Timothy Dalton
Born 21st March 1946
Out went the humour and in came a more serious 007 in a style more imagined by author Ian Fleming. James Bond was now living on the edge.
Timothy Dalton first gained international recognition in the award-winning film The Lion In Winter, in which he played the young Philip II of France.
Dalton’s first love has always been the theatre, and after attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he spent a period in repertory. Following this, his commanding presence combined with his fine acting ability quickly established his reputation as a Shakespearean actor of note while starring with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Dalton’s early film career reflected his classical background with starring roles in Wuthering Heights, Mary Queen of Scots, and Cromwell. His later career diversified and his screen roles have included a villain in The Rocketeer, a terminally-ill man in Hawks, Rhett Butler in Scarlett, a dictator in the comedy The Beautician & The Beast, and for American TV, Julius Caesar in a 4-hour version of Cleopatra.
Timothy Dalton starred as James Bond twice in
The Living Daylights (1987)
Licence To Kill (1989)
Indeed, I agree with many of you. Timothy Dalton was a spectacular James Bond. When he took over the role, it was an exciting prospect to see his take on Bond.
He has a towering talent and added a physicality to Bond that was missing in Sir Roger Moore’s Bond. Don’t get me wrong, the first Bond I witnessed on a big screen was Roger, and I enjoyed the film. However, when Timothy Dalton took the sniper rifle in hand to scare ‘The Living Daylights’ out of poor Kara Milovy, the film truly took me to a place I could relate to, because I was trained as a sniper in the U.S. military.(Don’t get this wrong, it merely means I was trained. I’m no Chris Kyle, of American Sniper fame. I’m a nobody, full stop. Not famous for anything. Never did any critical work. Just a guy who likes Bond films.)
In my mind, Timothy Dalton’s James Bond MADE the films work for me, FULL STOP.
Lovely to see Timothy Dalton getting the recognition and praise that he thoroughly deserves. He was Ian Fleming’s Bond and portrayed him like in the novels. It’s a crime that he could only do two films, as he would have been brilliant in Octopussy and A View To A Kill up against e.g. Zorin.
He was the closest and best representation of the character. Tim did a great job with the role.
Not only was Timothy Dalton a gritty, dark and ruthless James Bond, he was also criminally underrated and a breath of fresh air after the slapstick and camp excesses of the Roger Moore era. He read the Fleming novels to get into character and didn’t want to copy what Moore did either, which is why audiences weren’t ready for his interpretation. It’s a shame legal issues ended his tenure, because he could of done at least two more Bond films before signing off.
Imagine an alternate universe where Dalton gets a respectable legacy of Bond films. It would cement him as the best Bond ever.
Timothy Dalton was a great Bond, and a serious Bond, as Ian Fleming wrote him. Wish, like many of you, that he would have done more Bond films. We would love to have him be a guest on one of our podcasts! That would be so thrilling!
I say to this day that the closest any actor has come to bringing Fleming’s Bond on screen is Timothy Dalton in The Living Daylights. Unfortunately, the films were made for the EON Bond and I think Licence to Kill got everything wrong about Bond in particular.
Timothy Dalton should have been promoted by his agent to star in more Bond roles. It would be great if he could make a cameo appearance in a new Bond film with Daniel Craig as 007 sent to rescue an MI6 operative.
Right with you guys, Dalton was, in my view, the most believable Bond: I always wondered what Goldeneye would have been like with Dalton as Bond – just think of it: Dalton and Bean – two great actors. It could have been awesome.
What I meant is, reading from several articles about Timothy Dalton, he is a very humble person. He won’t take any credit but he started the change of the Bond movies into real spy thriller movies. It’s a shame he only did 2 Bond films.
P. Brosnan is not a good Bond and his looks do not fit the Bond role. Sean Connery is a good Bond. Roger Moore makes the Bond movies boring and very comical. A Bond movie should be a serious movie since it is a spy thriler. Only Timothy Dalton was able to connect to Ian Fleming’s stories. His acting was phenomenal. He stayed humble but could take credit for how he changed the Bond movies to become real action movies.
Timothy is the best Bond. He changed the Bond movies into a real action thrillers, not Craig. I wish Timothy could have done more Bond movies. He is a very gifted actor and the most good-looking Bond.
Sagnik you are absolutely correct. Dalton is the best Bond. Timothy portrayed Bond as a real man on the edge and was discredited by the pop cultural cretins. Along came Daniel Craig and he was given all the praise for being on the dark side. Timothy did it first and was ahead of his time. Craig gets all the credit,
He’s the best BOND the world ever had