James Bond’s gadget maker also makes virtual reality glasses

Ralph Osterhout got his start helping make props in Bond films. These days he is bringing science fiction to life.

Photo © Recode

It’s a long way from making props for James Bond movies to developing state-of-the art virtual reality goggles. Then again, Ralph Osterhout has had more than three decades to get from Point A to Point VR.

Along the way, he has made diving gear, small submarines and night-vision glasses for the military. He even made a ceramic weapon that President Nixon’s secret service could use on his trip to China, where guns weren’t allowed.

“Crazy stuff like that,” Osterhout said as he recalled his earliest days, getting to know the stand-ins on the set of “The Spy Who Loved Me”(1977). Making working props for Bond films in the 1970s helped launch Osterhout’s career making the impossible gadgets of science fiction into reality.