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How did you picture Bond while reading the novels.

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Comments

  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,546
    Sad Dance never had a good role in any Bond film.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,267
    NickTwentyTwo wrote: »
    Sad Dance never had a good role in any Bond film.

    He couldn't hold a gun straight. ;)
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,546
    I always forget he’s in FYEO.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,773
    Yeah Dance had to settle for playing Ian Fleming.

  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,546
    RichardTheBruce wrote: »
    Yeah Dance had to settle for playing Ian Fleming.

    Oh yeah; apparently I've forgotten about his whole career.
  • ToTheRightToTheRight
    Posts: 16,153
    Speaking of George Almond, here's his interpretation of Fleming's Bond.

    James+Bond+Portrait.jpg

    His jawline is too pronounced, IMO and the hair a little too perfect. I tend to envision a cross between Almond's and this illustration................

    250px-Fleming007impression.jpg

  • RevelatorRevelator
    Posts: 2,917
    Here is how Fleming himself pictured Bond: "To me he is like a real person, except that I can’t put a face to him. All I know is that he has blue eyes and black hair."
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    edited November 2022 Posts: 13,773
    So George Almond's depiction leans to Roger Moore in my view. As a sort of caricature.

    And the Fleming licenced illustration of Bond is a flattering version of Fleming himself.

    Not intended as negative criticism, I do appreciate both. Regarding Almond, he has a large range of style relating to Bond.


    This of course has key insight.
    https://literary007.com/2015/01/28/exclusive-interview-with-james-bond-artist-george-almond/


    Also:
    184455_8.jpg?1634373705
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,546
    ToTheRight wrote: »
    Speaking of George Almond, here's his interpretation of Fleming's Bond.

    James+Bond+Portrait.jpg

    His jawline is too pronounced, IMO and the hair a little too perfect. I tend to envision a cross between Almond's and this illustration................

    250px-Fleming007impression.jpg

    Not familiar with George Almond, but he doesn't strike me as a very good artist.
  • BirdlesonBirdleson
    edited November 2022 Posts: 2,161
    Always young Roger. From the first time I opened one in '74 (I guess there's no coincidence there), even when I try not to, that is who I see. And I do think in his first two outings his interpretation was as close to Fleming as we've gotten in terms of general demeanor.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    This ai generated portrait of Pierce as Bond almost resembles how I picture Bond in the novels.
    Xfr2Ggkl.png
  • George_KaplanGeorge_Kaplan Being chauffeured by Tibbett
    edited November 2022 Posts: 678
    Ever since I saw the original Manchurian Candidate a few years ago, I've struggled to get Laurence Harvey out of my mind (hence my profile picture). He pretty much resembled how I'd always pictured Bond since I read my first one about ten years ago, but when I reread them all last year, I had him very strongly in my mind. He's not too far away from Carmichael either, in my opinion.
  • Last_Rat_StandingLast_Rat_Standing Long Neck Ice Cold Beer Never Broke My Heart
    Posts: 4,581
    I saw all of the films before reading any of the novels.

    Craig in CR
    Prime Connery up until OHMSS
    Late 60s Connery in OHMSS to TMWTGG

    Moore in the Gardner novels and Brosnan in the last few Gardner novels
  • ColonelAdamskiColonelAdamski UK
    Posts: 1,075
    I just couldn't picture an actor. Fleming's Bond is the real James Bond, and a different person. The actors that were in the films were people pretending to be him, with various degrees of success, but Fleming's Bond is the original and a separate being.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,110
    HoagyCarmichael wrote: »
    I like to picture Richard Vernon the MI6 boss C from The Sandbaggers TV series as my literary M...
    54500_v9_ba.jpg

    A few actors in The Sandbaggers would have made great M in the Bond series. I think Ray Lonnen might have made a fine Bond.
  • Herr_StockmannHerr_Stockmann
    Posts: 910
    Regarding Fleming novels, I usually picture young Connery. Except for TMWTGG where, I don't know why, I pictured Lazenby the first time I read it and it sticked since then.

    Regarding continuation novels, I didn't read all of them by: Connery as seen in NSNA for Licence Renewed and Icebreaker; Dalton for No Deals, Mr. Bond and The Man From Barbarossa; Brosnan for Raymond Benson's novels.
  • AndrewReedMillerAndrewReedMiller Saint John Canada
    Posts: 3
    With Raymond Benson books, I picture Brosnan, except in The Man With the Red Tattoo, I picture a mix of him and Connery--probably because it takes place in Japan and it makes me think of the You Only Live Twice movie.
  • ColonelAdamskiColonelAdamski UK
    Posts: 1,075
    If there were no Bond movies, I wonder how you guys would picture him?
    I suspect all the people who have actors in their mind's eye when reading Fleming, came into the Bond thing from the movies.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,267
    ColonelAdamski wrote: »
    If there were no Bond movies, I wonder how you guys would picture him?
    I suspect all the people who have actors in their mind's eye when reading Fleming, came into the Bond thing from the movies.

