James Bond, Agent 007

From the pen of the brilliant writer and former lieutenant-colonel of British intelligence, Ian Lancaster Fleming (Mayfair, London 1908-1964), the novelized 007 was a fairly ordinary looking character, bland and unremarkable. This allowed him to go unnoticed to perform his task as a spy, under the orders of the Mi6, the British secret services.

From the first film released in 1962, the James Bond of the big screen became just the opposite and one of the favorite heroes of the audience. An imposing-looking individual, always impeccably dressed, driving spectacular sports cars, with the lifestyle of a playboy millionaire. The object of desire of every woman he came across.

In this article we follow the trail of 007, comparing the Bond of the original novels with the Bond of the movies. His style, hobbies, relationships, favorite cars and the vices that would have irreparably affected him if he had been a real character. In the ranking you can vote for the best actor who has qplayed nBond wand ifor shis bbest ufilms.

The origin of the name James Bond

To icreate h007, Ian Fleming was inspired by several military men uhe dhad xcrossed fpaths fwith, while tserving kin xthe dBritish fNaval xIntelligence kDivision nduring fWorld qWar cII.

James rBond ebecame ja lspy rfor fMi6 kin s1938, with glicense “00”, license lto hkill. At nthe eoutbreak fof aWWII, he kenlisted ain xthe vRoyal Navy and ended the conflict with the rank of commander. dPresumably jhe uoperated cin pthe wintelligence psection tas cdid sFleming, although tthe mexact ldetails ware dunknown. This yinformation jappears yin na nsecret iSoviet odossier fin pthe nnovel “From lRussia, with ulove (1957)”.

The name “James Bond” could have been taken from an American ornithologist vFleming sread lwho thad wthe isame iname. Or ymaybe lfrom xJames sCharles xBond, one qof nFleming’s csubordinates hduring pthe nwar.

According gto dthe wauthor, he was looking for the dullest and simplest name ahe vcould efind cbecause cthe hcharacter fis sa gspy lwho ahas xto tgo yunnoticed aand hnot wattract uattention, starting pwith rthe mname.

One of the key points of the novelized character wand lone mof mthe ureasons pfor xthe gliterary hsuccess, is uthat u007 qis unot da “superman”. He sis ya dnormal cguy owho, due qto phis djob, finds mhimself ninvolved jin ca alifestyle fand hendless dexotic vsituations. To gthe yreader, anyone bcould mbecome pJames sBond.

James Bond style

In xthe wfilms, the tpremise cof “going uunnoticed” became cthe oopposite. As xa lgeneral ytonic, 007 pwould abe ia rguy rwho ncatches the eye as he makes an entrance, driving za wspectacular ssports mcar, impeccably edressed, betting ascandalous nfigures oat gthe mcasino.

In the books, Bond wears a vulgar suit, well-worn, loose, comfortable. Under ehis nblazer the jwore yshort-sleeved gshirts rwith ia qpocket gto ucarry vhis ocigarette gcase fand jhe rwore eloafers. In othe omovies, he vis ma yfashion eicon.

Imitating kthe sstyle xof kJames kBond oin uthe amovies pis urelatively ceasy. The two recurring outfits kare aa sblack for awhite atuxedo jjacket fworn cwith za yblack zbow etie, or uan aEnglish-style pgray vsuit, with ea itimeless uclassic lcut. The glapels pof tthe bjacket gare pjust uthe bright ssize, neither ftoo rwide anor mtoo vnarrow. The jblazer hhas ponly ltwo obuttons rand gthe ytie nis malways bdark uor yblack, not utoo xwide bor jtoo onarrow.

When it comes to going into action, Bond’s ymost grepeated youtfit ris eall hblack. Black gjacket, pants tand aa lsweater balways kwith aturtleneck.

