Bond celebrates golden anniversary on silver screen It is 50 years since Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond appeared in the first 007 movie, Dr No. In 1962, few cinema-goers had heard of Sean Connery, the young Scottish actor who was the first - and some still say definitive - James Bond. Despite mixed reviews, Dr No ended up doing rather well at the box office. Six actors have played 007 in the 23 films of the official Bond franchise. Irish actor Pierce Brosnan played Bond for seven years. As well as the hugely successful GoldenEye, Brosnan's Bond appeared in three other adventures - Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and finishing with Die Another Day in 2002. He said: "Oh, that was a mighty chapter in my life. It was a great chapter. It's the gift that keeps giving, really, because once a Bond always a Bond in some respects. You know, it's a small group of men now who played this role. It was epic, really epic.  Brosnan followed in the footsteps of Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton. Daniel Craig is the only actor to play 007 since Brosnan. Twenty two films later, the Bond saga is still going strong and is the longest continually running film series in history. The latest in the Bond series, "Skyfall" starring Daniel Craig as the famous spy, is set for its release at the end of this month. More about: Action film, Anniversary, Cinema, Espionage