‘Dr. No,’ first James Bond feature film, premieres in London 60 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Oct 5 1962)


Video: 'Dr. No' trailer

(Friday, October 5, 1962, evening British Summer Time)Dr. No, the first feature film in the James Bond series about a fictional secret agent — created by British novelist Ian Fleming in 1953 — who works for the UK’s foreign intelligence service commonly known as MI6 under the codename 007, license to kill, premiered tonight at the 1,186-seat London Pavilion, Piccadilly Circus.

Produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli and directed by Terence Young, the film starred Sean Connery (as Bond), Ursula Andress (the first “Bond girl”), Joseph Wiseman, Jack Lord, Anthony Dawson, Zena Marshall, John Kitzmiller, Eunice Gayson and Bernard Lee.


Video: 'Dr. No (1962) - Movie' (9 clips)

In this first Bond film, 007 is sent to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of a fellow British agent. The trail leads him to the underground base of Dr. Julius No, who is plotting to disrupt an early American space launch from Cape Canaveral with a radio beam weapon.

Many aspects of a typical James Bond film were established in Dr. No. The film begins with an introduction to the character through the view of a gun barrel and a highly stylized main title sequence, both of which were created by Maurice Binder.

It also introduced the iconic James Bond theme, composed by Monty Norman.

Production designer Ken Adam also established an elaborate visual style that is one of the hallmarks of the film series.