Casino Royale (1967 film) Casino Royale (1967 film) Casino Royale is a 1967 spy comedy film originally produced by Columbia Pictures featuring an ensemble cast. It is loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel. The film stars David Niven as the "original" Bond, Sir James Bond 007. Forced out of retirement to investigate the deaths and disappearances of international spies, he soon battles the mysterious Dr. Noah and SMERSH. The film's tagline: "Casino Royale is too much... for one James Bond!" refers to Bond's ruse to mislead SMERSH in which six other agents are pretending to be "James Bond", namely, baccarat master
David Niven Toast of New Orleans" (1950), "Happy Go Lovely" (1951), "Happy Ever After" (1954) and "Carrington V.C." (1955) before scoring a big success as Phileas Fogg in Michael Todd's production of "Around the World in 80 Days" (1956). Niven appeared in nearly a hundred films, and many shows for television. He also began writing books, with considerable commercial success. In 1982 he appeared in Blake Edwards' final "Pink Panther" films "Trail of the Pink Panther" and "Curse of the Pink Panther", reprising his role as Sir Charles Lytton. James David Graham Niven was born in Belgrave Mansions, London, to William Edward