(Thanks to Mi6.com)
Contrary to popular belief, the honour of being the first actor to play James Bond fell not on Sean Connery, but on American Barry Nelson, who starred in a live one-hour production of Ian Fleming's Casino Royale. The performance on 21st October 1954 (8.30pm EST) was the first in CBS's 'Climax' series of dramas. CBS brought the rights for Fleming's first book for $1000. Nelson played James Bond as an American named "card sense" Jimmy Bond; the program also featured Peter Lorre as the primary villain. Originally broadcast live, the production was believed lost to time until a kinescope emerged in the 1980s. It was subsequently released to home video, and is currently available on DVD as a bonus feature with the 1967 film adaptation of the novel.
During production Nelson was unaware of the fact that the character of Bond was an Englishman. In an exclusive interview with
Cinema Retro in 2004, he said “At that time, no one had ever heard of James Bond….I was scratching my head wondering how to play it. I hadn’t read the book or anything like that because it wasn’t well known. The worst part of it was that I learned it was to be done live. I thought I was finished with live t.v. I was trying to get out of it, actually".
Above: Barry Nelson in a 007-style pose Fleming's novel had only just been published in America six months before the TV production (it was first published on 13th April 1953 in the UK), and the screenplay was developed late on. “They were making changes up to the last minute. There was nothing you could do if anything went wrong”, Nelson said.
Whilst he enjoyed acting opposite Peter Lorre (Le Chiffre) and Linda Christian (Vesper Lynd), he was frustrated by the fact that time constraints had eliminated any background information about the character of Bond. Nelson recalled “I was very conscious of the fact that there wasn’t much to go on. It was too superficial.”
“Casino Royale” made little impact on audiences or critics and was largely dismissed as just another “run of the mill” edition of “Climax!”. Over the next few years, however, Fleming’s Bond novels began to grow in popularity and by the early 1960’s they had established an enthusiastic following throughout the world.
During production Nelson was unaware of the fact that the character of Bond was an Englishman. In an exclusive interview with Cinema Retro in 2004, he said “At that time, no one had ever heard of James Bond….I was scratching my head wondering how to play it. I hadn’t read the book or anything like that because it wasn’t well known. The worst part of it was that I learned it was to be done live. I thought I was finished with live t.v. I was trying to get out of it, actually".
Above: Barry Nelson in a 007-style pose Fleming's novel had only just been published in America six months before the TV production (it was first published on 13th April 1953 in the UK), and the screenplay was developed late on. “They were making changes up to the last minute. There was nothing you could do if anything went wrong”, Nelson said.
Whilst he enjoyed acting opposite Peter Lorre (Le Chiffre) and Linda Christian (Vesper Lynd), he was frustrated by the fact that time constraints had eliminated any background information about the character of Bond. Nelson recalled “I was very conscious of the fact that there wasn’t much to go on. It was too superficial.”
“Casino Royale” made little impact on audiences or critics and was largely dismissed as just another “run of the mill” edition of “Climax!”. Over the next few years, however, Fleming’s Bond novels began to grow in popularity and by the early 1960’s they had established an enthusiastic following throughout the world.
