Guy Hamilton dead: James Bond director dies at 93

Guy Hamilton, British film director who helmed multiple entries in the James Bond series, including Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever, has died at the age of 93.

News of Hamilton’s death was confirmed by the Associated Press, which reported the filmmaker died at a hospital in Mallorca, where Hamilton lived. It was former James Bond actor Roger Moore, however, who first shared the news Thursday morning, writing on Twitter: “Incredibly, incredibly saddened to hear the wonderful director Guy Hamilton has gone to the great cutting room in the sky. 2016 is horrid.”

Of the many actors who’ve played James Bond over the years, Hamilton directed two: Moore in Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun, and Sean Connery in Goldfinger and Diamonds are Forever. The third-ever Bond film, Goldfinger is often cited as one of the most influential entries in the series, having evolved the franchise into a worldwide phenomenon in popular culture, and introducing many of the spy thriller’s familiar hallmarks (a pre-credits cold open and embrace of gadgetry among them).

As the BBC noted, Hamilton came to the Bond series through friend (and producer) Cubby Broccoli, saying, “we are some of the meanest toughest film makers. If we spend a million dollars it had better be up there on the screen,” of his regimented directorial style throughout working on the 007 films.

Born to a British family in Paris in 1922, Hamilton later began his film career as a studio tea boy in 1930s France ahead of serving as director Carol Reed’s assistant for five years, ultimately seeking to direct his own projects in subsequent years, including the Michael Caine-starring Battle of Britain and The Mirror Crack’d with Angela Lansbury. He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for writing the screenplay for the 1959 film A Touch of Larceny.