BREE, JAMES

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

(July 20, 1923–December 1, 2008): British actor, mostly in television, who portrayed Swiss lawyer Gebrüder Gumbold in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Gumbold is working for Blofeld (Telly Savalas) to establish the SPECTRE chief’s blood connection to the royal line of the de Bleuchamps—prompting Bond (George Lazenby) to pay a little visit to his office in Bern.

A native of East Coker, Somerset, England, Bree made his uncredited feature debut in director John Paddy Carstairs’s comedy Just My Luck (1957), which also featured Michael Brennan (Thunderball). Three years later, he appeared in John Guillermin’s crime drama Never Let Go alongside future Bond player Cyril Shaps (The Spy Who Loved Me). Later, he portrayed three characters—the Security Chief, Nefred, and the Keeper of the Matrix—on the BBC’s Doctor Who (1969–1986).

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