Lazenby is that man, and his performance is superb". Ben Macintyre also observed that of all the Bonds, Lazenby's characterisation was closest to that of Fleming's original literary character envisioned in the 1950s era of spy novels.
George Lazenby's James Bond Came Close to Fleming's Vision
The tragic On Her Majesty's Secret Service wouldn't have worked without anyone else in the role, and journalist Ben McIntyre argued that the actor came closest to embodying Fleming's take on Bond in his 2008 book For Your Eyes Only.
Thunderball / You Only Live Twice / On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The fourth film in the 007 series, Thunderball, actually stays pretty close to the book as well, echoing the first three films in that regard.
Fleming imagined someone like Richard Burton or David Niven as Bond, and even liked producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman's choice of Cary Grant. Although Connery won over Broccoli and Salzman through a disinterested interview with the producers, Fleming didn't agree.
Which Bond Actor is Closest to the Books? | Ranking James Bond Actors | Most Fleming 007
Who turned down the role of Dr. No.?
Fleming favoured either David Niven, Moore or his cousin, Christopher Lee, with his neighbour in Jamaica, Noel Coward, as Dr No, all of whom were deemed unsuitable for one reason or another. In fact Coward himself turned down the part, famously sending a telegraph to the producers which simply read: "Dr. No? No!
James Chapman also considered Dalton closer to Fleming's Bond than the previous actors, writing that Dalton was "clearly less comfortable ... with the witty asides and one-liners ... so he becomes something closer to the Bond of the books, who rarely develops a sense of humour".
With that in mind, Connery isn't our first choice (cue gnashing of teeth from hardcore fans), but he's an inescapable part of the franchise's legacy. The Scottish actor was the first Bond to take up the reins seriously and make the role his own. As the original, he is what many would see as the best Bond.
How many James Bond movies are based on Ian Fleming's books?
The first nine Bond films, from Dr. No through The Man with the Golden Gun, are based on Fleming's novels, with varying degrees of fidelity. The Spy Who Loved Me used the title of one of Fleming's novels, but was an original screenplay that had nothing to do with the plot of that book.
Many have speculated that Bond's creator, Ian Fleming, likely drew inspiration from more than one secret agent he learned of from his experience working with British naval intelligence. Potential real-life inspirations for Bond included World War II secret agent F.F.E. Yeo-Thomas and Serbian double agent Dusko Popov.
And what of my re-reading of Thunderball? Filmed in 1965 as the fourth Bond movie, and only four years after the publication of the book, and one year after the death of Ian Fleming himself, the plot of the book and the film are relatively close.
We are told that Bond had read John F. Kennedy's Profiles of Courage, some Raymond Chandler stories, some Eric Ambler thrillers, The Traveller's Tree: A Journey Through the Caribbean Islands by Patrick Leigh Fermor, plus some technical manuals on golf and card-playing.
GoldenEye. Goldeneye was the first movie in the James Bond franchise not to use any elements from Ian Fleming's stories -- aside from James Bond himself and his usual supporting cast, of course.
In terms of timespan, Daniel Craig is the longest-serving Bond of all time, with 15 years passing between his debut in Casino Royale (2006) and his swan song in No Time To Die (2021). But both Sean Connery and Roger Moore actually played the character in more films than Craig.
James Bond author Ian Fleming initially wanted David Niven to play his famed spy. And though Connery won the first film role, Fleming eventually got to see Niven play the part in the 1967 adaptation of Casino Royale. By contrast to his fellow Bonds, the late Niven was one of the older stars to become the spy.
Steve Wright is the leading Daniel Craig Lookalike. Not only does he look the part but he also plays the part with all the style and charisma that Bond is known for.
But this isn't actually true as both The Saint and the Bond film series started in 1962, so he couldn't have been inspired by Moore's performance there. He may have seen Moore in an early film/tv series but the only actor Fleming ever endorsed as Bond was David Niven.
In the films and novels, the 00 prefix indicates Bond's discretionary "licence to kill", in executing his duties. Bond's number—007—was assigned by Fleming in reference to one of British naval intelligence's key achievements of the First World War: the breaking of the German diplomatic code.
