Jamie Balfour

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Jamie Balfour'sPersonal blog

Jamie Balfour'sPersonal blog

He was the first James Bond and an amazing actor. Sean Connery set the standard for what James Bond was and is. As Bond, he was tough, brutal and yet a hit with the ladies - everything Bond should be. 

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Much like Roger Moore who passed away a few years back, Connery had his own style that brought something amazing to Bond. I cannot actually believe he's no longer with us. I will certainly miss him.

This is now my sixth entry into my blog that is a celebrity tribute and today's post goes straight to the heart for me. 

Roger Moore

Today my tribute is to Sir Roger Moore who to me was a fantastic actor. Some say he ruined James Bond, but to me, he improved it. He brought humour that didn't exist before him and he portrayed Bond well. Although Roger Moore was the least like Ian Fleming's 007, he portrayed a more modern Bond compared with Sean Connery's mid-20th century Bond, something I thought changed the way that Bond became.

I have a couple of non-Bond favourite films that Roger Moore starred in, including The Wild Geese and The Sea Wolves amongst others. 

I am very sad to have heard the news about Sir Roger Moore and my thoughts are with his family.

Alan Rickman by Marie-Lan Nguyen is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

It seems that I am constantly writing these tributes to favourite actors year upon year. This tribute is to the wonderful Alan Rickman, whose voice is was so distinct and made him one of those stand out actors.

To me, Alan Rickman was one of my favourite actors (as you'll observe if you visit the About me page on my website).

He starred in several favourite films of my own. His role in the Harry Potter series as Severus Snape was perhaps his most prominent but he also played the fantastic baddy Hans Gruber in the original Die Hard film and the Sheriff of Nottingham in the Kevin Costner Robin Hood: Price of Thieves film.

He also played Harry in Love Actually, another favourite film. And I nearly forgot, he also did the voice of the Blue Caterpillar in the Alice In Wonderland films by Tim Burton, where he starred along side another favourite actress of mine, Helena Bonham Carter. Alice In Wonderland also happens to be one of my favourite films and I'm looking forward to the next film in the series.

Alan Rickman's role in the films he was in was what made him the brilliant actor he was, he starred in so many great roles and never ceased to be a great actor. He will be missed dearly by fans and family, but let's remember he was a brilliant actor who managed to star in some roles that not many others could have pulled off, particularly Severus Snape.

Only a few days ago I wrote a tribute to Christopher Lee. Now I'm writing yet another tribute to a celebrity actor who I liked.

Like Christopher Lee, Patrick Macnee was 93 years of age, and he died of natural causes.

To many Sir Patrick Macnee was the actor in The Avengers (starring along side Bond Girl Diana Rigg) but to me he was one of my favourite Bond allies.

Macnee was a great Bond ally, playing Sir Godfrey Tibbett in A View To A Kill along side Roger Moore. He also starred in one of my favourite Gregory Peck films - The Sea Wolves. 

He also starred in the Oasis music video Don't Look Back in Anger -  one of my favourite music videos. 

A great actor and I'm sure a very nice person. He will be missed.

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I'm maybe going to have to make a category dedicated to tributes to people on my blog as this is now the second tribute in the last month.

Lee

By Avda (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Anyway, Christopher Lee passed away on the 7th June 2015 at the age of 93. Whilst I'm obviously upset about this, Christopher Lee being my favourite actor of all time (as many of you will know), I'm not as upset as would be with someone younger. Christopher Lee was a happy man, who lived a long life and starred in some of the most icon films of the last century. He made his mark and had a good long life.

He starred in some amazing films including, James Bond: The Man with the Golden Gun, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Dracula, Sleepy Hollow (albeit brief) and so much more.

A rather interesting fact about Christopher Lee's family is that his mother married James Bond writer Ian Fleming's uncle making them 'step-cousins'. This is a nice little link between Lee and James Bond in which he starred in.

Interestingly, one of my mother's friends accommodated him whilst he was golfing at Muirfield in Gullane, Scotland.

I have known this day would come sooner or later as Lee had not been in good health several times over the past few years and it lead me to expect it at some point.

I would like to pay my respects to Christopher Lee as being one of the world's best actors (and one of my favourite of all time, if not my favourite, and will likely remain that way indefinitely).

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In my personal opinion Charles Kennedy was one of the most honest, hard working and "for the people" politicians in British politics throughout my life. 

For me personally, Charles Kennedy was the reason I took an interest in politics and lead me to the path of the Liberal Democrats when I was around about 14. I became a liberal from around about 2005, just before Charles stood down as leader of the Liberal Democrats. I have always considered myself to a rather liberal person and a lot of that has come from what Charles  Kennedy stood for.

I personally shed a tear when I heard the news this morning.

Charles Kennedy

I was personally not in favour of the Iraq war and I personally disliked both the Labour Party and Conservative Party. I still am a liberal at heart and a strong supporter of what they have done for this country not only in the past but what people like Charles Kennedy did for this country - a strong and firm leader that the Liberal Democrats needed.

Charles Kennedy is notable in my books for his friendly, optimistic attitude to politics - he was a far more people's person than most and would have made an excellent PM for the country. He also achieved the best result for the Liberal Democrats that has been achieved to date, obtaining 63 seats. This kind of result has not been achieved since before the First World War and David Lloyd George before the decline of the Liberal Party to the Labour Party in 1920 odds.

I will personally miss the wonderful nature of Charles Kennedy - an honest, amazing politician who was an outstanding Liberal Democrat! 

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Robin Williams

Today it was announced that Robin Williams was found dead at age 63.

Apparently a lot of the public are getting confused at this thinking it's Robbie Williams, the singer, but as a matter of fact the reference is to the actor, Robin Williams.

Robin was an excellent actor with roles like Mrs Doubtfire, Flubber and many more. He was also an excellent voice actor and could do some awesome voices and impersonations.

He was one of my favourite actors when I was young, particularly because of his role in Flubber, which was one of my favourite films for about a whole year.

As well as that, he was a gamer, most notably naming his daughter Zelda after Princess Zelda from the Legend of Zelda. He enjoyed playing a lot of the games I love like Warcraft, Zelda as well as many others like Battlefield and Half-Life. A true gamer.

He will be missed by friends, family and fans alike.

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