20 Things You Didn’t Know About Live And Let Die (1973)
3. Snakes Alive!
There weren’t many people on-set who liked snakes.
Roger Moore and Geoffrey Holder were both not too keen on having to work around snakes when Double-0 Seven rescues Solitaire from being sacrificed during a voodoo ceremony. Indeed, Holder only agreed to dive into a casket filled with the reptiles because Princess Alexandra was visiting the set during filming and he did not want to lose face in front of her.
Jane Seymour had it just as bad, as Michael Ebbin who played Dambala - a priest threatening Solitaire with a snake - was bitten by the reptile and ran off, dropping it practically at her feet. Fortunately, the snake handler on-set snatched up the slithering serpent just in time.
However, another of the on-set incidents actually features in the film.
During the pre-credits sequence, captured British agent, Baines (Dennis Edwards) is sacrificed by Dambala using a snake in a similar fashion to Solitaire's eventual proposed fate. Dennis Edwards was so terrified during the sequence that he fainted during filming, which was caught on camera and used in the finished film to represent Baines succumbing to the snake’s venom!