Sean Connery and Claudine Auger are captured amid the extraordinary filmmaking operation behind THUNDERBALL (1965) in this very rare black-and-white behind-the-scenes production photograph taken on location in Nassau, Bahamas. Connery, portraying James Bond, and Auger, as Domino Derval, sit on the sand while director Terence Young observes the production from a beach chair beneath his distinctive wide-brimmed straw hat.

SEAN CONNERY & CLAUDINE AUGER - THUNDERBALL (1965) Rare Nassau Beach Filming with Terence Young James Bond 007 BTS Photo

The photograph provides a remarkable panoramic view beyond the finished movie. Massive carbon-arc production lights, lighting stands, flags and other filmmaking equipment dominate the beach while technicians and crew members work around Connery and Auger. Rather than concealing the machinery required to create Bond’s glamorous cinematic world, this photograph reveals it.

The production activity surrounds the sequence in which Bond encounters Domino after swimming underwater and freeing her trapped foot from coral. Once ashore, the two begin their memorable first conversation on the beach. This behind-the-scenes image pulls the viewer outside that finished sequence and reveals the extensive crew and technical equipment positioned only a short distance away.

THUNDERBALL is a 1965 spy film and the fourth entry in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, starring Sean Connery as British MI6 agent James Bond. The film was adapted from Ian Fleming’s 1961 novel, which developed from an earlier screenplay and story involving Jack Whittingham, Kevin McClory and Fleming. Directed by Terence Young, with a screenplay credited to Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins, THUNDERBALL marked Young’s third and final James Bond film after DR. NO (1962) and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963). The film followed GOLDFINGER (1964) and was succeeded by YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967).

Filmed extensively in the Bahamas, THUNDERBALL became particularly celebrated for its ambitious underwater sequences, exotic locations and large-scale action, helping establish the spectacular production style that would increasingly define the James Bond series.

For the serious Bond collector, the extraordinary appeal of this photograph extends well beyond Connery and Auger themselves. The visible director, crew, powerful location lighting and filmmaking equipment preserve an unusually comprehensive photographic record of how one of THUNDERBALL’s celebrated Bahamian sequences was actually created.

Carefully restored and professionally printed from archival source material, this museum-quality photograph is a distinctive collectible for admirers of Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Terence Young, THUNDERBALL, Domino Derval, James Bond 007, Nassau and Bahamas location filming, and rare behind-the-scenes photography documenting the production of the classic Bond series.

The film was exceptionally successful: its worldwide box office receipts of $141.2 million exceeded not only that of each of its predecessors but that of every one of the five Bond films that followed it. Thunderball remains the most financially successful film of the series in North America when adjusted for ticket price inflation.

In 1966, John Stears won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and BAFTA nominated production designer Ken Adam for an award. Some critics and viewers praised the film and branded it a welcome addition to the series, while others found the aquatic action repetitious. The movie was followed by 1967's You Only Live Twice. In 1983, Warner Bros. released a second film adaptation of the Thunderball novel under the title Never Say Never Again, with McClory as executive producer.

Guy Hamilton was invited to direct, but considered himself worn out and "creatively drained" after the production of Goldfinger. Terence Young, director of the first two Bond films, returned to the series. Coincidentally, when Saltzman invited him to direct Dr. No, Young expressed interest in directing adaptations of Dr. No, From Russia with Love and Thunderball.

Years later, Young said Thunderball was filmed "at the right time", considering that if it was the first film in the series, the low budget (Dr. No cost only $1 million) would not have yielded good results. Thunderball was the final James Bond film directed by Young.