Vitals

Timothy Dalton as James Bond, British government agent

Tangier, Morocco, Fall 1986

Film: The Living Daylights
Release Date: June 27, 1987
Director: John Glen
Costume Designer: Emma Porteous
Costume Supervisor: Tiny Nicholls
Tailor: Benjamin Simon

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Happy 80th birthday to Timothy Dalton! Born March 21, 1946 in Wales, Dalton became the fourth actor to portray James Bond when he starred in The Living Daylights in 1987. He had actually been approached several times for the role over the previous decades but initially felt too young—and too intimidated—to replace Sean Connery. Still, the part may have been in his blood: his father, Peter Dalton Leggett, served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the real-life British World War II unit that inspired Ian Fleming to write several of Bond’s literary adventures.

Though he only officially starred as 007 twice on screen, Dalton’s portrayal has enjoyed renewed appreciation for its fidelity to the harder-edged tone of Fleming’s source material and how this may have inspired Daniel Craig’s later characterization.

One of my favorite suits and scenes from The Living Daylights takes Bond to Tangier, where the agent confronts KGB director Leonid Pushkin (John Rhys-Davies)—using the general’s girlfriend (Virginia Hey) as a decoy when a bodyguard storms in the hotel room. Commanding the situation with his silenced Walther PPK, Bond settles the tension with the Soviet general as they mutually agree to stage a public assassination.

Scripted by stalwart Bond screenwriters Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson, the scene plays like a lost Fleming chapter—firmly rooted in late Cold War-era espionage while also showcasing a sharp suit that feels like perfect inspiration for spring style and warmer days ahead.

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What’d He Wear?

Timothy Dalton’s philosophy for his James Bond wardrobe centered more around realism than refinement, preferring clothes that looked lived-in than elegant or overly fashionable. Through his collaboration between costume designer Emma Porteous and costume supervisor Tiny Nicholls, the result was ultimately successful for The Living Daylights, with a smart if generally subdued closet of tailored tuxedoes, ready-to-wear suits and sport jackets, and contemporary casual-wear that suited the rotating needs and locales of 007’s mission.

Bond dresses appropriately for the warm Tangier climate in a tan wool gabardine suit, one of several ready-to-wear items sourced for The Living Daylights from the now-defunct Leeds-based clothier Benjamin Simon—identifiable from the black tag sewn onto the inside of the right chest and confirmed in subsequent auction listings. You can read more about this suit in detail at Bond Suits by Matt Spaiser, who describes this as Dalton’s “most successful suit of the series for a number of reasons.”

This two-button single-breasted suit jacket neatly balances classic proportions with 1980s tailoring trends. For example, while the shoulders are padded, they look straight and structured so that he commands the room but not to the excess that he would be dropped into an a-ha music video. The jacket also has notch lapels, a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, three-button cuffs, and double vents.

The suit’s matching trousers follow many ’80s styling characteristics, including a medium rise, double forward-facing pleats, and sporty single-button flaps over the back pockets to supplement the side pockets. The full cut through the thighs complements the jacket’s relaxed fit, tapering to the plain-hemmed bottoms that break cleanly over brown calfskin leather shoes which appear to be apron- or split-toe derbies.

Bond’s brown braided leather belt provides the only sartorial continuity to his next look, the beige bomber-style jacket he wears with a navy polo shirt, khaki slacks, and boat shoes for Pushkin’s very public (but not so fatal) “assassination”.

Consistent with Dalton’s preference for dressing down 007, he foregoes a tie through this sequence—a decision consistent both with the more laidback suiting and the situation. Worn with the top two buttons undone, his cream shirt is made from a lightweight cotton voile and styled with a spread collar, front placket, and single-button cuffs.

Pushkin’s Watch

Although this scenes doesn’t prominently feature any of the TAG Heuer watches that Timothy Dalton sporadically wore in The Living Daylights, we do get a great look at General Pushkin’s TAG Heuer Airline GMT, presumably modified with an alarm. Triggered by pressing the gold-plated crown, the alarm then audibly beeps while flashing a red light on the dial.

