39 Years Ago, the Most Underrated James Bond Actor Made His Debut (And He’s Christopher Nolan’s Favorite)

It has been 39 years since the most underrated James Bond actor made his screen debut, and the star’s work in his first 007 movie has since gone on to inspire even Christopher Nolan. It is never easy for an actor to take over the iconic role of James Bond. The super spy might have changed his face no less than seven times across the franchise’s 25 official movies, but no star has avoided the dreaded first movie jitters in the role.

Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig had arguably the strongest James Bond franchise debuts, with the very tonally different outings GoldenEye and Casino Royale, respectively. In contrast, Timothy Dalton’s underrated 007 debut remains one of the franchise’s most underrated movies, even though the star went on to become Inception director Christopher Nolan’s favourite Bond actor. The fifteenth Bond movie, The Living Daylights was released in July 1987.

Timothy Dalton’s First Bond Movie Is One of the Franchise’s Most Underrated

A classic Cold War caper, The Living Daylights sees Dalton’s more mature, brooding version of 007 sent to investigate the suspicious deaths of numerous high-profile defectors from the KGB. Eventually, Bond ends up helping a Soviet general to defect from the USSR, but an American arms dealer is busy plotting with the KGB to trick MI6 into a disastrous error that has the potential to start a full-blown nuclear war between the superpowers.

With the iconic character actor Joe Don Baker, beloved by the ‘90s cult show Mystery Science Theatre 3000, as the American arms dealer Brad Whitaker, The Living Daylights also marks the first James Bond movie without Lois Maxwell playing Bond’s longtime secretary Miss Moneypenny. In her place is Caroline Bliss, who played the role in both Dalton movies before she herself was replaced by Samantha Bond in 1995’s GoldenEye.

Thanks to the assured direction of franchise stalwart John Glen, who had previously helmed For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, and A View to a Kill, as well as editing On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, The Living Daylights is a reliably strong outing for the series. However, despite how assured Dalton’s debut feels on a re-watch, behind the scenes, its production was chaotic.

Dalton’s Short Tenure As Bond Helped Shape Daniel Craig’s Time As 007

As the franchise attempted to bring back some of the grounded sensibility of Connery’s movies and move away from the Inspector Gadget-style live-action cartoon campiness of Moore’s later movies, the producers searched high and low for a new, young star to play 007. The late, great Sam Neill was considered before Pierce Brosnan was offered the role, only to miss his all-important screen test thanks to his commitments to the TV series Remington Steele.

The franchise’s interest in Brosnan led the creators of Remington Steele to renew the cancelled show, meaning Brosnan could no longer take the role. Remington Steele was then swiftly cancelled once again when Brosnan lost out on the part of 007, allowing Dalton to play the character for a decade before Brosnan finally did go on to replace him in 1995’s GoldenEye. While this messiness hardly helped Brosnan at the time, it did allow viewers to get accustomed to Dalton’s tougher, grittier take on James Bond almost two decades before Daniel Craig took this approach even further in his 007 franchise debut.