It was really Ian Fleming who lived something closer to Bond’s life, though from the very beginning, the elements the author would shape into Bond were being adapted and embellished as he went. Fleming was the son of a WWI hero, Valentine Fleming, and the grandson of the banking giant who created Flemings bank. Always living in the shadow of his father, Ian nonetheless forged a serious career as a spy, rising to the rank of Commander. (Sound familiar, Commander Bond?)
Aspects of Bond were also based on Sir Fitzroy Maclean, Fleming’s friend and fellow Eton schoolboy. Maclean was Churchill’s special envoy to Yugoslavia during the WWII, and is believed to have exited the water, on some secret mission, with a tuxedo on under his wet suit! But Maclean, though traveled, didn’t quite graduate to 007’s unpredictability and glamour, because he and his wife were still trucking supplies to war-torn former Yugoslavia in their seventies.
series pilot on American television. This was the first time Bond would be portrayed in the flesh, and Barry Nelson played Jimmy Bond, then a “Combined Intelligence” agent instead of Mi6, who was challenged by famous movie-baddy Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre. Barry Nelson would go on to play other TV good guys, but mostly genial ones, and guest-starring on crime shows like Magnum P.I. and Murder, She Wrote. There have been numerous Bonds since him, but this first is mostly forgotten, history re-written.
The most recent movie Bond, Daniel Craig, seems to be winning people over, even though he was not that well-received at the start. But we all know who seems to be the favourite.
His entire fee of one million pounds for Diamonds are Forever (1971) was donated to the Scottish International Educational Trust which supports Scottish people and ventures with cold, hard cash. In a time when five thousand pounds could buy you a house, a million was serious stuff. This was, however, the same man, who when interviewed by Barbara Walters, refused to retract his view that women need a good slapping every now and again. Bond has always mixed fantasy with reality, and Connery underlines the confusion for me. No matter how unpleasant, no Bond would apologise for anything, would he?
The most recent re-conception in print, Jeffery Deaver’s Carte Blanche launched with Royal Marines descending from the roof of London’s St. Pancras station to deliver the first copies. Surreal enough for you? I hope they had more success than one of the ninjas I met from You only Live Twice, who said he got a nasty rope burn and a vicious little rash after getting entangled during his descent from the roof of the volcano. He didn’t last as long as Bond, but he was still going on about it twenty years after the wrap party.
For more homage to Bond in his many incarnations, check The Bond Hotline as we continue celebrating our favorite secret agent.
Dirk Robertson is a Scots thriller writer, currently in Virginia, where he is promoting literacy and art projects for young gang members. When not writing, tweeting, or blogging on the Mystery Writers of America website, he designs and knits clothes and handbags from recycled rubbish. His next book, The Politics of Murder (The X-Press UK/US), will be published July 31, 2011.
Fine homage to Bond, Dirk. The icon’s roots get lost.
I met you at Watchung Books in Montclair for Writing Matters, it’s good to see you at Criminal Element, and with a new book on the way!
“Casino Royale” with Barry Nelson was not a TV series, but a failed TV pilot for a series. The single episode aired as part of the CBS anthology series “Climax”.
One of the things I loved about Connery’s Bond was that he had such a great look, in his eye. Alan Ladd’s driver tells a story of picking him after a day’s filming. He asks Mr Ladd if he had a good day. The answer was “Yes, I did a good look.”
[ The 007 films have always been pretty true to Ian Fleming’s books ]
Surely you jest. The first three might be seen as relatively faithful, but after that, fuggedaboudit!
I received a volume of Sean Connery Bond dvds’ in my Xmas stocking. I am in heaven!
You’ve got a good point. The interpretation of the books after the first three can be described as approximate, at best.