October 21, 1954…James Bond Moves From Page To TV Screens
On this day in 1954, Barry Nelson became the first actor to play James Bond. Before this, 007 had only been a literary character in the novels written by Ian Fleming.
The event was a one hour, live presentation of “Casino Royale” on “Climax”; a Sunday night CBS drama showcase that ran from ’54 till ’58. Fleming was paid $1,000 to adapt the novel to a screenplay for the CBS production.
It would be six more years before Bond came to the big screen with “Dr. No” in 1962.
Interestingly, the run time for the TV play is 00:51:45 leaving only 8 minutes for commercials. How refreshing! -Bobby Ellerbee
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