Bruce Glover, who starred as the villainous Mr Wint in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, has died. He was 92.
The Chicago-born actor was also known for his roles in Chinatown and Walking Tall.
His son Crispin, a fellow actor, confirmed the news on Instagram in a brief tribute post that gave his father’s date of death as March 12 but did not announce any further details.
Bruce Herbert Glover was born on May 2, 1932 to parents Herbert and Eva. In 1953, at the age of 21, he was drafted into the US Army and served for six months in Korea.
He began his acting career in the late 1950s, and appeared in a string of television shows including Perry Mason, Gunsmoke and Mission: Impossible.
In 1971, he landed his most high-profile role as Mr Wint in Diamonds are Forever. The acclaim he received for his performance led to a number of further tough-guy roles throughout the decade in Walking Tall, Chinatown and Hard Times.
He was married twice, first to Connie Overstake from 1949 to 1950. His second marriage was to dancer Marion Elizabeth Lillian “Betty” Krachey, from 1960 until her death in 2016. Their son Crispin was born in 1964.
In 2021, Glover spoke to The Independent about playing Mr Wint alongside Putter Smith’s Mr Kidd as the first gay villains in a James Bond film.
Glover recalled Bond star Sean Connery being uncomfortable with homoerotic jokes during the shoot.
“I was chest to chest with Sean,” he said. “I like to make jokes, so I said in a kinda wispy voice, ‘I think I’m getting emotionally involved…’”
Glover thought Connery would laugh but the tough Scotsman held a firm stare. “He didn’t know me, so he thought I was gay. I could see his little Scottish brain going, ‘Oh my God…’ I thought I should probably say, ‘Sean it was a joke…’ And then I thought, ‘Oh to hell with it, let him worry’,” Glover recalled.
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After Connery eventually discovered Glover was heterosexual, Glover remembered him “grinning at me, waving his finger. He walked over saying ‘you son of a bitch’ about three times…”
As for his co-star Smith, who was a jazz musician in real life, Glover remembered: “He’s hilarious, he’s fun to look at, he’s like a big giant toy.”
He added: “I looked at his mouth and his moustache and his goofy lips and I went, ‘There is no way I wanna kiss this guy.’”
Glover had two children. His son Crispin is best known for his roles in Back to the Future, River’s Edge and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.