Ranking Every Serious James Bond Actor

Royalty-Free James Bond Stand-In

Actor Sean Connery’s take on daring MI6 agent James Bond rapidly made both the rugged Scotsman and the character internationally famous. But despite his strong association with Bond, Connery was not the first man to play the action hero. As of this writing, six other actors have portrayed the famous superspy, but only one stands as the best ever to step into the role.

This article ranks all seven Bond actors from worst to best. It is based on their overall performance in purportedly serious visual acting efforts as James Bond, with radio performances, stand-ins, stunt doubles, and comedic versions excluded. Please note that all other aspects of movie production were ignored for the purposes of this assessment.

#7: Sir Roger Moore (1972–1985)

Roger Moore played Bond with overwhelming amounts of charm, much as he played Simon Templar on television's The Saint from 1962 through 1969. However, he failed to deliver any of Bond’s intensity or the character’s menacing nature. 

Due to Moore’s campy portrayals, the Bond series became an embarrassing string of self-parodies more in the mold of the Matt Helm and Derek Flint film series than in the example set by his predecessors.

Roger Moore's performances as James Bond never reached the levels of dramatic acting necessary to convincingly present a layered characterization of Bond, and he made the next entry on this list seem like an award-winning performance in comparison.

#6: Barry Nelson (1954)

James “Jimmy” Bond (yes, the James Bond was referred to as “Jimmy”) when he first appeared in the initial version of "Casino Royale" on the American television show Climax! in 1954. Bond was presented as an American spy and portrayed by American actor Barry Nelson. 

Ian Fleming’s Cold War secret agent was pretty much an unknown commodity to Nelson and Climax!, so this version of Bond was very much in the generic 1950s tough-guy mold. Accordingly, the Barry Nelson version of Bond lacked the depth of most later characterizations, and it similarly lacked the character's subtlety and European flair—both of which he replaced with a delivery more suited to a Chicago-set police drama than an international spy thriller. 

The saving grace for Barry Nelson’s take on Bond is that he was the first to try bringing the British agent to life in a visual medium. Everyone after him had the opportunity to see what he brought to the role and effect changes. Nelson was the initial actor to give James Bond life, and though he did not give Bond the requisite gravitas, his failure to do so is excusable.

#5: Daniel Craig (2006–2021)

When discussing Daniel Craig’s take on James Bond, the name of silent film actor Buster Keaton must enter the conversation. Nicknamed “The Great Stone Face,” Keaton was a physical comedian of the highest order and one of the silent era’s biggest stars. 

Keaton, seen to the right, acted in dozens of madcap comedies in which he performed extreme stunts and risked severe injury—even death—with a wholly expressionless face. No matter the effort, no matter the situation, no matter the dangers before him, Buster Keaton performed as though his face were somehow immobilized.

While neither Craig nor Keaton gave physically rigid performances, comparisons between the two are apt given both starred in highly active roles with little or no change to their facial expressions. Craig’s “blond Bond” was not a debonair gentleman with a license to kill, but a stocky, two-legged tank with all the subtlety of a thundering bull elephant. 

In 2006, Daniel Craig's first outing as James Bond was in the third version of Casino Royale, a film that followed Barry Nelson's attempt and the parody starring David Niven. Craig's debut set the tone for his characterization of Bond when he literally ran through a wall in pursuit of a suspect while his face had all the expressiveness of a brick. His outwardly colder version of Bond differed from all others, and that uniqueness often failed to work in his favor.​

#4: George Lazenby (1969)

Guess what happened when an Australian model/car salesman/relative unknown with little acting experience became the new James Bond? You got George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, of course. 

Lazenby was not a household name when he took on the role of James Bond following Sean Connery’s initial exit, and he's not one now. To his credit, the unheralded performer turned in a performance that could be called “Connery-light.” Lazenby tried gamely and it showed, but his take on Bond was savaged at the time by critics and Connery loyalists.

George Lazenby was an unknown thrust into the shoes of an icon, and the knives were out for him from the very start. In reality, his work was far better than doubtful moviegoers of the time allowed themselves to realize it was, and he later earned a Golden Globe nomination as the Most Promising Newcomer for his performance as James Bond. Now decades removed from his performance, Lazenby's time as Bond has largely gained wider acceptance, while the harsh criticisms against him have diminished.

The actor never officially played James Bond again, though he later played a similar role in 1983’s Return of the Man from Uncle. The character? A well-dressed man driving a familiar, gadget-laden, silver Aston Martin with the license plate “JB,” and who is spoken of in the film with a direct reference to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.​

#3: Pierce Brosnan (1995–2005)

The man who was once locked into playing television’s Remington Steele finally escaped his contractual handcuffs to portray a Bond who was focused, a bit frenetic, and given to lighthearted moments tinged with smugness. 

The Brosnan version of Bond was, to me, a blend of Connery’s and Moore’s, with more of Connery's take and carefully selected dashes of Moore's. Pierce Brosnan’s time as Bond was marred by scripts of decreasing quality. The woeful final entry of the Brosnan era, Die Another Day (2002), was further undermined by unconvincing CGI. 

Many devalue Brosnan’s performances by using the decreasing quality of his Bond films as the sole measure of his abilities. Those who hold such opinions should watch Goldeneye (1995) or any of his first three Bond films. In doing so, they would see a man finally performing a role he desired for years, evincing legitimate charisma and professionalism despite the inferior writing that impeded him.​

#2: Timothy Dalton (1986–1994)

Timothy Dalton is far more than just another actor who played James Bond, for he is the man who rescued the franchise from the campiness of Roger Moore’s interpretation. Moore aimed for a comedic presentation, striking an unfortunate bullseye as did so, but Dalton went in the exact opposite direction. 

Dalton’s Bond was rugged and extremely intense. A classically trained actor, Timothy Dalton imbued his iteration of the legendary spy with a look of gritty determination as he performed numerous scenes of murder and mayhem. If Daniel Craig’s Bond had movable facial features, then it would've been relatively close to Dalton's version of the character—minus the whole "two-legged tank" thing.

Though he performed in just two Bond films (he was slated for more but delays intervened), Dalton’s take on James Bond is key to the film series’ ongoing success, as it helped cleanse many palates of the foul taste left by Roger Moore’s smirking portrayal.

#1: Sir Sean Connery
(1962–1967, 1971, 1983)

This should come as no surprise. Following actor Barry Nelson's 1954 performance, Connery became the second actor to play James Bond. His take on the character greatly eclipsed Nelson's, and it rapidly made both the actor and the character enduring symbols of the 1960s and the entire spy genre despite, or perhaps because of, the womanizing and sexism that both defined the character and plagued an increasingly aware society. 

James Bond, as performed by Connery, aura farmed long before that was a thing. His Bond was intelligence and controlled rage, civility and savagery, a man outwardly of one society and secretly of another. The actor’s nuanced performances—complete with the requisite facial expressions—set the stage for all who would follow by presenting Bond as described, and the presentation of spies was forever changed because of his actions. 

The Sean Connery version of James Bond is the standard that most later versions and imitators tried to meet, though with the caveat that Bond's less desirable aspects became greatly reduced over time. While not the first man to play a spy or Bond, Connery certainly gave a defining portrayal of both, and he stands alone as the best Bond of them all.

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That's it for my ranking of the many actors to play James Bond in dramatic films. Do you agree? Please sound off in the comments!

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