Timothy Dalton - The Forgotten Bond 

Absolutely. When I read the books as a boy in the 60's and 70's I visualized a Bond exactly like Dalton (even though I grew up idolizing Connery).

He had offered more than 3rd film. He was supposed to be in GoldenEye but he didn't continue. Cubby Broccoli said: After 6 years break you can't make one and walk away but Timothy was not interested in making more than 3 in total. That's why Pierce was brought on the board.

this...my only issue with the movie was they could've done more with carol lowell's part.

He couldn't have done Property of a Lady because Octopussy was already based on it.

@@christianealshut1123 Property of a Lady was the working title for his scrapped third outing.

Most people shares the opinion that, from the six actors, Timothy Dalton was the second best Bond ever.

Tim Dalton was the best bond.

You are so correct, Fleming described Bond as looking like Hoagy Carmichael with a more cruel mouth, and in the books Bond is quite a dark character.

@@janandersen8735 I’m sorry to burst you bubble but he does not look like Hoagy Carmicle. Sean Connery is the closest to Carmicle. Roger Moore a close second. Closest Dalton got to Carmicle was in TLD. In LTK, he looks more like a younger British version Charles Bronson to go with the desperate attempt to keep up with 80s action movies due to the low popularity of the 007 series at the time.

As for him acting like the novel version, there were things that held him back, most notably how chaste they made his version of the character for the AIDS epidemic and in LTK how they made him too much of a bloodthirsty madman to keep up with popular action movies at the expense of the character. If they weren’t holding the character back as much he probably could’ve gone further. TLD was the only movie he did that worked. They got him just right in a way that could get audiences to view the movie and be more open to his portrayal. It certainly proved to be the right direction after how poorly AVTAK did but audiences still weren’t entirely convinced. The producers were really wanting Pierce Brosnan to take over. Dalton wasn’t their first choice around 1986 as he kept turning the role. He only received the role by sheer luck. Brosnan nearly took over the role but an hour before his Remington Steele contract expired NBC renewed the series for another season. The producers knew Brosnan would make the series far more popular again. Unfortunately, he lost the 007 part and season 6 of Remington Steele was canceled after ratings plummeted again due to Bronson missing out on the 007 part. The bulk of his 007 movies didn’t work either for similar reasons in regard to keeping up with popular action movies but Brosnan was able to make the series popular again. Dalton’s popularity has only grown because of Daniel Craig. Before that, practically everyone didn’t care for Dalton’s portrayal or his movies. Craig is the closest to the novel version but not entirely. No actor has ever gotten it entirely down. The character of the novels is far more explicit and unrestrained when in came to his thoughts regarding homophobia, sexism and racism. He smokes way more than any actor ever did and drinks way more. The movie character is toned way down in comparison. Even Daniel Craig, the most unfiltered of the on screen portrayals, is still not quite the level of the novel character. There are things that work in a novel that don’t work on screen. The complete Fleming interpretation is one of them. Even he was aware of this. It wasn’t until Sean Connery took over with Dr.No that the movie series took off that was attempted 9 years earlier with 1953’s Casino Royale and it also significantly increased the popularity of Fleming’s novels.

@@Gamingnstuff131 They were talking about general attitude too. No way you would put Roger Moore over Dalton in terms of faithfulness to the books. Plus I think we all know that there were things that they couldnt fully translate to the screen due to the times changing. That's not much of an argument.

Brilliant

The Pet Shop Boys were originally supposed to do the theme. They did a demo which sounded amazing.

.....and that film is the best Bond of the 80s.

@@truth901 In my opinion license to kill is better

I love it

What do you mean exactly by diligent?

@@randallrutherford1384 I guess it's a malapropism...

I agree I am a big James Bond and have been for 25 years since 8-9 years old and I am 34 now. I liked Timothy Dalton as Bond it’s too bad he didn’t get to play Bond in Octopussy or even A View To a Kill with Roger Moore returning both times.

