MOVIES - Jan. 12, 1988

Step aside Timothy Dalton, there’s another James Bond afoot in the Far East: Pleasant Hill, Calif. businessman Ron Cohen. Cohen was in Beijing visiting his girlfriend last month when Chinese director Yu Xiaoyang asked him to portray the unflappable 007 in his film “The Green Jade Mah-Jongg.” Commercialization is the new trend in the Chinese film industry, Yu told Reuters, and the director is under pressure to make money with the film. Hence, the British agent’s appearance in an otherwise all-Chinese feature. Cohen, apparently unfazed, is back in Pleasant Hill selling electronic banking equipment.