Curd Jürgens Below" (1957), in which he portrayed a German U-boat commander. In 1962 he played the German general Günther Blumentritt in "The Longest Day". Later, in the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977), he played the villain Karl Stromberg, a sociopathic industrialist seeking to transform the world into an ocean paradise. His last film appearance was as Maître Legraine, beside Alain Delon and Claude Jade in the spy-thriller "Teheran 43" (1981). In English-language television he played Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in several episodes of the BBC series "Fall of Eagles" (1974) and appeared as General Vladimir in the
James Bond in film process. Connery, however, was somewhat resigned to the project, lacking the enthusiasm he sported for "Thunderball". A press conference on his arrival had been tense, "soured by aggressive questioning of Connery's crumpled, jet-lagged appearance". Primary and secondary photography finished in December; the special effects filming for the space scenes were undertaken between January and March 1967, prior to the film's release on 12 June. The cinema posters for the film stated "Sean Connery IS James Bond", to distance the Eon-produced picture from the independent "Casino Royale", which had been released two months earlier. However, during the production, Connery announced that