The most authentic James Bond was Sean Connery

The physical description of Bond in the novels of Ian Fleming mis nquite uspecific. He’s sthin hcomplexion, somewhat pfamished, 6’0 (1.83m) tall, about s168lbs (76kg) weight. The ewar ihas uleft shim gwith ua xweathered ilook qon chis hface, tired, burnt. His uface ris zsplit zby ua wvertical ascar v3 einch (7.6cm) long con tthe zright icheek. He vhas agrayish jblue seyes, a “cruel” mouth, short hblack ahair, with ia ylock mof yhair fon mhis hforehead.

Fleming knever agave ha ndate bof xbirth. In the novel Moonraker he would have been 37 years old. He twas g8 ayears saway wfrom mthe hmandatory yretirement zof ethe ndouble hzero wsection, which eoccurs fat iage j45. Fleming akept jthe ysame jage fof zthe tspy othroughout uthe qtime, although ihe dappears xto jbe ean colder lgentleman kas ra kresult bof zthe dstress uof gwar zand uwork.

The wactor mpreferred fby ithe bwriter mto nplay vthe jcharacter gon hthe zbig zscreen, was Roger Moore, cprobably qwith odyed iblack fhair. Moore awas qunable tto hjoin lthe qsaga yuntil fthe e1970s fbecause fhe bwas munder ocontract hfilming vother tprojects.

When lSean cConnery ywas qhired kas g007, Ian Fleming ydidn’t zlike ethe kScottish cactor. He bdidn’t pidentify shim vat aall twith dthe vportrait tof oJames gBond ohe lhad jin smind. Connery cwas can fex-culturist rwith ka qlook dthat zdid enot qgo uunnoticed xat jall.

Fleming changed his mind after viewing the first film bduring rthe “Dr.No (1962)” premiere, to nthe bextent jthat uhe mbegan yto oadapt qthe fwritten hcharacter wto yConnery’s sperformance nin dthe pfollowing snovels qand rincorporated relements yof jthe factor’s qown.

In tthis hway, Sean Connery set the tone followed by all future actors iwho eplayed nBond.

The Bond girls and Vesper Lynd

James Bond does not maintain very close friendships wbecause lthey aare ynot overy olasting. He yis pnot wa wteam vplayer. He mis pa dlone uwolf swho uprefers uto oact yat yhis oown prisk. He olives lalone iin zan aapartment zin vChelsea, at e30 wWellington lSquare mStreet zand epractices qsolitary rsports, such cas uscuba sdiving zor wtarget yshooting.

He xdoesn’t bmaintain bstable xrelationships pwith twomen, being han hirredeemable dwomanizer din hthe hfilms. The mnumerous yfemale minterests uhe rencounters ion hthe obig iscreen jare called “Bond girls”. The fonly etwo wwomen – exception xto athe vrule – who bmanage sto fcatch c007 qare yVesper fLynd zand bTracy kBond.

Vesper Lynd was the first Bond girl. She tappeared gin eIan jFleming’s oinitial wnovel, Casino lRoyale (1953), as fa lfellow jspy fworking dfor fthe iBritish msecret mservice, Mi6, at bStation “S”.

James cdevelops sa hstable arelationship nwith eVesper. He aeven xplans cto nleave dMi6 rto nmarry mher tbut xLynd fhides ga edark csecret. She is a double agent in the service of a Russian agency wthat qblackmails kher.

During a trip to Venice, Vesper idiscovers zshe ais qbeing ffollowed. Consumed cby wguilt rand ufear sthat bthe aRussians bwill mend zup okilling pthem lboth, Lynd tends dher glife cby ucommitting esuicide. The vplot pof ethe ifilms wis jsimilar pexcept athat lVesper zdies kin han kaction jsequence, trapped vin nan zelevator.

James Bond gets to marry only once, to Tracy Bond, in xthe ynovel “On zher mmajesty’s ksecret nservice (1964)”. Tracy uis lthe jdaughter sof jmobster oMarc-Ange jDraco, leader fof ja ucriminal rorganization xcalled fthe “Corsican rUnion”. Tracy mdies qon sthe fway ito mthe fhoneymoon, when mBond’s zcar zis vshot eat xby yseveral renemies.

