No character in movie history has an introduction as famous as James Bond, British secret agent 007, the most successful and enduring screen spy ever created.
2003 marked the 40th Anniversary of the world's most famous secret agent on the cinema screen. In the spy mania days of the 1960s no one could have predicted that James Bond would have survived this long. James Bond survived the shock that Sean Connery was leaving the role, the end of the Cold War, the changing periods and political correctness of modern times, to name a few.
Critics exclaimed that with the departure of Sean Connery, James Bond would fall apart. George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig would in no uncertain terms prove that James Bond had not fallen by the way side; he was perhaps stronger than ever. While some would consider the personification of such an important role given to multiple actors impossible, James Bond has thrived on its portrayal by different actors. Each actor has given the character its own unique characteristics adding spice and originally whenever the series was in peril of becoming outdated.
Sean Connery
While governments have come and gone, world leaders have stepped into the spotlight and have later faded away - Bond remains. Yes, six actors have played the part of James Bond but the man himself continues; ageless, unstoppable and forever remains a classic. James Bond should be drawing his pension by now, but he will always remain ageless in his thirties or forties, on Her Majesty's secret service, being a hero, saving the world once more.
The James Bond character was created in 1952 by writer Ian Fleming, featured in twelve novels, two anthologies, and a film series. After Fleming's death in 1964, subsequent James Bond novels were written by Kingsley Amis (as Robert Markham), John Pearson, John Gardner, and Raymond Benson.
Initially famed through the best-selling novels, James Bond is best known from the EON Productions film series, twenty-one of which have been made as of 2007. In addition there have been two independent feature productions (a 1967 spoof and 1983's Never Say Never Again) and one Fleming-licenced American television adaptation of the first novel, aired in 1954. The EON Productions films are generally described as the "official" films originating with the purchase of the James Bond film rights by eventual producer Harry Saltzman in the late 1950s when Bond was a popular novel series.
The pick of the James Bond websites
Pierce Brosnan
