James Bond is perhaps the most famous spy character in literature and film. The creation of British author and former Naval Intelligence Officer Ian Fleming, Bond's adventures made the transistion to film, becoming a worldwide phenomenon. It is estimated that the Bond films produced by Eon Productions have grossed $7 Billion worldwide.

Born into wealthy circumstances in 1908, Fleming initially worked as a journalist for Reuters. Always interested in the gamesmanship behind foreign affairs, he was selected to join the Naval Intelligence Diviision of the Royal Navy in 1939. With his active imagination and way with words, Fleming created a string of intelligence "operations" designed to trick the Axis war machine to their doom during World War II.

Michael G. Wilson was born in 1942 to mother Dana Natol and father Lewis Wilson when both were students at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. Michael's dad Lewis starred in the first adaptation of the Caped Crusader in Columbia's 15-chapter serial Batman, released one week at a time, beginning in July 1943. Hollywood bekoned, so the family moved to Los Angeles, where Lewis and Dana both joined the Pasadena Playhouse.

In the post-war period the historical record is muddy, but during this time, Lewis and Dana would divorce, Dana and son Michael would meet American producer Albert R. Broccoli, who was then producing films in England; he and Dana would marry in 1959, with Barbara being born in June 1960. Dana became stepmother to Albert's two children from his previous marriage.

Following the war, Ian Fleming got a cush job in newspapers, built himself a house in Jamaica, and used his three-month-long yearly vacation to crack out his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, which was reluctantly published by Jonathan Cape in April 1953. It became a huge seller. Fleming sold the film rights to Casino to actor/producer Gregory Ratoff in March 1955. Fleming wrote a new James Bond novel during his yearly vacations to Jamaica.

When Fleming was introduced in 1958 to an Irish filmmaker named Kevin McClory, the two and another writer collaborated on a screenplay they called Thunderball. When that arrangement went south, Fleming wrote his Thunderball novel; when published in March 1961, McClory sued Fleming, with the author settling out of court in April 1961: Fleming would retain rights to the novel and related characters, McClory would get the film rights and Thunderball characters.

After a heart attack, Fleming sold an option on film rights to the James Bond novels and character to Harry Salltzman in June 1961. Together with Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, the two formed Eon Productions which produced the first film, Dr. No, released in October 1962. Broccoli's wife Dana is frequently cited as suggesting that Scottish actor Sean Connery be cast as James Bond. Connery (with an assist by director Terrence Young), brought a certain puckish humor to Fleming's dark proceedings, which, in turn, affected Fleming's novels.

After the success of Dr. No, Danjaq S.A. was formed to control the rights to all the Bond films produced by Eon Productions. The second Bond film, From Russia with Love with Connery, was released in October 1963, and was another world-wide smash. Ian Fleming visited the set of the next installment of the Bond series. He passed away in August 1964.

Goldfinger (which played the Chinese in December 1964), with Sean Connery as Bond, brought the franchise to a whole new level — bigger production values, bigger everything — it was a worldwide smash hit, causing Connery and the Eon gang to crank out the next installment in only 12 months: Kevin McClory produced the next one with Broccoli and Saltzman serving as Executive Producers. Thunderball (which played the Chinese in December 1965) with Claudine Auger, became a bigger hit than Goldfinger.

After Gregory Ratoff died in 1960, his agent, Charles K. Feldman, bought the fim rights to Casino Royale from Ratoff's widow: after seeing Dr. No, Feldman knew he was going to require something different from Eon's approach. Setting the project up at Columbia, the story became a spoof of the now-popular spy genre. Casino Royale, starring Peter Sellers, was released in April 1967.

Since the Bond films had been hugely successful in Japan, You Only Live Twice (which played the Chinese in June 1967) with Connery as Bond (who had announced this would be his last), was the next novel to be adapted for the Eon series (while becoming the first film to 86 the storyline of Fleming's novel). Produced on a budget of $9.5 Million, its box office take has been reported to have been $111.6 Million.

Without Connery, Broccoli and Saltzman went with actor George Lazenby (who announced it was only for the one picture - copy that, George!) to play James Bond for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (released in December 1969). Done for less money, it took in less money, so that pointed the direction forward: BIG! After college and mucking about in international law, Michael joined Eon in 1972 in their legal department.

After greenmailing Sean Connery to return to the Bond role (and with the actor giving the money to an art school in Scotland), Bond appeared in Diamonds Are Forever (which played the Chinese in December 1971). After finally hiring Roger Moore to play Bond, Live and Let Die became a big hit also (and played the Chinese in May 1973). The Man with the Golden Gun was re-set in the Far East with Moore as Bond. Released in December 1974, it was the last film for Harry Saltzman, who sold his shares in Danjaq to United Artists in 1975.

