was also Connery's stunt double. Simmons also had a role as SPECTRE agent Jacques Bouvar in the pre-title sequence of the fourth film, Thunderball. Simmons developed a stunt technique involving trampolines, first used in You Only Live Twice, whereby stuntmen would bounce off a trampoline in concert with a triggered explosion so as to simulate being blown into the air. This was used in many other films, including by Simmons again in The Wild Geese, where Simmons also doubled for Richard Burton. Upon retirement, Simmons wrote an autobiography entitled Nobody Does It Better titled after the theme song for the 1977 Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. He died on 21 October 1987.


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Thunderball

as Colonel Jacques Bouvar - SPECTRE #6 (uncredited)
Released: 1965-12-11

A criminal organization has obtained two nuclear bombs and are asking for a 100 million pound...

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Thunderball

as Jacques Bouvar - SPECTRE #6 (uncredited)
Released: 1965-12-11

A criminal organization has obtained two nuclear bombs and are asking for a 100 million pound...

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as James Bond in Gunbarrel Sequence (uncredited)
Released: 1964-09-20

Special agent 007 comes face to face with one of the most notorious villains of all time, and...

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as James Bond in Gunbarrel Sequence (uncredited)
Released: 1963-10-10

Agent 007 is back in the second installment of the James Bond series, this time battling a...

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as KGB Thug #2 (uncredited)
Released: 1977-07-07

Russian and British submarines with nuclear missiles on board both vanish from sight without a...

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The Guns of Navarone

as German Soldier on Navarone (uncredited)
Released: 1961-04-27

A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable...

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as Stoker (uncredited)
Released: 1958-07-03

The sinking of the Titanic is presented in a highly realistic fashion in this tense British...

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Murphy's War

as German Submarine Crewman (uncredited)
Released: 1971-01-27

Murphy is the sole survivor of his crew, that has been massacred by a German U-Boat in the...

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The Road to Hong Kong

as Astronaut (uncredited)
Released: 1962-03-29

When Chester accidentally memorises and destroys the only copy of a secret Russian formula for a...

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Tank Force!

as Mustapha
Released: 1958-04-22

During World War II, members of a British tank unit in northern Africa are captured and held...

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The Sword and the Rose

as French Champion
Released: 1953-07-23

Tells the story of Mary Tudor and her troubled path to true love. Henry VIII, for political...

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James Bond in India

as uncredited
Released: 1983-01-25

The making of the James Bond movie Octopussy (1983) in Udaipur, India during 1982.

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Montana Trap

as uncredited
Released: 1976-05-05

Potato Fritz (Hardy Kruger) and his friends have moved from Germany to the American Wild West,...

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The Flanagan Boy

as Booth Man
Released: 1953-04-10

Johnny Flanagan did not have the privileges of a good education or wealthy background but the...

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The Great Van Robbery

as Peters
Released: 1959-01-16

Interpol detective Caesar Smith tracks robbers of the Royal Mint van. He travels to Rio de...

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