Robert Brown (British actor)

Robert James Brown (23 July 1921 – 11 November 2003) was a British actor, best known for his portrayal of M in the James Bond films, succeeding Bernard Lee, who died in 1981.

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• Filmography
• References

Brown made his first appearance as M in Octopussy in 1983.

Brown was born and died in Swanage, Dorset. Before appearing in the Bond films, he had a long career as a bit-part actor in films and television. He had a starring role in the 1950s television series Ivanhoe where he played Gurth, the faithful companion of Ivanhoe, played by Roger Moore. He had previously made an uncredited appearance as a castle guard in the unrelated 1952 film Ivanhoe. He had an uncredited appearance as the galley-master in Ben-Hur (1959) and as factory worker Bert Harker in the BBC's 1960s soap opera The Newcomers. In One Million Years B.C. (1966), he played grunting caveman Akhoba, brutal head of the barbaric "Rock tribe".

Brown first started in the James Bond franchise in the film The Spy Who Loved Me as Admiral Hargreaves, appearing alongside Lee. After Lee's sudden death in 1981, the producers, instead of hiring a replacement, decided to leave M out of For Your Eyes Only out of respect for the actor and trade his lines with M's Chief of Staff Bill Tanner. In 1983, they cast Brown to portray M on the recommendation of Bond actor Roger Moore, his Ivanhoe co-star and the father of Brown's goddaughter Deborah. It is not clear as to whether he was the same character as Lee's M or a different M, perhaps a promoted Hargreaves.