Many Actors Tipped A Few Martinis As The Legendary Spy.

To be an effective James Bond, an actor needs to project three essential traits: cultivation, a sense of humor and toughness, both mental and physical. Of the six men who have portrayed Ian Fleming’s creation, here is how one critic rates them.

Sean Connery - In so many ways, common-born Connery was a poor choice to play Fleming’s classy protagonist, who drives an Aston Martin, carries a Walther PPK .38 and drinks vodka martinis shaken, not stirred. But the Scottish actor was talented enough to ape the manners of a gentleman and had enough inherent machismo to convince us that he alone could save Britain and, indeed, the whole world from Satan himself.

Pierce Brosnan - Next to Connery, Brosnan exhibits the best combination of breeding, wit and danger of all the Bonds. He clearly doesn’t have the toughness of Connery or even of Timothy Dalton, but he dresses well, is passable with a weapon and can toss off a quip as well as romance a babe with the best of them.

Timothy Dalton - Nearly a match for Connery in the macho department and not bad to look at, Dalton suffers from one unfortunate quality: He’s about as funny as a theater full of screaming 6-year-olds. And if a Bond film has no humor, we become all too aware of its sexist, not to mention obsolete, tone.

Roger Moore - Handsome in a progressively aging way, Moore depended too much on a ready joke to get by. He always looked halftanked (the actor, not the character), and the idea that he could fight off anyone tougher than Pee-wee Herman is absurd.

David Niven - His only appearance was in the Bond spoof “Casino Royale.” His doesn’t count as a real portrayal.

George Lazenby - Even as a joke, Niven was better than this stiff.

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