“Sean Connery, chosen to play Bond on the screen, had better be good.” November 3 marks the 65th anniversary of the announcement of Sean Connery’s casting as the big screen’s first James Bond – and it turns out people were complaining about Bond casting even then.

I did a deep dive on Newspapers.com to see how the media covered the casting of James Bond, from Sean Connery through Daniel Craig. Relatively unknown actors faced tougher scrutiny than actors like Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan who were known for playing Bond-like roles on TV shows.

(Speaking of TV shows, the iconic British secret agent’s first screen appearance was in an episode of the 1954 anthology TV series Climax! where the character, played by Barry Nelson, was changed to be American. Imagine if there was social media back then!)

So as we wait to find out whether it’s Callum Turner, Jack Lowden, Josh O’Connor or someone else entirely cast in James Bond 26, let’s take a look back on how past Bonds were reported on by the media, starting with:

One has to remember what a phenomenon James Bond was in the early 1960s. Ian Fleming’s novels were bestsellers and even President John F. Kennedy made his 007 fandom known. There had been much anticipation about James Bond finally getting the big screen treatment in Dr. No – Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant even eyed it at one point –so when it was announced that Scottish actor Sean Connery had won the role, the biggest response was: Who?

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