Bernard Lee is M, but Judi Dench is the M for our times.
I think it was a masterstroke to cast her as M at a time when the real head of MI5 was a woman (Stella Rimington). It moved the character forward and put the films firmly in the present time frame whereas yet another male actor would simply have drawn comparisons between 'The M' of Lee and any successors. I like Dench's M as much as I liked Lee's, but in a completely different way. One is the classic literary M whilst the other is the contemporary M. When the time comes to cast a new M, I really would not relish the task of deciding which direction to take the character next.
Bernard Lee was the original and that is a great advantage to him of course. Just like many people may well say to favour Sean Connery because he was the original Bond and everybody compares his successors to himself.
Having said this however I think I honestly preferred Robert Brown. Lee did a marvellous job establishing M's character with his obvious exasperation to Bond's flippant insubordinate manners but I liked how Brown presented M a little more laid back. Naturally he still became annoyed with Bond but he was rather more in control of his emotions. He kept his cool more even when severely tried in LTK. He seemed to be determined not to allow 007 to aggravate his stress. I think it was good that from OP to LTK M was sort of learning to cope with his star agent. Perhaps he had taken leave in FYEO to take a counselling course. LOL )
Going with the majority that Bernard Lee was the best M. Judi Dench a close second though for me, like her chemistry with Bond, and she brings an interestring portrayal to the character.
I think it's agreed by the majority that Robert Brown was by far the worst of the three. Not that he was bad or anything - just in tough competition and overshadowed by the other 2.
Comments
I think it was a masterstroke to cast her as M at a time when the real head of MI5 was a woman (Stella Rimington). It moved the character forward and put the films firmly in the present time frame whereas yet another male actor would simply have drawn comparisons between 'The M' of Lee and any successors. I like Dench's M as much as I liked Lee's, but in a completely different way. One is the classic literary M whilst the other is the contemporary M. When the time comes to cast a new M, I really would not relish the task of deciding which direction to take the character next.
Having said this however I think I honestly preferred Robert Brown. Lee did a marvellous job establishing M's character with his obvious exasperation to Bond's flippant insubordinate manners but I liked how Brown presented M a little more laid back. Naturally he still became annoyed with Bond but he was rather more in control of his emotions. He kept his cool more even when severely tried in LTK. He seemed to be determined not to allow 007 to aggravate his stress. I think it was good that from OP to LTK M was sort of learning to cope with his star agent. Perhaps he had taken leave in FYEO to take a counselling course. LOL
I think it's agreed by the majority that Robert Brown was by far the worst of the three. Not that he was bad or anything - just in tough competition and overshadowed by the other 2.
1 - Moore, 2 - Dalton, 3 - Craig, 4 - Connery, 5 - Brosnan, 6 - Lazenby