Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (1922 – 1994) was an American actor and singer. He had portrayed Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Savalas took over the role from Donald Pleasence, who had portrayed Blofeld in You Only Live Twice in 1967.
He would later be replaced by Charles Gray, who portrayed Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever in 1971.
Bond Involvement[]
When Peter R. Hunt was in pre-production for On Her Majesty's Secret Service, he had briefly considered bringing back Donald Pleasence for the role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld. However, it soon became apparent in the script that was written by Hunt and Richard Maibaum, that the Blofeld in their film needed to be a more physically imposing figure to go up against James Bond, which Pleasence would not be suitable for. Producer Albert R. Broccoli favored Savalas for the role and he took on the part.
While filming with the new Bond actor, George Lazenby, who had taken over from Sean Connery, Savalas took it upon himself to encourage Lazenby, who later said in an interview "The only thing I remember coming from Telly that did help me as - we rehearsed the scene, our first scene together, I forget where it was but it was up on that mountain, and apparently they had forewarned him that I was a novice actor and he turned around in front of me and said: 'He doesn't need any help. I've got to watch out, he will blow me off the screen.'. So that was in a way a compliment."
However, when the next movie Diamonds Are Forever went into production, the role of Blofeld was recast once again, with Charles Gray taking on the role from Savalas.
Although Savalas would never return to the role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, his likeness was partically used in the video game, 007 Legends, where the version of Blofeld resembled a combination of Savalas' physicality, combined with the facial scarring of Donald Pleasence, while Glenn Wrage provided the voice for the character. This game was released several years after Savalas and Pleasence's real life passings.
Trivia[]
- Savalas and his The Greatest Story Ever Told co-stars Donald Pleasence and Max von Sydow all later played Blofeld.
- Savalas was the first American actor by birth to play Blofeld, as well as the first one to play a Bond main antagonist. Joseph Wiseman, who played the eponymous villain in Dr. No, was a Canadian who then migrated with his family to the United States and gained American citizenship.
- Savalas was the first Oscar-nominated actor to appear in a James Bond film. 7 years prior to his starring role as Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. No other Oscar nominees had appeared in a James Bond film ever since after OHMSS, until 1981's For Your Eyes Only featured Chaim Topol (Best Actor Academy Award nominee for Fiddler on the Roof) as Bond's ally Milos Columbo.