MI6 Team: Bill Tanner

MI6 Team: Bill Tanner

December 6, 2014 0 By 007 Travelers

Bill 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.

Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq LLC

Actor:
Michael Goodliffe (1974) (uncredited)

007 Film:

Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq LLC

Actor:
James Villiers (1981)

007 Film:

Actor:

Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq LLC

Michael Kitchen (1995, 1999)

007 Films:

Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq LLC

Actor:
Rory Kinnear (2008–present)

007 Films:

See the whole MI6 TEAM here