FIRST ACTOR TO PLAY JAMES BOND
Who Played James Bond: A Complete History
Summary
If you asked someone who the first actor to play James Bond was, they would probably answer Sean Connery. Similarly, if you were to ask how many actors had played the role, most people would say 5 or 6. You may be surprised to know that the above answers are wrong. Below, we give you the complete history of all of the actors who have played James Bond, not only in the official series, but in unofficial films, TV series and radio shows.
1954 - Barry Nelson
In early 1954, Ian Fleming was paid $1000 for the television rights for Casino Royale. The novel was adapted into an hour long TV special and was broadcast on CBS on October 21st, 1954 as an episode of theClimax! Mystery Theatre.
It was a low budget black and white episode that was adapted by Charles Bennett, who wrote the screenplays for most of Alfred Hitchcock's films in the 1930s. It starred Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre, Linda Christian as Valerie Mathis, Michael Pate as Clarence Leiter, and American actor Barry Nelson as the first ever James Bond.
Barry played James Bond very casually, and despite several laughable fighting and torture scenes, the episode was an interesting and enjoyable rendition of Casino Royale. It appears as a special feature on the DVD for the 1967 spoof film Casino Royale.
