Casting
While producers Broccoli and Saltzman originally sought Cary Grant for the role, they discarded the idea as Grant would be committed to only one feature film, and the producers decided to go after someone who could be part of a series. James Mason as Bond was discarded for similar reasons as he only wanted to do two films. Richard Johnson has claimed to have been the first choice of the director, but he turned it down because he already had a contract with MGM and was intending to leave. Another actor purported to have been considered for the role was Patrick McGoohan on the strength of his portrayal of spy John Drake in the television series Danger Man: McGoohan turned down the role on moral grounds as a Catholic. Another potential Bond included David Niven, who later played the character in the 1967 parody Casino Royale. Rod Taylor was also approached to screentest for the role, but he rejected the offer as he felt that the role was "beneath" him.
There are several apocryphal stories as to whom Ian Fleming personally wanted. Reportedly, Fleming favoured actor Richard Todd. Fleming's stepson Paul Morgan claims that Fleming preferred Edward Underdown. In his autobiography When the Snow Melts, Cubby Broccoli said Roger Moore had been considered, but had been thought "too young, perhaps a shade too pretty". In his autobiography, My Word Is My Bond, Moore says he was never approached to play the role of Bond until 1972, for Live and Let Die. Moore appeared as Simon Templar on the television series The Saint, airing in the United Kingdom for the first time on 4 October 1962, only one day before the premiere of Dr. No.
Ultimately, the producers turned to 31-year-old Sean Connery for five films. It is often reported that Connery won the role through a contest set up to "find James Bond". While this is untrue, the contest itself did exist, and six finalists were chosen and screen-tested by Broccoli, Saltzman and Fleming. The winner of the contest was a 28-year-old model named Peter Anthony, who, according to Broccoli, had a Gregory Peck quality, but proved unable to cope with the role. When Connery was invited to meet Broccoli and Saltzman he appeared scruffy and in unpressed clothes, but Connery "put on an act and it paid off" as he acted in the meeting with a macho, devil-may-care attitude. When he left, both Saltzman and Broccoli watched him through the window as he went to his car, both agreeing that he was the right man for Bond. After Connery was chosen, Terence Young took the actor to his tailor and hairdresser, and introduced him to the high life, restaurants, casinos and women of London. In the words of Bond writer Raymond Benson, Young educated the actor "in the ways of being dapper, witty, and above all, cool". The casting was announced on November 3, 1961.
For the first Bond girl Honey Ryder, Julie Christie was considered, but producer Albert R. Broccoli reportedly thought her breasts were too small. Martine Beswick was also rejected for being too inexperienced as an actress, while Gabriella Licudi was rejected as too young. Just two weeks before filming began, Ursula Andress was chosen to play Honey after the producers saw a picture of her taken by Andress' then-husband John Derek. Kirk Douglas persuaded Andress to take the part at a party hosted by Derek. To appear more convincing as a Jamaican, Andress had a tan painted on her and ultimately had her lines redubbed by voice actress Nikki van der Zyl due to Andress' heavy Swiss-German accent. For Bond's antagonist Dr. No, Ian Fleming wanted his friend Noël Coward, and Coward answered the invitation with "No! No! No!" Fleming considered that his step-cousin, Christopher Lee, would be good for the role of Dr. No, although, by the time Fleming told the producers, they had already chosen Joseph Wiseman for the part. Harry Saltzman picked Wiseman because of his performance in the 1951 film Detective Story, and the actor had special make-up applied to evoke No's Chinese heritage. Swedish actor Max von Sydow was also offered the role as Dr. No, but turned it down. He was later to appear as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the unofficial James Bond film Never Say Never Again.
The role as the first Felix Leiter was given to Jack Lord. This is Bond and Leiter's first time meeting each other on film and Leiter does not appear in the novel. Leiter returns for many of Bond's future adventures and in the 2006 reboot of the film series, Casino Royale, Leiter and Bond are seen meeting one another again for the first time. This was Lord's only appearance as Leiter, as he asked for more money and a better billing to return as Leiter in Goldfinger and was subsequently replaced.
The cast also included a number of actors who were to become stalwarts of the future films, including Bernard Lee, who played Bond's superior M for another ten films, and Lois Maxwell, who played M's secretary Moneypenny in fourteen instalments of the series. Maxwell received the part after beginning to look for film roles to support her family when her husband Peter Marriot suffered from a severe heart attack and was expected to die. Lee was chosen because of being a "prototypical father figure", and Maxwell after Fleming thought she was the perfect fit for his description of the character. Maxwell was initially offered a choice between the roles of Moneypenny or Sylvia Trench and opted for Moneypenny as she thought the Trench role, which included appearing in immodest dress, was too sexual. Eunice Gayson was cast as Sylvia Trench and it was planned that she would be a recurring girlfriend for Bond throughout six films, although she appeared only in Dr. No and From Russia with Love. She had been given the part by director Terence Young, who had worked with her in Zarak and invited Gayson, saying: "You always bring me luck in my films", although she was also cast due to her voluptuous figure. One role which was not given to a future regular was that of Major Boothroyd, the head of Q-Branch, which was given to Peter Burton. Burton was unavailable for the subsequent film, From Russia with Love, and the role was taken by Desmond Llewelyn.
Anthony Dawson, who played Professor Dent, was a veteran character actor who had notably played a murderer in Alfred Hitchcock film Dial M for Murder. Dawson also portrayed Ernst Stavro Blofeld, head of SPECTRE, in From Russia with Love and Thunderball, although his face was never seen and his voice was redubbed by Austrian actor Eric Pohlmann. Zena Marshall, who played Miss Taro, was mostly attracted by the humorous elements of the script, and described her role as "this attractive little siren, and at the same time I was the spy, a bad woman", whom Young asked to play "not as Chinese, but a Mid-Atlantic woman who men dream about but is not real". The role of Taro was previously rejected by Marguerite LeWars, the Miss Jamaica 1961 who worked at the Kingston airport, as it required being "wrapped in a towel, lying in a bed, kissing a strange man". Talitha Pol, Lina Margo and Violet Marceau were also considered for the part. Timothy Moxon, who played Strangways, met director Terence Young when he was working as a stage actor in London, but by the time of the film's shooting, he was working as a pilot and crop duster in Jamaica.
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