James Bond
James Bond is a
fictional character, a sophisticated
British spy invented by and appearing in
books by
Ian Fleming (and later
Kingsley Amis,
John Gardner and
Raymond Benson). Bond has the
code name of
007, pronounced "double-oh seven." The 'double-oh' prefix indicates a '
licence to kill', that is, permission to use deadly force at his discretion in the course of his duty. There is a highly successful and durable series of
films (mostly released by either
United Artists or
MGM), and some notable
video games about the character.
"James Bond" has entered
popular culture and
language, with people using the phrase to describe something stealthy and/or futuristic: "right out of James Bond", "James Bond style security," and so on.
Personal Information
\nJames Bond is the son of a Scottish father, Andrew Bond, and a Swiss mother, Monique Delacroix, both of whom are dead from a climbing accident by the time of the books and movies. He went to school briefly at Eton College. In the movies he has a degree in Oriental Languages from Cambridge University, although this contradicts the information in the novels and the scene in Tomorrow Never Dies where Bond is unable to use a computer with a Chinese keyboard. He served in the Royal Navy before joining the Secret Service and holds the rank of Commander. In both the book and movie versions of On Her Majesty's Secret Service he marries, but his wife is killed the same day by his greatest enemy, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
The literary (Fleming's) Bond was born in 1924, lying about his age entered the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1941, gaining the rank of Commander by the end of the war.
Overview
\nBond movies are known for their villains, women (most of whom end up in bed with Bond), gadgetry manufactured by "Q", and stunts. Most had little to do with the real activities of intelligence agencies, involving Bond in violent acts of derring-do to save the world from various apocalyptic madmen. The madmen invariably attempt to kill Bond using elaborate methods, from which Bond escapes after the gloating villain gives him the critical information necessary to thwart his plot. Despite the films' description as "thrillers," Bond's character is rarely troubled, regardless of the odds facing him. Many of the original books have a much darker tone however, with fewer fantasy elements and gadgetry.
Bond is employed by the British Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6, a real-life institution. His superiors are known by single letters such as M and Q, a practice which is also used in the real institution where the chief, for example, is known as C.
Bond's female companions are often given names that are double entendres, leading to a succession of jokes. Examples include "Pussy Galore" in Goldfinger, "Plenty O'Toole" in Diamonds Are Forever, and "Xenia Onatopp" (a villain who gets sexually excited by strangling men between her shapely thighs) in GoldenEye. Despite Bond's attitudes towards women, most of these leading ladies end up, if not in love with him, at least subdued by him.
Bond films began to look increasingly outdated throughout the 1980s, with the main character's sexism and the fixation with glamorous locations looking anachronistic, and his unruffled exterior increasingly incongruous when compared to movies such as Die Hard. After a relatively unsuccessful attempt to turn Bond in a harder-edged direction with Timothy Dalton as the main character, the 1990s revival with Pierce Brosnan in the lead role has been successful.
At least a little of the Bond character was based on the life of its creator, who was noted for his glamorous lifestyle (including a fair number of female companions). The character is also believed to have been inspired by several of Fleming's contemporaries in British Intelligence during World War Two. The famous Estoril Casino in Estoril, Portugal is credited as the birthplace of Bond. The Casino was a home away from home for many spies operating during World War II, with Portugal operating as a neutral ground during the conflict. Fleming was inspired by the atmosphere at the Casino, where much of Europe's royalty mingled openly with many of the world's covert agencies.
The first actor to play Bond was American Barry Nelson, in a 1954 CBS TV production of Casino Royale. In 1956, Bob Holness played the spy in a South African radio dramatisation of Moonraker.
James Bond is a moderate to heavy drinker, having consumed 100 alcoholic beverages in his films up to 2002, and more than 250 in Ian Fleming's novels. In the films, he has champagne 32 times, and drinks 20 vodka martinis.
James Bond is a household name (arguably the most successful fictional character ever) and has had a definitive impact on the spy genre, including some parodies like Casino Royale (1967), the Austin Powers movies, and Johnny English (2003). In the 1960s, the success of the 007 films inspired numerous television imitators, including The Man From U.N.C.L.E (to which Ian Fleming contributed, and the name "Napoleon Solo" was originally the name of a crime boss in Fleming's Goldfinger), I Spy, Get Smart, and The Wild Wild West.
