Ian Fleming created the character of James Bond in 1953. He was featured in 14 novels and two short story collections written by Fleming. Since Fleming’s death in 1964, eight more authors have penned 33 additional books in the James Bond saga, typically to coincide with the release of a movie.

The films started in 1962, and have continued to this day. Eon Productions, a company founded by Harry Saltzman and Albert R “Cubby” Broccoli, released the first Bond film, Dr. No, in 1962. Collectively, the 25 Bond films have grossed over seven billion dollars from theatrical release. They are the longest running film series of all time.

The character of James Bond has undergone significant changes over the intervening fifty plus years. The early Bond, best exemplified in the rakish portrayal by Sean Connery, was a compulsive womanizer whose conversations with women invariably dripped of sexual innuendo and double entendre.

In his more recent portrayals by British film actor Daniel Craig, the sixth actor to portray Bond, he is envisioned as a dark, tortured soul, brokenhearted, beset by internal demons that he can barely keep under control.