TOM ON the stars! He asked Cary Grant if it disturbed him that everywhere he went, people kept watching him. “Doesn’t this bother you ... all of these people staring?" And Cary said, “A little, but if they ever stopped, I’d be absolutely panic stricken." Tom noted that as people whispered as Grant entered the Universal commissary, Cary would say under his breath: “Yes, it’s me, it’s me, it’s me, it’s me ..."

Cary Grant in "North By Northwest."
Queen Elizabeth II knighting Sean Connery.
Cubby Broccoli, Harry Saltzman, Roger Moore on set of "The Man With the Golden Gun."
Greta Garbo & Marlene Dietrich (Edward Steichen, photomontage 1934).

Tom raves about Sean Connery as “an unselfish actor." It seems Connery gave away more than half the $1.2 million he first earned to a Scottish educational trust for painters, poets, actors. And if you think that when the Queen appeared with the new Bond at the opening of the Olympics, it was a “first," you’re wrong. Sean and the Queen walked down a street in Edinburgh, after he was knighted. He was wearing his kilt.

Tom goes on to write “Daniel Craig is just terrific. He was a shot in the arm when Bond needed it, because it’s an amazing series. It’s been going fifty years. ‘Dr. No’ was 1962. I saw ‘From Russia with Love’ when I was in college and ‘Goldfinger’ the year after I got out. There have been 22 of these. Nothing like that’s ever happened in the history of film ..."

Tom had fun working with producer Cubby Broccoli and describes it all. When they were making “The Man With the Golden Gun," Broccoli was upset because the elephants couldn’t be herded. He ordered 50 sets of shoes for them and promptly forgot about it. 200 useless elephant shoes were later delivered.

My favorite story in the book is about Marlene Dietrich. Tom asked, “Who was the best actor you ever played with?"

Without batting an eye, Dietrich said, “I never performed with a good actor."

“Really, how about Emil Jannings in ‘The Blue Angel’?"

"He was terrible, he was dreadful. All of the actors I played with were dreadful, so I don’t know how to answer your question."

Natalie Wood then asked, ‘You and Garbo were the two great stars of the Thirties. What would you say was the difference between the two of you?’

“Dietrich said, ‘Garbo was cold. I was warm. Garbo had no friends. I had many friends. Garbo could not act. I was a wonderful actress. Garbo couldn’t sing. I could sing. I had a better body than Garbo.’ She went on and on. And finally, her gaze bore in on Natalie as she said, ‘But even with all that, they don’t make stars like they used to.’

"The room was deadly silent as it came time for the next question, to be asked by Don Rickles. He leaned in, stared hard at Marlene Dietrich, and said, ‘Who are YOU?'"