Desmond Llewelyn (September 12, 1914 - December 19, 1999) was a British actor who is famous for playing the fictional character of Q in the James Bond series of films. Q is the quartermaster of the MI6 gadget lab known as Q-branch.
Desmond Wilkinson Llewelyn was born in Newport, South Wales in 1914, the son of a coal mining engineer. He originally wanted to be a minister. In high school, he worked as a stagehand in the school's productions and then picked up sporadic small parts.
The outbreak of World War II in September 1939 halted his acting career, and Llewelyn was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the British army, serving with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. In 1940, he was captured by the German army in France, and was held as a POW for five years.
Since 1963's From Russia With Love, Llewelyn appeared as Q in every Bond film, except Live and Let Die (1973), through The World Is Not Enough (1999). In the 2002 film Die Another Day, John Cleese, who played the character R, the assistant to Q in The World is Not Enough, was promoted to the head of Q-branch, thus taking on the title of Q. Llewelyn appeared in other films such as the 1981 PBS production of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde And also a small apperence in the famous musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang . He acted on stage and appeared in an English television series called Follyfoot.
Contrary to his gadget-expert character in the Bond films, Llewelyn always maintained that he was totally lost in the world of technology.
Llewelyn was killed in a road accident on December 19, 1999 after returning home from a booksigning promoting his autobiography in East Sussex. He collided head-on with a car and died shortly after. He was 85.
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