This 35mm model was introduced during Heuer’s final year in 1985 and continued through the early years of the TAG Heuer partnership. Pushkin specifically wears a steel-cased ref. 895.313, styled with a black dial, gold-plated bezel with a GMT insert, and a steel bracelet with cities and their corresponding time zones printed on each link. This watch would be a bit showy for our more function-minded 007, but it’s still a neat horological addition to the Bond series canon.

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The Car

After driving his 1985 Aston Martin V8, winterized with “a few optional extras installed,” through Czechoslovakian snowscapes, Bond rents a 1986 Audi 200 Avant quattro in a warm, metallic shade of taupe that appears to be Audi’s “Kalahari Beige” exterior paint.

Audi introduced the boxy 100 series in 1968, built on Volkswagen Group’s C1 platform, which introduced an upscale 200 variant during the second generation (C2) in the 1970s. The Audi 100 and 200 series evolved into a more aerodynamic body for the third generation (C3), launched for the 1982 model year. Two-door body styles were dropped in favor of exclusively four-door sedans and Avanti station wagons like the model that Bond drives in Tangier. Drivetrains ranged from standard front-wheel-drive to Audi’s proprietary “quattro” four-wheel-drive system.

I believe that the ’86 200 Avant wagon was exclusively available in the quattro configuration. Mated only to a five-speed manual transmission, he 2.2-liter straight-five turbo offered 180 horsepower and 186 ft-lb of torque.

This was actually the second 1986 Audi 200 to appear in The Living Daylights, as Bond and his doomed comrade Saunders (Thomas Wheatley) first drove a C3 sedan to facilitate a defection during the prologue.

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The Gun

James Bond continues to carry his signature Walther PPK in The Living Daylights. This German semi-automatic pistol was introduced in 1931 as a more compact variation of the Walther PP, maintaining the same overall aesthetic and straight blowback operation but with a shorter grip, barrel, and frame. In addition to some .22-caliber models, the PP and PPK were typically chambered for either 7.65x17mmSR (.32 ACP) and 9x17mm Kurz (.380 ACP). The PPK’s smaller size reduced the magazine capacity by one, so .32-caliber models fed from seven-round magazines while .380 PPKs took six-round mags.

The PPK found early infamy for its widespread use among military, police, and government officials in Nazi Germany, though the pistol’s reputation was renewed when Ian Fleming introduced it as 007’s weapon of choice in the 1958 novel Doctor No.

Timothy Dalton’s screen-used .32-caliber PPK from The Living Daylights was auctioned in 2005 by Bonhams, where a plaque describes it as having been the same as used by Roger Moore dating back to 1973; the listing also mentions that it was used for Foley sound effects in Dalton’s next and final 007 movie, Licence to Kill.

I’ve seen at least two different pistols cited as Bond’s screen-used PPK from Licence to Kill: one with serial number #842112 (produced in 1935) and one with serial number #348075K (produced in 1941). While I’m more encouraged by the veracity of the latter, it’s at least likely that the brown-gripped PPK pistols that Timothy Dalton carried on screen were produced either prior to or in the early years of World War II.

Although each actor handled additional weapons in their films, Dalton joined George Lazenby as the only actors whose portrayals of 007 were exclusively armed with a PPK by Q; Sean Connery had started Dr. No with a Beretta M1934 and actually handled a Walther PP (described as a “PPK”) throughout the movie, Roger Moore briefly switched to a Walther P5 in Octopussy, and both Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig used the more modern Walther P99 in a few of their respective movies.

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How to Get the Look

Timothy Dalton’s wardrobe in The Living Daylights was often as unfussy and straightforward as his characterization, resulting in timeless styles like the tan suit, open-neck cream shirt, and brown belt and shoes that he wears to confront General Pushkin in Tangier.

• Tan gabardine suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, double vents
  • Double forward-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, flapped back pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Cream cotton voile shirt with spread collar, front placket, and single-button rounded cuffs
• Brown braided leather belt with gold single-prong buckle
• Brown calfskin leather apron-toe derby shoes

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

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The Quote

You should have brought lilies.