Timothy Dalton

Born: March 21 1946
Where: Colwyn Bay, Wales, UK

The career of the classically trained Shakespearean actor has inevitably been dominated by his portrayal of cinematic icon James Bond.

Dalton - the fourth actor to play 007 after Sean Connery, George Lazenby and Roger Moore - inherited the licence to kill off Moore in The Living Daylights.

Critics welcomed his return to Bond's darker character and his performance as the British agent in the following Licence To Kill was seen as the closest yet to Ian Fleming's original.

Born in Wales (his father was stationed there during WWII), Dalton was brought up in Manchester and joined the National Youth Theatre.

In 1964, he studied at RADA and then joined Birmingham Repertory Theatre before landing TV work, including the short-lived series Judge Dee.

In late 1967 Peter O'Toole recommended the 21-year old Dalton for the role of the even younger King of Philip of France in The Lion in Winter (coincidentally also Anthony Hopkins's big break).

At this time he tested for Bond in the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but he turned it down feeling he was too young for the part.

Dalton's next feature film was another costume drama Cromwell, working with director Ken Hughes', with whom he would several years later make his first American film Sextette.

Subsequent movies included Heathcliffe in Wuthering Heights and Mary, Queen of Scots and then Dalton returned to theatre.

He toured the world with the RSC and then returned to the big screen in Permission to Kill and a camp role in Flash Gordon.

He was again approached to play Bond after Moore considered quitting the franchise but was committed to too many other projects, including Dr and the Devils.

However, when Pierce Brosnan had to turn down the role in the late 1980s, Dalton accepted and was cast in The Living Daylights, rescuing the series from Moore's arch self-parody.

After the poorly-received Licence To Kill he revoked his licence (although litigation about his three-film deal would drag on) and went on to star in the costume drama La Putain Du Roi.

He followed that with a winning turn in Disney's The Rocketeer, the IRA thriller The Informant and the romantic comedy Time Share.

In 2001, he starred in the western American Outlaws and went on to appear in the Disney live action/cartoon romp Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

Recent work includes the role of a supermarket-owning spiv in Hot Fuzz with Simon Pegg in 2007.