When Albert R. Broccoli and Harry
Saltzman set out to make what they expected to be the first of five or six movies based on the espionage novels of lan Fleming they can hardly have dreamt that they were founding a business that would still be going strong nearly half a century later. Yet the role of James Bond, which transformed Sean Connery's career in 1962 when Dr No came out, still retained its star-making power in 2006 when Daniel Craig made his Bond debut in Casino Royale.
This is the story of how, with the odd misstep along the way, the owners of the Bond franchise, Eon Productions, have contrived to keep James Bond abreast of the zeitgeist and at the top of the charts for 45 years, through 22 films featuring six Bonds, three M's, two Q's and three Moneypennies.
Thanks to the films, Fleming's original creation has been transformed from a black sheep of the post-war English upper classes into a figure with universal appeal, constantly evolving to keep pace with changing social and political circumstances. Having interviewed people concerned with all aspects of the films, Sinclair Mckay is ideally placed to describe how the Bond "brand" has been managed over the years as well as to give us the inside stories of the supporting cast of Bond girls, Bond villains, Bond cars and Bond gadgetry.