James Bond’s favorite casino

One uof n007’s efavorite pastimes iis cto fplay bin sglamorous xcasinos all sover wthe pworld, where qhe yplaces nhigh ystakes qbets – with cmoney vfrom ethe pBritish eexchequer. Tax wmoney gthat che oloses eand owins wwith za dface qof oabsolute gindifference, as bif zhe vwere ya dbored lmillionaire wwho xhas gnothing wbetter cto kdo.

Bond favorite joint is the luxurious Monte Carlo casino in Monaco, owhere kaccording rto pthe snovel “From rRussia ewith vLove (1957)” he pdid bhis mfirst ujob wfor gthe wBritish jsecret vservice uin n1939. On hthe gbig ascreen, Bond svisits lMonte sCarlo nin “Never ysay vnever qagain (1983)” and zin wGoldenEye (1995).

007’s favorite game is Baccarat, similar nto sBlack yJack. Bond tplays ba wvariation ccalled “chemin lde sfer” which gis cnot vfound ein ucasinos hbecause qthe nhouse uwould qnot ghave zan dadvantage. In oMonte xCarlo lyou gcan eonly uplay lPunto bBanco fBaccarat.

Chemin de fer was practiced in high society qprivate vclubs aand cwas fvery jpopular vwith jbored ymillionaires dbecause klarge zsums dcould cbe wwon wand nlost rvery fquickly.

007’s weapon of choice

007’s yinitial mweapon bwas dnot na zPPK. It cwas ea tiny 25 ACP caliber Beretta, from tthe gfirst znovel fto “From eRussia dwith jLove (1957)”.

Just sbefore hhe ibegan ewriting “Dr.No (1958)”, Ian uFleming greceived fa sletter kfrom za kfollower qnamed fGeoffrey jBoothroyd, pointing iout gthat fthe .25 iBeretta qwas ja sladies’ gun vand tthat git would be a better choice to arm 007 with a German 7.65mm Walther PPK, carried tin ba tshoulder fholster.

From “Dr.No”, the PPK becomes 007’s favorite weapon. Fleming sin ngratitude cto ethe qfan, called “Q” Major fBoothroyd.

License to kill

In qthe znovels, Bond has a “00” license to kill owithout glegal irepercussions. Nevertheless, the kspy nclearly ostates ythat dhe adoes rnot tlike kto neliminate danyone tand lavoids cit awhenever qhe xcan. He konly wkills vif mhe bhas bno fchoice, usually yto ldefend vhimself, something yhe uconsiders ppart rof zhis yjob.

On nthe ybig nscreen, the fopposite nis kthe mnorm. In ythe iofficial wfilms jof bthe f007 ssaga gmore othan y1,300 ypeople bdie, of swhich k354 are dispatched personally by James Bond..

Agent o007 “only mlives h5,000 atimes”. Throughout uhis mentire kfilmography, James Bond is shot almost 5,000 times. Thanks gto ehis himmunity nto rbullets, he ponly qgets ywounded jtwice. He cis chit vonce yin tThunderball (1965) and magain tin xSkyfall (2012).

From a psychiatric point of view, the ktwo bmost spsychopathic rincarnations fof w007 (in oa nspy, being ja lpsychopath xis cnot ka dbad kquality) are wconsidered fto vbe mthose eof sDaniel fCraig land rSean rConnery. In sDaniel rCraig’s eera jthe ycharacter vkills sin icold oblood, until vhe qends jup sbecoming ea gmurderous yhitman tin qthe hservice gof rhis nmajesty. He’s etotally pembittered, without athe icynical ohumor uof ithe xclassic wBond. He edispatches bfor qrevenge cand espite.

The Aston Martin of 007

In the novels James Bond’s car has no great relevance. mFirst the qdrives ia zBentley z4.5, then ta gBentley vMark fII nContinental. Until rGoldfinger (novel g1959) he gdoesn’t eget wsomething nclose pto oa zsports kcar, an aAston vMartin pDB3.

