James Bond
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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James Bond 007 is a fictional British agent created in 1952 by writer Ian Fleming, featured in twelve novels, two anthologies, and a film series.
In both novel and film, Bond has meaningless affairs or one night stands with virtually every woman he encounters, and discards them the minute they become an inconvenience. His suave, chauvinistic charm even seduces women who initially find him repellent, such as Holly Goodhead in Moonraker or Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies. While the women he sleeps with do willingly give in to him, he does not take the initial 'no' for an answer. In the film version of Goldfinger, Bond forces himself upon Pussy Galore in a barnyard, to which she fights back at first, though she eventually relents. Bond also is not above blackmailing an employee of the spa he is sent to in order for her to have sex with him in the film version of Thunderball. In more recent incarnations, his attitudes toward women have softened somewhat; he respects the new, female M, while a few female characters, such as Elektra King and Paris Carver, have gotten under his skin.
He has been portrayed on film by Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig, the last interpretation being the only one with an official fictional biography of the character. However, Bond was first portrayed by Barry Nelson in a 1954 American television movie based on the novel Casino Royale, and next by Bob Holness in a 1956 South African radio series based on the novel Moonraker. David Niven was Bond in Casino Royale a 1967 satire, which was lightly based on the Bond novel of the same name. Several other actors, including Peter Sellers and Woody Allen, were also designated as James Bond in the satire.
