James Bond in film the Eon series, there have been three additional productions with the character of James Bond: an American television adaptation, "Casino Royale" (1954), produced by CBS; a spoof, "Casino Royale" (1967), produced by Charles K. Feldman; and a remake of "Thunderball" entitled "Never Say Never Again" (1983), produced by Jack Schwartzman, who had obtained the rights to the film from McClory. In 1954 the American CBS television network paid Ian Fleming $1,000 ($ in dollars) for the rights to turn his first novel, "Casino Royale", into a one-hour television adventure as part of the dramatic anthology series "Climax Mystery Theater", which
James Bond filmography roses". In line with the literary Bond, Niven's character drives a vintage Bentley, rather than the Aston Martin favoured by Connery. Bond scholar Steven Jay Rubin thought Niven perfectly cast as the retired Bond, and saw him as "a throw-back to the hell-for-leather adventure heroes" of the character, which paralleled Niven's own life and career. Barnes and Hearn describe this as a "perfectly fair interpretation", given the way Niven approached the role, while Raymond Benson thinks casting Niven was "intelligent". Jeremy Black questioned the use of Niven in the role, observing that he did not seem to be a killer,