Martin Grace, Master Stunt Coordinator (1942-2010)

The sad news was announced this week that Martin Grace, stuntman, stunt coordinator and stunt double for Roger Moore, passed away in Spain on Wednesday 27th January. The veteran stuntman suffered complications from a cycling accident which occurred late last year.

Anybody fascinated by the history of stunt artists and the major role they have played in the evolution of the James Bond films will be very familiar with Martin’s work, which started with ‘You Only Live Twice’. He became Sir Roger Moore’s main stunt-double on ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ and was involved in every subsequent Roger Moore Bond film, becoming a very close friend to Sir Roger. In addition, he doubled for Roger on his non-Bond films, including ‘The Wild Geese’, ‘North Sea Hijack’, ‘Escape to Athena’, ‘The Sea Wolves’ and ‘The Naked Face’.

He was also a regular at Bond reunion events at Pinewood Studios and was very popular with Bond film crew members, the main stars, and also the fans equally. In an interview published recently, Martin discussed his long career at the top of his profession, and gave fascinating insights into what life was like working for master stunt arranger Bob Simmons and also ‘Bob’s trusted right-hand man’, stunt expert George Leech, together with other key veterans in the professional stunt field. Martin had first been spotted by Bob Simmons when he was in the (now famous) Cadburys milk tray adverts on British TV in the 1960s.

Martin also talked candidly about his serious accident on the Nene Valley Railway, near Peterborough, during second-unit filming for ‘Octopussy’, which utilised the railway in September and October, 1982. He ended up in Peterborough General Hospital for weeks, but was very popular with the nurses and other staff, and Martin and Roger Moore were a great double act when the star visited the hospital on his return from shooting in India.

Martin revealed that his own favourite action sequence was the pre-credits helicopter stunt work which took place on ‘For Your Eyes Only’ in 1981, at an old gasworks in East London. The daring Irishman was often perched 400 feet up in the air, hanging on to the side of the helicopter which had been ‘taken over’ by ‘Blofeld’, but it was all in a day’s work for the modest and charming stunt veteran. He will be sorely missed. RIP, Martin.

The recent interview is available at Roger-Moore.com

Octopussy’s Circus

The news about Martin Grace follows some other sad news about a participant in the filming of ‘Octopussy’. In the John Glen-directed film, Roger Moore relished the rare opportunity to dress up as a clown and run into the main arena of Octopussy’s circus, supposedly set at an American air base in West Germany. The sad news came a week ago that Hajee Ali Hassani, one of the greats of the British circus world, and a major figure in the training of circus acrobats, has died, aged 82.

Ali Hassani appeared, along with his family, in ‘Octopussy’, meeting Sir Roger and also befriending the then 22 year old Barbara Broccoli in the process, who was an Executive Assistant on the film. In a statement given to a local newspaper in Surrey, Barbara Broccoli said: ‘Ali Hassani was a real showman filled with vitality and passion for his profession. He and his wife were devoted to each other and I have fond memories of working with them on Octopussy’.