The best James Bond that never was?

[batman]

name='Straff']Colin Pillinger is married to Joan Collins?? The sly old fox!

Joanie is currently married to theatre director Percy Gibson.

[Mr Cosmo]

I remember when I saw the Enid Blyon Adventure series (1996) thinking that Malcolm Jamieson (who played Bill SMugs) would have been perfect for the part.

[christoph404]

name='Moor Larkin']He did play the part............. with a bottle of tonic, as I recall...........



Possibly got better paid...... pro-rata.......... too!!

Well he certainly made a living for many years on the basis of the tonic water add, Connery got peanuts for Bond compared to now, even taking inflation into account,not sure if Franklin would have made more though, apparently Dean Martin as Matt Helm made twice as much as Connery did for all his Bond appearances put together simply because Martin had a producer credit and a share of the profits. Connery always maintains that if Broccoli and Saltzman were prepared to share the spoils more proportionally then he and the producers could have owned United Artists.

[Moor Larkin]

name='christoph404']Dean Martin as Matt Helm made twice as much as Connery did for all his Bond appearances put together

Swear to my god that I remember as a kid, Patrick McGoohan being quoted as saying David McCallum had got more dough for one season of Man from Uncle than he, McGoohan, had got for three or four years of derring-Danger-Man-do..... Never come across such a quote in my more recent archive-delving though.

[christoph404]

name='Moor Larkin']Swear to my god that I remember as a kid, Patrick McGoohan being quoted as saying David McCallum had got more dough for one season of Man from Uncle than he, McGoohan, had got for three or four years of derring-Danger-Man-do..... Never come across such a quote in my more recent archive-delving though.

I can believe that, being in a succesful USA TV series as huge as TMFU would have meant big bucks for all involved. "Danger Man" was excellent but was an ITC Lew Grade which usually meant Low budget and Low pay.

[SirOllyBolly]

I think Lewis Collins was a missed opportunity.



Could have played the light-hearted Bond very well; the tough, ruthless Bond even better.

[kawolski]

I'd say Christian Bale would do a fair job,

although gotta love what Craig has bought to the role.

Any move away from the tongue in cheek charicature Bonds of old has gotta be a good un.



I can here the shouts of 'heresy' already.

[wearysloth]

My Dream Bond film:

A set-in-1955 version of Moonraker (based on the book!) with



Charles Dance as James Bond



Charlotte Rampling as Gala Brand



and Michael Lonsdale would still have been an excellent Hugo Drax .

[batman]

The 'Moonraker' story is one Fleming's best, and Gala Brand is probably the best literary Bond girl. A fine piece of work from IF, a pity the film is one of the worst!

[billy bentley]

This might put the cat amongst some pigeons, but how about the pound note "Zulu"i.e. pre working class "Alfie" Michael Caine ?

[redally300]

No1 of the secret service and licence to love and kill with Garath hunt are better than the original films in my opinion.

[batman]

name='redally300']No1 of the secret service and licence to love and kill with Garath hunt are better than the original films in my opinion.

Do you mean the original Charles Vine films with Tom Adams?



If you think Shonteff's secret agent films are better than Bond I'm afraid my first thought is that you have shares in the company.