Sean Connery - the real James Bond.

'Who's the best James Bond?' This was a question never asked in the 1960s. There was only one James Bond, and his name was Sean Connery.
Aficionados of Ian Fleming's books were initially up-in-arms about the casting of a body-building former milkman (and a Scot, at that) as the quintessential suave, ruthless English spy - Commander James Bond.

Yesh, Moneypenny, that's me in the middle in the white trunks.

What Connery brought to the role, which silenced the critics (or drowned their objections under a tidal wave of acclaim) was a rugged masculinity, which few of his British peers were able to match (then or since).

As Mick Jagger would do in popular music, Connery in the role of Bond was able to feed both male and female fantasies.

                            "Live dangerously with the superbly resourceful James Bond"
Man or woman - who could resist an invitation like that?

Connery made five Bond films in the sixties:  Dr No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967).  After that came a four year gap before his "final" (not quite) appearance as 007 in 1971's Diamonds are Forever. 

A quick online survey shows that the issue of the best ever Bond film, leans heavily towards Goldfinger (though my vote would go to From Russia with Love).  Where do you stand? (That's what the "comments" box is for!)

Since Daniel Craig took on the role, bringing a certain fallibility and even human vulnerability to Bond, the franchise seems to have been revivified. For those who were around in the sixties, however, the question 'Who was the best James Bond?' is probably as easy to answer as it ever was.