MI6 Team: Bill Tanner
December 6, 2014Bill Tanner is MI6’s Chief of Staff. Tanner is a Bond ally appearing regularly in the novels of Ian Fleming and John Gardner, as well as in Kingsley Amis‘ “Colonel Sun” (1967), but he has never been a regular cinematic character. His biggest cinematic role was in “For Your Eyes Only” (1981), in which Tanner was given a bigger role while M was “on leave,” due to Bernard Lee‘s death that prevented him from reprising his role as M in the film.
In 1965, Amis wrote the authorised spin-off “The Book of Bond, or Every Man His Own 007″, a tongue-in-cheek guide to being a spy. The book is not credited to Amis, but rather to Lt. Col. William “Bill” Tanner. Actors who have played Bill Tanner in Bond films are: Michael Goodliffe, James Villiers, Michael Kitchen and Rory Kinnear.
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Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq LLC |
Actor:
Michael Goodliffe (1974) (uncredited)
007 Film:
- The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
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Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq LLC |
Actor:
James Villiers (1981)
007 Film:
- For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Actor:
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Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq LLC |
Michael Kitchen (1995, 1999)
007 Films:
- GoldenEye (1995)
- The World Is Not Enough (1999)
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Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq LLC |
Actor:
Rory Kinnear (2008–present)
007 Films:
- Quantum of Solace (2008)
- Skyfall (2012)
- SPECTRE (2015)
- No Time to Die (2021)
See the whole MI6 TEAM here