He’s the savviest character in the film and has that British air of class that the Bond character is sorely missing. Clarence, played by Australian actor Michael Pate, is nothing like his Felix Leiter counterpart. But hey, at least Bond smokes in this one.Īfter the opening sequence, we learn of Jimmy Bond’s reputation thanks to the timely introduction of Clarence Leiter, who more or less serves as the voice of the plot, meticulously explaining everything as we go along. When he’s not stumbling over lines or looking oddly conspicuous in his ill-fitted, very un-Bondian tan (I assume it’s tan) tuxedo jacket, Barry Nelson’s Jimmy Bond is arrogantly strutting his stuff in the casino, or explaining the game of baccarat to the obviously perplexed British Intelligence agent Clarence Leiter. Barry Nelson, who a few decades later would play hotel manager Stuart Ullman in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, was cast as the first actor to bring Ian Fleming’s iconic creation to life. In his place is “Card Sense” Jimmy Bond, an American spy working for Combined Intelligence. Nationalities within the story were switched around leaving no room for the suave British agent with a license to kill. This led to the gutting and bastardization of the character and the world he lived in.

Airing on October 21, 1954, Casino Royale was primarily targeted toward American audiences, as that was where it was broadcast. Casino Royale became a 50-minute live “episode” of Climax! Mystery Theater.

In 1954, roughly one year after James Bond’s debut in Ian Fleming’s introductory novel Casino Royale, CBS paid the author $1,000 to acquire the right to adapt the book into a teleplay.

Casino royale 1954 cast