# Who was the best Bond? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [September 10, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259 "2020-09-10T13:20:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/21 "2020-09-10T21:09:56Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > As to who is the best overall, why is this even a discussion? It’s Connery. Period. > [@Bullitt](#): > > Period. It’s a cult. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/22 "2020-09-10T21:20:56Z")
No contest: [![](https://i2.wp.com/ricsize.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Dominant-Seal.jpg) ](https://i2.wp.com/ricsize.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Dominant-Seal.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/23 "2020-09-10T21:32:47Z")
Connery. Period ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/24 "2020-09-10T21:34:29Z")
David Niven, hands down. Every Bond post-Niven is a fucking plot hole. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/25 "2020-09-10T21:35:51Z")
I’d go with either Connery Craig or Dalton, because they played Bond as he was in the books - a bad ass cold blooded killer. Moore was horrid. A buffoon. Not sure it if was him, or where the franchise was at the time, but I can’t stand him. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/26 "2020-09-10T21:41:09Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Moore was a pussy, and not galore either. Craig is a stud. But Connery woulda kicked the shit outta them both, left-handed, while holding a hot lady in his right hand while she was pouring a vodka martini down his throat. While kissing him. Martinis are made with GIN. Not that it matters. They taste terrible. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/27 "2020-09-10T21:47:43Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > David Niven, hands down… I don’t know, I thought Woody Allen was better. I really, really dislike the Daniel Craig version of Bond. It’s not really the same character at all. He’s not that cool, he gets beat up and tortured all the time, he gets everyone around him killed. He’s really dark. So, Connery, Niven, or Allen, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/28 "2020-09-10T21:49:17Z")
I believe Ian Fleming had Cary Grant in mind. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/29 "2020-09-10T21:49:24Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > [@Bullitt](#): > > > > Moore was a pussy, and not galore either. Craig is a stud. But Connery woulda kicked the shit outta them both, left-handed, while holding a hot lady in his right hand while she was pouring a vodka martini down his throat. While kissing him. > > Martinis are made with GIN. > > Not that it matters. They taste terrible. Okay but I’ll take the pretty girl. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/30 "2020-09-10T21:52:45Z")
Someone said he had Roger Moore in mind. There’s a lot of stories. I think he made stuff up. I doubt any of his books are based on the real James Bond, who looked a lot like me and Jeff Bridges. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/31 "2020-09-10T21:57:43Z")
Well the first Bond books was published in 1952. (Casino Royale). Roger Moore was an unknown at the time. Cary Grant was one of the biggest actors at the time. I’m going to call the Roger Moore story unlikely. By the time the first theatrical movie was made, Grant was actually too old, so maybe that’s when Moore became his top choice. But I had heard David Niven oddly enough. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/32 "2020-09-10T22:05:35Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > By the time the first theatrical movie was made, Grant was actually too old, so maybe that’s when Moore became his top choice. That is when he is alleged to have said it, after seeing Moore as The Saint. Not that I put a lot of credence in that. He might have named a different actor every time he was asked. If anything he probably meant the same thing as with Niven, that Bond had the appearance of a sophisticate. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/33 "2020-09-10T22:09:33Z")
Roger Moore as Bond reminded me more of a butler taking my coat and pouring me a drink, than he did as someone licensed to kill. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/34 "2020-09-10T22:10:09Z")
Pretty good disguise, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/35 "2020-09-10T22:10:45Z")
Period. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/36 "2020-09-10T22:16:15Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > There’s a thread about Star Wars popularity, but one should be made about Bond movies. Why do they have such a fan base, considering how many of them are stupid or on the other side of the line of “spy spoof” movies? Interesting question. Back in the 90s I occasionally hung out in the alt.fan.james-bond Usenet group, and those folks seemed to dislike most of the movies. _You Only Live Twice_ was usually cited as the shark-jumping point. I think the “Bond lifestyle” is the central appeal for many of the fans. Martinis, European sports cars, expensive tailored suits, a sense of cool detachment, an endless parade of women with double-entendre names. Not that anybody could actually live like that, but that’s their fantasy. If Bond was rebooted as a Jack Reacher-ish character who rides buses and stays in cheap motels, the series would collapse. ---
**Author:** ![Noborry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noborry/32/2564_2.png) [@Noborry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noborry)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/37 "2020-09-10T22:23:01Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > tongue and cheek aspects I have no clue what you are saying here. Unless you meant “to be understood as a joke”, in which case your grammar is almost as bad as your taste in movie actors. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/38 "2020-09-10T22:23:01Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Period. _Dash enuff, noow._ ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/39 "2020-09-10T22:28:47Z")
> [@Noborry](#): > > have no clue what you are saying here. > Unless you meant “to be understood as a joke”, in which case your grammar is almost as bad as your taste in movie actors. I’m guessing auto spell might have slipped a typo past @Tripolar and s/he actually thought that tongue _in_ cheek had been typed. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259/40 "2020-09-10T22:50:12Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I believe Ian Fleming had Cary Grant in mind I read somewhere that Fleming had Hoagy Carmichael in mind. Not to play him, but as a model of what he should look like. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-best-bond/920259.md?page=3)