Forget Daniel Craig, Sean Connery was the best Bond actor

Skyfall star Daniel Craig is widely regarded as the Bond who revived the series after a couple of disappointing Pierce Brosnan outings, but in this archive interview Sean Connery's biographer, Christopher Bray, argues that the original is still the best.

"He is by far and away the best actor that Bond has ever had," Christopher told STV back in 2010, four years after Daniel Craig's Casino Royale was released.

"Remember, he created the character. If you read the Bond novels, Bond doesn't really exist. In fact, [author Ian] Fleming himself called him a cardboard boobie on which he hung his own peculiar fantasies.

"It was up to Connery to flesh that out."

Well, flesh it out he did. Connery's role as the British spy was his big break into Hollywood, starting with Dr No in 1962 and not ending until Never Say Never Again in 1983. Today, 50 years after the first movie was released, there have been 23 films including yesterday's London premiere of Skyfall.

Back in 1962, however, Fleming was reportedly so impressed by the casting of Connery that he created a Scots heritage for the character in the later novels.

And according to Bray, the films would never have lasted as long without him.

"I think what he did most of all, is add what is absolutely missing from the Fleming novels, a sense of humour.

"I think if thye'd played it straight, they wouldn't have had the success they had."

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