“’I admire your luck, Mister…’ ‘Bond. James Bond.’”

For over fifty years, Ian Fleming’s creation James Bond has been an institution of British fiction and single-handedly created the spy genre of film. With the next film, “Spectre”, set to come out this year and featuring an organization that long served as Bond’s nemesis, the super spy is set to be a hot commodity again. But what don’t you know about Mr. Bond? This set of facts and figures is for your eyes only.

The Evil Queen of Numbers

There are presently 24 official Bond films including “Spectre”, but not including the non-canonical “Never Say Never Again”. Fleming wrote twelve novels and two short story collections that feature Bond from which many of the films were adapted. Across all the films, Bond has used his “license to kill” on at least 352 different people and has also slept with 52 women. Pierce Brosnan has been the deadliest Bond, having killed 47 people in “Goldeneye”.

Vodka Martini, Shaken, Not Stirred

Bond’s choice of poison was first mentioned in Fleming’s first novel, Casino Royale. Dubbed the “Vesper Martini”, it consists of three parts gin, one part vodka, and ½ part blonde Lillet wine. For the film “Dr. No”, Smirnoff Vodka was a major sponsor of the film and didn’t want the gin mentioned.

Master of Disguise

George Lazenby hadn’t done much acting before his casting as James Bond. Prior to “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” he had one appearance on General Hospital to his credit. He purchased a suit, a Rolex watch, and got himself a new haircut before meeting with the producer and making up a list of movies he’d been in. What’s more, Sean Connery had already started losing his hair by the time “Dr. No” filmed and wore a toupee in all his appearances as Bond.

Where There’s Smoke

Bond was a pretty heavy smoker in the books, puffing away at some 70 cigarettes a day. This was nothing compared to his creator, Ian Fleming, who would smoke at least 80 a day. The last time Bond smoked in a film was Die Another Day, in which he lit up a cigar. Daniel Craig has yet to smoke in a Bond film.

You’ve Still Got Spots

Q’s actual name through the previous films and novels is Major Boothroyd. He first appears in the sixth novel, Dr. No, as well as the first film of the same name. His letter designation is short for “Quartermaster” and he is the one in the novels to first recommend that Bond use the Walther PPK as his weapon of choice, a scene that also appears in the film. Although Desmond Llewelyn is most known for the role and Ben Whishaw is the most recent to play the character, his first appearance in “Dr. No” was by Peter Burton.

Give Me a Name

Fleming chose “James Bond” to be a name that was “as mundane as possible.” It actually came from the author of “A Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies.”

It Requires to Kills

In the novels, Bond became a “00” agent when he was 38. At least two Bond actors have been younger than that when the first played the character. Sean Connery was 32 when he first appeared in “Dr. No.” George Lazenby was 30 when he took the role of Bond. Only Daniel Craig was 38 when he earned his “00” status. Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan were all in their forties for their first Bond films.

Staring Down the Barrel

The famous figure crossing the gun barrel for “Dr.No”, “From Russia with Love”, and “Goldfinger” wasn’t Sean Connery, but actually stuntman Bob Simmons. Connery took over with “Thunderball” and each Bond has done the sequence since. “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” is the first time Bond appears in colour in the sequence. “Live and Let Die” is the first gun barrel sequence in which Bond doesn’t wear a hat. “Casino Royale” is the first time the sequence was actually worked into the scene.

Aston Martin

Bond’s love for the brand began with “Goldfinger” and at least five different models have been driven by the character including versions of the DB5, DBS, Vanquish, and Vantage. The barrel roll stunt in “Casino Royale” broke a world record for barrel rolls assisted by a canon—at seven. It also destroyed a DBS. Despite this, Aston Martin has a deal with Daniel Craig that allows him to have any one of their cars that he wants for free, straight from the factory, for the rest of his life.

Dubbing

At least a couple of Bond actors have had to have their voices dubbed over in post-production. For “Dr. No”, Ursula Andress’s voice was so heavily accented that she was dubbed over by Van der Zyl, who did the same for other female voices until “Moonraker”. Gert Fröbe who played the primary baddie in “Goldfinger”, actually didn’t know much English and used an old actor’s trick of learning just enough to get the part and his lines were dubbed over by Michael Collins. For months, “Goldfinger” and other films in which he appeared could not be shown in Israel as he had admitted to membership in the Nazi Party, having joined in 1927 at the age of 16 and leaving the party in 1936. The ban was lifted after Mario Blumenau, a Holocaust survivor, corroborated Fröbe’s story that Fröbe had saved him and his mother from the Gestapo.