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Casting Connery: Inside the James Bond Films' Most Crucial Decision (Book Excerpt)

Nicholas Shakespeare’s new biography Ian Fleming: The Complete Man takes a deep dive into the life of the author who created James Bond, first played by Sean

Shakespeare details Fleming’s remarkable career in British Naval Intelligence, his role in the Allies’ victory in World War II, and even his communications with Bond fan John F. Kennedy. And Shakespeare charts how Bond became the hero of 27 films, starting with two released in Fleming’s lifetime — 1962’s Dr. No and 1963’s From Russia With Love, both of which were directed by Terence Young and produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli through their company EON Productions. Just as Alec Guinness reshaped the character of George Smiley for John le Carré, Ian responded to Connery’s cinematic Bond by putting some Scottish blood into him in his next novel, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

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