Ranking The James Bond Directors
by ncsudreamweaver | created - 18 Oct 2018 | updated - 20 May 2021 | PublicRanking the 11 James Bond directors (EON Productions only) up to this point in time from best to worst. For this list, I'm only considering the Bond movies they directed and not their other work. The number in the parentheses next to each movie title is my personal ranking of the movie in the Bond series (1-24).
1. Martin Campbell
Director | Casino Royale
Martin Campbell knows how to entertain an audience when he steps behind the camera. When he directed The Mask of Zorro (1998), the movie earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations and launched the international careers of Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Next, when he helmed ...
Goldeneye (7) & Casino Royale (2)
2. Terence Young
Director | Dr. No
Born in Shanghai and Cambridge-educated, Terence Young began in the industry as a scriptwriter. In the 1940s he worked on a variety of subjects, including the hugely popular wartime romance Suicide Squadron (1941), set to Richard Addinsell's rousing "Warsaw Concerto". His original story was devised...
Dr. No (5), From Russia With Love (4), & Thunderball (8)
3. Sam Mendes
Producer | 1917
Samuel Alexander Mendes was born on August 1, 1965 in Reading, England, UK to parents James Peter Mendes, a retired university lecturer, and Valerie Helene Mendes, an author who writes children's books. Their marriage didn't last long, James divorced Sam's mother in 1970 when Sam was just 5-...
Skyfall (3) & Spectre (16)
4. Guy Hamilton
Director | Live and Let Die
Typically British stiff-upper-lip war dramas and action adventure laced with moments of sophisticated comedy were Guy Hamilton's trademark. The son of a British diplomat, he spent most of his youth with his family in France, seemingly destined to be groomed for a career in the diplomatic service. ...
Goldfinger (1), Diamonds Are Forever (20), Live And Let Die (15), & The Man With The Golden Gun (17)
5. John Glen
Director | The Living Daylights
He started on the Shepperton Studios cutting rooms in 1948 working on such as 'The Wooden Horse' and 'The Third Man' before moving to Nettlefold Studios where his stay was interrupted by two years National Service after which he joined Group 3 at Beaconsfield . His next move was becoming sound ...
For Your Eyes Only (11), Octopussy (13), A View To A Kill (23), The Living Daylights (12), & License To Kill (10)
6. Peter R. Hunt
Director | On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Having started out in the film industry as a clapper boy, by the 40's he was working in the editing department and by the 50's he was an assistant editor then a fully fledged editor. In 1962 as editor on the first James Bond film, Dr No, he helped to create a new fast style which put it's mark on ...
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (5)
7. Lewis Gilbert
Director | Alfie
Lewis Gilbert was a British film director, producer and screenwriter best known for Alfie (1966), as well as three James Bond films: You Only Live Twice (1967), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979).
He also directed Reach for the Sky (1956), Sink the Bismarck! (1960), Educating Rita (...
You Only Live Twice (14), The Spy Who Loved Me (9), & Moonraker (21)
8. Roger Spottiswoode
Writer | 48 Hrs.
Roger Spottiswoode was born on January 5, 1945 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He is a director and producer, known for 48 Hrs. (1982), The 6th Day (2000) and Shoot to Kill (1988). He was previously married to Holly Palance.
Tomorrow Never Dies (18)
9. Michael Apted
Director | Amazing Grace
Michael Apted was born on February 10, 1941 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK. He was a director and producer, known for Amazing Grace (2006), Gorillas in the Mist (1988) and Rome (2005). He was married to Paige Simpson, Dana Stevens and Jo Apted. He died on January 7, 2021 in Los Angeles,...
The World Is Not Enough (19)
10. Marc Forster
Producer | World War Z
Marc Forster is a German-born filmmaker and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the films Monster's Ball (2001), Finding Neverland (2004), Stay (2005), Stranger than Fiction (2006), The Kite Runner (2007), Quantum of Solace (2008), and World War Z (2013).
His breakthrough film was Monster's...
Quantum Of Solace (22)
11. Lee Tamahori
Director | Once Were Warriors
Beginning as a commercial artist and photographer, he joined the New Zealand film industry in the late 1970s as a boom operator. He became an assistant director a decade later. Making international award-winning commercials for 10 years, he has also directed several TV series. His first feature ...
Die Another Day (24)
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