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Cinematic Tag


"My dear Colonel Bouvar. I don't think you should've opened that car door by yourself."
James Bond to Jacques Bouvar.[src]

Colonel Jacques Bouvar was a fictional French assassin and board member of the secretive criminal organisation, SPECTRE. An antagonist portrayed by the late British stuntman and actor, Bob Simmons, with Rose Alba standing in for the female scenes, he was featured during the pre-credits sequence of the 1965 James Bond film, Thunderball.

Biography[]

James Bond and his French liason were present at the funeral of SPECTRE number 6, Colonel Jacques Bouvar, investigating his apparent death. Mlle. La Porte explained that the colonel passed away in his sleep. Bond lamented that he did not have the opportunity to kill the SPECTRE operative personally, stating that he had murdered two of his colleagues. As the pair stood on the balcony outside the chapel, Bond observed Bouvar's widow behaving suspiciously: a well-bred, upper-class woman such as her would never have opened the passenger door of a chauffeur-driven car — she would have waited for it to be opened for her.

Colonel Bouvar had, in fact, faked his death and disguised himself as his own widow. Bond surprised him at his French château, where a fight ensued and ended with Bond breaking Bouvar's neck with a fire poker.

His death was later reported by leader Ernst Blofeld during a meeting of the board of SPECTRE, which included an empty chair in the same row of chairs where Emilio Largo was seated.

Henchman[]

Behind the Scenes[]

  • Originally, Bouvar was to be strangled to death with his own bra rather than the poker that was eventually used. The idea was eventually reused in the pre-title sequence of Diamonds Are Forever, where Bond strangles Marie to obtain information on Ernst Stavro Blofeld's whereabouts.
  • Another change that occurred during production was the location of Bond's showdown with Bouvar. Originally it was to have been set in an oriental strip club/gambling den in Hong Kong with Bouvar disguised as a cabaret artiste dressed in a peacock costume.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • During the bogus funeral, the French liaison remarks that Bouvar and Bond both share the same initials. This would be the second such reference to Bond's apparent death at the beginning of a movie; a trend which started with From Russia with Love.
  • There is some discrepancy surrounding the character's name. Though pronounced onscreen as "Boo-Va", in the credits, his "widow" is listed as Madame Boitier (which would be pronounced "Bwa-tee-ay").

See also[]

References[]

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