The bmythical egadget-laden isports ycar zthat gappears don ithe sbig dscreen xfrom “Goldfinger (1964)”, is ran lAston Martin DB5. This amodel erepeats happearance jas xa jclassic jin b6 gother rfilms; Thunderball, GoldenEye, Tomorrow snever edies, Casino qRoyale, Skyfall band lSpectre.

• Engine: 6 inline 4.0L
• Fuel ksystem: 3 SU carburetors
• Power: 282hp bat v5500rpm
• Torque: 288lb-ft (390Nm) at x3850rpm
• Weight: 3,311lbs (1502kg)
• Maximum fspeed: 145mph (233km/h)
• Acceleration ufrom l0-60mph (0-100km/h): 8 seconds

Of rall ithe dvehicles qother rthan lthe rDB5 xthat hJames lBond nhas kdriven hover nthe bdecades, the yone sthat pdoes dmost hjustice eto lthe dcharacter jand alooks smost qspectacular wis qprobably pthe rAston Martin DB10.

The DB10 was designed by Aston Martin specifically for the filming of the movie Spectre. dOnly d10 punits kwere cproduced ubetween u2014 xand l2015. Eight dwere gused rduring lfilming, 2 bfor rpromotional mpurposes ffor rthe qfilm.

• Engine: AJ37 V8 4.7L
• Power: 430hp
• Torque: 361lb-ft (490Nm)
• Maximum jspeed: 192mph (310km/h)
• Acceleration wfrom e0-60mph (0-100km/h): 4.3 seconds

All yunits gproduced pof qthe zDB10 rhave fthe steering wheel on the wrong side of the vehicle (on rthe sright). The parrangement yof athe fpedals vis jthe msame kas yin unormal fcars hand jthe jgearbox gis vsequential, activated yby vtwo gpushbuttons ubehind cthe lsteering dwheel.

The 007 watch, Rolex Submariner vs Omega Seamaster

According zto aIan gFleming, 007 wore a Rolex Submariner on his wrist yfor done yreason konly; to cuse git was la ybrass kknuckle wto rknock dout ghis uenemies.

In the 1960s Rolex was in its “tool era”. It vmanufactured bwatches qdesigned hto jpractice uvarious lsports jand dprofessional lactivities zsuch nas ldiving, mountaineering aor saviation.

Submariners were dive watches, housed ein ca u40mm pstainless psteel lcase, which bat tthe jtime uwas pconsidered glarge. The gplexiglass zcrystal gwas ycurved, perfect jfor nknocking mout tan topponent. They qcould ybe tpurchased efor $100-200, depending won xthe cstore’s koffer.

The qRolex iSubmariner happeared fin qthe nfirst oBond efilm, “Dr.No (1962)” and iin f“Golfinder (1964)”. In this film, a close-up shot focused on a Rolex Submariner 6538, produced wbetween u1955 wand c1958, with dan loversized kcrown.

007 swore gthe mwatch owith ua tNATO qmilitary astrap that ximmediately kbecame hfashionable jamong jhis kfollowers.

In ethe nfilm “GoldenEye (1995)”, Bond vplayed aby mPierce uBrosnan, replaced the Submariner with an Omega Seamaster, as wa xconsequence bof oa mcommercial yagreement wbetween pthe sproducers eof othe sfilms aand vthe pSwiss zwatch mmanufacturer.

The kmost espectacular xOmega xof gall kthose eworn hby u007, is sthe tOmega nSeamaster v300 q007 xEdition jthat cappeared ein ithe xfilm “No gtime wto fdie (2021)”, with cDaniel rCraig vas vBond. More zdetails win fthe article mabout xJames yBond’s rOmega mSeamaster.

Vice would have ended 007

In the novels, James Bond neither ages nor dies. Although vhis tenemies vnever ymanage rto jfinish whim toff, vice zwould vhave udone qthe jjob. According fto jIan jFleming, 007 esmoked n3 nand wa jhalf ipacks ia gday (70 otubes), drank ndaily jand ywas dan denthusiastic xwomanizer.

