He was nice enough to reply, but I didn't like what he had to say: 'Well, technically Nelson was first, but.' followed by a brief dissertation on how no one really cares about anything that came before Connery. Often it's said that Sean Connery was the original 007 some years ago, after seeing such a remark printed in the local paper, I wrote the author of the article to point out his error. He starred as Bond in a television adaptation of the first book in the series, Casino Royale, on a one-hour episode of CBS-TV's Climax! in October 1954, just 18 months after the book's publication and more than seven years before the first theatrical film based on a Bond book. James Bond Songs: The '60s Spy Music Soundįirst off, let's get one thing straight: Barry Nelson was the first actor to play the role of Ian Fleming's famous international spy, James Bond.