The James Bond franchise focuses on the titular character, a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections.

Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have written authorised Bond novels or novelisations: Kingsley Amis, Christopher Wood, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd, and Anthony Horowitz.

The Bond films are renowned for a number of features, including their soundtracks, with the theme songs having received Academy Award nominations on several occasions, and three wins.

[2] Aside from Fleming's brother, a number of others also provided some aspects of Bond's make up, including Conrad O'Brien-ffrench, Patrick Dalzel-Job, Bill "Biffy" Dunderdale and Duško Popov.

Likewise, in Moonraker, Special Branch officer Gala Brand thinks that Bond is "certainly good-looking ... Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way.

Fleming used his experiences of his career in espionage and all other aspects of his life as inspiration when writing, including using names of school friends, acquaintances, relatives and lovers throughout his books.

[76] Charlie Higson's first adult Bond novel, On His Majesty's Secret Service, was published on 4 May 2023 to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III and support the National Literacy Trust.

[97] The episode aired live on 21 October 1954 and starred Barry Nelson as "Card Sense" James Bond and Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre.

[100] In 1973, a BBC documentary Omnibus: The British Hero featured Christopher Cazenove playing a number of such title characters (e.g. Richard Hannay and Bulldog Drummond).

The documentary included James Bond in dramatised scenes from Goldfinger—notably featuring 007 being threatened with the novel's circular saw, rather than the film's laser beam—and Diamonds Are Forever.

[104][105] According to The Independent, "listeners across the Union thrilled to Bob's cultured tones as he defeated evil master criminals in search of world domination".

[111] In May 2014 Stephens again played Bond, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, with Alfred Molina as Blofeld, and Joanna Lumley (who appeared in the 1969 film adaptation) as Irma Bunt.

[112] In 1957, the Daily Express approached Ian Fleming to adapt his stories into comic strips, offering him £1,500 per novel and a share of takings from syndication.

The "James Bond Theme" was written by Monty Norman and was first orchestrated by the John Barry Orchestra for 1962's Dr. No, although the actual authorship of the music has been a matter of controversy for many years.

[147][148] For the non-Eon produced Casino Royale, Burt Bacharach's score included "The Look of Love" (sung by Dusty Springfield), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

[164] In 2003, the company released James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing,[165] which included the likenesses and voices of Pierce Brosnan, Willem Dafoe, Heidi Klum, Judi Dench and John Cleese, amongst others.

[166] In November 2005, Electronic Arts released a video game adaptation of 007: From Russia with Love,[167] which involved Sean Connery's image and voice-over for Bond.

[173] In November 2020, IO Interactive announced Project 007, an original James Bond video game, working closely with licensors MGM and Eon Productions.

[181] In thanks, Fleming gave the MI6 Armourer in his novels the name Major Boothroyd and, in Dr. No, M, the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, introduces him to Bond as "the greatest small-arms expert in the world".

[190] Bond's most famous car is the silver grey Aston Martin DB5, first seen in Goldfinger;[191] it later featured in Thunderball, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, Casino Royale, Skyfall and Spectre.

[195] James Bond possesses a diverse set of skills that contribute to his effectiveness as a secret agent: Fleming's novels and early screen adaptations presented minimal equipment such as the booby-trapped attaché case in From Russia, with Love, although this situation changed dramatically with the films.

[201] Dr. No provided no spy-related gadgets, but a Geiger counter was used; industrial designer Andy Davey observed that the first ever onscreen spy-gadget was the attaché case shown in From Russia with Love, which he described as "a classic 007 product".

[202] It is also noticeable that, although Bond uses a number of pieces of equipment from Q Branch, including the Little Nellie autogyro,[204] a jet pack[205] and the exploding attaché case,[206] the villains are also well-equipped with custom-made devices,[202] including Scaramanga's golden gun,[207] Rosa Klebb's poison-tipped shoes,[208] Oddjob's steel-rimmed bowler hat[209] and Blofeld's communication devices in his agents' vanity case.

[211] The first parody was the 1964 film Carry On Spying, which shows the villain Dr. Crow being overcome by agents who included James Bind (Charles Hawtry) and Daphne Honeybutt (Barbara Windsor).

[233] Considered a British cultural icon, James Bond had become such a symbol of the United Kingdom that the character, played by Craig, appeared in the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics as Queen Elizabeth II's escort.

[247] In 2012, the polling organisation YouGov conducted a survey of American Bond fans, categorising responses by age, sex and political affiliation.

[251][252] The James Bond character and related media have received a number of criticisms and reactions across the political spectrum, and are still highly debated in popular culture studies.

In 1962, Vatican City's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano condemned the film Dr. No, referring to it as "a dangerous mixture of violence, vulgarity, sadism and sex".

[259] Geographers have considered the role of exotic locations in the movies in the dynamics of the Cold War, with power struggles among blocs playing out in the peripheral areas.

[280] The View host Whoopi Goldberg expressed her opposition, arguing that offensive historical literature should be left unaltered;[281] while National Review contributors Charles C. W. Cooke and Douglas Murray attacked the changes as excessive political correctness.