James Bond the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe), and the single most successful adjusted for inflation. In 1967 "Casino Royale" was adapted into a parody Bond film starring David Niven as Sir James Bond and Ursula Andress as Vesper Lynd. Niven had been Fleming's preference for the role of Bond. The result of a court case in the High Court in London in 1963 allowed Kevin McClory to produce a remake of "Thunderball" titled "Never Say Never Again" in 1983. The film, produced by Jack Schwartzman's Taliafilm production company and starring Sean Connery as Bond, was not part of the Eon
James Bond in film Gavin to play the role of Bond, United Artists' chief David Picker was unhappy with this decision and instructed associate producer Stanley Sopel to broker a deal with Connery which saw the actor being paid $1.25 million ($ million in dollars) and 12.5% of the gross. Connery's salary took a significant part of the $7.2 million budget. The producers had originally intended to have "Diamonds Are Forever" re-create commercially successful aspects of "Goldfinger", so they hired director Guy Hamilton as a result. Richard Maibaum also returned to write the script; the first draft envisaged the return of Auric Goldfinger portrayer