A FORMER film driver who took the wheel of James Bond’s Aston Martin and one of the Minis in The Italian Job has died aged 85.

Dennis Ison went from delivering telegrams to driving for some of the biggest films and television series of their day.

His son-in-law Paul Carpenter said: “He got a job with the Post Office as a telegram delivery boy on a motorcycle. He was delivering a telegram or something to Elstree Studios and a member of staff there asked him if he could ride any kind of motorcycle.

“Dennis said yes and he went back in the evening to ride a different motorcycle – and that’s how it all started.”

Dennis drove a lorry in the 1957 epic Bridge on the River Kwai. In the 1958 TV series The Invisible Man, Dennis drove while lying down, so it would seem the invisible man was driving. Paul said he terrified actress Adrienne Corri when it looked as though he would drive the car off Beachy Head.

He worked alongside John Mills and daughter Hayley in the 1959 thriller Tiger Bay – in which he can be clearly seen on screen at one point.

He worked on the first Bond film, Dr No, and drove the famous Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger.

In the 1969 heist film The Italian Job, he drove a white Mini – one of three which travel down steps and through shopping arcades during a robbery getaway in Turin.

Paul remembered him saying “When we go down the steps, I’m the end one – I go a little bit fast and take off.”

Paul said Dennis resembled The Italian Job’s star Michael Caine when he was young and was sometimes used as a stand-in.

Dennis was married to Sheila for more than 60 years. He left the film business when the pair moved to Dorset to raise a family, living in Wimborne and later Broadstone.

He travelled the world as a troubleshooter for the paint spray technology company DeVilbiss in Wallisdown. When he retired, the company presented him with a golden spray gun.

Daughter Claire Carpenter said he would watch his films on video but didn’t boast about his career. “He was a humble man. He didn’t brag about it a lot. He just loved driving,” she said.

“He had a great sense of humour. He was a wonderful, silly, quite emotional man, very funny and a very hard worker, a bit of a workaholic.

“He didn’t really like retirement so took up golf and loved that and did some consultancy for a few years.”

Dennis, who supported Crystal Palace in his London days, regularly took daughter Karen to watch AFC Bournemouth when she was young.

He leaves behind Sheila, their two daughters, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

His funeral is on Monday, January 22, 1pm, at Bournemouth Crematorium, followed by a reception at AFC Bournemouth’s Bubbles bar.