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Sean Connery Born on August 25, 1930, for many Sean Connery was the best of all Bonds. I guess it's
understandable, since Connery was the first 007. But if you go back to those legendary
movies of his, something will immediately strike you. Most likely this would be the charm
that those old films possessed. Truthfully I don't know, or maybe I just don't care, if it
had anything to do with Sean Connery or not. But if it wasn't Connery, what other
explanation are you left with.
And we get back to the question of "best bond", personally, I still see a duel
in my head. The two men are Connery and Moore. What I don't see is which man misses, and
which man doesn't.
As screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz once said, "When Connery walks into a bar, you know he
could probably kill somebody if he had to. When Roger Moore walked into a bar, you knew he
would probably say something glib to get out of a situation."
Roger Moore Born on October 14, 1927. Moore was originally considered for the part of Bond during
the initial casting search in 1962. Unfortunately he had a contract with another studio,
and could not get out of it. But he was destined to return when Connery left the series,
after "Diamonds Are Forever".
Moore brought a new, fresher appearance to the character of Bond. He was an aristocrat who
could always crack a joke, or give a timely smile to one of his adversaries. But let us
refer to one more statement made by Tom Mankiewicz; "When Sean Connery used to walk
into a bar, our immediate feeling was 'uh oh, there's going to be trouble.' Sean can look
like a bastard, especially when he's angry.
"Roger on the other hand, looks like your typical nice-guy secret agent. There is no
way that he can look evil. He is much more the Etonian dropout that Fleming once conjured,
and in the Moore Bond films, we had to pay to those strengths. While Sean could just look
at somebody and they would back away, Roger has to come on with a line like, 'Excuse me,
haven't we met?'"
George Lazenby Born on September 5, 1939. Considered handsome by many, Lazenby replaced the
irreplaceable Sean Connery, but only appeared in one 007 movie. On Her Majesty's Secret
Service was actually Lazenby's first movie. Australian by birth, he made a few
commercials, and was eventually chosen to play the part of Bond, mostly because of his
ability to fight.
Later Lazenby admitted that the reason for him never returning to do more Bond films, was
that he was too young and arrogant at the time. In 1980, Lazenby said, "Right now I
could do it. I could sign a contract for seven years. In those days, I couldn't because I
was too immature for it. I felt as if I was doing them a favor. After all I used to think,
'I had a better life before I met you guys.' So I had this chip on my shoulder, and my
attitude was entirely wrong. I wasn't looking toward the future.
Timothy Dalton Born on March 21, 1946. In 1987 Dalton replaced the charming, sometimes too charming Roger Moore, as the new James Bond. The next two films took a very different approach to the character of Bond. Simply put, there were no more jokes. The new, revised Bond was much more hard edged than his predecessor ever was or wanted to be. In my opinion, Dalton was much more the Bond, Fleming wrote about, than Connery or Moore ever were. But, please, don't get me wrong, Fleming's Bond looked good on paper, but not on the screen. And although I liked The Living Daylights, I literally hated the second movie, the name of which I don't even want to recall, for the threat of bringing back some really bad memories. Bottom line is that Dalton was a great actor, just not the right Bond.
Pierce Brosnan
Born on May 16, 1952. Well, we have come to the fifth and last actor, who over the last 30+ years "tried" to portray the most eminent spy of all time, James Bond. As I am sure you all know, Pierce Brosnan signed a contract for three 007 films. Goldeneye, the first of three films, was at best a moderate one, but as I keep telling my friends, "An OK Bond film is better than no Bond film at all". I believe, that Brosnan did a fair job, probably to the best of his abilities. One might also consider the non Fleming like script on which the movie was based. I hope, no, no, I pray that given the chance of doing three films, Brosnan will grow into the part of James Bond.
