Desmond Llewelyn claimed in an interview of Dalton that his portrayal of "James Bond" was closer to Ian Fleming's original novel version of the character than any other Bond actor.
According to the James Bond film tailors in London, at 6' 2" he is the tallest of all the Bond actors. The tailors who have fitted and measured each of the 5 Bonds over the years claim the following heights for each of the other Bond actors: Sean Connery 6' 1 1/2" without shoes, George Lazenby 6' 1 1/2" without shoes, Roger Moore 6' 1" without shoes and Pierce Brosnan 6' 1" without shoes.
Companion of Vanessa Redgrave. [1980-1994]
Dalton's Bond was the last to smoke cigarettes.
Green eyes
He says that his favorite James Bond films are the first three Bond movies: Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), and Goldfinger (1964).
His colder, grittier portrayal of James Bond is considered by many fans of the franchise to be the closest to the characterization of Bond from the original novels by Ian Fleming, but was greeted with a mixed reaction from the general public following twelve years of Roger Moore's much more lighthearted portrayal.
His partner, Oksana Grigorieva, gave birth in London to a boy, Alexander, on 7 August 1997.
In mid 1986, he and Sylvester McCoy were performing together with Vanessa Redgrave in a season of Shakespeare at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. Dalton and McCoy sympathised with each other about the difficulty in finding good long-term acting jobs. A year later, McCoy was cast as the Seventh Doctor in "Doctor Who" (1963) and Dalton was cast as James Bond in The Living Daylights (1987).
In the "Fallen Angel" episode of "Charlie's Angels" (1976), Dalton's character, Damien Roth, is referred to as being like James Bond, which was 8 years before Dalton's first Bond outing.
Initially agreed to play James Bond for a third time in GoldenEye (1995), but after a lengthy series of lawsuits between the studio and producers concerning the ownership of the James Bond character, and further script delays, he resigned from the role, believing that too much time had passed since Licence to Kill (1989).
Loves fishing, especially in the Pacific.
Played Lord Asrail in a London stage adaptation of the His Dark Materials trilogy. In the film The Golden Compass (2007), this role is played by Daniel Craig, who also succeeded him in the role of James Bond.
Publicly announced he would not be returning as James Bond in GoldenEye (1995) on 12 April 1994. Two months later, Pierce Brosnan was revealed as his successor.