What is there to say. 90 years is a hell of a run. RIP.

The 007 film franchise did not enter the world in 1962 as the fully-formed blockbuster series you know today. Though its ads optimistically heralded it as “The First James Bond Film!”, make no mistake: Dr. No was a risky proposition.

Though the property was a successful series of books, previous attempts to bring Bond to life on film had failed. One false move by these producers and the 007 series very well could have been DOA.

Good thing they cast Sean Connery.

After reportedly being turned down by Patrick McGoohan, Cary Grant and David Niven, producers Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and Harry Saltzman turned to the relatively unknown former Mister Universe contestant to play Fleming’s character.

1962’s DR. NO offers lo-fi, smaller stakes than you might expect from a movie that launched a 60-year film series, but Connery was never better in the role than he is here.

32 years old, all sex and danger, Connery immolates the then-stereotype of the wan, prim & proper British film hero, invents the action star (and maybe the action genre), and changes film history forever.

The early 007 films are glossy bits of cool, the budgets swelling with each successive entry, their plots growing more outlandish to match, but at the center of each is Sean Connery’s sea change of a protagonist, a predator in a dinner jacket, too cool for any room in the world.

George Lazenby opened the door to recasting, Roger Moore showed the role was open to different interpretations, and Daniel Craig might be rightly credited with making Bond vital again, but Connery is the reason we ever cared in the first place. #RIPSeanConnery