13. The inspiration for James Bond
A cottage industry over who was the inspiration for the British spy James Bond has emerged over the years, with several competing candidates proposed as giving Fleming the model for the British superspy. Russian, German, British, and American espionage agents have all been labeled definitively as the prototype Bond. Fleming himself never said who it was. But he left tantalizing clues. They are evident in the behaviors and tastes exhibited by the character in the Bond novels. Nearly all of them were the behaviors and tastes exhibited by his creator. Ian Fleming took his inspiration for James Bond from the image he saw while shaving. The rest was personal history and fantasy.
From Fleming we learned what Bond looked like, the author described him as resembling Hoagy Carmichael (who also resembled Fleming). Fleming later wrote that Bond was a combination “of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war”. He imbued the character with several aspects of his own background, including being educated at Eton, attaining the rank of Commander in the Royal Navy, and enjoyment of the game of golf (Bond and Fleming held the same handicap). Both the author and the character enjoyed gambling, particularly the game of chemin de fer. And there were many more similarities.