PHIDIAN

Contributed by: The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia by Steven Jay Rubin

Artist employed by the London College of Arms in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, played by British actor Brian Grellis. When Bond (George Lazenby) arrives at the college, Sir Hilary Bray (George Baker) is complimenting Phidian on a coat of arms he has just completed on Bond’s family tree.

In the scenes that follow in the script, which never made the final cut of the film, Bond discovers a tiny radio-transmitting “homer” disguised inside a paperweight on Sir Hilary’s desk. Realizing Phidian is a hireling of SPECTRE chief Blofeld and that he probably overheard Bond’s plan to impersonate Bray, 007 gives pursuit.

He chases Phidian out of the college, past St. Paul’s Cathedral, and into London’s main post office. Phidian is eventually struck and killed in an underground tunnel by one of the high-speed automated electric trolleys used to deliver mail. To make Phidian’s death appear accidental to Blofeld, an elaborate ruse is devised: Phidian’s body is recovered and, along with a dozen other corpses “borrowed” from morgues, planted on a St. Albans commuter train. A terrible train accident is staged, making it appear as if the train has jumped the tracks. It is reported that there are no survivors. Blofeld reads about Phidian’s death and finds nothing suspicious. Obviously, these scenes would have added to the movie’s already long running time, and therefore they were either never shot or deleted in the final edit.

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