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Now that we have yet another Bond film in the theaters I think it might be topical to take a look at the various actors who have played the role and rate them according to our own preferences.Here's the list in chronological order:
Daniel Craig...most recent and current James Bond actor. (4 films so far)
Pierce Brosnan.... (4 films)
Timothy Dalton.....(2 films)
Roger Moore.......(7 films)
George Lazenby.....(1 film)
Sean Connery.....(6 films (EON) plus 1 film NON EON..)
David Niven.....(1 film NON EON)One TV adaptation 1954 of Casino Royale staring Barry Nelson
I thought the TV adaptation was forgettable and did not properly serve the plot of Flemming's novel, Casino Royale. So I would not include Nelson in the comparison.
David Niven's retired Bond character in the 1967 movie Casino Royale was not produced by EON and might be excluded by some afficionados. I enjoyed that movie on the whole, finding its tongue-in-cheek humor to be quite satisfactory. But this is not the 'licensed to kill' Bond character one thinks of when considering the genre.
The 7th Bond film by Connery, Never Say Never Again, was not an EON production. Yet,I found it to be entirely enjoyable and worthy of inclusion.
Disclaimers over?
From worst to best:
Roger Moore: Number #1, the absolute worst James Bond actor. why? The actor just seems a bit too limp-wristed. His flamboyant aristocratic demeanor takes on too many airs and reminds one of a handkerchief-waving, white-powdered-wig-wearing, -FOP- from the Baroque era. (late 1600 - early 1700's)All that said, he was in some very good productions. Perhaps the best was his first, Live and Let Die. So we watch those movies in spite of Roger Moore. The movie being better than its lead actor.
George Lazenby: Second from being the absolute worst Bond actor. (On Her Majesty's Secret Service)
Lazenby's only real flaw was his apparent lack in acting skill. The female lead in this movie; an attractive and beguiling Diana Rigg, also falls short in acting skills. These flaws were enough to distract me from the movie. Some Disappointment. But the production was excellent, as usual in an EON production.David Niven: 3rd from being the worst.
Not because I dislike the actor, actually I do enjoy seeing Niven up on the big screen. It is just that his personification of the role turned the movie into a comedic romp, rather than the 'licensed to kill' role we expect to find. Not his fault, just the production and writing of it.Timothy Dalton: 4th from being the worst.
I enjoyed the two films Dalton was in. Both were entertaining in the way one expects. And I can't really fault Dalton's personification of the character. It is just that there were other actors to consider.Pierce Brosnan: 5th from being the worst.
I found Brosnan's revival of the role in Golden-Eye to be quite a welcome change from the Dalton films. Brosnan's Bond seemed to be a leaner-quicker version of the role. What he lacked in body mass he made up for with speed and technique in all of the action scenes. This is important. His was a very good Bond, I thought.
Connery / Craig. 6th or 7th from worst, take your pick. Craig is the more athletic and serious special-ops contender,
Connery's character is more laid back, prone to pun-ish quips and an outlook that sees the irony in life, comments on it, and enjoys the lady villains like a tomcat with a never ending lust for available pussy. Like many actors of his era, his stunt work looks bit more campy and contrived as opposed the the realism seen in the stunt-work of Brosnan or Craig.
It is a tough call for me, but I do consider that Daniel Craig, in his own style is at least the equal of Sean Connery's Bond. And I make this claim not yet having seen Craig's 4th outing. .....Soon to be remedied.
So, who is your worst and best Bond actor?
-Steve
Edits: 11/08/15Follow Ups:
Now that I have a DVR 1/2 full of 007 movies, I've been watching one or two per week.
Last night it was "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". I enjoyed this movie more than I had remembered from previous viewings long ago. Acting on the part of Lazenby and Rigg was better than I remembered.
I think the Blowfeldt character in this movie was mis-cast. Telly Savalas with his strong New York accent, does have a commanding presence up on the screen....., just not the right presence for arch-villain Blowfeldt.
This movie is from the Fleming novel and likely deserves more respect than I gave it in my opening post.
As to Lazenby, I am tempted to rank him higher than Dalton simply because Lazenby did pull off the suave debonaire thing.
The appropriate thing is to compare Lazenby to Connery in terms of just 'being' Bond. Maybe George did not get by with the same matter-of-fact naturalness of bearing as did Connery. All dressed up in a tux, lazenby appeared somewhat overdressed for the occasions much of the time, but it was kinda working for him. I'd call it a draw when comparing Connery's and Lazenby's fight sequences. Either actor, not real atheletes or martial arts practitioners, seemed to manage to get through the action scenes. About average for stunt work of that period in movie making.
As to the Bond Girls, I'll need to place Dianna Rigg higher up the rung. She played the Contessa with grace.
