Who is the Ultimate James Bond? Ranking the Actors Who've Portrayed 007

As I have just finished watching the James Bond franchise, I thought it would be fun to share my ranking of the James Bond actors. With a franchise that has spanned over 50 years, each actor has brought something new to the role. The different eras of Bond each have their own style. I think all of them play good Bonds but obviously, someone has to come in at number one. With all that said, here is my ranking of the six James Bond actors.

6. Roger Moore

While I still enjoy Roger Moore as James Bond, I find him the weakest of the Bond actors. He was very popular at the time as he was in 7 movies across 12 years He is quite a bit older than any of the other Bond actors. He was in his 40s when he started (older than Sean Connery was when he finished) and was Bond until he was in his late 50s. Because of his age, he can't pull off the womanizer aspect that the other actors can. At best, Roger Moore is in his 40s and bedding someone in their late 20s-30 years. In the later films, he is in his late 50s and still bedding girls in their 20s and 30s and is old enough to be their father. If they had embraced Roger Moore's age and gone for a more fatherly Bond, I think it would have gone over much better. Aside from the age, he also plays a much goofier Bond than the other actors. Part of that is the movies themselves while part of it is Moore's portrayal but I think the goofiness hurt the Moore era of Bond.

5. Timothy Dalton

Timothy Dalton's placement has more to do with his lack of films than his quality as Bond. He brings back the more serious Bond after the goofiness of Roger Moore. The two movies he is in are also quite consistent and both are decent mid-tier Bond films. His character portrayal is a bit one note at times with one of his hang-ups being that he works alone and keeps leaving everyone. I also found him to be a bit too serious of a Bond. There has to be a balance between the serious and the goofy. Bond should have the occasional one-liners to fit with the over-the-top nature of the villains but not so much so that it becomes too campy. I just don't think Timothy Dalton had enough time to find his groove as Bond. It took the other actors a few movies to find the right tone as the character but by the time Timothy Dalton found his sweet spot, his tenure as Bond was over.

4. George Lazenby

George Lazenby is the actor who found the perfect tone for Bond right from the get-go. Unfortunately, he was only one movie. He balances the one-liners and seriousness perfectly. He can accurately portray the womanizing aspect of the character as he is the perfect age at 30 years old. George Lazenby is also able to give more depth to the Bond character as he develops real relationships instead of just a one-off romance as he is the one Bond to get married. I just can't put him higher on the list because he was only in one Bond. I wish we could have gotten some more time with him as the character but unfortunately, he was essentially used as a stand-in for Sean Connery for the one movie they couldn't get him back for.

3. Pierce Brosnan

Pierce Brosnan is a great return to form Bond. After years of the goofy Roger Moore and the too-serious Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan does a great job of finding a balance between the two. He plays a much more charming Bond than the two before him. He also brings a bit more modern take to the character as his era of Bond has to handle the transition between the traditional era of spies and the high-tech era of today. His movie quality is a bit all over the place. Two of his movies are quite good, while the other two are some of the lower-level Bond films but even in his bad films, Pierce Brosnan still plays the character great. I wish he would have been able to be in more good Bond films.

2. Sean Connery

The OG James Bond is still one of the best. Sean Connery will forever be cemented as the most iconic James Bond. Much like many of the others on the list, he balances both the one-liners and the seriousness. Because these movies are from the 1960s, they had to rely more on Connery's charm than on big action sequences and he absolutely delivers. He has this dry wit about him that most of the other Bond actors just can't quite master. He is a great age for the character coming in in his early 30s and leaving in his early 40s before he gets too old for the womanizing act. I also find him to be the Bond who has the best chemistry with all of the other actors around. Even the little things he does just ooze charm. Sean Connery sets the standard for how Bond should be portrayed. The other actors try to do their own thing but most of them end up reverting to a version of Connery's Bond.

1. Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig is the rare exception to the James Bond rules but that is what makes him the best. He is a much more serious Bond but still has hints of one-liners to him. However, his more serious nature matches the movies that he is in as the Craig era of Bond is much more grounded and real as compared to the other films with their over-the-top villains and schemes. Daniel Craig brings more of a human quality to the character. While the other Bond actors are consistent, Craig's Bond grows and changes across his five movies. I think Daniel Craig is the best actor in general out of all of the Bond actors and it shows with his level of performance in these films. He just delivers a depth of emotion and sincerity that the other actors simply don't bring. Especially in his final film, you see Daniel Craig give such an emotional performance that hasn't come from Bond before. He is also in a higher quality of movies which gives him a bit more to work with than some of the other actors.