After several years of threatening to leave the franchise Roger Moore finally bid farewell to Bond with A View to a Kill.  For the first time in over a decade the series needed a new actor for the role.  Sam Neill and Pierce Brosnan were two of the names on the list, but the role went to British stage actor Timothy Dalton.

Dalton had be offered the part twice, in 1968 and 1970, but turned the role down, not wanting to step into, and on, the legacy he felt was Connery’s alone.  After Moore retired however Dalton was approached again and this time he finally accepted.

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007: Licence to KillRead More »

After Sean Connery’s one film return, Diamonds are Forever, to keep the franchise alive, producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman needed to find a new leading man to keep the Bond saga alive.  Jeremy Brett, Julian Glover and Michael Billington were considered (Glover and Billington eventually showed up as Bond villains).

In the end the role went to The Saint star Roger Moore who had briefly been originally considered for the role before it was given to Connery.  Moore would go on to star in seven of the now 22 Bond films, the most of any actor to play the role in the series (discounting Connery’s late remake Never Say Never Again).  Fleming hardliners and die-hard Connery fans were upset with Moore’s lighter touch and more humorous and suave version of 007.  However the fans, and money, still rolled into the box office, and Moore found his own niche as a different, but still enjoyable, Bond.

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Shaken, not StirredRead More »