Bob Simmons, a renowned English actor and stunt man, was born on March 31, 1923, in Fulham, London, England. He initially pursued a career in performing stunts, having previously worked as an Army Physical Training Instructor at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he had planned to become an actor. Simmons' early work included stints with Warwick Films, where he collaborated with future James Bond film regulars such as director Terence Young, screenwriter Richard Maibaum, and cameraman Ted Moore.
Simmons' work in stunts led him to Albert R. Broccoli's production company, where he tested for the role of James Bond but ultimately became the stunt coordinator for every Bond film except From Russia with Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and The Man with the Golden Gun. He is the only person to have officially performed the iconic gun barrel sequence, which he did for Sean Connery in three Bond films: Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and Goldfinger.
Simmons was also Connery's stunt double and appeared in the pre-title sequence of Thunderball as SPECTRE agent Jacques Bouvar. He developed a unique stunt technique involving trampolines, first used in You Only Live Twice, which allowed stuntmen to bounce off a trampoline in concert with a triggered explosion to simulate being blown into the air. This technique was used in many other films, including The Wild Geese, where Simmons doubled for Richard Burton.
After retiring from the film industry, Simmons wrote an autobiography titled Nobody Does It Better, named after the theme song for the 1977 Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Simmons passed away on October 21, 1987.