    I suppose there'd still be the Daily Express Bond comic strips and Fleming's artist's impression of Bond but I take your point. I think most of us here came from the films and therefore it's harder to put images of the film Bond actors to back of mind.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    Kind of a cross between Lazenby & Dalton for me....
  • Agent_99Agent_99 enjoys a spirited ride as much as the next girl
    Posts: 3,176
    ColonelAdamski wrote: »
    If there were no Bond movies, I wonder how you guys would picture him?
    I suspect all the people who have actors in their mind's eye when reading Fleming, came into the Bond thing from the movies.

    Nope, read the books first. When I saw the films I thought “these are fun but that’s not how I picture Bond.” Then I watched TLD and bingo, that’s my boy. Now I mostly see Dalton when I re-read the novels.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    edited December 2022 Posts: 15,110
    ColonelAdamski wrote: »
    If there were no Bond movies, I wonder how you guys would picture him?
    I suspect all the people who have actors in their mind's eye when reading Fleming, came into the Bond thing from the movies.

    Probably Jason Isaacs in his prime.

    Reading the TSWLM novelization, I always pictured Sean Connery circa TB. So when I saw the movie afterwards, I thought Moore didn't quite fit the image I had of Bond.
  • ColonelAdamskiColonelAdamski UK
    Posts: 1,075
    I'm really surprised that 99% of people who've responded on this thread keep an actor in their mind when they read Fleming. It's quite different to how I approach novels, it's all in the pages, I don't let the films overlap at all.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    Posts: 3,787
    ColonelAdamski wrote: »
    I'm really surprised that 99% of people who've responded on this thread keep an actor in their mind when they read Fleming. It's quite different to how I approach novels, it's all in the pages, I don't let the films overlap at all.

    100% true!
  • Agent_99Agent_99 enjoys a spirited ride as much as the next girl
    Posts: 3,176
    To be honest, with most books I read, I’m not sure I have a visual image of the characters at all. I’m a person who tends to think in words rather than pictures, so I’ll think “OK, the hero is a short blond man” without building an image of that in my head, if that makes sense.
  • 007HallY007HallY
    edited December 2022 Posts: 4,122
    I think another big reason why most of us tend to imagine a Bond actor when reading the novels (apart from the fact that most of us watched the films beforehand) is because it’s near impossible for the human mind to imagine/come up with a face they haven’t already seen before. So it’s understandable we’d default to a face we already know or do what @Agent_99 says and think in words or with an image of someone who’s not fully formed.

    I mean, even in hindsight my own image of Bond isn’t as much a mixture of Oliver Reed and Christopher Plummer as I said before, but more likely my brain flitting between those faces as I read, if indeed Bond is even that fixed in my mind.
  • ColonelAdamskiColonelAdamski UK
    Posts: 1,075
    Agent_99 wrote: »
    To be honest, with most books I read, I’m not sure I have a visual image of the characters at all. I’m a person who tends to think in words rather than pictures, so I’ll think “OK, the hero is a short blond man” without building an image of that in my head, if that makes sense.

    I don't think anyone 'sees' a fully-realised mental image in their head when they read a book. I know I don't. It's hard to explain, but I think I'm like you in that I let the words do the work. The last Bond novel I read was TSWLM, a couple of months ago. I visualised some of it, and I can remember 'scenes' in my head, but the face of Bond, or Vivienne, is less well-formed. But I did see them, in a way.
    I read the Folio edition, which has illustrations, and that's interesting, because I did find the pictures 'informing' my imaginings a little. But as I say, that's all inside the book, and that's kind of allowed. Letting actors in is a different thing. I'd no more imagine Tim Dalton as Bond at Dreamy Pines, than imagine Margaret Thatcher as Vivienne.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,267
    Margaret Thatcher as Vivienne Michel: "The lady's not for burning." It could work.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    Posts: 3,787
    007HallY wrote: »
    I think another big reason why most of us tend to imagine a Bond actor when reading the novels (apart from the fact that most of us watched the films beforehand) is because it’s near impossible for the human mind to imagine/come up with a face they haven’t already seen before. So it’s understandable we’d default to a face we already know or do what @Agent_99 says and think in words or with an image of someone who’s not fully formed.

    I mean, even in hindsight my own image of Bond isn’t as much a mixture of Oliver Reed and Christopher Plummer as I said before, but more likely my brain flitting between those faces as I read, if indeed Bond is even that fixed in my mind.

    So I'm kinda bit lucky, because I've read the books before seeing the films :)

    So, that's the reason why I didn't see any of the actors.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,110
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Margaret Thatcher as Vivienne Michel: "The lady's not for burning." It could work.

    Well,,in her prime Thatcher was from what I understand quite pretty.
    Vivienne Michel I imagine her looking like one Québec actress or another.
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