This is an accepted version of this page Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett[1] (/ˈdɔːltən/; born 21 March 1946)[2] is a British actor.

[3][4] He gained international prominence as the fourth actor to portray fictional secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, starring in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989).

Beginning his career on stage, he made his film debut as Philip II of France in the 1968 historical drama The Lion in Winter.

Dalton also appeared in the films Flash Gordon (1980), The Rocketeer (1991), Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), Hot Fuzz (2007) and The Tourist (2010).

Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett was born on 21 March 1946 in Colwyn Bay, Wales, to an English father, Peter Dalton Leggett, who was a captain in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War and was an advertising executive at the time of his son's birth; and an American mother, Dorothy Scholes, of Italian and Irish descent.

[5][6][7][8] Before Dalton's fourth birthday, the family moved back to England to Belper in Derbyshire, where he attended Herbert Strutt Grammar School.

[9] He left school in 1962 at 16 to enrol in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and tour with the National Youth Theatre.

Dalton did not complete his RADA studies, leaving the academy in 1966 to join the ensemble of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

"[11] Dalton quickly moved to television, working mainly with the BBC, and in 1968 made his film debut as Philip II of France in The Lion in Winter.

After a few more films, Dalton took a break in 1971 to concentrate on the theatre, performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and other troupes throughout the world.

That year he starred in Sextette as the husband of 85-year-old Mae West, hailing his return to cinema and the beginning of his American career.

The filmmakers replaced him with Jon Finch at the last moment; Dalton sued for breach of contract and won an out-of-court settlement.

[13] In 1985, Dalton was set to play Don Alfonso de la Torré in Roman Polanski's film Pirates.

[14] Dalton co-starred with Anthony Edwards in the 1988 British comedy film Hawks about two terminally ill patients who set off on a road-trip together.

According to the documentary Inside The Living Daylights, the producers first approached Dalton in 1968 for On Her Majesty's Secret Service although Dalton himself in this same documentary claims the approach occurred when he was either 24 or 25 and had already done the film Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), so it has been speculated that it was more likely for Live and Let Die, the film in which Roger Moore made his debut as Bond after Sean Connery in Diamonds Are Forever.

[17] In a 1979 episode of the television series Charlie's Angels, Dalton played the role of Damien Roth, a millionaire playboy described by David Doyle's character as "almost James Bond-ian".

[18] Dalton's first appearance as 007, The Living Daylights (1987), was critically successful, grossing more than either of the previous two Bond films with Moore (Octopussy (1983) and A View to a Kill (1985)) as well as contemporary box-office rivals such as Die Hard and Lethal Weapon.

Future Bond films, following the resolution of legal and other issues, were all released between 31 October and mid-December, in order to avoid the risk of a summer failure, as had happened to Licence to Kill.

What was confirmed is that the story would deal with the destruction of a chemical weapons laboratory in Scotland, and the events would take place in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Dalton pushed for renewed emphasis on the gritty realism of Ian Fleming's novels instead of fantasy plots and humour.

His 007, therefore, came across as a reluctant agent who did not always enjoy the assignments he was given, something seen on screen before, albeit obliquely, only in George Lazenby's On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Unlike Moore, who always seems to be in command, Dalton's Bond sometimes looks like a candidate for the psychiatrist's couch – a burned-out killer who may have just enough energy left for one final mission.

[29] His time as Bond allowed him to work on projects that were of interest to him; "Hawks deals with the subject of extraordinary relevance: Why does it take a crisis to make you realize how bloody precious life is?

Instead, he played Nazi spy Neville Sinclair in The Rocketeer (1991), and Rhett Butler in Scarlett, the television miniseries sequel to Gone with the Wind.

During the second half of the 1990s he starred in several cable films, most notably the Irish Republican Army drama, The Informant, and the action thriller Made Men.

He played a parody of James Bond named Damian Drake in the film Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003).

At the end of that year and the beginning of 2004, he returned to theatre to play Lord Asriel in the stage version of His Dark Materials.

Dalton returned once again to British television in a guest role for the Doctor Who 2009–10 two-part special "The End of Time", playing Rassilon.

From 2014 to 2016, Dalton portrayed the character Sir Malcolm Murray for three seasons on the Showtime original television series Penny Dreadful.

[34] From 2019 to 2021, Dalton portrayed the Chief in the DC Universe / HBO Max superhero series Doom Patrol.