Ian Fleming

Would have been 109 today. Same as Blofeld. Coincidence? I think not.

Thanks for the adventures.

Heh, didn't know that.

Does that mean that James Bond was what Fleming wanted to be but Blofeld was his true self on the page?

If that's the case he'd be pretty disappointed with how he was handled in Diamonds Are Forever (1971).

Right idea, wrong pussy indeed.

Ian Fleming would have been 111 today. What a legacy to have left behind, especially for a life that ended prematurely.

Tantalising to consider what he would've made of things after his death. By the end of the sixties alone, four more films, a new actor...nonetheless, to him we owe all of it and more.

Actually hadn't thought of that. He'd have just gotten used to Connery, who grew to despise his character (or rather, the frenzy it brought with it) to then be replaced by an Aussie.

Though, perhaps he'd have some say on what direction the cinematic You Only Live Twice should go into. Perhaps Fleming would have returned to screenwriting duties (after trying with TB in the 50s)?

As much as I like OHMSS and Lazenby I think IF would've had a bloody fit at GL being in a film. It's hard to say isn't it? I assume he would've had an opinion on Moore saying Moore was considered in 1962. As for screenwriting, tempting to say or maybe the mess over Thunderball would have deterred him so he wouldn't have the aggro of a court case (which Andrew Lycett suggests contributed to his death a little, on top of his already fragile health).

I like to think that a nearly eighty-year-old Fleming would have seen Living Daylights and said, "now there's MY Bond..."

One can but hope ha

The joys of speculation. But yes, I think it's fairly certain he would have indeed had a fit with Lazenby's casting.

To have his opinion on all the subsequent Bonds... I'd be willing to bet:

Lazenby: Outrage
Moore: By this stage, he'd have seen YOLT, Lazenby in the role and DAF, so he'd be accustomed to the lighter touch/the films deviating slightly from his source material. More amused than anything else.
Dalton: As you say, "there's my Bond" in TLD. Maybe not so much in LTK, but certain scenes would tickle, like Leiter's mauling, Bond meeting Sanchez, etc.
Brosnan: I'd like to think he'd have a warm response, despite Bond was being playing by an Irishman. I think, at least in his first three, there's a balance of all the conventions seen in Fleming's works. More than anything, working out who the villains are post-Cold War would have intrigued him. Even in TND, being a journalist and seeing how the media is incorporated would have appealed. Christopher Lee said his cousin would have really taken to Brosnan's Bond- that's got to count for something!
Craig: Look, if Connery wasn't his cup of tea upon first seeing a rough edit of Dr No, imagine seeing 'the spy novel to end all spy novels' adapted into something so bloated, yet stripped back of Bond tropes, ignoring the world he created in the book for the film with someone who looks nothing like 007 in the role? The politics would have thrown him in QOS. Making a mess of the Oberhauser and Blofeld names would have probably put him in the ground too.

Indeed, he'd have a fit at the Craig era. Bond 25 might well do that to the rest of us.

Ian would have sat back and breezily stated in his style that they made him a wealthier man...
But as films I think he would have appreciated the direct approach of OHMSS and FYEO and he would have loved TLD.
I think he might have appreciated the the Mankiewicz wit and found DAF-MR enjoyable romps perhaps.
LTK would have tickled indeed.

GE would have served well since no one knew what the post Cold War landscape would ever be like let alone that Bond would continue that long. He would have like 007's ability to adapt and thrive throughout TND in the modern technological world and the emotional heart of TWINE. the DAD opener would have appealed.

He likely would have had a coronary in CR06 just as I thought I was going to perish.

Agreed. I think the original stories might be easier to swallow, even for all the farfetched elements in the likes of YOLT, MR and DAD, but seeing his work adapted into something they are not - i.e. CR06 - would have been a dagger in the back.

When reading Lycett's book last month I was struck again by the fact he was good friends with Coward, whose life choices surely chimed against his own but nonetheless they were mates. Went looking and found this, bears that funny quote by Coward to Fleming about Honey's backside in Dr No.

https://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/the-raucous-old-fashioned-friendship-of-ian-fleming-and-noël-coward

Great read! I'd love to see Coward's play about Fleming. Or at least read it. Might see if it's published somewhere.

I think as long as the money rolled in he would have been content with EON's handling of Bond, considering how he quickly mellowed out after believing DR. NO to be "simply dreadful".

But that's just my assumption. We'll never really know.

Today marks 60 years since the passing of Ian Fleming. That is longer than the 56 years he got to live.

Phantom Commander wrote:

Today marks 60 years since the passing of Ian Fleming. That is longer than the 56 years he got to live.

He had a relatively short life but he packed enough in for three or four lifetimes. We owe him a huge debt of gratitude as James Bond fans.

You have to wonder what else he might have written had he lived to be 86.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

You have to wonder what else he might have written had he lived to be 86.

Or 116. One thing is certain. Nothing he would have written would have been as dreadful as the garbage coming from all those "continuation writers".

Have seen it said that 'adapted' stuff from the Gardner novels ended up in Bond flicks ... for instance, Bond and his love interest trapped in a flaming lift from AVTAK had been in one of them (can't remember which, though).

Phantom Commander wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

You have to wonder what else he might have written had he lived to be 86.

Or 116. One thing is certain. Nothing he would have written would have been as dreadful as the garbage coming from all those "continuation writers".

Fleming was a genius; the continuation writers were not.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Phantom Commander wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

You have to wonder what else he might have written had he lived to be 86.

Or 116. One thing is certain. Nothing he would have written would have been as dreadful as the garbage coming from all those "continuation writers".

Fleming was a genius; the continuation writers were not.

Fleming was certainly a genius but in fairness Sir Kingsley Amis was ranked 13th in The Times list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Amis was a great writer too and he wrote the first and in my opinion still the best of the Bond continuation novels, Colonel Sun (1968).

Maeve Horton wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Phantom Commander wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

You have to wonder what else he might have written had he lived to be 86.

Or 116. One thing is certain. Nothing he would have written would have been as dreadful as the garbage coming from all those "continuation writers".

Fleming was a genius; the continuation writers were not.

Fleming was certainly a genius but in fairness Sir Kingsley Amis was ranked 13th in The Times list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Amis was a great writer too and he wrote the first and in my opinion still the best of the Bond continuation novels, Colonel Sun (1968).

True. Forgot about Amis. And CS is the only continuation novel I've read. It was decent, IMO, but not in the same class as the Flemings.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Maeve Horton wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Phantom Commander wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

You have to wonder what else he might have written had he lived to be 86.

Or 116. One thing is certain. Nothing he would have written would have been as dreadful as the garbage coming from all those "continuation writers".

Fleming was a genius; the continuation writers were not.

Fleming was certainly a genius but in fairness Sir Kingsley Amis was ranked 13th in The Times list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Amis was a great writer too and he wrote the first and in my opinion still the best of the Bond continuation novels, Colonel Sun (1968).

True. Forgot about Amis. And CS is the only continuation novel I've read. It was decent, IMO, but not in the same class as the Flemings.

I really like John Gardner too, a proper thriller writer, but I accept he's not as good a writer as Fleming. Very few are.

Even the worst of Fleming is better than the best of any of those others.