Video games have been released based on all the movies from A View to a Kill (1985) onwards. There have also been a number of James Bond video games not based on an existing story.
Bond Characters
\nReoccurring Characters:\n*Bond's boss, M (Head of MI6)\n*Bond's Quartermaster Q\n*Felix Leiter - Bond's CIA liaison\n*Miss Moneypenny - secretary to M.\n*Ernst Stavro Blofeld - head of S.P.E.C.T.R.E\n*Bond girls - miscellaneous female companions or enemies of Bond, invariably beautiful and rarely appearing in more than one movie.\n*Bond Villains feature in every film, however in most films there is a new villain. Ernst Stavro Blofeld is the only exception. His character appeared in four Bond films.
Bond Bits
\n*Bond introduces himself with the words "The name is Bond. James Bond." This introduction is so well known that it has entered Western popular culture.\n*In the films he prefers his Vodka Martinis "shaken, not stirred" although in the books it was first specified the other way around.\n*His family motto is Orbis non sufficit (Latin for "The world is not enough").\n* Bond drives numerous cars but the most commonly associated with 007 is the Aston Martin DB5.
Books
\nby Ian Fleming
\nFleming himself wrote twelve Bond novels. In order of publication, they are:\n#Casino Royale (1953) \n#Live and Let Die (1954) \n#Moonraker (1955) \n#Diamonds are Forever (1956)\n#From Russia with Love (1957)\n#Dr. No (1958)\n#Goldfinger (1959)\n#Thunderball (1961) - with others. Because of controversy surrounding Thunderball's conception, this led to film-rights wranglings\n#The Spy Who Loved Me (1962) - Told from the point of view of a woman who meets James Bond -\n#On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963)\n#You Only Live Twice (1964)\n#The Man with the Golden Gun (1965)
He also wrote two compilations of short stories featuring the character:\n*For Your Eyes Only. Five Secret Occasions in the Life of James Bond (1960)\n**including 5 stories "For Your Eyes Only", "From a View to a Kill", "Quantum of Solace", "Risico", and "The Hildebrand Rarity"\n*Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966)\n**including 3 stories "Octopussy", "The Property Of A Lady" and "The Living Daylights"\nAlmost all of these stories later served as the basis (though sometimes little beyond the title) for Bond films. One additional short-short story, "007 in New York", appeared in Fleming's collection of travel essays, Thrilling Cities (1964).
by other authors
\nOther writers have written sequels since the death of Fleming, the first being Colonel Sun, by Kingsley Amis (writing as Robert Markham) in 1968.
In 1981, the series was revived, with new novels being written by John Gardner and then Raymond Benson.
by John Gardner
\nBetween 1981 and 1996, Gardner wrote sixteen James Bond novels.
- License Renewed (1981)\n#For Special Services (1982)\n#Icebreaker (1983)\n#Role of Honour (1984)\n#Nobody Lives Forever (1986)\n#No Deals, Mr. Bond (1987)\n#Scorpius (1987)\n#Win, Lose or Die (1989)\n#Brokenclaw (1990)\n#The Man From Barbarossa (1991)\n#Death is Forever (1992)\n#Never Send Flowers (1993)\n#SeaFire (1994)\n#COLD (1996) (retitled Cold Fall for American publication)
by Raymond Benson
\nIn 1996, John Gardner retired from writing Bond books. Benson was quickly chosen to replace him.
- Zero Minus Ten (1997)\n#The Facts of Death (1998)\n#High Time to Kill (1999)\n#Doubleshot (2000)\n#Never Dream of Dying (2001)\n#The Man with the Red Tattoo (2002)
Benson also wrote three James Bond short stories; "Blast from the Past" which appeared in the January 1997 issue of Playboy, "Midsummer Nights Doom" which appeared in the January 1999 issue of Playboy, and "Live at Five" which appeared in TV Guide in 1999.
Recently, Raymond Benson retired from writing Bond books. It's at this time unknown whether the series will be continued with a new author.
Screenplays to Books
\nIn addition to the above novels, there were seven "novelizations" which were books based on the screenplays of Bond films.