When The Spy Who Loved Me was released with Roger Moore as Bond in July 1977, it had to compete in a post-Star Wars world. The production was difficult; Michael was bumped up to "special assistant to the producer." The next Bond film (with Barbara Broccoli serving as second assistant director), Moonraker with Moore as Bond (released in June 1979) reflects the atempt to get in on "space operas."

For Your Eyes Only with Moore as Bond, found Michael G. Wilson helping out long-time Bond scripter Richard Maibaum with the script for the picture. Wilson is the credited exectutive producer, with Barbara working as an assistant director. It was released in June 1981, and became the last film to be handled by United Artists; the studio was bought out by MGM the very next month. Although Moore's three-picture contract with Eon was up, they wanted a sure-fire name for Octopussy (released in June 1983), because Kevin McClory (remember him?) had sold his film rights to Thunderball to producer Jack Schwartzman, who got a sure-fire name (Sean Connery) to play Bond over at Warner Bros. in Never Say Never Again (which played the Chinese in October 1983). After co-writing the story and the script on Octopussy, Michael Wilson became a co-producer with Cubby Broccoli on the Bond films.

MGM/UA got their act together, Eon got Roger Moore to play Bond once more, and A View to a Kill was booked into the Chinese in May 1985. Wilson wrote the script with Richard Maibaum, with Barbara on as an additional assistant director. This would be the last of the Roger Moore Bond films, so the search was on for a New Bond. This search ended with Eon casting Timothy Dalton to play Bond in The Living Daylights (which played the Chinese in July 1987). Wilson co-wrote with Maibaum once more, and co-produced with Broccoli. Barbara was co-associate producer.

Cubby Broccoli bought out United Artists' interest in Danaq in 1986. Broccoli was now the sole owner. With Wilson as lead writer and co-producer, and with Barbara Broccoli on as co-associate producer, they got Dalton to star as Bond once more in Licence to Kill, released in June 1989. After the release, Cubby put Danjaq up for sale, but found no takers (at his price).

After MGM/UA was sold in 1990, the new owners licensed the old Bond films to Pathé without Danjaq's permission. While Cubby sued, he placed Michael and Barbara in the position of being the producers of the Bond films going forward. Their first effort, GoldenEye, brought a number of changes, not the least of which was a new actor to play Bond: Pierce Brosnan. GoldenEye, released in November 1995, would be the last film overseen by Cubby Broccoli, who passed away in June 1996. His widow Dana, became the head of Danjaq. One of her priorities was to buy back the screen rights to the one that got away: Casino Royale in 1999.

After a bumpy production, Tomorrow Never Dies with Brosnan as Bond, opened in December 1997, and was released under the UA brand, while The World Is Not Enough with Dalton as Bond, released in November 1999, went out under the MGM moniker. Dalton's last picture as Bond, Die Another Day was released in November 2002 by MGM. After the death of Dana Broccoli in 2004, ownership of Danjaq passed to Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.

With this change came others: A new actor to play Bond, for starters: Daniel Craig, and the first remake (technically): Casino Royale. Playing the Chinese in November 2006, and released by Columbia (which had bought MGM in 2005), Casino was an attempt to have the series be less silly specticle and to be more invoving dramatically. Audiences and critics agreed, with Quantum of Solice with Craig as Bond (premiered in October 2008), Skyfall with Craig as Bond (released in November 2012) and Spectre with Craig as Bond (which played the Chinese in November 2015 and became the first Bond film to be shown in IMAX®  Lazer), were all tremendous hits.

In May 2021, Amazon acquired (what was left of) the M-G-M Studio for $8.5 billion. What they got for their money was half-ownership of the James Bond franchise. But they didn't get creative control, which remained with Wilson/Broccoli.

With its release held up due to COVID-19, No Time to Die had Daniel Craig in his final outing as Bond. It played the Chinese in IMAX® Laser in October 2021. With Craig dropping out, Eon Productions began the search for a new performer for the James Bond character. Sorry, we do not know where to send your résume - or CV for that matter.

With both Wilson and Broccoli receiving the Irving G. Thallberg Memorial Award from AMPAS in November 2024, in February 2025, it was revealed that Amazon / MGM Studios would be purchasing "creative control" of the Bond franchise from the two for $1 billion. The pair will continue to own half interest. Mr. Wilson announced his retirement, while Broccoli reported that she would be working on other projects.