Favorite Bond actor

[EnriqueH]

1) Connery (first one I saw)

2) Craig (virtually tied with Connery, possibly surpassed him. Fleming's Bond incarnate)

3) Moore (say what you will about the comic book Bond, but I love him)

4) Brosnan (To me, he's always been a Connery-Moore hybrid. He could play funny and serious, but he didn't get a really good, classic Bond though I personally loved Tomorrow Never Dies)

5) Dalton (Liked him a lot, though like Brosnan, he never got a really good Bond film.)

6) Lazenby (I used to dislike his portrayal, but I've grown to appreciate it in recent years.)

I liked and enjoyed all the portrayals.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Well, I guess I should thank everyone for participating in my thread...six years later....

Some of you guys might have missed the series of Bond-themed Hurt/Heal games that preceded this.

 

[the G-man]

Connery (I honestly find his Bond the least likeable and the least empathetic

Bond at his essence is a spy and even to some extent a professional terrorist. Why should he be overly likable and at all empathetic?

 

[Relayer1]

Connery (I honestly find his Bond the least likeable and the least empathetic

Bond at his essence is a spy and even to some extent a professional terrorist. Why should he be overly likable and at all empathetic?

Bond isn't very likeable, nor should he be.

 

[Starkers]

He's just so invulnerable, emotionally I mean. Thank God he quite before OHMSS, his reaction to Tracy's death would, I imagine, have been something akin to Austin Powers' reaction to Vanessa dying at the start of the Spy who Shagged me...

It's not that I don't think he's a good Bond (there's never been a bad Bond IMO) I'd just rather watch any of the others if I'm honest.

 

[EnriqueH]

As a lifelong Bond fan, who grew up on all things Bond, I find it ludicrous that anyone should suggest that Bond should unlikeable.

He's the lead character in a franchise!

Of course, he should be likable!!!

An anti-hero, perhaps. A villain you love to hate, ok. But unlikeable?

Come on!

Even Top 10 *Villain* lists are comprised of "likable" characters.

Darth Vader, Khan, Clarence Boddiker, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Hannibal Lecter, The Joker, Ivan Drago, the T-1000, etc.

ALL likable characters, even though they were assholes.

Bond is the ultimate screen manisfestion of "men want to be him, women want to be with him".

I draw the line at Bond being an anti-hero. But "unlikable"?

NO WAY.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Connery (I honestly find his Bond the least likeable and the least empathetic

Bond at his essence is a spy and even to some extent a professional terrorist. Why should he be overly likable and at all empathetic?

Well, you answered your own question.

Being likeable and having his measure of empathy helps Bond with the angle of human intelligence (HUMINT), period.

I have no idea why you inserted the word overly.

(I speak only of the movie character(s), having seen all of the films but having read only one of the books.)

 

[the G-man]

I was referring to him being likable to the viewer, which is how I took the OP to be using it. I probably should have used 'particularly likable' instead of 'overly likable' however.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I was referring to him being likable to the viewer, which is how I took the OP to be using it. I probably should have used 'particularly likable' instead of 'overly likable' however.

"Empathetic" makes zero sense in that context, since he can't interact with the viewer, so I have no idea what you mean. Being "empathetic" would seem to be how the viewer might judge him to be (or not be), in relation to other characters, in-universe. For example, if viewers read him as not minding that he's using other characters, then they might say that he's not empathetic.

It seems self-evident that being liked by the viewer is an important aspect of being entertaining, though.

 

[the G-man]

Please let me try to clarify my point one more time. I took the OP to mean Bond should be:

• Likeable to the viewer.
  Empathetic to the persons with whom he interacts during the film.

Now, discussing the two concepts separately, taking into account Bond is a spy/professional terrorist:

• 
  The viewer shouldn't find him particularly likable. They might enjoy his adventures. They might fantasize about what it would be like to be him. They should consider him more likable than his adversaries. However, they shouldn't consider him particularly likable in that he's still a spy and a killer (not to mention a mysogynist, a drunk, etc.)
  
  Given what Bond does, I don't expect him, nor would I think any viewer should expect him, to be empathetic to the other characters in the movies. Certainly not to those opposes. Other persons might deserve a certain greater degree of empathy. However, quite often, they are there to be "used" by Bond. Sometimes, perhaps, justifiably so (to complete a mission).

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Gotya. Disagree.

 

[Zek]

Sean Connery is by far my favorite for several reasons but sometimes I lean towards Pierce Brosnan probably because the first Bond film I ever saw was Diamonds Are Forever

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Daniel Craig. Although Sean Connery and Timothy Dalton are a close second and third, respectively.

 

[Bisz]

I went with Brosnan but Dalton and Craig are a close second. I have no great love for Moore.

 

[Relayer1]

Can I start off the bitching following the release of the hacked Sony emails putting Idris Elba in the frame for the next Bond.

No. Just no. I like Elba, but Bond isn't black. He isn't Chinese, Indian, Inuit etc. That, for me, is just too far from the novels.

If they really want Elba, make him another agent - I'd enthusiastically support that, but not as Bond.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Not. This. Shit. Again.

 

[Relayer1]

Not. This. Shit. Again.

I'm afraid so.

If it's any consolation, I'm probably as fed up with it as you are.

It just won't go away...

 

[CorporalClegg]

Yes. Because I'm 100% certain the ranks of the British military complex are completely WASP.

 

[Relayer1]

I don't give a stuff. I'm a fan of the original novels, I'd like the films to reflect them, end of.

FYI I didn't like the Moore films much, because again, they were way too far from the source material. And bloody stupid.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Because the films have so fastidiously adhered to literary dogma in the past...