-Steve
There are a few different channels (cable) now showing films from the extensive Bond catalog.
At this time EPIX has been showing the entire catalog of films. I've used my DVR to record several of them.
For instance, it was interesting to watch, first, Thunderball, last night. Then follow that one up with "Never Say Never Again". It becomes obvious that the second film was a remake of Thunderball. Same plot points, different details. Both good films. In this sequence it was easy for me to see,however, that I liked Thunderball better than its remake.
As it is, TV is going to go flat during the latter parts of December. It would be beneficial to have a number of these films being stored on DVR's for those evenings when there is nothing 'good' on TV.
-Steve
except the original Casino Royal, which hardly counts!
Prime, Netflix, HBO..
All the crap they offer, you'd think they could afford a couple 007's!
FAILURE!
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
Epix is a good service to subscribe to....until you've seen from it all you want to view. On my account it isn't much of a fee.
-Steve
AA
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
Is it possible that Moore's appearance in this film did as much to corrupt his image as 007 as did any of his actual 007 movies?
Above photo: Moore's character is pointing a gun at his rich mother.
character: Seymore Goldfarb Jr. who perpetually identifies self as actor Roger Moore and drives an Aston Martin DB-5 with all the 007 toys. Behaves like Bond,...except always embarrasses self.
scene: DB-5 in the race goes down wrong side of road with smoke pouring out the cabin.
-Steve
And you know who it is.
"To Learn Who Rules Over You, Simply Find Out Who You Are Not Allowed to Criticize."
-Voltaire
Sean Connery - simply put, he's the Gold Standard
Roger Moore - give him some credit, he had some awful big shoes to fill. I thought he did a pretty good job in the beginning and blame the ever increasingly sappy plots he had to work with (I mean 'Octopussy' come on!!!)
Timothy Dalton - imo the most underrated of all Bond actors. Another suffering from 'less than' plots ('The Living Daylights' was not totally bad).
George Lazenby - a little stiff but he did a good job.
Daniel Craig - sorry his persona just doesn't say Bond to me. Maybe if he were playing a British detective or bounty hunter. Maybe.
Pierce Brosnan - needed to hit the gym and put on about 25 lbs. of muscle.
David Niven - not Bond.
I think the problem with any of these rankings is that you have to consider the time they were made and determine how each might do outside of their particular era.
The current Bond films are made in a sense to meet the demand of current films in terms of the raw more realistic violence. I really enjoyed Casino Royale (Craig version) because of that realism. But at the same time after watching the current (and flat) Spectre - I also miss the one liners, the larger then life (to outrageous and ridiculous villains) and the "oooh James" moments.
Roger Moore playing it tongue in cheek and to be fair he kept the franchise going because of his wink wink to the audience. The Spy Who Loved Me was pretty smart - had all the gadgets, the one liners, Jaws, and a pretty good Bond Song to boot. I agree with you that Moore isn't the greatest actor but honestly James Bond doesn;t exactly require the greatest actor - hence why Lazenby's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" usually ranks as one of the best 3 Bond films in polls - proving that the actor playing the role isn't important in the least.
I don't therefore have a particular preference - I would probably Rank the actors somewhat the way I would rank the films. I would probably rank Connery first - Perhaps Craig second although Dalton's License to Kill was one of the better Bong films and again - he played the role similar to Craig but Dalton played it at a time where that sort of thing didn't go down with audiences the same way. If you took Dalton out of his time period - dropped him into the 4 Craig movies - I suspect people would be raving about his toughness and serious version. Dalton is a fine underrated actor in the UK with a commanding presence.
And that's the other thing - the guy only had two films - the Living Daylights was a complete pile of poo. So it's awfully hard to tell with such a small body of work when the writing in one of them was truly abysmal and the budget in his other film seemed a little low in the other to really get a sense. But I preferred him to Brosnan.
I think Connery captured the right blend of killer with enough of a light touch. Moore was bordering on stand up comic (but to be fair that is direction and writing more than the actor).
Dalton/Craig to me are about the same in steely eye but too little humour.
Lazenby was atrocious but perhaps in the best written story of the lot (too bad it was wasted on Lazenby!!!)
I refuse to rank the others - those films IMO don't count and don't deserve to be in the rankings
suave.
"Shaken, not stirred"
He pulled off the suave thing better than the rest and that became an important aspect of the
Bond persona, ESPECIALLY here in the U.S.
It was a natural fit for Connery.
Moore was too much a smart ass to do suave well.
Dalton did it pretty well, Brosnan a bit less.
Craig wears a tux well, but suave he's not. "Shaken, not stirred" from him is an ORDER.
As far as some comments regarding Craig's "black ops killer" persona, that's a VERY
21st Century aspect of the character's development for the contemporary audience.
