David Bowie dies and his 007 footnote

David Bowie

Musician David Bowie, who had a stellar career with a minor 007 footnote, has died at 69, ACCORDING TO AN OBITUARY IN THE NEW YORK TIMES.

The news was released early Monday. Bowie’s appeal was so wide, something like the Mike & Mike sports talk show on ESPN Radio devoted several minutes to it, interrupting recaps and commentary about professional football games and other sports.

Meanwhile, in London, ACCORDING TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, “some models honored David Bowie by sporting glittery makeup, while some had written ‘Bowie’ across their open palms.”

Bowie branched off from music to appear in movies and on television, including once singing a duet of “The Little Drummer Boy” with Bing Crosby.

Here’s an excerpt from the obituary in The Times:

Mr. Bowie wrote songs, above all, about being an outsider: an alien, a misfit, a sexual adventurer, a faraway astronaut. His music was always a mutable blend: rock, cabaret, jazz and what he called “plastic soul,” but it was suffused with genuine soul. He also captured the drama and longing of everyday life, enough to give him No. 1 pop hits like “Let’s Dance.”

His 007 footnote was being offered, and declining, the role of Max Zorin in A View To a Kill. Grace Jones, who played May Day in the 1985 James Bond film, remembered it this way in A 2015 YAHOO! MOVIES STORY.

According to Jones, David Bowie didn’t want take the part of the main baddie because he feared a stuntman would get more screen time than he would. The production then asked Mick Jagger “because they definitely wanted this to be a rock ’n’ roll MTV Bond.” Eventually the role went to Christopher Walken, whose on-screen appearance remained very Bowie-esque notes Jones: “lean, mean, blond, and suavely narcissistic.”

UPDATE: Slate.com has posted THIS ARTICLE with more details about how Bowie was courted to be the villain in A View To A Kill.