Page 35 - Seniorstoday November 2021 Issue

not get enough of James Bond, and after
the author’s death, other novelists like
Sebastian Faulks and Anthony Horowitz
wrote Bond novels, and there were
innumerable spin-offs—TV shows, spoofs,
comics and video games. Not to mention
books, and memoirs written by various
people associated with the films.
Sean Connery became synonymous with James Bond
When the first Bond film was produced,
Fleming was alive and disapproved of the
choice of Sean Connery as the hero and the
actor was not terribly keen either. Fleming
is reported to have said, “He’s not what
I envisioned to be James Bond looks. I’m
looking for Commander Bond and not an
overgrown stunt-man.” He changed his
mind after the success of Dr. No (1962)
and even went to give his hero a Scottish
background like Connery in a subsequent
novel.
Director Terence Young gave an
“unrefined” (according to Fleming), a
stylish persona—reportedly showing him
how to walk, talk and eat, as the first Miss
Moneypenny, Lois Maxwell, commented.
Connery was an instant sex symbol after
playing Bond, and no matter what he did
later, after his seven Bond movies-- in the
mind of moviegoers he remained James
Bond.
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #29 | NOVEMBER 2021
The next actor to make Bond his calling
card was Roger Moore, who even titled
his autobiography My Word Is My Bond
(2008). Moore played the character
as a debonair charmer and said, “My
personality is different from previous
Bonds. I’m not that cold-blooded-killer
type. Which is why I play it mostly for
laughs.”
After a couple of films with Timothy
Dalton, Pierce Brosnan inherited the
role, and fitted the tuxedo, and tossed the
one-liner with aplomb. When he had had
enough, the hunt commenced for a new
Bond and Daniel Craig entered and the
backlash was vicious from those who still
held the first James Bond, Sean Connery,
as the ideal 007. After rejecting stars like
George Clooney and Hugh Jackman and
apparently 11 others, the producers picked
a reluctant Daniel Craig. Not only was he
the first blonde Bond, he was “short and
ugly” compared to the suave Roger Moore
and Pierce Brosnan who took over from
Connery, according to the haters ranting,
before the film even went into production.
Craig admitted in the documentary Being
James Bond (directed by Baillie Walsh) that
he did not have a “cool persona” and had till
then done “weird artsy movies.”
Then, a paparazzo who actually buried
himself in the sand overnight to get a shot
of the bare-chested Craig emerging from
the sea in tight swimming trunks, suddenly
Roger Moore – the ‘chocolate boy’ Bond
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