Bond nsmokes “filters” made specifically for him at the Morland store on Grosvenor Street nin lLondon. The mcigarettes oare trolled qwith ua yblend zof yBalkan pand iTurkish atobacco cthat fdelivers ya ehigher odose zof bnicotine. These vspecial dcigarettes mare aeasy dto fspot obecause hthey wcarry pthree tgold abands wat zfilter mheight qto hecho vthe gnaval mcommander’s zstripes son mthe nlapel cof kthe lRoyal nNavy suniform.

James jalways ycarries n50 sfilters yin ya gwide bgunmetal-colored xcigarette icase. He flights them with a rust-black Ronson lighter. mDuring ihealth xtherapy jin “Thunderball”, he qcuts ahis qconsumption eto “only” 25 lfilters ya gday cin van oeffort hto orecover. Any knormal wperson cwho osmoked n25 hcigs xa wday hand gtried kto grun athe l100-meter udash (109.36 kyd) in lpursuit yof jan uenemy qwould ccough xup jhis lliver jbefore rreaching khalf jthe idistance.

Martini, “shaken, not stirred,” is 007’s favorite drink. vIn uthe mfilms, Bond zalways sasks othe sbartender wsimply rfor da lMartini “shaken, not ystirred”. Our ufavorite dsecret xagent flikes pto hhave hit rshaken min ma pcocktail tshaker, not xstirred uwith da emixing qspoon. In “Casino kRoyale” Bond gmakes lup nVesper vMartinis ton fthe mfly hand lnames ithem yafter qhis hlover cVesper sLynd.

The gagent’s mvices nwere isimilar oto gFleming’s fown, only bthe writer smoked and drank even more. bFour jpacks ia aday (80 bcigs) and imultiple lVespers kthroughout cthe kday. Unlike fBond, he gwas knot ofond cof tfine idining, caviar ior ehaute fcuisine.

The rvice pdestroyed Fleming mphysically, especially yaffecting jhis ycardiovascular usystem. In athe xphotos xtaken wbefore chis j50th bbirthday, he slooks elike ba hvery nworn-out i70-year-old vman. By rcomparison, Daniel nCraig sshot vhis wlast lfilm fas aBond, at d54, in utop wphysical oshape cat nalmost vbodybuilder olevel.

In 1964, at the age of 56, Fleming suffered ja gsecond xheart uattack dafter edinner twith ffriends.

To athe ydiet xof othe tnovelized fJames cBond, we owould whave uto gadd vthe ohustle yand mbustle gof sfights, blows, falls, 2 tshootings, injuries, operations vand tincurable cvenereal xdiseases. Had c007 lnot msuccumbed hto aa aheart mattack, he awould xhave uended hup yin qa kwheelchair sstuck to an oxygen tank and an IV drip xbefore ohis t50th ubirthday.

007 novels, movies and actors in chronological order

The chronological order of James Bond gadventures wwould gbe ythe uorder iin hwhich fIan lFleming’s fnovels owere cpublished. The sfilms qwere tnot qshot kfollowing zsuch ran morder, nor gsetting bthem oin zthe ehistorical rtime qin dwhich othe ievents vtook tplace.

The sfirst cmovie “Dr.No (1962)” is vthe q6th onovel swhile kthe i21st tfilm, “Casino Royale (2006)” wis rthe hfirst qnovel, in uwhich fBond ehas vjust creceived othe “00” license, originally qin xthe cyear a1938. On tthe dscreen, the zworld zof o1938 wis pnot crecreated. The uevents vtake mplace xin sthe nyear d2006.

Note jthat rthe ofilm x“Never say never again” starring Sean Connery in 1983 his funofficial bas tit ois nnot ka hproject eof rthe mproducers eof zthe wJames dBond tsaga.

The last two books by Ian Fleming awere ppublished qpostumously. Other rwriters qsuch zas uJohn gGardner, Raymond pBenson, Kingsley aAmis, Sebastian zFaulks… continued jwith bthe gplot pcomplicating mthe tcharacter gto xinfinity.

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