James Bond in film Broccoli at Warwick Films expressed interest in adapting the Bond novels, but his colleague Irving Allen was unenthusiastic. In June 1961 Fleming sold a six-month option on the film rights to his published and future James Bond novels and short stories to Harry Saltzman, with the exception of "Casino Royale", which he had previously sold. Towards the end of Saltzman's option period, screenwriter Wolf Mankowitz introduced him to Broccoli, and Saltzman and Broccoli formed Eon Productions with the intention of making the first Bond film. A number of Hollywood studios did not want to fund the films, finding them "too
David Niven Graham Niven (1878–1915) and his wife, Henrietta Julia (née Degacher) Niven. He was named David after his birth on St. David's Day, 1 March. Niven often claimed that he was born in Kirriemuir, in the Scottish county of Angus in 1909, but his birth certificate shows this was not the case. David Niven's mother, Henrietta, was of French and Welsh ancestry. She was born in Wales, the daughter of army officer William Degacher (1841–1879) who was married to Julia Caroline Smith, the daughter of Lieutenant General James Webber Smith. Niven's maternal grandfather, William Degacher, was killed in the Battle of