Norman Burton
December 5, 1923 – November 29, 2003
00Twelve and I would like to apologize for neglecting FelixLeiter.com lately. We’ve both been very busy with our lives outside of the Internet but today we want to break our silence and honor Norman Burton on the fifth anniversary of his death. In 2003 he was tragically killed in a car crash on the California/Arizona border while returning to his home in Mexico at age 79.
Mr. Burton was cast as the fourth cinematic Felix Leiter in 1971′s Diamonds Are Forever. Most Bond fans consider Diamonds Are Forever to be one of Connery’s worst outings as James Bond due to Maibaum and Mankiewicz’s campy script and Connery’s over the hill appearance among other reasons. At 41 years old, Connery looked more like a high school math teacher than the suave and sophisticated James Bond 007 and Felix Leiter didn’t look much better.
According to a poll called Favourite Felix Leiter II at CommanderBond.net, Burton has only one vote out of 94 votes. He’d be dead last (out of eight Felix Leiter actors) if it weren’t for John Terry (The Living Daylights). Wikipedia reinforces these results by saying, “In the movies, he [Burton] is best-known for his unconventional (and frequently disparaged) performance as Felix Leiter.” I’m not a big fan of his portrayal either but was he really miscast?
Remember, the cinematic Felix Leiter has never truly matched Ian Fleming’s description of the character:
“Felix Leiter was about thirty-five. He was tall with a thin bony frame and his lightweight, tan-coloured suit hung loosely from his shoulders like the clothes of Frank Sinatra. His movements and speech were slow, but one had the feeling that there was plenty of speed and strength in him, and that he would be a tough and cruel fighter. As he sat hunched over the table, he seemed to have some of the jackknife quality of a falcon. There was this impression also in his face, in the sharpness of his chin and cheekbones and the wide wry mouth. His grey eyes had a feline slant which was increased by his habit of screwing them up against the smoke of the Chesterfields which he tapped out of the pack in a chain. The permanent wrinkles which this habit had etched at the corners gave the impression that he smiled more with his eyes than with his mouth. A mop of straw-coloured hair lent his face a boyish look which closer examination contradicted.”
Casino Royale, Chapter Seven
Excluding John Terry, Leiter has never been younger than James Bond in the films therefore the actor that played him in Diamonds Are Forever had to be 41 years old or older. Since Connery looked like a high school math teacher in 1971, casting director Weston Drury Jr. took the liberty of complementing his James Bond with a man reminiscent of a college biology professor, 48 year old Norman Burton. The only trait Burton had that matched Fleming’s description of the character was that he was a white male yet he was the perfect counterpart to Connery’s worn out James Bond.
Jeffrey Wright is my favorite cinematic Felix Leiter but I love all eight actors. Each actor brought something unique and new to the role and Norman Burton certainly did both in 1971. As I stated above, Mr. Burton’s portrayal of Leiter wasn’t the series’ best but he wasn’t miscast as many believe. He would certainly be miscast if put opposite Daniel Craig’s James Bond today but opposite Sean Connery in 1971, Norman Burton was Captain Felix Leiter, James Bond’s brother from Langley.
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