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James Bond, also known as 007 ("double-oh seven"), is a sophisticated fictional character and British spy created by writer Ian Fleming. Bond is the main protagonist in numerous novels and short stories by Fleming, and later by Kingsley Amis, John Pearson, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, and Charlie Higson. James Bond is best known from the EON Productions film series. Currently (2005) twenty official films have been made, with a twenty-first now in pre-production for release in 2006. Bond has been portrayed by actors Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan. The majority of the films were produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman; Broccoli's daughter and stepson, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, later became the producers. Independently of EON, two other James Bond films were made: Casino Royale (1967) and Never Say Never Again (1983). Since the mid–1970s, Danjaq, L.L.C. (Broccoli's family company), has co-owned the James Bond series with United Artists Corporation; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (owners of United Artists) distribute the series. In addition to novels and films, Bond is featured in computer and video games based upon the films and upon original scripts, comic strips and comic books, and has been the subject of numerous parodies. Missing image GoldfingerNovel.jpg Goldfinger was one of the most famous James Bond novels.
OverviewThe characterJames Bond is secret agent 007—the 'double-oh' prefix indicates his discretionary 'licence to kill' in the performance of his duties for the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI-6 (which has a real counterpart). His superiors and other officers are known by letters such as M and Q. Ian Fleming named 007 after the American ornithologist James Bond; he explained to Mrs. Bond that her husband's: "brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon, and yet very masculine name was just what I needed." The real James Bond had written Birds of the West Indies, and Fleming, a keen bird watcher while in Jamaica, had a copy of Bond's bird manual and chose its author's name for that of the hero of Casino Royale in 1953. James Bond is partly Ian Fleming—noted for his glamorous lifestyle, which included relationships with many women. Fleming was inspired by his contemporaries in British Intelligence during World War II. The Estoril Casino, in Estoril, Portugal, is James Bond's credited birthplace; its atmosphere inspired Fleming, as European royalty openly mingled with the world's spies. In neutral Portugal, the casino was home away from home for spies of the warring regimes. Moreover, other inspirations for James Bond have been suggested. The cinematic Bond's polymathy (endless knowledge of everything) was introduced early and later abandoned. It was first demonstrated in Goldfinger, wherein he calculates how many trucks it would take to transport all the gold in Fort Knox, and instantly calculates for how long the gold would be radioactive after Goldfinger's bomb had exploded. Bond's "genius" was a running joke during Roger Moore's era, at its height in Moonraker; it was scaled back, if not eliminated, during Timothy Dalton's tenure as James Bond. Bond is a moderate-to-heavy drinker. According to some estimates, he has consumed 101 alcoholic beverages in his films (through 2002), and 317 in Fleming's novels (though the latter figure is debated). In the films, he drinks champagne 32 times, and 20 vodka martinis. In the novels, he has a strong preference for bourbon whiskey. In several films, most notably those featuring Roger Moore, Bond has also smoked cigars. The franchiseFor fifty years, the James Bond novels and movies have varied from realistic spy drama to outright science fiction. The Bond franchise has entered popular culture and language—the phrases "right out of James Bond", "James Bond-style security", etc., describing something stealthy and futuristic, or both. The films are known for the unique villains, the women (most of whom bed Bond), the Q-Branch gadgets, and the stunts. Having little to do with the activities of real intelligence agencies, James Bond's adventures are violent derring-do in saving the world from apocalyptic madmen. Invariably, such madmen try killing Bond with deathtraps (from which he escapes), after the villain tells him the information critical to thwarting his plot. Despite the films' description as "thrillers", James Bond rarely is troubled, regardless of the odds facing him. Many of the original books by Fleming are dark, with few fantasy elements and gadgets. Bond's women often have double entendre names, leading to coy jokes, e.g. "Pussy Galore" in Goldfinger, "Plenty O'Toole" in Diamonds Are Forever, and "Xenia Onatopp" (a villainess sexually excited by strangling men with her thighs) in GoldenEye. Despite Bond's male chauvinism towards women, most end up, if not in love with him, at least subdued by him. The first actor to play secret agent James Bond was the American Barry Nelson, in a 1954 CBS television production of Casino Royale, however, the agent's name was "Jimmy Bond". Later, in 1956, Bob Holness played Bond in a South African radio dramatisation of Moonraker. The official cinema series began in 1962, with Dr. No, starring Sean Connery as James Bond. Over the next 40 years, 20 official and two unofficial films were released, and six actors (Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan) played James Bond. With a few exceptions, all the films have been box office successes and continue earning money in television (broadcast, videotape, DVD) decades after release. The films began looking outdated in the 1980s: the character's anachronistic sexism, the glamorous locales grown stale, and the secret agent's unruffled exterior had become incongruous when compared to movies such as Die Hard. After the unsuccessful, adult, hard-edged James Bond of Timothy Dalton, the 1990s revival of the series with Pierce Brosnan has succeeded, given his mix of Dalton and Connery's hard edges tempered with Moore-ish humor. As a household name, James Bond (arguably the most successful fictional character, ever) has had a definitive impact on the cinematic spy genre, i.e. parodies such as Casino Royale (1967), the Austin Powers series, and the most recent Johnny English (2003) (see: James Bond parodies). In the 1960s, the success of the James Bond, secret agent 007, films inspired television imitators such as, I Spy, Get Smart, The Wild Wild West, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., to which Ian Fleming contributed; "Napoleon Solo" originally was a crime boss in his novel, Goldfinger. Character's biographyJames Bond is the son of a Scottish father, Andrew Bond, and a Swiss mother, Monique Delacroix, both of whom died in a mountain climbing accident, long before the time of the books and the movies. Their family motto is Orbis non sufficit ("The world is not enough" in Latin). His birthdate is much debated; according to John Pearson's Authorized Biography of 007, James Bond was born near Essen, Germany, on November 11, 1920; no Fleming novel supports either this date or location; other data point to Bond's birthdate as November 16, 1924. Fleming establishes that Bond bought his first car, a Bentley (driven in several early novels), in 1933, contradicting both birthdates—too young to buy a car had he been born in either 1920 or 1924. A new series of officially sanctioned novels featuring Bond as a teenager takes place in the 1930s. In 1941, he lied about his age to enter the Royal Navy's Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, from which he emerged with the rank of Commander at war's end—before joining MI6. During his tenure writing James Bond novels, John Gardner promoted the literary Bond to Captain, but he was subsequently demoted, without explanation. He briefly attended Eton College, but was expelled after discovery of his sexual liaison with a maid! He then attended and continued his education in the prestigious Fettes College in Edinburgh, Scotland. Bond's age when he began his romantic conquests is much debated, according to Fleming's short story "From A View to a Kill", he lost his virginity in Paris at 14, while John Gardner's novel Brokenclaw, makes Bond 16. In the literary and cinematic versions of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, James Bond marries, but his bride, Tracy Draco, is killed on their wedding day, by his archenemy, Ernst Stavro Blofeld; the event resonates in both versions of the character. The cinematic James Bond is a graduate in Oriental Languages from Cambridge University, stated in You Only Live Twice—contradicting the novels, and Tomorrow Never Dies, wherein he cannot use a Chinese computer keyboard. Raymond Benson's Tomorrow Never Dies novelization suggests Bond lied to Moneypenny about his languages degree. In The World Is Not Enough, he speaks Russian fluently, claiming studies at Oxford, and he is seen communicating in other languages in the films. Ian Fleming described James Bond's physical resemblance to singer Hoagy Carmichael; actor Timothy Dalton (who twice played the character in the late 1980s), is said to most closely resemble Fleming's description of James Bond. In the literature (notably From Russia, With Love), Bond's physical description has generally been consistent: a three-inch, vertical scar on his left cheek (absent from the cinematic version); blue-grey eyes; short-cut, dark hair, a comma of which falls on his forehead (greying at the temples in John Gardner's novels), and (after Casino Royale) the faint scar of the Russian cyrillic letter "SH" on the back of one of his hands (carved by a SMERSH agent). The cinematic James Bond (introduced in 1962) already had a history with MI6. In Dr. No, when reluctantly re-equipped with a 7.62 mm Walther PPK pistol replacing his under-powered .25 calibre Beretta automatic pistol, agent 007 protests, telling M that he's used the weapon for ten years, suggesting he's been a secret agent for at least that long. The literary character had been with British intelligence since World War II. In the cinematic Dr. No, James Bond has just returned from six months in hospital, recovering from wounds suffered in his last job when the Beretta jammed; no hospitalization of the literary 007, before the first novel, Casino Royale, is known. The literary and cinematic secret agent's attitude towards his job is similar. Although licenced to kill, James Bond dislikes killing—resorting to flippant jokes and off-hand remarks as after-the-fact relief, often misinterpreted as cold-bloodedness. Pearson's biography (of disputed canonicity) suggests Bond first killed as a teenager. The novel Goldfinger begins with Bond's memory haunted by the small-time, Mexican gunman he killed days earlier. In the films, there is a subtle hint in GoldenEye that he might be haunted so, and, in The World Is Not Enough, he admits that cold-blooded killing is a filthy business. Nonetheless, James Bond kills when needed, and, in the cinema, commits acts that may be murder in other circumstances (i.e. in Dr. No, shooting Prof. Dent in the back; killing unarmed Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough). The literary James Bond was reserved in his licenced killing; there are Fleming works in which Bond doesn't kill anyone. A constant in the literary Bond's life is his elderly, Scottish housekeeper, May, who appeared in numerous Fleming novels, but proved as ageless as Bond by appearing in several John Gardner novels. May is of a small number of recurring characters from the literary canon yet to appear on film. Age is the notable difference between the literary and the cinematic versions of James Bond. Per Fleming's novel Moonraker, agent 007 faced mandatory retirement from active duty at age 45, while many of the films feature a considerably older hero. Assuming the correctness of either the 1920 or 1924 birthdates, Bond would have been retired between 1964 (when Fleming died) and 1969 (after Colonel Sun's 1968 publication). Pearson's biography suggests Bond continued working for MI6 as a special agent, beyond retirement age, and continued serving as agent 007 into the 1970s. John Gardner's version of James Bond is a man born after Fleming's version, since he remains an active agent in the 1980s and the 1990s, but depicted as not much older than 50. Raymond Benson's version of Bond appears based upon Pierce Brosnan's cinematic portrayal, suggesting Bond was born in the 1950s. Bond charactersThe James Bond series has a plethora of unique and interesting allies and villains throughout the novel and film franchise.
