Big John at a local bar during the filming of "Thunderball" with Jordan Klein Sr. back right.
John McLaughlin, known as ‘Big John’, was born on the 27th of January, 1927, in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
He was a stunt diver, underwater cinematographer and marine specialist who worked on over 30 films.
He started diving as a young teenager and joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 17, going on to serve in WWII and in the Korean War. Big John became fully trained in underwater demolition, as well as becoming a weapons expert and a certified underwater welder. He further studied underwater technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and dive medicine at Duke University, while also completing a course in underwater cinematography.
In the world of films, his first experience came in 1959 when he was hired in Cary Grant’s “Operation Petticoat”, filmed in the Florida Keys. This was followed by “Sea Hunt” in 1961 when he was Lloyd Bridges’ underwater double.
In addition to his numerous accolades, Big John is perhaps best remembered for his work on the James Bond films: “Dr. No” (1962), “Goldfinger” (1964), “Thunderball” (1965), “You Only Live Twice” (1967), “Live & Let Die” (1973), “The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977), “Moonraker” (1979), “For Your Eyes Only” (1981), “Never Say Never Again” (1983) and “Licence To Kill” (1989).
He has also worked extensively on other productions with major names including Tom Cruise, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Depp, Brooke Shields and Josh Brolin. Other notable film and television credits include: “Namu the Killer Whale”, “Cocoon”, “Jaws: The Revenge”, “Police Academy TV”, “Flipper”, “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “Mako: The Jaws of Death”.
He was named ‘Diver of The Year’ in 1998 by fellow divers and equipment managers.
John ‘Big John’ McLaughlin passed away on the 20th of April, 2020, aged 93.
In "Live & Let Die", Big John was part of the underwater team.
Specifically, he assisted Jordan Klein Sr. and director William Grefé to film the shark scenes.
Alongside Jordan, John also built the cages and gates used for the sequence, as well as helping with the capture of the shark.
The photo below is a rare black and white "Thunderball" still showing the team wrestling a shark at Palmyra was signed in September of 2007. It displays a full name signature.
A rare Bond related autograph, unfortunately forged a number of times by a well known German Bond dealer, due to the simplicity of his signature.
Be aware of the common shot of him as the underwater double for Largo in "Thunderball", as this was the image used to reproduce his autograph.
Please see Big John's other pages for further examples of his signature!
According to the exclusive interview with Steve Oxenrider, Big John recalls that the underwater shark scenes were filmed in Florida, although William Grefé suggests that the scenes were filmed near the islands of Bimini in The Bahamas, which is located just 50 miles from the coast of Florida.
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