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The Best James Bond?

 



Well, this is sure to stir some controversy. Rank ordering my favorite actors who played James Bond. No mine fields to be had there.

People have very strong opinions about James Bond. Some don’t care for the character at all, but I suspect they won’t be reading this. Again, as I have said in other lists, this is my list. You don’t have to agree with it. And you probably won’t. You are entitled to your opinion. I am entitled to mine.  

I am first going to start by mentioning a few that don’t qualify for the list. Barry Nelson played the first Bond on screen: a television version of Casino Royale in 1954 on the Climax anthology series. I can’t say Barry Nelson would ever come to mind if I were casting James Bond. And this was before most people had ever heard of Bond. The second actor not on my list is David Niven who played Bond in . . . wait for it . . . Casino Royale. The 1967 movie with Peter Sellers. But this was a spoof so it doesn’t really count.  Now the count begins in earnest.

 #6 George Lazenby -- Look, somebody has to be last. Lazenby had the misfortune (or choice) to only be in one film, and it was one where the script was a bit all over the place. Had he the chance to play Bond in other movies, he might have grown into the part and into my affection, but as we only have the one, I must judge him on that one, and I simply like the other actors better.

 #5 Roger Moore – Roger Moore was the first Bond I ever saw at a movie theater. It was Live and Let Die, his first outing. I was a young teen and I thought it was great! The film alas, hasn’t aged well. And as Roger and I got older, I grew tired of his antics. The Moore films were played too much for laughs. For me, at times they were just silly. There are people who Love Moore, love his humor. To me, it just got old.

 #4 Sean Connery – This may shock some people that he is this low on my list. Many consider Connery to be the gold standard when it comes to Bond. And way back in the day, I really liked Connery. But Connery’s portrayal also has not aged well. Looking at the films with modern sensibilities, that Bond seems awfully kind of . . . rapey. Incidents that might have seemed funny in 1964 do not seem so funny today. That is not necessarily Connery’s fault. It may come down to the script and direction. Nonetheless, it does tarnish that portrayal. 

 #3 Pierce Brosnan -- Post Timothy Dalton, Brosnan finally got his chance to play Bond. He had been picked to play Bond after Roger Moore, but contractual obligations prevented that. Brosnan makes a perfectly serviceable Bond. More humor than Dalton, but not as silly as Moore.

 #2 Timothy Dalton – A lot of people did not like Dalton’s performance as Bond. I was not one of them. Anytime you change actors there will be some pushback. People used to one style of acting are put off by another. I really liked Dalton’s performances. I thought they made the most realistic Bond. Let’s face it, James Bond movies are not noted for their believability. But I felt Dalton was believable, and a breath of fresh air after Moore. Dalton was only in two Bond films. I would have liked to see him in more. In fact, he was my number one favorite Bond until . . .

 #1 Daniel Craig – I have to go with Craig for my number one. Even though he plays Bond as more of a loose cannon than most of the others. As I said with Connery, (and it is true for all of these actors) the things the characters were made to do were not necessarily the actors’ choices. Nonetheless, Craig pulled it off. There is a realism there and a grittiness to the character that pulled me in. I think the audience has more empathy with Craig than with the others. We always want James Bond to win, but with Daniel Craig it feels more personal.

Who knows what the future holds for the series, or if there even is a future. But I suspect Bond will return someday. Has the next actor even been born yet?

Star Liner

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