Features
Classic Quotes: James Bond – “A medium dry martini, lemon peel. Shaken, not stirred.”
The Line: “A medium dry martini, lemon peel. Shaken, not stirred.”
Who Said It: Although Sean Connery would make the line his own, it’s actually first voiced by archfiend Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) in James Bond’s 1962 big-screen debut.
The Setup: An hour and a half into Dr. No, Bond and Bond-babe Ursula Andress are wined and dined in the good doctor’s underwater lair. The villian, a proper host who’s obviously read his dossier on the British superspy, offers his guest his favorite cocktail. Dr No (played by Joseph Wiseman) was the man who actually uttered the quote first.
The Payoff: Equal parts JFK-playboy glamour and Hugh Hefner Playboy philosophy, Connery’s Bond updated the traditional action hero with modern attitudes and equipment.
Although Bonds have changed, Bond himself has endured as a cultural artifact by never really changing. As stylized as Kabuki, the formula remains stirring–without shaking its roots. Bond still astonishes headwaiters with his raffin tastes, fondles weapons and women with equal ardor and moves with eerie confidence through a world of constant cosmic peril. “My dear girl,” Bond tells a new conquest in Goldfinger, “there are some things that just aren’t done. Such as drinking Dom Perignon ’53 above a temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs.”