Editing Desmond Llewelyn (section)

===''James Bond'' series===
{{see also|Q (James Bond)}}
In 1963, Terence Young asked Llewelyn to read for the part of [[Q ("James Bond" character)|Quartermaster Major Boothroyd]] in the second official film in the [[Bond film series]], ''[[From Russia with Love (film)|From Russia with Love]]''. Both Young and [[Ian Fleming]] wanted 'Q' portrayed with a strong [[Welsh accent]] (as Llewelyn used his native accent while working with Young on ''They Were Not Divided''). Llewelyn disagreed, persuading them that the character should have an upper-class English accent. Despite this, Llewelyn was chosen for the role.<ref name="WBio"></ref>

Llewelyn would become a staple of the film series for over thirty years, playing 'Q' the [[quartermaster]] of the [[Secret Intelligence Service|MI6]] from 1963 until 1999. Llewelyn appeared in every [[EON Productions|EON film production]] except 1973's ''[[Live and Let Die (film)|Live and Let Die]]'', in which the character did not appear.

His last appearance as Q prior to his death was in ''[[The World Is Not Enough]]'' in 1999. During his briefing of [[James Bond (character)|007]] in the film, Q introduces [[John Cleese]]'s character, R, as his [[heir presumptive]], and the film alludes to Q's retirement, to which Bond, after seeing Q, expresses his hope that it will not be any time soon. Q's response is to admonish Bond to "always have an escape plan", after which he lowers himself through the floor of his lab. Llewelyn had stated not long before his death that he had no plans to retire and that he would continue playing Q "as long as the producers want me and the Almighty (God) doesn't."<ref>From an interview on the DVD release of ''[[The World Is Not Enough]]''.</ref>

In 1967, Llewelyn portrayed 'Q' alongside [[Lois Maxwell|Lois Maxwell's]] [[Miss Moneypenny]] in an EON produced television documentary entitled ''[[Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond]]''. This promotional film was included in the 2006 Special Edition DVD release of ''[[You Only Live Twice (film)|You Only Live Twice]]''. He would play the role of 'Q' in seventeen films, more than any other actor and playing opposite five iterations of the James Bond character in [[Sir Sean Connery]], [[George Lazenby]], [[Sir Roger Moore]], fellow Welshman [[Timothy Dalton]], and [[Pierce Brosnan]].

Although Llewelyn became one of British cinema's most recognisable characters and an important and long-standing element in the 'Bond' franchise, 'Q' did not make Llewelyn rich—the actor was merely paid 'by the day' for his few hours of work on-set and did not share in the money made by the films. Nevertheless, because Llewelyn was considered one of the franchise's major institutions and also immensely popular among Bond fans, Llewelyn starred in several commercials, including ones to promote the video games ''[[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)|GoldenEye 007]]'' and ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies (video game)|Tomorrow Never Dies]]''.