20 James Bond Stars Across Six Decades: Then And Now Photos

No franchise has recycled its own myth as effectively as James Bond. Every few years a new face is announced, the public complains bitterly that he is wrong for it, and within two films he is the only Bond that generation accepts. The pattern has held without exception since 1962. This collection follows twenty of the franchise's most recognisable faces, then and now.

Playing Bond Changes A Life In A Single Weekend And Never Lets Go

Bond is an unusual kind of career event. For the leads it is total, life-altering fame that arrives in a single weekend and never entirely lets go.

Sean Connery is the clearest illustration. Dr. No in 1962 was a modestly budgeted British production; by Goldfinger in 1964 the series was a worldwide phenomenon and he was one of the most recognisable men alive. He played the part seven times in total, then spent much of the seventies deliberately working against the association - and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at fifty-seven for The Untouchables in 1987.

The Villains And Bond Girls Got Permanent Fame From A Few Weeks Of Filming

For the villains and supporting players it works differently. One large role in a film that will run on television for the rest of time, and then a long working life in which strangers still recognise them for a few weeks of shooting decades ago.

That combination - permanent recognition from limited screen time - makes them ideal subjects for this format. The old image is fixed in public memory; the recent one is usually a surprise.

Six Ideas of What a Hero Is

Watching the leads in sequence is really watching the culture change its mind. The blunt cruelty of the early sixties, the lighter tone of the seventies, and the bruised, apologetic version audiences wanted after 2006 are all responses to their moment. The faces changed because the audience did first.

Six Different Bonds Means Six Different Ideas Of What A Hero Should Be

Twenty stars, covering leads, villains and supporting roles across the life of the series. It runs a little under fourteen minutes, making it one of the longer entries in the Then & Now section.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

Six decades, twenty faces, and a franchise that has outlived nearly everyone who built it. Watch above, then read Sean Connery's full peak-years profile for the career that started it.