History Trivia / DrNo

* FakeBrit: Dolores Keator (Mary Trueblood) was an American expat living in Jamaica. Her dialogue was overdubbed by German actress Nikki van der Zyl.

** Every single woman in the film (barring Creator/LoisMaxwell, Yvonne Shima & Michel Mok) is overdubbed by the same actress, Nikki van der Zyl.

* MoneyDearBoy: Creator/LoisMaxwell lobbied for the role of Miss Moneypenny because her husband had suffered and they badly needed the money.

* IAmNotSpock + OldShame: Joseph Wiseman preferred to be remembered for his theatre career than for playing Dr. No, [[https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-joseph-wiseman21-2009oct21-story.html according to Wiseman's daughter]]. Alas, that didn't quite happen.

* InspirationForTheWork: In March 1956 Fleming and his friend Ivar Bryce accompanied Robert Cushman Murphy (of the American Museum of Natural History) and Arthur Vernay (of the Flamingo Protection Society) on a trip to a flamingo colony on Great Inagua in the south of the Bahamas. The colony was 100 square miles (260 km2) of dense mangrove swamp and salt flats, home to flamingos, egrets and roseate spoonbills; the location inspired Crab Key.

* AFIS100Years100MovieQuotes:
** #22, "Bond. James Bond"

* UsefulNotes/BFITop100BritishFilms: #41

* NoBudget: People usually think of James Bond movies as multi-million blockbusters, but it all started pretty... humbly.

* IAmNotSpock: Joseph Wiseman preferred to be remembered for his theatre career than for playing Dr. No. Alas, that didn't quite happen.

* OldShame: [[https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-joseph-wiseman21-2009oct21-story.html Joseph Wiseman, according to his daughter, was rather distaining on his famous role in his later career.]]

!!The novel

!!The film
* ActorInspiredElement: Director-inspired in this case. Creator/SeanConnery came from a working-class background, so Creator/TerenceYoung took Connery to the tailors and restaurants he frequented, so the on-screen Bond's dress sense and tastes were developed from Young's preferences.

* OldShame: Joseph Wiseman would prefer to be remembered for his theater career than Dr. No.

** There was no financial possibility to ship a luxury car to Jamaica. The Sunbeam Alpine Series II Connery drives in the film had to be borrowed to a local resident. According to the producers, it was "the only decent sports car on the island".

** ''We Don't Want a Doctor''/''Dr. No: 007 Is The Killing Number'' (Japan).

** Timothy Moxon (Strangways) was a cropduster pilot.

** Due to the low budget, only one sound editor was hired (normally there are two, for sound effects and dialogue), and many pieces of scenery were made in cheaper ways, with M's office featuring cardboard paintings and a door covered in a leather-like plastic, the room where Dent meets Dr. No costing only 745 pounds to build, and the aquarium in Dr. No's base being magnified stock footage of goldfish. Furthermore, when Art Director Syd Cain found out his name was not in the credits, Creator/AlbertRBroccoli gave him a golden pen to compensate, saying that he did not want to spend money making the credits again.

* StarMakingRole: For Creator/SeanConnery.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/James Bond Enough for its own page]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Bond's original line was simply "I am James Bond", but Creator/SeanConnery felt it was rather weak and [[BondJamesBond went off script]], resulting in one of the most famous movie lines of all time. For the first few takes, he said "Bond, James Bond" without pausing. It was only when he paused for just a split second to light a cigarette between the "Bond" and the "James Bond" that the magic happened.
** The first draft script strayed quite far from the book. In this version, Dr. No was a monkey god worshipped by native islanders, and the human villain was someone else. Saltzman and Broccoli were unsatisfied with this approach and got Richard Maibaum to rewrite it to be closer to the novel. The original screenwriter was not pleased with the rewrite and had his name removed from the script. Maibaum would have a hand in writing all but three Bond movies through ''Film/LicenceToKill''.
** A number of different actors were considered for the role of James Bond. Creator/CaryGrant was a strong contender, but he would not commit to more than one or two movies, and Saltzman and Broccoli already knew they were going to make at least five or six. (Grant would later take advantage of the Bond-inspired craze for spy movies by playing a debonair spy in ''Film/{{Charade}}''.) Creator/DavidNiven was too old and Creator/JamesMason was unwilling to sign a multi-picture deal.
** Potential actors to play Dr. No included Fleming's next-door neighbour Creator/NoelCoward, who famously responded to a telegram asking him to take the role with "Dr. No: No, no, no!" (and who later visited the set with Fleming, nearly disrupting shooting), Fleming's distant cousin Creator/ChristopherLee (who would finally get his chance to play a Bond villain in ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun''), and Creator/MaxVonSydow, who turned it down in order to star in ''Film/TheGreatestStoryEverTold'' (he would eventually play Blofeld in the unofficial ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain'').
** Creator/JulieChristie was considered for Honey, but was too flat-chested.
** Sylvia Trench was meant to be a RunningGag, with Bond meeting her only to be called away. After another scene in ''From Russia With Love'', this was dropped entirely.

* FakeMixedRace: Joseph Wiseman, who played the German-Chinese Dr. No, was a Canadian of Jewish descent.

* AmateurCast: Many of the supporting players were not professional actors, but local Kingston residents who in some way contributed to the production. Louis Blaazer (Pleydell-Smith) was a local realtor who helped out with location scouting, Timothy Moxon (Strangways) was a cropduster pilot, Lester Pendergast (Puss-Feller) owned a nightlclub used as a filming location, and Dolores Keator (Mary Trueblood) owned the house used as Strangways' residence.

** Every single woman in the film (barring only Creator/LoisMaxwell) is overdubbed by the same actress, Nikki van der Zyl.

* DarkhorseCasting: Creator/UrsulaAndress was cast because she fit Creator/AlbertR.Broccoli's description of "an unknown with a new face who wouldn't demand an outrageous salary." Seeing a photograph of her in a wet t-shirt obviously didn't hinder that decision either.

** During the initial briefing, M says that he recently was put in charge of MI7. Bernard Lee originally said MI6 during the take, but this has been overdubbed, possibly for fear of offending the real-life organization. In later Bond movies, however, 007 clearly works for MI6.

* CastTheRunnerUp: Creator/TerenceYoung, who once had turned Creator/LoisMaxwell down on the grounds that she looked like she "smelled of soap, not sex", offered her either Moneypenny or Sylvia Trench, but she was uncomfortable with a revealing scene in the screenplay. She ended up playing Moneypenny. This paid off down the line as she was childhood friends with Creator/RogerMoore, giving them fantastic chemistry.

* LoopingLines: Every single woman in the film (barring only Creator/LoisMaxwell) is overdubbed by the same actress, Nikki van der Zyl.

* CastTheRunnerUp: Creator/TerenceYoung, who once had turned Creator/LoisMaxwell down on the grounds that she looked like she "smelled of soap, not sex", offered her either Moneypenny or Sylvia Trench, but she was uncomfortable with a revealing scene in the screenplay. She ended up playing Moneypenny.

* FakeNationality:
** Creator/UrsulaAndress (Honey Rider) is a Swiss playing a Jamaican descended from an old-established (presumably British) colonial family (though not all Jamaicans have dark skin).