Filming of “Goldfinger” at Fontainebleau Hotel / Pinewood Studios

Filming of “Goldfinger” at Fontainebleau Hotel / Pinewood Studios

March 31, 2020 0 By 007 Travelers

Goldfinger” was filmed in 1964 and after the opening credits, we see 007 (Sean Connery) relaxing at luxurious Hotel Fontainebleau Miami Beach.

Actors Connery and Gert Fröbe (Auric Goldfinger) never visited Fontainebleau during filming due to the fact that Connery was busy making a film “Marnie” (1964), which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Director Guy Hamilton has said that other than Cec Linder, who played Felix Leiter, none of the main actors in the Miami sequence were actually there. Connery, Gert Fröbe, Shirley Eaton (Jill Masterson), Margaret Nolan, who played Dink, and Austin Willis, who played Goldfinger’s card victim, all filmed their parts on a soundstage at Pinewood Studios when filming moved there.

Only director Hamilton, producer Albert R. Broccoli, production designer Ken Adam, and cinematographer Ted Moore were on location.

When Bond sees Mr. Goldfinger for the first time on screen, it is filmed on location, but it is not Gert Fröbe we see, but his stunt double Michael Busson.

Michael Busson as Auric Goldfinger in “Goldfinger” (1964)
Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq, LLC

And one frame later there is a close up of Gert Fröbe, and that’s been shot at Pinewood Studios, take a look at the couple behind Goldfinger. They have totally different clothing in these shots. But since the film was made in 1964, there wasn’t any videos or DVDs or BluRays, where you can watch frame by frame each shot. When watching the film this all happens so fast, that you can’t notice the difference.

Gert Fröbe as Auric Goldfinger in “Goldfinger” (1964)
Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq, LLC

007 Travelers visited the beautiful Hotel Fontainebleau Miami Beach in 2019. Take a look at our introduction here

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