- James Bond, the Spy Who Loved Me (1977) by Christopher Wood\n*James Bond and Moonraker (1979) by Christopher Wood\n*Licence to Kill (1989) by John Gardner\n*GoldenEye (1995) by John Gardner\n*Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) by Raymond Benson\n*The World is Not Enough (1999) by Raymond Benson\n*Die Another Day (2002) by Raymond Benson
The Young James Bond
\nIn April 2004, Ian Fleming Publications announced a new series of James Bond books was on it's way. Instead of picking up where Ray Benson left off, however, this new series of books would be about a 13 year old Bond. The new novels will be written by Charlie Higson (The Fast Show).
Films
\nFans of Bond films tend to have their own favourite actor who has played the part. Sean Connery played him as the tough guy, always ready with the clenched fist beneath the polished exterior. George Lazenby, though only appearing for one film, is one of the most controversial Bond actors, being simultaneously loved and despised by Bond fans. Roger Moore's Bond was much older, smoother and more sophisticated, rarely getting a hair out of place while saving the world. The films of Timothy Dalton attempted to take Bond back to the darker roots of the books, making him a more complex and troubled character. Pierce Brosnan, the current Bond actor, is widely regarded as portraying Bond with a mix of Connnery's raw masculinity and Moore's suavity.
Note: The sequence numbers, where given, are those used by the makers of the "mainstream/official" Bond films.
starring Barry Nelson
\n* Casino Royale, 1954. Starring: Barry Nelson, Linda Christian, Michael Pate, and Peter Lorre. Made for CBS television. (Two versions of this exist - a 3-act version and a 4-act version. The extra act features an infamous scene in which Peter Lorre, who was killed in Act 3, stands up and walks off camera. The version on the Region 1 DVD of the 1967 Casino Royale ends after Act 3, whereas the proposed DVD release of the full version has been delayed indefinitely.)
starring Sean Connery
\n*1: Dr. No, 1962. Also starring Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman and Jack Lord. Director: Terence Young.\n*2: From Russia with Love, 1963. Also starring Daniela Bianchi and Robert Shaw. Director: Terence Young.\n*3: Goldfinger, 1964. Also starring Honor Blackman and Gert Frobe. Director: Guy Hamilton.\n*4: Thunderball, 1965. Also starring: Claudine Auger and Adolfo Celi. Director: Terence Young.\n*5: You Only Live Twice, 1967. Also starring: Akiko Wakabayashi, Mie Hama, Donald Pleasence and Tetsuro Tamba. Director: Lewis Gilbert. Writer: Roald Dahl.\n*7: Diamonds Are Forever, 1971. Also starring: Jill St. John and Charles Gray. Director: Guy Hamilton.\n* Never Say Never Again, 1983. Also starring: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Kim Basinger, Barbara Carrera, Rowan Atkinson, Edward Fox and Max von Sydow. Director: Irvin Kershner. (released not by United Artists but by Warner Bros; also not officially part of the Bond series)
starring David Niven
\n* Casino Royale, 1967. Also starring: Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, Jacqueline Bisset, Deborah Kerr, Daliah Lavi, Joanna Pettet, Woody Allen, William Holden, Charles Boyer, Jean-Paul Belmondo, John Huston, George Raft, Burt Kwouk and Orson Welles. (A spoof released by Columbia Pictures; it too is not officially part of the series)
starring George Lazenby
\n*6: On Her Majesty's Secret Service, 1969. Also starring: Diana Rigg and Telly Savalas. Director: Peter R. Hunt.\n*The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E, 1983 made-for-TV sequel to the 1960s series, with George Lazenby reprising his On Her Majesty's Secret Service turn as Bond (although for legal reasons, his character was credited as simply "JB").
starring Roger Moore
\n*8: Live and Let Die, 1973. Also starring: Jane Seymour and Yaphet Kotto. Director: Guy Hamilton.\n*9: The Man with the Golden Gun, 1974. Also starring Christopher Lee, Hervé Villechaize, Britt Ekland and Maud Adams. Director: Guy Hamilton.\n*10: The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977. Also starring: Barbara Bach, Richard Kiel and Curt Jurgens. Director: Lewis Gilbert.\n*11: Moonraker, 1979. Also starring: Lois Chiles, Richard Kiel and Michael Lonsdale. Director: Lewis Gilbert.\n*12: For Your Eyes Only, 1981. Also starring: Carole Bouquet, Topol, Lynn-Holly Johnson and Julian Glover. Director: John Glen.\n*13: Octopussy, 1983. Also starring: Maud Adams, Louis Jourdan and Steven Berkoff. Director: John Glen.\n*14: A View to a Kill, 1985. Also starring: Christopher Walken, Patrick Macnee, Tanya Roberts, Patrick Bachau and Grace Jones. Director: John Glen.
