WILLIS, AUSTIN

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

(September 30, 1917–April 4, 2004): Canadian film and television actor who portrayed Mr. Simmons, the cardplayer in Goldfinger. Well-tanned and dapper, Willis was perfect as the vacationing American who is being systematically cheated at gin by Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe).

A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Willis made his motion picture debut as Red North in the adventure film Bush Pilot (1947). He later portrayed the US secretary of defense, in charge of negotiating with the tiny country of Grand Fenwick, in director Jack Arnold’s hysterical comedy The Mouse That Roared (1959), a film that also featured three uncredited future Bond players: Fred Haggerty (From Russia with Love), Bill Nagy (Goldfinger), and Stuart Saunders (Octopussy).

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