Thunderball (novel) "Daily Express" strip was cut short on the order of its owner, Lord Beaverbrook, after Ian Fleming signed an agreement with "The Sunday Times" to publish a short story. On screen, "Thunderball" was released in 1965 as the fourth film in the Eon Productions series, with Sean Connery as James Bond. The second adaptation, "Never Say Never Again", was released as an independent production in 1983 also starring Connery as Bond and was produced by Kevin McClory. BBC Radio 4 aired an adaptation in December 2016, directed by Martin Jarvis. It starred Toby Stephens as Bond and Tom Conti as
James Bond released the first cinema adaptation of an Ian Fleming novel, "Dr. No", featuring Sean Connery as 007. Connery starred in a further four films before leaving the role after "You Only Live Twice", which was taken up by George Lazenby for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Lazenby left the role after just one appearance and Connery was brought back for his last Eon-produced film "Diamonds Are Forever". In 1973 Roger Moore was appointed to the role of 007 for "Live and Let Die" and played Bond a further six times over twelve years before being replaced by Timothy Dalton for