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John Bernard Lee (10 January 1908 – 16 January 1981) was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven Eon-produced James Bond films. Lee's film career spanned the years 1934 to 1979, though he had appeared on stage from the age of six. He was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Lee appeared in over one hundred films, as well as on stage and in television dramatisations. He was known for his roles as authority figures, often playing military characters or policemen in films such as The Third Man, The Blue Lamp, The Battle of the River Plate, and Whistle Down the Wind. He died of stomach cancer in 1981, aged 73.

Early life :

Lee was born on 10 January 1908, the son of Nellie (née Smith) and Edmund James Lee. He was born in either County Cork in what is now the Republic of Ireland, or Brentford, Middlesex. Edmund, an actor, introduced his six-year-old son to the stage in 1914 in a sketch called "The Double Event" at the Oxford Music Hall in London. Lee attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and worked as a fruit porter to pay his fees.

Early acting career :

After graduating from RADA in the 1930s, Lee began working in repertory theatre in Cardiff and in Rusholme, Manchester, before beginning work on the West End stage in thrillers, such as Blind Man's Bluff. He also played comedic roles, such as in the play Ten Minute Alibi with Arthur Askey.

Lee's screen debut was in The Double Event (1934), followed by a role as Cartwright in Berthold Viertel's Rhodes of Africa (1936), a biopic of Cecil Rhodes, in which he starred alongside Walter Huston, Oscar Homolka, and Basil Sydney. Although Lee was in wartime service in the army between 1940 and 1946, he had managed to act in several films earlier which were released between 1939 and 1943, including Murder in Soho, The Frozen Limits, and Let George Do It! (known in the US as To Hell with Hitler, 1940) with George Formby.

Military service :

Lee served with the Royal Sussex Regiment during the Second World War. While waiting to be demobbed he attended a golfing ladies' night where he met a producer. This subsequently led to his being offered a part in the play Stage Door.