Bond Begins: 12 Behind the Scenes Photos From Dr. No, the First 007 Film

Sean Connery, who earned the role of 007 in part because of his walk, according to the new Nicholas Shakespeare book Ian Fleming: The Complete Man.

It quotes producer Albert Brocolli saying of Connery, “He walked like the most arrogant son of a gun you’ve ever seen,” which led him to realize: “That’s our Bond.”

Shakespeare’s book follows the life of Fleming, whose novels inspired the series of 27 Bond films that started with Dr. No.

Ursula Andress on set with Bond creator Ian Fleming.

Her character, Honey Ryder, is often considered the first “Bond girl,” although she doesn’t make her iconic bikini-clad entrance until about halfway through Dr. No.

She is preceded onscreen by Sylvia Trench and Miss Taro.

Ian Fleming, left, discusses secret agent matters with Sean Connery, the first of the many actors to play the dashing superspy on film. (He was played on television by American actor Barry Nelson in 1954.)

As Nicholas Shakespeare’s book recounts, Bond was based in part on Fleming, who dramatized and heightened his own experiences with love and spycraft.

Honey Ryder’s job is shell diving, and appropriately she enters Dr. No bearing shells.

If her opening costume in the film — a white swimsuit and belt — seems a little revealing, consider that in the novel upon which Dr. No is based, she wears only the belt.

1962 film censors seem unlikely to have signed off on that idea.

Sean Connery is fitted for one of the many ultra stylish suits he would wear in the role of 007.

Among other jobs prior to taking on his most famous role, Connery was a naval boxer, lifeguard, and art class model, according to Nicholas Shakespeare’s Ian Fleming: The Complete Man.

What comes through most of all in the publicity photos for Dr. No is the radiant, transcendent chemistry between Connery and Andress. Which, we suppose, was exactly the idea.

“He was very protective towards me, he was adorable, fantastic,” Andress said in a 2020 interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera after Connery’s death at 90. “He adored women, He was undoubtedly very much a man.”

She added: “We spent many evenings together and he would invite me everywhere, Monte Carlo, London, New York, from when we met until now we always remained friends. Friends, friends.”

Making the film wasn’t all fun in the sun — here are Connery and Andress discussing a scene with director Terence Young.

Young not only brought Bond to the screen for the first time with Dr. No, but directed the second 007 film, From Russia With Love, released a year after the first film, in 1963.

Guy Hamilton directed the third film, Goldfinger, but Young returned for his third and final Bond film, Thunderball, in 1965. It’s safe to say that no director did more to shape the aesthetic of the early franchise.

Sean Connery as Bond and John Kitzmiller as Quarrel.

When 007 arrives in Jamaica to investigate the murder of M16 Station Chief John Strangways, he is tailed by Quarrel — but Quarrel soon turns out to be aiding the CIA.

He soon introduces Bond to Felix Leiter, a CIA operative who becomes one of James’ closest friends. The first actor to play him was future Hawaii Five-O star Jack Lord.

The actors show off their athleticism and chemistry while frolicking on a Jamaican beach during filming.

Nice work if you can get it.

Andress told Corriere della Sera that when she joined the film, “I didn’t know Sean, and I thought it would be my first film and maybe my last.

“But instead it took off, the chemistry between us worked and it was the perfect combination.”

One of the most iconic Bond girls, exhausted after a long day of hard work, shell diving, and misadventure.

Did they have any idea people would be watching their movie and writing about them, 62 years later? Or did it just seem like a fun, beachy spy thriller? You have to wonder.

 ”It was a very small budget production and I agreed to do it thinking not many people would see it,” Andress told Corriere della Sera.

Here’s another picture of Sean Connery and Ursula Andress.

Nobody minds, right?

You might also like this list of 11 Stars of the 1960s Who Are Still Going Strong, or this book excerpt from Nicholas Shakespeare’s fascinating Ian Fleming: The Complete Man.

Editor’s Note: Corrects that Barry Nelson played Bond on TV before Connery played him on film.