Sean Connery showed more than enough of the cold 007 worthy killer in "From Russia With Love".
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
The plus one can serve as a "like" or "agree".
Good points.
The films were created for the audiences of their respective times.
Should be noted.
I could also add that action sequences are carried out with greater capability in today's films. Partly this is due to the stunt actors and their skills of today. Partly this is enhanced with computer generated imagery and animation. And also camera technology and camera handling techniques have improved over the years.
Then, as you note, audiences have a greater tolerance for blood-letting on the big screen than in years past. Realism is appreciated more so than ever.
Brosnan and Craig have been playing to a difference audience, largely, and with the benefit of all the technology advances noted above.
-Steve
Good comments.
I like that suggestion.
Cheers
Bill
I have only two favorites: (1) Sean Connery and (2) Sean Connery.
Sean Connery kinda owns Bond IMO.
Craig is not half bad.
;-)
...He's great, but he's too thuggish to be a cinematic Bond. Connery was the maker and breaker of the mold. Now, Craig would have made a superb adversary (a la Robert Shaw) to a Connery Bond. How about that? As a kid, in my eyes-when Connery won the day at the end of his early episodes as the master spy-He was the embodiment of a film hero. Craig may have been able to kick Connery's ass, but he couldn't carry his jockstrap (tip of the the cap to Larry Holmes).
...Sean Connery - far above the others.
Pierce Brosnan
Daniel Craig
Roger Moore
Timothy Dalton
George Lazenby
David Niven
Craig looks like a "Rat Face", he is just not suave and debonair like Connery or Brosnan. He is NOT James Bond.
Connery
Craig
Lazenby
Dalton
Moore
Brosnan
With Connery, for me, the best by a lot.
-Wendell
but far more time consuming.
Bond, JAMES Bond...
Sean Connery for the same reason the Aston Martin DB5 is the ultimate, classic Bond Car.
He remains the definition of James Bond.
A 12 year old friend is a serious Bond film fan - seen them all.
Connery is also his fave.
SO, it's NOT just an old guy generational thing.
(BTW, he's just started reading The Fleming Bonds - LOVES them!)
Daniel Craig wouldn't have cut it in the pre-post ironic age that he cuts it so well in.
He's superb as the adult, contemporary, post 9-11 James Bond.
Pierce Brosnan - Damn good, but he's damn good in all his roles!
Timothy Dalton played James Bond?!?
Roger Moore sucked. He was an OK Saint. He's a TERRIBLE actor who does Roger Moore pretty well.
George Lazenby will always be known as the only one hit wonder in Bondom.
He made the cover of later editions of OHMSS paperbacks!
David Niven was PERFECT in the role in THAT version.
Extrapolate from there.
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
...I think it was the first time I felt a testosterone spike in a movie theater. I flipped my wig! I think Jane Fonda in the title sequence of "Barberella," had a similar effect.
really, really sexy and vivacious in that movie.
My pick, anyway.
-Steve
Edits: 11/08/15
For me Sean Connery is the only Bond. And M cannot be a woman. And the way Connery says My name is Bond, James BOND, is classy.
All others look like the CIA types in the TV shows.
Bill
From best to worst ...
Sean Connery
Daniel Craig
Pierce Brosnan
Roger Moore
Timothy Dalton
George Lazenby
David Niven
For me, Connery vs. Craig is a toss up. Connery defined the role and Craig best lived up to it.
Like you, I enjoy Live and Let Die ...perhaps a bit to comedic for a Bond film though.
There has been a lot of talk lately about who will be the next Bond. Has Craig said he is done? I hope not.
Dean.
reelsmith's axiom: Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.
But I'd rate Roger Moore at the bottom of the list. His portrayal was too clownish.
Too much British "stiff upper lip", by the book protocols, and cute, witty "tea and crumpets" dialogue detracts from the purpose of this character. In that regard, Craig surpasses Connery and Brosnan. Moore had the above traits in spades, so pulls up the rear as worst. The others somewhere in between.
Time to consider the next Bond, as Craig is considering pulling the plug. I read one review that said he appeared tired of his character in Spectre. I nominate Tom Hardy for the next man.
Except to me Connery is no question as #1, Craig #2.
#3 & 4 are almost interchangeable. After that I agree again.
Craig for me. A no bullshit killer. Only golf is missing from his dossier.
---
James Bond
'Name: Bond, James. Height: 183cm, weight: 76 kilograms; slim build; eyes: blue; hair: black; scar down right cheek and on left shoulder; signs of plastic surgery on back of right hand; all-round athlete; expert pistol shot, boxer, knife-thrower; does not use disguises. Languages: French and German. Smokes heavily (NB: special cigarettes with three gold bands); vices: drink, but not to excess, and women. Not thought to accept bribes.'
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