EXPOSED: THE SHADOWY FIGURE STALKING BOND IN 16 MOVIES

Call yourself a spy, 007? Then why didn’t you spot the producer tailing you in 16 movies since 1964!

PAY attention, 007! For more than half a century, the world’s greatest spy has been unwittingly tailed by a master of disguise, a man who has been in more Bond films than Sean Connery and Roger Moore put together.

His name’s Wilson, Michael G. Wilson, and he’s the co-producer of the franchise as well as prolific extra, notching up cameo appearances in 16 Bond films from Goldfinger in 1964 to Spectre, which will be released tomorrow.

Mr Wilson has blended into the background as a tourist, opera-goer and even a Greek orthodox priest, as well as an array of military commanders, Soviet officials and police officers.

His first role was a silent soldier in Goldfinger, when he joined his stepfather, Bond supremo Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, for the climactic scenes filmed in Fort Knox. ‘I had come home from law school for the summer holidays, and Cubby said he could do with an assistant,’ he said. ‘I was there for three weeks, working as a runner and doing everything – including doubling for a few people.’

Mr Wilson, now 73, worked as a lawyer for nine years before taking over the running of the franchise with his stepsister Barbara Broccoli, where the tradition of him appearing in every film picked up.

The twist is that he doesn’t get to choose the roles, despite being one of the most powerful people on set.

He joked: ‘Its become kind of a tradition. It’s a fun thing for the crew. I don’t get to choose. They tell me what to do.’

In some films Mr Wilson takes more than one role, and in others you can just hear his voice. He said: ‘It’s so subtle that even people who know me quite well can miss it. It’s nothing to do with me wanting to be in the picture. It’s a tradition.’

Mr Wilson is occasionally joined by other family members, including his son Gregg, who is also a producer on the franchise. He said: ‘Gregg and I are in Spectre, but if you blink you miss us. We are at the start of the scene when M, played by Ralph Fiennes, calls C, played by Andrew Scott, a “cocky bastard”.

‘Gregg was also in Skyfall so he is going to carry on the tradition.’

Acting may be in Mr Wilson’s blood: his father Lewis was the first actor to play Batman on screen, in 1943.

BLESS HIM: Playing a priest at a Corfu wedding

GIZA JOB: A face in the crowd of the light show at the Pyramids, before henchman Jaws strikes

Casino Royale, 2006 BENT COPPER: Playing a corrupt police chief in Montenegro, in Daniel Craig’s debut

HAVANA GOOD TIME: As General Chandler of the US Air Force – and also leaning against a car in Cuba

GOLDEN OLDIE: His first appearance was in the third movie, as a soldier during Auric Goldfinger’s attack on Fort Knox’s bullion reserves