Bob Simmons

Bob Simmons Fulham London England 31 March 1923 21 October 1987 was an English actor and stunt man who worked in many Britishmade films most notably the James Bond series Simmons was a former Army Physical Training Instructor at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst who had initially planned to be an actor but thought a career in performing stunts would be more lucrative and interesting Simmons first worked for Albert R Broccoli and Irving Allens Warwick Films on the film The Red Beret which included future Bond film regulars director Terence Young screenwriter Richard Maibaum and cameraman later director of photography Ted Moore Simmons later worked in many other Warwick Films and worked for Allen in his The Long Ships and Genghis Khan where he had his eye injured when kicked by a horse When Albert R Broccoli began to produce the James Bond films Simmons tested as an actor for the Bond role but until his death in 1987 he became the stunt coordinator for every Bond film except From Russia with Love which he joined later in the production On Her Majestys Secret Service and The Man with the Golden Gun He appeared in the gun barrel sequence for Sean Connery in three James Bond films Dr No From Russia with Love and Goldfinger Simmons is the only person to officially perform the scene while not starring in the main role of James Bond Simmons was also Connerys stunt double Simmons also had a role as SPECTRE agent Jacques Bouvar in the pretitle sequence of the fourth film Thunderball Simmons developed a stunt technique involving trampolines first used in You Only Live Twice whereby stuntmen would bounce off a trampoline in concert with a triggered explosion so as to simulate being blown into the air This was used in many other films including by Simmons again in The Wild Geese where Simmons also doubled for Richard Burton Upon retirement Simmons wrote an autobiography entitled Nobody Does It Better titled after the theme song for the 1977 Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me He died on 21 October 1987