After several more years in increasingly larger film and TV roles, Connery was cast as James Bond in 1962's Dr. No; he was far from the first choice, but the producers were impressed by Connery's refusal to kowtow to them when he came in to read for the part. The actor played the secret agent again in From Russia With Love, but it wasn't until the third Bond picture, Goldfinger, that both Connery and his secret-agent alter ego became a major box-office attraction. While the money steadily improved, Connery was already weary of Bond at the time of the fourth 007 flick Thunderball. He tried to prove to audiences and critics that there was more to his talents than James Bond by playing a villain in Woman of Straw, an enigmatic Hitchcock hero in Marnie, a cockney POW in The Hill, and a loony Greenwich Village poet in A Fine Madness. Despite the excellence of his characterizations, audiences preferred the Bond films, while critics always qualified their comments with references to the secret agent. With You Only Live Twice, Connery swore he was through with James Bond; with Diamonds Are Forever, he really meant what he said. Though he was right that time and he did not play James Bond again, he was the first Bond and probably the most famous. In 1981, Connery briefly returned to the Bond fold with Never Say Never Again, but his difficulties with the production staff turned what should have been a fond throwback to his salad days into a nightmarish experience for the actor. At this point, he hardly needed Bond to sustain his career, and Connery has done many movies sence then and he is still making more.