starring Timothy Dalton
\n*15: The Living Daylights, 1987. Also starring: Maryam d'Abo, Jeroen Krabbe, Joe Don Baker and John Rhys-Davies. Director: John Glen.\n*16: Licence to Kill, 1989. Also starring: Talisa Soto, Robert Davi, Wayne Newton, Benicio Del Toro, Everett McGill and Carey Lowell. Director: John Glen.\n* The Property of a Lady, 1991. Never made due to the legal issues surrounding EON (the production company) at this time. Director: most likely John Glen.
starring Pierce Brosnan
\n*17: GoldenEye, 1995. Also starring: Izabella Scorupco, Alan Cumming, Sean Bean, Robbie Coltrane, Joe Don Baker and Famke Janssen. Director: Martin Campbell.\n*18: Tomorrow Never Dies, 1997. Also starring: Jonathan Pryce, Vincent Schiavelli, Joe Don Baker, Teri Hatcher, and Michelle Yeoh. Director: Roger Spottiswoode.\n*19: The World Is Not Enough, 1999. Also starring: Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle, Robbie Coltrane and Denise Richards. Director: Michael Apted.\n*20: Die Another Day, 2002. Also starring: Halle Berry, Michael Madsen, Rick Yune, Toby Stephens, Madonna and Rosamund Pike. Director: Lee Tamahori.\n*21: as yet untitled, November 18th 2005.
Recently, MGM has managed to acquire the distribution rights to the Casino Royale spoof and Never Say Never Again (due to a legal settlement with Kevin McClory, who formerly held the story rights to Thunderball and was responsible for making Never Say Never Again). MGM now owns nearly all the rights to the 'Bond Films'.
other films pertaining to James Bond
\n* From Hong Kong With Love, 1975. Starring: Lois Maxwell, Bernard Lee, Clifton James. Bond dies in the gunbarrel opening, and Her Majesty's Secret Service has to replace him. This film, despite being an obscure parody, includes many legitimate Bond actors. Originally released as Bons Baisers de Hong Kong. \n* The Dragon Lives Again, 1978. Starring: Alexander Grand. A movie from Hong Kong that features an undead Bruce Lee alongside characters such as Popeye, Dracula, and James Bond.\n* The Green Jade Mahjongg, 1980's. Bond actor unknown. A very obscure, Asian-made Bond movie. Incidentally, the actor playing Bond was American.\n*Our Man From Bond Street, 1984. The third movie in the Mad Mission series, also known as Aces Go Places. Bond lookalikes appear, as does Oddjob (though not played by Harold Sakata), and Richard Kiel (though not as Jaws).\n*A hoax was perpetrated in 2004 in which there were rumors of a lost 1956 version of "Moonraker" made by Orson Welles. Supposedly, this lost film was recently discovered in the form of 40 minutes of raw footage. However, the film was soon revealed to be a hoax. See [1] for more information.
Bond Vehicles
\nAmong the most noteworthy gadgets Bond has been equipped with has been various vehicles that have numerous modifications to include weapons systems, anti-pursuit systems, alternate transportation modes and various other functions.
Automobiles
\n*Lotus Esprit: (S2 and Turbo)\n*Aston Martin: DB5, DBS, V8 Vantage, V12 Vanquish\n*BMW: Z3, 750iL, Z8\n* Saab 900 Turbo, aka "Silver Beast" [1]
Aircraft
\n*Rocket pack - used in Thunderball\n*Little Nellie - A heavily armed gyrocopter that could be transported in several cases that could be quickly assembled in the field - used in You Only Live Twice.\n*Acrostar Jet - Used in Octopussy to escape from a mission. The wings of this plane fold up vertically while not in use. During this mission, Bond hid the plane in a horse trailer. Due to a small gas tank, Bond was forced to land at a gas station to refill.
