‘COMMANDER JAMAICA’ SOUNDS, maybe,
like a problematic fish-out-of-water sitcom
from the 1970s. It certainly would have been an
inauspicious title for the first James Bond film,
but was, in fact, the proposed name of a TV series
that Ian Fleming had planned in the mid-1950s,
focusing on a sexy secret agent named James
Gunn. It was inspired by a memorable holiday
the author had taken in the Bahamas, where he’d
wandered through dense mangrove swamps,
sparse salt flats and encountered fat Land Rovers
that roared through the night (a sight that
inspiredDr. No’s legendary ‘dragon’ tank).
However, the project collapsed, and Fleming
popped it in a drawer to recycle elsewhere at
another time. Ultimately, the story — about a spy
in the West Indies exploring a secret, dangerous,
forbidden island ruled by a mysterious villain
— became the basis for the sixth James Bond
novelDr. Noand, later, the character’s explosive
movie debut.
Until 1962, the world of movie espionage
was starched, cold and still hungover from World
War II. There were black-and-white shadows,
whispered codes and pulled-down trilby hats.
Then, though, James Bond arrived on screens,
fully formed, and where once was darkness,
there was now bright Technicolor light and
effortless glamour. The genre had changed
forever, and the movie’s impact rippled
throughout the entire movie industry.
•••
“WE HAVE THE rights to James Bond,” an
excited Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli and his new
partner Harry Saltzman informed an even more
excited David Picker, president of United Artists,
as they sat in his office. Picker had been very
keen on optioning the books, but had long given
up as he couldn’t secure the rights; Saltzman had
picked them up some time earlier. Broccoli had
formed a hurried partnership with Saltzman,
who had no interest in selling his rights to him,
but was interested in teaming up.
They formed Danjaq (a combination of
Broccoli and Saltzman’s wife’s names, Dana and
Jacqueline), and after securing the deal with
United Artists, were ready to bring 007 to the
big screen,awayfrom the 2D comic strips and
tiny TV sets (namely a 1954 US television movie
starring Barry Nelson) where he had previously
dwelt. Picker pushed forDr. Noto be the first
film, as he felt it was the easiest story to make
in terms of style, content and, importantly,
budget: production-wise, it would be one of
the cheaper Bond stories to adapt. And so
the search began for a man who could truly
humanise the superspy.
Director (and former tank commander)
Terence Young was smooth, debonair and
well-versed in the sensual ways of the upper-
class gentleman. He knew where men like Bond
would go to eat, what they’d wear, how they
spoke, how they walked, how they loved. He had
worked for Broccoli on many films (including the
1958 war movieNo Time To Die), and was almost
certainly the man best-placed to fi nd the right
chap for the part. The production team had
a few actors in mind, from Cary Grant (who
would only commit to one fi lm) to Roger Moore
(committed to his TV series The Saint) and
Richard Johnson (The Haunting). But a producer
friend of Young ’s recommended a young Scottish
lead with whom he’d recently worked on a fi lm
calledOn The Fiddle, a World War II comedy
about a pair of spiv con-men avoiding service.
His name was Sean Connery, he was 31 years old,
an ex-milkman and a former contestant in the
Mr Universe contest.
“I liked the way he moved,” Saltzman later
said, presumably not having seen him on a milk
float. Dana Broccoli, meanwhile, said that
Connery walked like a panther. While United
Artists took some convincing, their fears were
swiftly allayed when they saw Connery pad
seductively before the cameras. Terence Young
took Connery, a “rough diamond”, as legendary
production designer Ken Adam later described
him, under his wing and gave him a crash course
in how to be a proper British gentleman,
coaching him on the lifestyle, taking him to the
best tailors, barbers and restaurants. Connery
later described the process as “knocking me into
shape”, although Young himself would never
take the credit for it: asked years later about
the process he said, “If you ask me the three
ingredients that make James Bond: Sean
Connery, Sean Connery, Sean Connery.” By the
time cameras were ready to roll, Connery was
steam-cleaned, varnished, hard-pressed and
ready to break hearts, minds and box offi ces.
With Bond in place, it was time to populate the
rest of Fleming ’s world.
Fleming ’s close friend and neighbour
Noel Coward was, bizarrely, Fleming ’s fi rst
choice to play the metal-clawed Dr. No, who was
of both German and Chinese lineage. Even the
playwright himself clearly thought this odd,
responding with a telegram that read, “Dr. No?
No! No! No!” Fleming then chose Christopher
Lee, his step-cousin, but producers had already
found their man in noted New York actor Joseph
Wiseman. The search for an actress to play the
glamorous, shell-obsessed, home-schooled
Honey Ryder ended when the producers saw
a photograph of Ursula Andress in a skimpy
T-shirt (photographed by her then-husband,
John Derek), though her prominent Swedish
accent was dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl (with
Bless This House’s Diana Coupland lending her
pipes to the sung Underneath The Mango Tree).
With steady hands such as Bernard Lee
coming in as Bond’s father fi gure M, Lois
Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny and Jack Lord as
Felix Leiter, the Dr. No cast was assembled and
readied for Jamaica.•••
FILMING COMMENCED IN January 1962,
yards from Fleming ’s Goldeneye estate in
Oracabessa, which meant the author would
occasionally pop in with friends to cast an eye ❯Above: James
Bond (Sean
Connery)
encounters
an unwanted
guest in his
hotel room in
Dr. No (1962).
Right: Bond
chauffeur Mr
Jones, a No
henchman,
is relieved of
his duties.