Timothy Dalton

Highest Rated: 100% Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007 (2012)

Lowest Rated: Not Available

Birthday: Mar 21, 1944

Birthplace: Colwyn Bay, Wales, UK

After establishing himself on stage as an accomplished Shakespearean performer, actor Timothy Dalton forged a successful career on screen, typically in roles as dashing period men, until he reached international stardom as the fourth person to play James Bond. While his tenure as 007 was short-lived, Dalton was credited with returning the character to his roots following a decade of campy humor during the reign of Roger Moore. After first being offered and ultimately turning down the role in the late 1960s following Sean Connery's first departure, he made his first appearance as Bond in "The Living Daylights" (1987), which helped bring the franchise back to box office prominence after a steady decline earlier in the decade. Dalton followed with the decidedly darker "License to Kill" (1989). Prior to his stint as England's most famous fictional spy, Dalton excelled in stage productions of "Coriolanus" (1964), "As You Like It" (1966) and "King Lear" (1972), while making his onscreen mark in "The Lion in Winter" (1968), "Flash Gordon" (1980) and "Jane Eyre" (BBC, 1983). Following a legal dispute between the production company behind Bond and the studio, Dalton left the franchise due to an expired contract and focused once again on leading roles in period films like "Scarlett" (CBS, 1994) and "Cleopatra" (ABC, 1999). Having displayed his creative diversity with "Hot Fuzz" (2007) and "Toy Story 3" (2010), Dalton proved that he was one of cinema's great, often underappreciated, performers.