Marine Vehicles
\n*Wet Nellie - used in The Spy Who Loved Me. Lotus Esprit tranformed into a submarine.\n*Alligator Boat - In Octopussy Bond travels to Octopussy's island inside a boat designed to look like an alligator. \n*Q Boat - used in The World is Not Enough. Was created by Q for his retirement.\n*Gondola - In Moonraker Bond escapes his assailants by turning his gondola into a hovercraft.\n*Q's Hydrofoil Boat - In Moonraker Bond uses this boat to escape from Jaws while searching for the spacecraft launching facility. Comes with all the usual Q refinements and a hand-glider.
Video Games
\nNote: There are a lot of older James Bond games that aren't listed here. The ones listed below are more recent.
In the Fall of 2004 EA Games will release GoldenEye: Rogue Agent for XBox, PlayStation2 and GameCube consoles. This will be the first game where you will not take on the role of James Bond, but rather an aspiring 00 Agent recruited by Auric Goldfinger, the villian in the movie Goldfinger. The movie to which this game gets it's name will actually have nothing to do with the game nor does Rogue Agent have anything to do with the previous game, GoldenEye (Nintendo 64).
Parody
\nThere were several parodies of the Bond novels in the 1960's.
- Michael K. Frith and Christopher B. Cerf of the Harvard Lampoon wrote Alligator by I*n Fl*m*ng in 1962. Another J*mes B*nd story entitled "Toadstool" appeared in a Playboy parody published by the Lampoon. The cover of "Alligator" closely parodies the Signet covers for the Fleming novels, even including a short Fl*m*ng biography, and a list of nonexistent B*nd novels including "Lightingrod", "From Berlin, Your Obedient Servant", and "Scuba Do - Or Die".
- Sol Weinstein wrote four novels about Israel Bond, Agent Oy-Oy-Seven, beginning in 1965: Loxfinger, Matzohball, In the Secret Service of His Majesty - the Queen, and You Only Live Until You Die.
- Cyril Connoly wrote a short story Bond Strikes Camp which satirized a homosexual relationship between M and Bond.
- William Henley Knoles, under the pseudonym of Clyde Allison, wrote a series of twenty novels between 1965 and 1968 about Agent 0008, a thinly disguised version of Bond. The books were more action/soft core S&M stories than legitimate satire, but their scarcity has made them sought after Bond collectibles. The series ran: Our Man From Sadisto, Our Girl From Mephisto, Nautipuss, Go-Go Sadisto, The Desdamona Affair, Gamefinger, Sadisto Royale, 0008 Meets Gnatman, For Your Sighs Only, The Lust Bomb, The Merciless Mermaids, Mondo Sadisto, 0008 Meets Modesta Blaze, The Sex-Ray, Roburta The Conqueress, From Rapture With Love, The Ice Maiden, The Sin Funnel, Platypussy, and The Desert Damsels.
The James Bond movies have also been repeatedly parodied:
See also
\n* 9007 James Bond (Asteroid named after him) \n* James Bond Jr\n* Simon Templar\n* S.P.E.C.T.R.E\n* The Persuaders
External links
\n*"Make Mine a 007..."\n*James Bond first edition bibliographies\n*James Bond Official Homepage\n*MI6: "Home Of James Bond"
James Bond (ornithologist)
James Bond is also the name of the American ornithologist who wrote
Birds of the West Indies. This book was first published in 1936, is now in its fifth edition and is still in print (ISBN 0618002103). He was born 1900 in Philadelphia, USA, deceased 1989) was Curator of Birds in the
Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Ian Fleming, who was a keen bird watcher living in Jamaica, was familiar with Bond's book, and he chose the name of its author for the hero of Casino Royale in 1953, apparently because he wanted a name that sounded 'as ordinary as possible'. James Bond (spy) can be seen examining what appears to be this book in
Die Another Day.
(It's also interesting to note that the mid-1920's story "The Rajah's Emerald" by
Agatha Christie is centered around a very proper British character named James Bond. Incidentally, the inspiration for Bond's number came from
Rudyard Kipling's railroad stories, which centered around a train called 007.)
A 1997
New York Times article on Ian Fleming refers to Bond as "the late ornithologist."
Terance James Bond is the name of an ornithological and wildlife artist born in
1946 in Suffolk, Britain.
Bond, James\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
