Every actor who has played James Bond, ranked from worst to best

David Niven (1967 - 1967)

While most audiences will automatically think of Daniel Craig when thinking of "Casino Royale," there was actually another version of the story that arrived on the big screen back in 1967. (Yes, in the same year as Sean Connery's "You Only Live Twice.")

Columbia Pictures' "Casino Royale" starred David Niven as James Bond, and it takes a much more comedic approach to Ian Fleming's book of the same name. The parody movie isn't connected to any of the other films, nor was it made by Eon Productions and Albert Broccoli. It was only made because Fleming sold the singular rights to the book before it was published in 1953.

Niven's Bond is a much older agent, who's brought out of retirement to fight a nefarious organization called S.M.E.R.S.H. The Oscar-winning actor might bring some charm to the role, but the absurd story — which ends with him going to heaven — ruins the character and sucks all the suave coolness out of 007 completely.

George Lazenby (1969-1969)

The Australian actor George Lazenby is on this list as another matter of courtesy. He portrayed Bond once in 1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." He was drafted in by Eon Productions — the film's producers — after Sean Connery decided to step away. And he was promptly replaced by Roger Moore when the series resumed in 1973 with "Live and Let Die." 

Pierce Brosnan (1995-2002)

After 15 years of Daniel Craig — who is eulogized later in this list — it is easy to forget the damage Pierce Brosnan did to the James Bond franchise, but it is important to revisit our lowest moments so we can grow. So here, I humbly ask, do we remember the unfortunate orange spray tan Brosnan sported throughout his time as 007? Or the awkward hyperpop theme songs such as Madonna's awful "Die Another Day."

Brosnan's films even have bad guns. 

It is important to note that "GoldenEye" — Brosnan's first Bond film — was also the first film in the franchise not produced by Albert R. Broccoli, the film series originator, who had been succeeded by his daughter, Barbara Broccoli, along with his stepson, Michael G. Wilson. But it has been reported that Brosnan was favored by Albert Broccoli, so maybe it was time for him to step down. 

Nonetheless, across his four-film run, Brosnan pushed Bond away from its steely, cool origins to something more Hollywood and less interesting.  

Roger Moore (1973-1985)

Roger Moore suited up as James Bond a record seven times, and the bulk of his films were directed by the British director John Glen who had an unparalleled skill for capturing pure chaos on screen. And that is what Moore's Bond was best known for.

In his seven-film run, Moore went to space, fought off a pack of crocodiles, and defused a nuclear bomb. And while Moore's Bond was charismatic and entertaining, there was rarely any substance to what he said, and there was even less plot to hold together all the big-budget stunts. And for this reason, Moore's seven films don't make for great rewatching. 

Timothy Dalton (1987-1989)

The sole reason Timothy Dalton is not at the top of this list is that he portrayed Bond only twice, but this wasn't due to bad ratings or box-office numbers. His films "The Living Daylights" (1987) and "Licence to Kill" (1989) are two of the most beloved Bond films and Dalton's dark and often serious take on 007 is widely considered the most accurate interpretation of Ian Fleming's books. 

"I wanted to make him human," Dalton said of his interpretation of Bond during an interview in 2008. "He's not a superman; you can't identify with a superman. You can identify with the James Bond of the books. He's a tarnished man, really. I wanted to capture that occasional sense of vulnerability and I wanted to capture the spirit of Ian Fleming."

As many people have stated before, Dalton's grounding of Bond paved the way for the franchise's most profitable period of releases with Daniel Craig's 007. Dalton's tenure, however, was cut short due to complex legal wrangling between the film's producers MGM and Eon Productions, which halted production until 1994, when his contract expired. 

Sean Connery (1962-1967)

Sean Connery had a legendary acting career that spanned over 50 movies and included appearances in some of Hollywood's most iconic movies such as 1964's "Marnie," 1989's "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," and 1987's "The Untouchables," for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. But when he died last year, he was best remembered as the first 007. 

According to Connery, however, his interpretation of 007 managed to charm everyone but Fleming.

"I never got introduced to Fleming until I was well into the movie, but I know he was not happy with me as the choice," he said on "The South Bank Show" in 2008.

Despite Fleming's reservations, Connery played the secret agent in seven films from 1962 to 1983, and his version is remembered as not only the coolest in the franchise but one of the coolest characters in cinematic history. 

Connery's powers as 007 came from his own charisma. As Barbara Walters best described in a 1987 interview, the Scotsman was someone who didn't try to be sexy; he simply oozed class. Connery can also claim to be the only Bond actor who actually managed to pull off the famous catchphrase, "Martini, shaken, not stirred" and make it sound cool.

Best: Daniel Craig (2006-2021)

Daniel Craig's Bond films are dark and physical and entertaining. But it is Craig's commercial success that has landed him atop this list. The numbers simply don't lie: 2012's "Skyfall," Craig's third outing as Bond, and first collaboration with the British director Sam Mendes ("American Beauty"), raked in $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office, making it the most commercially successful Bond film of all time. 

Craig's portrait of the top-secret British spy helped to revive the franchise, which, at the time, had been struggling to find a contemporary identity for 007 after Brosnan's thematically erratic series of films. 

Craig's last Bond film, "No Time To Die," hits US theaters on October 8. Early projections suggest the film could make a $90 million debut at the international box office, so by the end of his tenure, Craig might not just be the actor who saved the Bond franchise but also the actor who saved cinema.

Ayomikun Adekaiyero contributed to this article.