I think, subconsciously, they want a more light-hearted Bond like Brosnan and Moore

At the time Dalton was following the long tenure of Roger Moore who developed his light hearted humor and tongue in cheek humor in 7 films over the course of 12 years. At the time in 80s some fans and critics weren’t necessarily warming up to a darker tone in Bond films but Timothy Dalton wanted to make his films his own. The Living Daylights was actually a big hit but Licence To Kill critics thought it was too dark and it was not marketed well and was a box office failure. It didn’t help Licence To Kill went against Batman, Lethal Weapon 2 and Indiana Jones 3 at the box office which were big hits. In recent years fans have grown to appreciate Timothy Dalton and he was ahead of his time and he more liked now but think fans of the films didn’t necessarily read the books as Dalton read the books and he followed the books interpretation of Bond. I actually liked Timothy Dalton as Bond but been a fan of movie series as was 8-9 years old in 95 when Goldeneye came out.

I think many people didn’t like his acting skills. I didn’t like how he delivered his lines but his 2 movies are a classic in the series.

@@scottknode898 I can get why Roger Moore did Octopussy at the time. It would of been box office suicide for Albert Broccoli to introduce a new Bond actor comparing to Sean Connery in Never Say never again. Moore was a respectable Bond for the audience at the time. As for A View to a Kill I reckon it was Broccoli saying "right let's get Roger to one more". It be both Connery and Moore would of done 7 Bond films but Rog would had done 7 whereas Connery did 6 and the phoney one. I agree that A View To A Kill should of had Timothy Dalton or any fresh blood.

Mine, too

You are SO right

yeah! TLD has an interesting and exciting plot than LTK

I wish he was in Goldeneye. That would have really nailed it. The movie was written for him, but then legal bs got in the way and he didn't want to sign a multi film contract Dalton facing off against a rogue 00 agent and a former Soviet general would have been epic.

@@birdsteak9267 that's nice, but I really don't care. Everyone knew from the beginning that such a character could never exist in real life, for many reasons. I don't evaluate James Bond in terms of his realism, I evaluate him in terms of his STYLE. Thank you for your service btw.

It wasn’t his fault but the legal issues that prevented any Bond films from being produced from 89-94 caused a lot of frustration for Timothy Dalton. He was offered to come back in 94 before Goldeneye was to begin filming and by then he made commitments to other roles and decided to resign from playing Bond in 94 while doing a mini series. He didn’t want to commit to multi picture deal after Goldeneye and keep playing Bond in to his 50s. A Bond film was supposed to be released in 91 called Property Of A Lady but it never was green lit with the legal issues.

In truth D'Abo was a bit bland. A bit of a drip.

They were PG not Pg13. . .

He did get the chance but alas he turned it down

@@postersandstuff After 6 years of delays he wanted to do just one more, they wanted him to do 3 or 4 more, so he turned down offer. They should have allowed him to do the one more which would have been Goldeneye, which was originally meant for him

Great company. name

Agreed

What's not to love

Lol thats absurd, you must be Welsh and think greatly for a fellow Welsh Dalton. WORST MOVIES WORST BOND, HE DID NOT WANT TO DO THE ROLE IN THE FIRST PLACE AS HE COULD NOT RELATE TO THE BOND CHARACTER. HE WAS HEARD TO HAVE SAID SO TO MR. BROCCOLI.

@@evm6177 what do you do know? He was offered the role back during pre production of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service but at the time Dalton turned down the role as felt he was too young at age 23 to play Bond. Dalton was offered the role 3 times in 80s but Moore decided to come back each time before he officially retired from playing Bond after A View To a Kill. Dalton almost turned down The living Daylights due to other projects but his schedule opened up. Brosnan turned down the role after producers of tv show Remington Steele wouldn’t allow Brosnan to play Bond due to his contract. Dalton took the role of Bond officially in 86.

