Neil Smith states that Timothy Dalton was a transitional stop-gap/last minute replacement for Eon's first choice actor but he clearly ignored some of the facts himself.
Timothy Dalton was approached before Pierce Brosnan in 1986 but was unable to test for Bond due to filming commitments on the film Brenda Starr, plus the fact that he had been scouted for the role of 007 several times before the first being in 1968 for OHMSS.
Seems to me that Brosnan was far more of a stop-gap than Dalton ever was!
Rant over with now, would just like to end my message by saying a huge well done to Daniel Craig who has almost single-handedly helped bring 007 back to life.
