Imagine an alternate timeline. What if Ratoff had partnered with a young Cubby Broccoli in 1955? What if he’d held on just six more years? He could have been a co-father of the most successful film franchise in history.
In 1956, Ratoff partnered with producer Michael Garrison to bring the novel to the big screen. The pair hired screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr. to draft a script. Interestingly, Semple Jr. later revealed that Ratoff considered a radical departure from the source material: changing James Bond into a female protagonist, with actress Susan Hayward as the top choice for the role. gregory ratoff james bond film rights
Then, in 1960, Garrison sold the rights to Charles K. Feldman, a powerful Hollywood agent turned producer. Feldman had no idea what to do with them either—until 1962, when Dr. No exploded at the box office. Imagine an alternate timeline
But the true origin story of Bond in cinema begins a decade earlier, with a flamboyant, Russian-born Hollywood director named Gregory Ratoff. He could have been a co-father of the
Ratoff's vision for the James Bond film was to star David Niven as Bond, with a focus on humor and satire. He assembled a team, including writer Anthony H. Davis, to develop a screenplay. However, Ratoff's production faced significant challenges, including: