Research In Action 2022
Meet the Creative Mind of James Bond
Oliver Buckton
professor and chair, department of English,
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Q:
In your opinion, which actor has played the best Bond?
A:
This is a difficult question to answer, because in some ways the best cinematic James Bond, in my view, is Sean Connery. Starting with “Dr. No” in 1962, Connery created the persona of Bond on the screen, and launched the entire series and the successful formula of Bond movies. Connery remains the most compelling and charismatic screen presence for Bond. But, I think probably the best actor to play James Bond is Daniel Craig. He raised Bond’s character to a new level and rebooted the series for the 21st century, and also returned the character closer to what Ian Fleming wrote.
Q:
Did Fleming’s attitude towards Bond change over the years somewhat like Conan Doyle’s attitude towards Sherlock Holmes?
A:
There are interesting parallels between Fleming’s attitude to James Bond and Conan Doyle’s towards Sherlock Holmes. Both authors created extremely popular fictional characters that became more famous than they were, and both authors resented it. Fleming, like Doyle, wanted to be known for more serious literary work rather than just the Bond novels. Both authors tried to kill off their famous characters, but were prevented from doing so because of popular demand for more adventures. Fleming originally created Bond as an alter-ego who was a superior version of himself, and enjoyed the adulation he received. But he grew tired of Bond, tried to kill him off, and claimed that intelligent people couldn’t take Bond seriously. One difference, though, is that Fleming shepherded Bond onto the cinema screen, which gave birth to another, even more famous version of the character.