Bond bits
Vehicles & Gadgets
Exotic espionage equipment and vehicles are very popular elements of James Bond's literary and cinematic missions, usually, they prove critically important to hazarding the wear and tear endured in the field. Fleming's novels and early screen adaptations presented minimal equipment such as From Russia With Love's booby-trapped attaché case. The gadgets, however, assumed a higher, spectacular profile in the 1964 film Goldfinger; its success encouraged further espionage equipment from Q Branch to be supplied to 007. Some films, in the opinion of many critics and fans, have had excessive amounts of gadgets or extremely outlandish gadgets and vehicles, specifically 1979's Moonraker and 2002's Die Another Day where Bond's Aston Martin could turn invisible. Since Moonraker subsequent productions struggled with balancing gadget content against the story's capacities, without implying a technology-dependent man; to mixed results. Booksby Ian FlemingMissing image IanFleming.jpg Ian Fleming. Photo: Horst Tappe. Ian Fleming wrote twelve novels about James Bond, secret agent 007. Many readers consider only Fleming's work as "canonical". His novels were published in this order (UK release dates given):
Ian Fleming wrote two James Bond short story compilations:
A short travelogue, "007 in New York", appeared in American editions of Fleming's travel essay collection, Thrilling Cities in 1963. It was published in Britain for the first time in 1999 and, since 2002, is included in new editions of Octopussy and The Living Daylights. With the exception of "Quantum of Solace" and "007 in New York", all of the above novels and stories have been referenced in some way in the James Bond films. by Kingsley Amis (as "Robert Markham")After Ian Fleming's death in 1964, Glidrose Productions, the James Bond publishers, planned a book series—authored by the pseudonymous "Robert Markham"—and written by a rotating series of authors. The first such novel was Colonel Sun (1968), by Kingsley Amis; the 235 page novel is dedicated to the memory of Ian Fleming. Glidrose Productions published nothing else by "Robert Markham".
by John GardnerIn 1981, the series was revived with new novels by John Gardner; between 1981 and 1996, he wrote fourteen James Bond novels and two screenplay novelizations.
by Raymond BensonIn 1996, John Gardner retired from writing James Bond books, and American Raymond Benson quickly replaced him. As a James Bond novelist, Raymond Benson was controversial for being American, and for ignoring much of the continuity established by predecessor John Gardner. Benson is notable, prior to becoming the official novelist, as the author of the non-fiction book The James Bond Bedside Companion (1984; updated 1988). He also contributed to the creation of several modules in the popular James Bond 007 role-playing game in the 1980s. Benson wrote six novels and three screenplay novelizations. His original novels are:
Benson also wrote three James Bond short stories: (i) "Blast from the Past", Playboy magazine, January 1997; (ii) "Midsummer Night's Doom", Playboy magazine, January 1999; and (iii) "Live at Five", in the U.S. TV Guide, in November 1999. After novelizing Die Another Day (2002), Raymond Benson abruptly retired from writing Bond novels. Before retiring, he discussed writing more short stories to complete a collection. For more information, see James Bond uncollected short stories. The James Bond novel series will continue, focusing upon the adolescent James Bond (see below); it is unknown if the adult literary James Bond's life will continue from Raymond Benson's ending. NovelizationsIn addition to the novels, there are seven "novelizations", Bond film screenplays fleshed to book length. They are not of the canon, despite most having being written by the contemporary Bond novelist. John Gardner, in particular, he incorporated his novelizations to both his own literary continuity and Fleming's, despite Licence to Kill containing elements and events from several Fleming works.
