Bernard Lee Movies and Career Information

John Bernard "Bernard" Lee (10 January 1908 – 16 January 1981) was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven James Bond films. Born in Brentford, London, he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. During the 1930s he acted mostly on stage, but after World War II developed a successful film career, including The Third Man (1949), The Blue Lamp (1950), Beat the Devil (1953), The Battle of the River Plate (1956), The Spanish Gardener (1956), Dunkirk (1958), Web of Evidence (1959), Whistle Down the Wind (1961) and The L-Shaped Room (1962). Lee also starred in the 1976 television film Beauty and the Beast with George C. Scott. A year later he starred in the television show A Christmas Carol as the Ghost of Christmas Present. He is the grandfather of British actor Jonny Lee Miller. In January 1981, Lee died in London after a battle with stomach cancer, an illness which ruled him out of the filming of For Your Eyes Only after he had been cast to appear in the film; he died while it was still being filmed. Out of respect, no new actor was hired to assume the role of M. In the film, M's lines were transferred to the Minister of Defence and Bill Tanner, M's Chief