James Bond

James Bond (or 007) is a fictional British MI6 secret agent created by writer Ian Fleming. Beginning in 1952, Fleming wrote 12 James Bond novels and two collections of short stories until his death in 1964. Subsequent James Bond novels have been written by many writers, including Kingsley Amis.

James Bond is best known from the feature-length movies, and every year from 1962-1964 the top grossing movie was a James Bond film.^[1] Dr. No was the first of the James Bond film series produced by EON Productions and ranked #1 that year in revenue; it was an adaptation of Ian Fleming's sixth James Bond novel. James Bond films have always been somewhat epic in scope, featuring exotic locations, fast cars, beautiful women and elaborate stunts. Bond is also known for his heavy drinking and smoking, along with sexual encounters (Fleming himself was a heavy smoker, leading to his early death from heart disease). James Bond had many adversaries, including members of the Italian and Russian Mafias, Japanese Yakuza, Chinese Triad, Latin American drug cartels, and North Korean mobsters, or even corrupt spies, mad scientists and terrorist organizations. The most recent Bond film was No Time to Die (2021).

The current James Bond is Daniel Craig, who has taken the role back towards the more rugged character that Connery and Dalton brought to the screen, as opposed to the portrayal by Pierce Brosnan.

Movies[edit]

• Dr. No (1962)
• From Russia With Love (1963)
• Goldfinger (1964)
• Thunderball (1965)
• You Only Live Twice (1967)
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
• Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
• Live And Let Die (1973)
• The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)
• The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
• Moonraker (1979)
• For Your Eyes Only (1981)
• Octopussy (1983)
• A View To Kill (1985)
• The Living Daylights (1987)
• Licence To Kill (1989)
• GoldenEye (1995)
• Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
• The World Is Not Enough (1999)
• Die Another Day (2002)
• Casino Royale (2006)
• Quantum of Solace (2008)
• Skyfall (2012)
• Spectre (2015)
• No Time to Die (2021)

Due to a copyright dispute over Thunderball, in 1983 another studio did a movie with the same plot titled Never Say Never Again, starring Connery.

Novels[edit]

Ian Fleming[edit]

• Casino Royale (1953)
• Live and Let Die (1954)
• Moonraker (1955)
• Diamonds are Forever (1956)
• From Russia With Love (1957)
• Dr No (1958)
• Goldfinger (1959)
• For Your Eyes Only (1960)
• Thunderball (1961)
• The Spy Who Loved Me (1962)
• On Her Majesties Secret Service (1963)
• You Only Live Twice (1964)
• The Man With the Golden Gun (1965)
• Octopussy and the Living Daylights (1966) ^[2]

Actors[edit]

As of 2017, James Bond has been played by six different actors

• Sean Connery (1962-1967, 1971, 1983)
• George Lazenby (1969)
• Roger Moore (1973-1985)
• Timothy Dalton (1987-1989)
• Pierce Brosnan (1995-2002)
• Daniel Craig (2006–2021)

Roger Moore has played the role the longest, with a total of seven consecutive appearances. George Lazenby has the least, appearing in only one film.

References[edit]