Young James BondIn April 2004, Ian Fleming Publications announced a new series of James Bond books. Instead of continuing from where Raymond Benson ended, the new series will be about James Bond as a thirteen-year-old boy. Reportedly aimed at the "Harry Potter audience", Charlie Higson's (The Fast Show) novels are expected to align with the adult Bond's backstory as established by Fleming, though it remains to be seen whether readers will accept the novels as canon, (particularly those who consider John Pearson's James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007 as canonical). According to the Daily Mail (London, 30th July 2004), "his (Bond's) exploits at Fettes College in Edinburgh will be chronicled in five new books... Fleming's suave spy is described as entering Eton at age 13. But then he is expelled after an incident with one of the maids [sic] and was sent to his father's old school, Fettes. There his exploits are described in You Only Live Twice. Fettes is also famous for being the former school of Prime Minister Tony Blair" by Charlie HigsonThe biographyJohn Pearson's "authorized" biography of James Bond was well-received by aficionados—readers and viewers, alike. The novel, James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007, suggests Ian Fleming based the adventures of secret agent 007 on James Bond's real-life exploits, much like Arthur Conan Doyle, based his detective stories on a real-life Sherlock Holmes. Upon this concept, Glidrose Publications considered John Pearson's continuing the James Bond novel series (with Pearson "inheriting" the writer's job from Fleming), but nothing came of this idea. The canonical status of James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007 is debated among readers and viewers—some consider it apocryphal, nevertheless, at least one publisher issued it as an official novel along with the rest of Fleming's series.
'Lost' novelby Geoffrey Jenkins
According to the book The Bond Files by Andy Lane and Paul Simpson, soon after Ian Fleming died, Glidrose commissioned Geoffrey Jenkins to write a James Bond novel. In the 1950s, Jenkins claimed, he and Fleming together developed a diamond-smuggling storyline, and he based Per Fine Ounce upon that (it's unknown if this relates to Diamonds Are Forever). Reportedly, Jenkins wrote the novel Per Fine Ounce, and submitted it to Glidrose for publication, but it was rejected. Moreover, a manuscript copy, reportedly, exists in the Ian Fleming Publications archives. Raymond Benson has confirmed its existence and some fans have called for its publication, especially in lieu of there being no further "adult" Bond novels planned for the foreseeable future. Some sources suggest that Jenkins' book was considered for publication under the "Robert Markham" name, but this hasn't been confirmed. Unofficial novelby Jim Hatfield
The Killing Zone is an unofficial James Bond novel privately published by Jim Hatfield (later author of a controversial George W. Bush biography). Though the book's fine print claims it is a Glidrose publication, the book was actually never published by Glidrose. Hatfield claimed to have received, from Glidrose, the rights to publish a James Bond novel, which is unlikely since John Gardner at the time was the current Bond novelist. Moreover, had such a novel been legitimate, the current Bond publisher would have published it. The book is extremely rare and only a few copies were printed. By some literary Bond fans, it is considered the Holy Grail of Bond literature mostly because Bond is murdered in the shock ending; the text of The Killing Zone is available on the Internet and can be found here (http://www.universalexports.net/Books/killingzone.shtml). Other Bond-related fictionIn 1967, Glidrose authorized publication of 003½: The Adventures of James Bond Jr. written by Arthur Calder Marshall under the psuedonym R.D. Mascott. This book is for young-adult readers, and chronicles the adventures of 007's nephew (despite the inaccurate title). This book is not of the official Bond canon. The early 1990s animated television series James Bond Jr., which ran for 65 episodes, spawned a six-episode novelization series written by John Peel under the pseudonym as John Vincent. Official filmsEvery aficionado has a favourite James Bond: Sean Connery—the tough, his machismo ready beneath the polished persona, George Lazenby—the controversial ultra-macho man, equally loved and despised, Roger Moore—the sophisticate, rarely mussing his hair whilst saving the world, Timothy Dalton—the hard-edged literary character, and Pierce Brosnan—the polished, hard-edged man.
Unofficial films
Other films pertaining to James Bond
Video gamesNote: The following games listed below are some of the more recent Bond games.
ParodyThe James Bond films and novels have been repeatedly parodied. For a detailed list see: James Bond parodies. Miscellaneous Bond trivia
Comic strips and comic booksMany illustrated adventures of James Bond have been published since the Evening Standard newspaper began publishing a daily comic strip in 1958, eventually adapting every Ian Fleming novel and most of his short stories. Later, the comic strip produced original stories, continuing until 1983. Several comic book adaptations of the James Bond films have been published through the years, as well. Details of such adaptations are discussed in the articles dedicated to the relevant novels and movies. See also
References
External linksOfficial
Fan sites
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