This week, the fictional British Secret Service agent, James Bond, code name 007, who has a licence to kill, is completing 50 years on silver screen. Sean Connery was the first James Bond who introduced the most popular dialogue of World Cinema, “The name’s Bond. James Bond”. Also, this month James Bond is returning with his 23rd film in the series ‘Skyfall’, featuring Daniel Craig in the lead role. Till now, six different men have performed the role of James Bond in 22 movies. So today we will see who exactly is this James Bond and why is he the most popular Secret Agent on Silver Screen.
James Bond is actually a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. However, there have been six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming’s death in 1964: Kingsley Amis, Christopher Wood, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks and Jeffery Deaver. The next Bond novel, written by William Boyd, is scheduled to be released in 2013.
The journey of James Bond in Hollywood started in 1962 with Dr. No, starring Sean Connery as Bond. At the time of its release, Sean Connery was a relatively unknown Scottish actor. However, later he became the most popular Bond of all time starring in seven of the 22 Bond films.
As of 2012, there have been twenty two films in the Eon Productions series. Bond movies are famous for its music and award winning theme songs. Other striking features of these films are Bond’s cars, his lady partners his guns and the gadgets he is supplied with by Q Branch.
| No. | Name | First film | Latest Eon film | No. of films | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Release date | Age | Title | Release date | Age | |||
| 1. | Sean Connery | Dr. No | 5 October 1962 | 32 | Diamonds Are Forever | 14 December 1971 | 41 | 6 |
| 2. | George Lazenby | On Her Majesty’s Secret Service | 12 December 1969 | 30 | On Her Majesty’s Secret Service | 12 December 1969 | 30 | 1 |
| 3. | Roger Moore | Live and Let Die | 27 June 1973 | 45 | A View to a Kill | 22 May 1985 | 57 | 7 |
| 4. | Timothy Dalton | The Living Daylights | 30 June 1987 | 41 | Licence to Kill | 14 July 1989 | 43 | 2 |
| 5. | Pierce Brosnan | GoldenEye | 17 November 1995 | 42 | Die Another Day | 20 November 2002 | 49 | 4 |
| 6. | Daniel Craig | Casino Royale | 17 November 2006 | 38 | Skyfall | 26 October 2012 | 44 | 3 |
List of Bond Movies ::
1 Dr. No 1962
2 From Russia with Love 1963
3 Goldfinger 1964
4 Thunderball 1965
5 You Only Live Twice 1967
6 On Her Majesty’s Secret Service 1969
7 Diamonds Are Forever 1971
8 Live and Let Die 1973
9 The Man with the Golden Gun 1974
10 The Spy Who Loved Me 1977
11 Moonraker 1979
12 For Your Eyes Only 1981
13 Octopussy 1983
14 A View to a Kill 1985
15 The Living Daylights 1987
16 Licence to Kill 1989
17 GoldenEye 1995
18 Tomorrow Never Dies 1997
19 The World Is Not Enough 1999
20 Die Another Day 2002
21 Casino Royale 2006
22 Quantum of Solace 2008
Dr. No was the first Bond film. Sean Connery was in the lead role. It was based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name. Terence Young directed the movie. It opened with mixed reviews but later on became a cult classic.
‘From Russia With Love’, was the second film in the James Bond series, again starring Sean Connery. The film cost twice as much as ‘Dr.No’ and was the most popular movie at the British box office in 1963.
Roger Moore starred as James Bond, and Barbara Bach as Major Anya Amasova, in the 1977 film, “The Spy Who Loved Me.” The film was tenth in the series and was highly acclaimed by critics.
“Tomorrow Never Dies” (1997) was the eighteenth film and opened the same day as Titanic which is perhaps why it was the only Pierce Brosnan Bond film not to open at number one at the box office.
Daniel Craig as James Bond in a scene from “Quantum of Solace” which opened to mixed reviews. It was not as impressive as Craig’s Bond debut ‘Casino Royale’.
Daniel Craig will again perform in the 23rd Bond movie “Skyfall”, which is due to have its premiere on 23 October 2012. Co-producer of the franchise, Barbara Broccoli said that the title “has some emotional context which will be revealed in the film”.