Toby Stephens blames Bond for movie career after 'Die Another Day'

Actor Toby Stephens, who played Gustav Graces in 2002's "Die Another Day", has blamed his Bond villain image on shaping his movie career since he went toe to toe with 007.

Speaking to the Radio Times, Stephens said: "I am not being ungrateful but the fact I did the Bond film hampered me. I didn’t want to carry on playing Bond villains in other guises or the posh British villain in American movies – and I got offered a lot of baddie parts."

"It was totally insane," he recalls. "The director told me: 'Your character is a North Korean who has been genetically changed into a Caucasian.' It was great fun and about as ridiculously camp as Bond could get. Then Daniel Craig took over and it all got very serious."

Despite this, Stephens continues to be the voice of Bond in the BBC Radio 4 audio play productions of Ian Fleming's original 007 adventures.

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