@@evm6177 Wrong, on so many counts. Dalton may have been born in Wales but he was raised in England by parents who were of English, Irish and Italian stock. From what I gather, Dalton considers himself more English/Italian due to the manner and place of his upbringing. As Scott said, Dalton turned down the Bond role in the late 60's because he considered, correctly, that he was too young being only in his mid-twenties. He was a fan of the first 3 Connery Bond films. When the opportunity came around once again he seized it - if he didn't want the role, then why would he take it?. As for him not being able to relate to the character, context is key here. He said that he could not relate to the character in the way that Bond was being depicted at the time, on screen, during the Moore era. He said that he could not identify with a "Superman", i.e. Bond being indestructible, not facing genuine jeopardy, cracking jokes when faced with supposed danger etc. He was explaining how he would approach the role, how he would return the character to his roots, back to Fleming's Bond. As for Dalton being the worst Bond, in the worst films. That's your subjective opinion. You're entitled to it. I suppose it depends on what kind of Bond you want, a poser, a clown in an over-the-top adventure, or a serious, diligent Bond in a more grounded, gritty story.

The problem with most Bonds are the script. I liked the realism of LTK, just like I think Quantum of Solace is highly underrated. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was a great miniseries, the 'I'm going to blow up the world' Bond films just seem adolescent. Just like I think 'winter soldier' was about the best marvel movie. Connerys best was 'from russia with love'. Goldeneye was back to the craziness and I think almost all Brosnans films were like that, and I think he seems kind of pissed that he couldn't do the casino royale but got cheesy bond like roger. Moore's best I found was the Man with the Golden Gun, except for that horrible ending. Thats of course just my opinion.

@@mikearchibald744 sure your thoughts will change in a few years. Used to like die another day like anything. 1st bond movie I saw. QoS is a bad movie . Tried to be casino royale 2.0

Actually Alec Trevelyn was originally written to an older 00 agent and mentor to James Bond who turned rouge and heads a criminal organization. Alan Rickman, Anthony Hopkins the first choice and Jeremy Irons were considered for the role of Alec and they all turned down the role which Sean Bean was then offered the role and accepted. After Pierce Brosnan took over the role of Bond the script of Goldeneye was slightly changed but still had the darker tone to fit Daltons interpretation of the character.

@@scottknode898 heard Brando was gonna be villain in Rambo III

@@postersandstuff your right Marlon Brando was an original choice by the studio but Brando decided not to do the film

Absolutely agree

I don't think that's Timothy Dalton. It looks a lot like him though circa 1988/89, with his License to kill haircut and thick eyebrows.

Completely Agree. Dalton was Ian Fleming's vision of James Bond. Daniel Craig is just an actor in a role.

@@scottfree2248 Craig is just a better version of Dalton so you're wrong

@@Liamthewaldo Actually we just like different versions of Bond. I prefer Dalton and you prefer Craig. Kind of like having different types of favourite cars. Just a difference in opinion of the the portrayal of Bond we like.

🙄

@@Liamthewaldo No He is not. You are the one who is wrong Sunshine.

Agreed. Brosnan did ok, though I felt that he spent too much time posing, trying to look and act cool. I don't know if the was the directors fault, but I'm certain that I once read somewhere that Brosnan wanted to play the character in a darker fashion.

I am 34 and been a big Bond fan since I first saw Bond films when I was 9 years old in 94-95. The first Bond movies I saw with my cousin were The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker on vhs with Roger Moore. I got into the Bond films with my cousin Jeff as his parents had all Bond films on vhs at the time up to Licence To Kill. I started collecting Bond films on vhs as a kid and have them all dvd or blu ray now. I like Connery and Moore as well as Dalton whose two films I watched a lot as a kid. I grew up on Brosnan and Craig yes I do like them but been a fan of the whole series. Plenty of people i know my age or even younger who like the classic Bonds to. I enjoyed Dalton as Bond and still do.

Such a shame. He almost appeared in GoldenEye but resigned from the role in April 1994. Can't complain too much as I think Brosnan was superb in GoldenEye. But a third or even a fourth Dalton outing would've been great. Oh well.