Today is Timothy Dalton’s 62nd birthday.
I doubt anyone will argue with me if I say that Dalton is the most controversial Bond actor. True, Craig generated an enormous shitstorm when he was first cast, but Casino Royale is so fantastic that fan criticism is no longer a major factor. I mean, no one can generate 100% fan approval—there are even fans who think Connery wasn’t very good—but no actor divides fans with more vitriol than Timothy Dalton.
Whom I adore, by the way.
Dalton is responsible for me writing The Ultimate James Bond Fan Book. I had been a Bond fan as a kid, and then lost interest because I really wasn’t a Moore fan. Or to be precise, my father wasn’t, and so he stopped taking me to see Bond movies. So one day about 9 years ago I was on the IMDb message boards and someone asked “Who is your favorite Bond actor?” I realized I’d never seen Dalton and so I couldn’t answer the question. So I rented The Living Daylights. And that was it. I was in love. I was in love with James Bond, with Bond movies, and with Timothy Dalton (yum).
I started rewatching all the Bond films. I also started poking around on the ‘net for Bond message boards. One small board I liked had a moderator who HATED HATED HATED Timothy Dalton. He’d write long, well-thought-out, eloquent posts about The Horror Of Dalton. Naturally, this compelled me to respond and I got very active in writing about Bond on the ‘net. I saved many of those essays and they formed the basis of my book.
So, thanks, Tim.
4 users commented in " Timothy Dalton "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackI’m a fan of Dalton also,I know he read the Fleming novels to get in character,Flemings Bonds hair would fall on his forehead (THE COMA OF BLACK HAIR)Now in “Living Dayligths” while he and Kara are escaping in the Aston Martin,Daltons hair is falling on his forehead,did he do this on purpose????
It nuts when I think about how underrated Timothy Dalton is. He had the bad luck of replacing a man whose ridiculous, slapstick interpretation of Bond had become popular and accepted by society.
Timothy Dalton brought back the dark tone and realism that Bond should have, and in the process made two great films, even though LTK is dismissed by many due to the un-Bondly feel.
While he did lack in the charm and wit department a tad, he made up for it by saving Bond with his rare talent and dedication to portraying Ian Fleming’s James Bond the best he could.
It is utterly criminal that he never got to make a third film.
[...] Kill? Posted in March 25th, 2008 by Deborah Lipp in Best & Worst, Timothy Dalton In comments, Jay calls LTK a great film, while Matt Sherman lists it as a favorite. I’ve recently posted about my [...]
I agree that Dalton was underrated by people. I am a fan of the fanchise even though i thought some of the actors really, went overboard on and ruined some of the films. I like Connery, Craig, Dalton, & even Lazenby.
I felt that Roger Moore really changed the character too much and that took away from the character. Brosnan was great in Goldeneye, but he became the same way. They relied on the gadgets too much and overused those in the movies.
I think that getting rid of the gadgets is a good thing with the new films because it makes the character real again and more like the books.
But anyway, Dalton was trying to do his best to make the character real again, and i read the books, before i sat down and watched all the films and he was perfect! I really wish he had the chance to do a third film. Some people argue about who is the best, and i have to say that i think every actor was good in there own way.
But Dalton will always be one of top three favorites. He and Craig are amazing and so is Connery, but i hope that people give Dalton a chance and don’t think of the other Bond actors, just enjoy it for what it is.
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