Which actor played James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill?

Timothy Dalton played James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill.

Dalton portrayed 007 twice, beginning with The Living Daylights in 1987 and continuing with Licence to Kill in 1989. His interpretation emphasised Bond’s literary seriousness, professional discipline and emotional vulnerability rather than Roger Moore’s more openly comic style.

In The Living Daylights, Bond protects a Soviet defector and becomes involved with cellist Kara Milovy. Licence to Kill takes a darker direction: Bond resigns from the Secret Service after his friend Felix Leiter is brutally attacked and pursues the drug lord responsible.

Dalton had been considered for the role before the casting of earlier Bond actors, but he did not become 007 until the late 1980s. After Licence to Kill, a prolonged legal dispute affected the production schedule. Pierce Brosnan eventually took over in GoldenEye, released in 1995.