It’s time to cast Ioan as the next James Bond
WHY is the Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd not a front-runner as the new James Bond?
He has the facial good looks, the physique, the charm, the humour and the brilliant acting ability.
His CV for playing well-known heroes, both fictional and factual, is unparalleled.
Here are a few: In 1997, he played real-life Titanic hero, 5th Officer Harold Lowe from North Wales; from 1998 to 2003 it was fictional English gung-ho hero Horatio Hornblower; in 2001 Lt John Beales in Black Hawk Down; in 2004 Sir Lancelot in King Arthur; in 2006 William Wilberforce, the slavery abolitionist in Amazing Grace and in 2007 Mister Fantastic, Reed Richards in Fantastic 4 (both film and popular TV series). What a variety of heroic figures. In 2008, he played Tony Blair in W, the George W Bush biopic.
Since those younger days, he appears to have filled out physically and now looks ideal for a muscular James Bond – at the perfect age of 43.
He also has far more humour, good looks and charm than the taciturn Daniel Craig, and is also appreciably taller. A genuine matinee idol.
He is much closer in type to the iconic Sean Connery, the very best Bond of the lot.
By the way, could there be a better Bond villain than Rhys Ifans, a brilliant, chilling actor in “baddy”roles? He was frighteningly evil in Hannibal Rising – and Welsh actors are excellent at adopting other accents, even upper-class English.