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IMO, there's Connery and then there's the rest*.

*We only have 3 movies between Lazenby and Dalton as data points, not really enough to make or break either actor. Just imagine if Dalton had taken over the role back in ~1968? Or if Lazenby had stayed on in the role? We might be crowning one of them as the number one Bond of all time.

On to other things:

Roger Moore ain't getting much love in this thread. He had a couple gems (TSWLM and FYEO), a couple suckaroos (Moonraker, Octopussy) and IMO a couple personal guilty pleasures (TMWTGG and AVTAK). As far as his portrayal of 007, I consider his rendition an extension of his role as The Saint. He played 007 different than Connery, which was a good move; if he tried to copy Connery's style it would have been fake and corny as Hell. The material he had to work with was ehh.

Brosnan, OTOH, tried to mimic Connery too closely. Again, as with Moore, the script material was pretty spent. Like I wrote a few weeks back, my favorite Brosnan flick was Tomorrow Never Dies. Goldeneye and TWINE are ehh, and DAD was pukey (Rosamund Pike and Halle Barry non withstanding).

I have not seen either of the Craig films, so I have no opinion there. FWIW, I think he was fantastic in Layer Cake.

I'll throw two monkey wrenches into the thread: I'd offer Michael Caine starring as Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File as what perhaps Ian Flemming saw Bond to be - more of an everyman, thorn-in-the-side, ungentlemanly spy (yes, I know Palmer has a different creator, Len Deighton; however Harry Saltzman produced the three Palmer films).

And, last but not least, Rick Perry would make an excellent Bond. :)

I'm out!