Ian Fleming created the fictional character of James Bond as the central figure for his works. Main articles: James Bond (literary character) and Inspirations for James Bond Publication history Creation and inspiration The films are also noted for Bond's relationships with various women, who are popularly referred to as ' Bond girls'. Other important elements which run through most of the films include Bond's cars, his guns, and the gadgets with which he is supplied by Q Branch. 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. Casino Royale has also been adapted for television, as a one-hour show in 1954 as part of the CBS series Climax!. In 2015, the series was estimated to be worth $19.9 billion in total (based on box-office grosses, DVD sales and merchandise tie-ins), making James Bond one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. There have also been two independent Bond film productions: Casino Royale (a 1967 spoof starring David Niven) and Never Say Never Again (a 1983 remake of an earlier Eon-produced film, 1965's Thunderball, both starring Connery).

The most recent Bond film, No Time to Die (2021), stars Daniel Craig in his fifth portrayal of Bond he is the sixth actor to play Bond in the Eon series. As of 2021, there have been twenty-five films in the Eon Productions series. The films are one of the longest continually running film series and have grossed over US$7.04 billion in total at the box office, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film series to date, which started in 1962 with Dr. The character-also known by the code number 007 (pronounced 'double-oh-seven')-has also been adapted for television, radio, comic strip, video games and film. Additionally Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond, and Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character, Moneypenny. The latest novel is With a Mind to Kill by Anthony Horowitz, published in May 2022.

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 James Bond series 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.

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