Christopher Lee, actor: “Pierce Brosnan was the James Bond most faithful to Ian Fleming’s character”

Christopher Lee (1922-2015) was one of the most respected and prolific actors of his generation: apart from being remembered for roles such as Dracula and Saruman in ‘The Lord of the Rings’, he was also one of the most memorable villains in ‘James Bond’: Francisco Scaramanga. In an interview, Lee gave his opinion on who was the best James Bond in the movies, and he didn’t think twice: he placed Pierce Brosnan above the rest of the actors who brought Ian Fleming’s character to life.

Christopher Lee was clear about who was the James Bond closest to the original character

Lee’s statements date back to a 2005 interview with TotalFilm. The actor had a unique position within the James Bond franchise because Ian Fleming, the author of the novels, was his cousin-in-law. This close contact allowed him to know the character’s inspirations on paper like almost no one else. Based on this experience, Lee revealed the following when asked if he talked to Fleming about Bond: “I know who Ian thought was the best person to play Bond: James Mason, who would have been marvellous. He had all the right qualities. I don’t think anyone has ever succeeded in putting Ian Fleming’s James Bond up on the screen. The closest in my opinion is Pierce Brosnan,” Lee said.

Christopher Lee’s assessment reinforced a widely held perception among critics and audiences alike: that Pierce Brosnan achieved a rare balance in the character’s film history. During his four films, released between 1995 and 2002, his performance combined the character’s classic refinement with a more modern and dynamic tone typical of 1990s action cinema. Although his last films received mixed reviews, the general consensus tends to place Brosnan as a solid and charismatic Bond who helped revitalize the franchise after several years of hiatus, and whose presence fit particularly well with the spy created by Ian Fleming in the novels.

In addition to knowing Ian Fleming personally, Lee also worked with Pierce Brosnan on a film project: Death Train (1993). It was a made-for-television action thriller in which the protagonists had to prevent the detonation of a nuclear device aboard a moving train. In a way, it could be considered Brosnan’s trial by fire for playing Bond in later years, as he proved in this modest film that he had what it took to be an action movie star.

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