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James Bond 007, is a fictional British spy created by writer

Ian Fleming in 1952. Fleming wrote numerous novels and

short stories based upon the character and, after his death in

1964, further literary adventures were written by Kingsley

Amis (pseudonym 'Robert Markham'), John Pearson, John

Gardner, Raymond Benson, and Charlie Higson. In addition,

Christopher Wood wrote two screenplay novelisations and

other authors have also written various unofficial permutations

of the character.

Although initially made famous through the novels, James Bond is now best known from the EON Productions film

series. Twenty-one films have been made (as of 2006) as well as two that were independently produced and one

American

television adaptation of Fleming's first novel under legal licence. The EON films are generally referred to as the

'official' films (although its origin is unclear, this terminology is used throughout this article). Albert R. (Cubby)

Broccoli and Harry Saltzman produced most of these up until 1975, when Broccoli became the sole producer. From

1995, his daughter, Barbara Broccoli, and his stepson, Michael G. Wilson, jointly continued production duties.

To date, six actors have portrayed James Bond in the official series. They are:

Sean Connery (1962-67; 1971)

George Lazenby (1969),

Roger Moore (1973-85),

Timothy Dalton (1987-89),

Pierce Brosnan (1995-2002),

Daniel Craig (2006-).

In addition, and generally considered 'unofficial', Barry Nelson portrayed Bond in an Americanised television episode

adaptation of Casino Royale in 1954. Bob Holness portrayed James Bond in a South African radio adaptation of

Moonraker in 1956. David Niven played the role of James Bond in a non-EON production of Casino Royale in 1967,

and Connery reprised the character in another non-EON film, Never Say Never Again in 1983.

The twenty-first official film, Casino Royale, with Daniel Craig as James Bond, is in post-production and the World

premiere is scheduled for 14 November 2006, with the film going on general release in Asia and the Middle East the

following day.[1] [2]

Broccoli's family company, Danjaq, LLC, has co-owned the James Bond film series with United Artists Corporation

since the mid-1970s, when Saltzman sold UA his share of Danjaq. Currently, Columbia Pictures and MGM (United

Artists' parent) co-distribute the franchise.

In addition to novels and films, Bond is a prominent character in many computer and video games, comic strips and

comic books, and has been the subject of many parodies.

Contents

1 Overview

1.1 Ian Fleming's creation and inspiration

1.2 The franchise

2 Novels

3 Films

3.1 Eon Films

The James Bond 007 gun logo

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3.2 Non-Eon Films

3.3 James Bond's influence on movies and television

4 Music

5 Video games

6 Comic strips and comic books

7 Bond characters

8 Vehicles and gadgets

9 Trivia

10 References

11 See also

12 External links

Overview

Ian Fleming's creation and inspiration

Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR is an agent of the British Secret

Intelligence Service (SIS) (more commonly known as MI6). He was

created in February 1952 by Ian Fleming while on vacation at his Jamaican

estate called Goldeneye. The hero of Fleming's tale, James Bond, was named after an American ornithologist of the

same name who was an expert on Caribbean birds and had written a definitive book on the subject: Birds of the West

Indies. Fleming was inspired by a real spy - Duљan Popov, a Serb double agent for both the British and Germans, who

was also known as a bit of a "playboy". Fleming, a keen birdwatcher, owned a copy of Bond's field guide at

Goldeneye. Of the name, Fleming once said,

"I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, James Bond was much better than something

more interesting like 'Peregrine Maltravers.' Exotic things would happen to and around him but he would be a neutral

figure -- an anonymous blunt instrument wielded by a Government Department.[3]

After completing the manuscript for what would later be titled Casino Royale, Fleming allowed his friend William

Plomer, a poet and later Fleming's editor, to read it. Plomer liked it enough that he gave the manuscript to Jonathan