John Cleese (Q)

John Cleese playing Q

Born in Weston-Super-Mare, England on 27th October 1939

Starred In The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002)

Film information

Q played by John Cleese appears in two James Bond Films – The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day. John Cleese appears first in The World Is Not Enough as Q's assistant. Q introduces his new assistant, prompting a sarcastic remark from him.

Q’s assistant is very sarcastic whilst demonstrating a number of gadgets, including telling Bond how to use a zip. Tired of his assistant’s antics, Q pulls the tag on Inflatable Jacket temporarily silencing his assistant.

Sadly, Die Another Day marks one of the very few Bond films not to feature Desmond Llewelyn, after he tragically died in a car crash shortly after The World Is Not Enough premiered. Consequently John Cleese now steps into the role as Q. He briefs Bond on a number of gadgets inside the abandoned underground tube station, where Bond quips about some of the previous gadget relics of years gone by. After demonstrating a few gadgets, Q introduces Bond to his new transportation – the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish. He tells Bond to shoot through the Aston Martin manual, to which Bond does just that; he uses the Aston Martin's target seeking shotguns to destroy the manual into pieces.

Character information

While John Cleese’s Q shares the same disregard for Bond’s treatment of his gadgets as Desmond Llewelyn's portrayal of the famous character, this is where the similarity ends. John Cleese’s Q takes the role of being a more sarcastic comical Q, who is able to match every one of Bond’s quips and witticisms with one of his own. Q does have some serious moments, but like in true Bond style, 007 does not pay Q too much attention, thus taunting him even more. Sadly while the traditional by-play between Bond and Desmond Llewelyn’s Q is now lost, Cleese’s Q has introduced a new style that will probably become standard. §