From Sean Connery’s suave killer to Daniel Craig’s bruised (slightly) more modern man, for more than six decades, James Bond has mirrored the changing face of politics, style, and masculinity…
SEAN CONNERY
Sean Connery set the gold standard for 007 when he first swaggered onto screens in 1962 in Dr. No. Menacing, and effortlessly stylish, Connery’s cool Bond embodied the mood of the Cold War era as he dispatched villains and seduced the most beautiful of women. After bowing out with You Only Live Twice (1967), he briefly handed over the martini to George Lazenby before returning for one last mission in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and remains the Bond to which all others are compared.
GEORGE LAZENBY
By far the shortest-lived (official) James Bond, George Lazenby was a relative acting unknown, but the former model was credited with bringing a surprising vulnerability to the suave spy – so much so that he even earnt a Golden Globe nomination. Amazingly, it was his agent that persuaded the actor to leave the role, convinced that 007’s days were numbered. Reviews were mixed at the time, but now his interpretation is generally applauded for its depth.
ROGER MOORE
With an eyebrow raised, Roger Moore took up the mantle in the 1973 film Live and Let Die and immediately injected the secret agent with a lighter, more laid-back and cheeky charm. Smooth and stylish in equal measure, not all critics were convinced Moore had the chops to be a convincing 007, but audiences loved him and his cocky one-liners, and his seven-film, 12-year reign was the longest in the role until Daniel Craig.
Brosnan’s gadget-laden Bond was credited with finding the middle ground between the cool of Connery and Moore’s charm…
TIMOTHY DALTON
Incredibly, when Dalton debuted as Bond in The Living Daylights in 1987, it was 19 years since he had first declined the role. The antithesis to Roger Moore’s incarnation, Dalton channelled the cold, calculating, and morally complex character of the Ian Flemming novels. Though Dalton’s serious take divided fans, critics praised his realism and intensity, and his steely, grounded Bond is now remembered as one of the most authentic.
PIERCE BROSNAN
Pierce Brosnan’s debut in 1995 in GoldenEye ushered Bond into the digital age. Brosnan’s gadget-laden Bond was credited with finding the middle ground between the cool of Connery and Moore’s charm, while also reflecting the changing gender politics of the 90s, with Dame Judi Dench’s M calling him out as a Cold War relic and a “sexist, misogynist dinosaur”.
DANIEL CRAIG
Daniel Craig’s arrival in Casino Royale in 2006 truly rebooted Bond for a new era – raw, bruised, and emotionally complex, swapping suave perfection for vulnerability and grit. This time, Dame Judi Dench called him “a Bond for today”, while Craig himself has described his Bond as “very lonely”. Finally, the casting of age-appropriate women such as Monica Bellucci in Spectre showed a significant shift in attitude, too.
