Fans around the globe have grown used to watching Daniel Craig catch bad guys as James Bond over the last 15 years.
Craig played the famous MI5 agent in five films before he bid Bond farewell last year with No Time to Die.
But he wasn’t the first to play 007 in the hit spy franchise, and some older fans will associate other actors with the role, such as Sir Sean Connery, who sadly died two years ago today (October 31) in 2020.
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Sir Sean played the spy in seven films between 1962 and 1983 and, in the eyes of many, has remained one of the greatest Bonds of all time.
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However, the Scottish star didn’t seem to love the agent quite as much as everyone else and once stated: “I have always hated that damned James Bond. I’d like to kill him.”
Sean spoke out against the Bond films on several occasions, once telling The Guardian: “I’d been [messed] about too much on other Bond pictures. There’s so much bulls*** that comes from bad decisions being made at the top.”
He even clashed with Ian Fleming, the brains behind Bond who wrote the original books.
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Sean said:” “I never got introduced to Fleming until I was well into the movie but I know he was not happy with me as the choice.”
“What was it he called me, or told somebody? That I was an over-developed stunt man. He never said it to me,” he added.
“When I did eventually meet him he was very interesting, erudite and a snob – a real snob.”
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Connery was the first to play the secret agent on film and became a global star with the success of Dr No (1962), but he did not enjoy the limelight that came with it.
In 1965, Time magazine said of Connery’s Bond: “James Bond has developed into the biggest mass-cult hero of the decade”
His final film was supposed to be You Only Live Twice in 1967, but he was to be reeled back in to the on-screen world of MI5.
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George Lazenby succeeded Sean as Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but the film didn’t get favourable reviews at the time and he decided to quit the franchise.
In a 2017 documentary, Becoming Bond, Lazenby said his agent Ronan O’Rahilly advised him to walk away from Bond as it was no longer relevant during the height of hippy era in the 60s and 70s.
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Eon productions, the production company behind Bond, had tested other actors for Bond but United Artists, the studio making the film, decided Sean was still the man for the job.
The Scot returned for Diamonds are Forever, his final official Bond film, after being paid a then-record salary of $1.25million (949,000).
Although that was his final Bond film with Eon, he returned as the agent for one last time in Never Say Never Again in 1983, a remake of Thunderball.
He finally handed the reigns over to Roger Moore, who became a Bond legend in his own right.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
