17 replies to this topic

[Sbott]

Last night i was reading Devil may care, which is set in the 60's, and the image of Bond which kept coming to mind was Daniel Graig. Up until CR it had always been Sean Connery, even though TD is my favorite Bond actor.

So I was just wondering which Bond actor, or other actors, come to mind as you are reading Devil May Care or any other Bond book.

[MkB]

http://debrief.comma...showtopic=47169

I don't have an actor in mind when I read a Bond book. I have a mental image for the Fleming Bond, and a different one for the Gardner Bond (haven't read the other previous continuation authors).
When I read The Moneypenny Diaries, I have the Fleming Bond in mind, and it fits quite well.
I haven't read enough of DMC yet to know whether it'll be the same, or a different image, like with the Gardner books.

[crheath]

Actually, I can only picture Lazenby. Mainly because he resembles the Fleming Bond most and he also acted like him in OHMSS. I think it's mainly because he played Bond in the movie where his dialogue was from the book more than any other.

As for Devil May Care, I think Faulks's Bond resembles Daniel Craig a lot because he seems more laconic than Fleming.

[Gabriel]

Fleming's Bond is kind of amorphous.I can't see him as any actor I know! Kingsley Amis manages to capture the Fleming character best of all subsequent authors. John Gardner's Bond always seems reminiscent of Sean Connery to me, except for Licence to Kill where he's unquestionably Dalton. Raymond Benson's Bond is so tied to the movie Bond that he could only be Pierce Brosnan's version.

Perhaps the best thing about EON's relaunch of the film series is that the books are now carving their own path independently of the movies.

[Dell Deaton]

Timothy Dalton; no question about it.

Ironically, I don't think he would have been high on my list last read through on the original Fleming novels. But, starting again w/ them in order, he immediately came to mind in Live and Let Die. Then again, many of those scenes were his, eh?

[De Bleuchamp]

Thomas Gibson.

Edited by De Bleuchamp, 01 August 2009 - 04:36 PM.

[OmarB]

I think of Bond how Fleming described him, closest thing to a real person I could peg is a cross between Cary Grant and Timothy Dalton.

[jaguar007]

I don't picture any actor, but a cross between Connery and Dalton is the closest physically. Actually I kind of picture someone a cross between a young Clint Eastwood and James Brolin.

[sharpshooter]

When reading a Bond novel, I can't help but envision Sean Connery. To me, he is James Bond.

[DAN LIGHTER]

I never have a picture of any Bond actor when I read any of the books, apart from The Facts of Death when Bond is on a motorbike. I had Daniel Craig from QOS in his white jeans for some reason.

Otherwise its more a blur or smudge and thats the same for most books in general. That might reflect my imagination more than anything else.

[volante]

Well its always me, however I tend to look like Rupert Everett

[darthbond]

For some reason, I always see Pierce Brosnan as Bond, except during the Flemings, where I usually see Craig or Connery.

darthbond

[bribond]

The closest is Timothy Dalton, especially in the Fleming Bonds. In the books of the other writers it's a mix of Dalton in the most parts (the spying and the ruthless scenes) and Brosnan in the romantic scenes and action bits like the car chases.

But it's hard to pin down in some scenes, like the tennis game in Devil May Care since the books are its own creation. Great topic for discussion though.

[Tybre]

The Flemings, which I'm going to copy+paste from another post where I racked them off, were not all actors, but usually when it was an actor, that actor was Dalton.

Spoiler

Casino Royale - Craig
Live and Let Die - Mental image body with Roger Moore's voice
Moonraker - Aforementioned LALD Bond
Diamonds Are Forever - Same body as the last two, Sean Connery's voice
From Russia With Love - Sean Connery at the beginning and from the train onwards, but Craig during everything in Istanbul
Dr No - Timothy Dalton
Goldfinger - Different mental image body with Dalton's voice
From A View to a Kill - Craig
For Your Eyes Only - Dalton
Quantum of Solace - Dalton
Risico - Goldfinger mental image Bond
Hildebrand Rarity - Dalton
Thunderball - Entirely new mental image, body and voice
The Spy Who Loved Me - Thunderball mental image
On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Thunderball mental image body with Lazenby's voice
You Only Live Twice - Entirely new mental image, body and voice
Man With the Golden Gun - YOLT mental image during the London bits, Thunderball mental image during everything up until the arrival at the hotel, Dalton from arriving at the hotel until the end of the book (made the read sort of interesting, having three Bonds)
Octopussy - Thunderball mental image
The Living Daylights - Dalton
Property of a Lady - Dalton
007 in New York - YOLT mental image

As for Continuations:

Spoiler

Colonel Sun -- Timothy Dalton
Devil May Care -- curiously, not even a Bond actor, but I pictured Paul McGann during everything but the first chapter w/ Bond (or simply put, chapter two). Chapter two was DAF Bond.
Licence Renewed -- Dalton
Man With the Red Tattoo -- Dalton
Icebreaker -- Brosnan

[Doctor No]

Connery, not only is he my favorite Bond but he is the one who's version is closest to the era that Fleming wrote them about/in.

[Jeao007]

I rarely think of any of the actors when I'm reading the books. I usually think of him as Fleming described him. Although If I do ever think of an actor it's Dalton.

[General Malice]

From spending far too much time as a child reading various 'Doctor Who' books that described Jon Pertwee as the 'James Bond-like Doctor', I rather irritatingly started picturing Mr Pertwee as Bond when I read a Fleming. I think it's far too late for therapy to cure it now...

[Mr. Somerset]

I always pictured the George Almond illustration of Bond from Benson's James Bond Bedside Companion.