See full version: Who was james bond named after
Fleming wrote to the real James Bond to ask if he’d mind him using his name (he didn’t) and the two of them had a friendly relationship over the years with Fleming sending Mr. Bond the occasional autographed novel and memorabilia.
Answer: American Ornithologist
The name James Bond is, perhaps, one of the most recognizable English names in the world thanks to more than half a century of spy novels, movies, and video games starring the dashing and fictional British spy. What might surprise fans of Mr. Bond’s daring spy antics though is that his namesake wasn’t a spy, soldier, or other man of mystery and combat prowess, but an ornithologist—a scientist who studies birds. more
Ian Fleming was a keen bird watcher and living in Jamaica when he started working on what would become the Bond franchise. At the time, the leading expert on birds of the Caribbean was an American ornithologist by the name of James Bond. When Ian Fleming went in search of a name for his spy, the name James Bond, the author of a bird book he was familiar with, stood out to him. Fleming later described the moment, “It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born.” more
Films in the Bond franchise have also paid homage to the origin of James Bond’s name. In Die Another Day (2002), an early scene in the movie taking place in Cuba shows James Bond flipping through a copy of the book Birds of the West Indies (a real book written by the real James Bond). Bond later introduces himself, as part of his cover while in Cuba, as an ornithologist. The same book also appeared in a promotional on-set photo for the 2015 film Spectre. more
. at least there's still plenty of archaic James Bond trivia for us to enjoy. For example, it turns out that the character famous for binge drinking, casual murder, and even more casual sex may have been named after . a church?
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Bond author Ian Fleming spent two weeks living in Toronto back in 1942 while attending Camp X, a super-secret spy-training facility just outside the city. Apparently, Fleming failed one of his big tests; he was given a loaded gun and told to kill an enemy agent in a downtown hotel. The "agent" was actually "a trained instructor who would disarm Fleming, ideally before being shot." Unlike his cold-blooded protagonist, Fleming "couldn't go through with it." here
The author of a book about Camp X believes that: "It was a subliminal thing, as he was at the camp and putting his thoughts together about this agent, that all these things came together." No word yet on whether any nude golden women or aggressive bowler hat men were hanging around the neighborhood at the time.
So how could a random Canadian house of worship influence the creation of an English superspy? [links]
While in Toronto, Fleming lived on Avenue Rd., just down the street from St. James Bond Church, which he would have had to pass every day. Officially, Fleming claimed that the name "James Bond" was cribbed from the author of an ornithological reference book. But it seems like too big a coincidence that Fleming spent even a small portion of his formative spy years down the street from a building with the name "James Bond" prominently displayed out front.
Mexican actress Stephanie Sigman has been cast to play Estrella, a mysterious new lady entering Bond's life.
Sigman, 28, starred in the 2011 Mexican film, "Miss Bala," along with 2013's "Pioneer."
Daniel Craig will play Bond for a fourth time, and Mendes returns as director after 2012's "Skyfall." The 46-year-old actor first starred in 2006's "Casino Royale," followed by 2008's "Quantum of Solace" and 2012's "Skyfall." here
And right now you're thinking "The name's Secretan. James Secretan." It doesn't work quite as well, does it?
This, of course, began the decades-long joke of Bond being a secret agent who's not very good at being secret, as he tends to drop his real name wherever he goes. This questionable yet endearing character quirk is a small price to pay, though, if it means he doesn't have to be called "James Secretan."
"Ian's first idea was to give James Bond an assumed name as his cover," revealed Fleming's niece Kate Grimond upon the 1952 early draft of "Casino Royale" recently being made available to the public in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the novel's publication. "Ian must have realized it would cause confusion if he had Bond known as Bond to friends and the security services in London, but as Secretan for his cover name to strangers or people he didn't want to know he was a spy."
Bond claims to be English in AVTAK when playing a part. Melina assumes him to be English in FYEO, and he doesn't contradict her (understandably- both for onscreen reasons and off). There may be other examples. more
Nowadays, you have actors with different backgrounds playing Americans, like many of the cast members of the Walking Dead (I count at least 3 Brits and 1 New Zealander) and 1 American actor playing a Brit comes to mind at this moment, Wes Bentley in Four Feathers. Ooops, I forgot about Robert Downey, Jr. playing Sherlock Holmes, which shows that audience acceptance can go both ways across the Atlantic.
Ian Fleming specifically defined Bond as having a Scots father and a Swiss mother. The films have been vague on this point until Skyfall.
BUT an English accent is still not necessary for an actor to play Bond, whether he be Burt Reynolds or not. Brosnan and Lazenby don't sound English, and most famously neither does Connery. more