Casino Royale is a 1967 spy comedy film originally produced by Columbia Pictures featuring an ensemble cast.
 It is loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel.
 The film stars David Niven as the "original" Bond, Sir James Bond 007.
 Forced out of retirement to investigate the deaths and disappearances of international spies, he soon battles the mysterious Dr. Noah and SMERSH.
 The film's tagline: "Casino Royale is too much... for one James Bond!"
 refers to Bond's ruse to mislead SMERSH in which six other agents are pretending to be "James Bond", namely, baccarat master Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers), millionaire spy Vesper Lynd (Ursula Andress), Bond's secretary Miss Moneypenny (Barbara Bouchet), Mata Bond (Joanna Pettet), Bond's daughter by Mata Hari; and British agents "Coop" (Terence Cooper) and "The Detainer" (Daliah Lavi).
A number of real-life inspirations have been suggested for James Bond, the fictional character created in 1953 by British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence officer Ian Fleming; Bond appeared in twelve novels and nine short stories by Fleming, as well as a number of continuation novels and twenty-six films, with seven actors playing the role of Bond.
Casino Royale (2006) is the twenty-first spy film in the Eon Productions "James Bond" film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond.
 Directed by Martin Campbell and written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and Paul Haggis, the film marks the third screen adaptation of Ian Fleming's 1953 novel of the same name.
 "Casino Royale" is a reboot of the film series and as such is set at the beginning of Bond's career as Agent 007, just as he is earning his licence to kill.
 After preventing a terrorist attack at Miami International Airport, Bond falls in love with Vesper Lynd, the treasury employee assigned to provide the money he needs to bankrupt a terrorist financier, Le Chiffre, by beating him in a high-stakes poker game.
 The story arc continues in the following "Bond" film "Quantum of Solace" (2008), "Skyfall" (2012), and "Spectre" (2015) also feature explicit references to characters and events in this film.
Merlin Theodore Minshall (21 December 1906 – 3 September 1987) was a British naval officer and adventurer.
 He is often claimed to have been one of the inspirations behind James Bond, the fictional spy created by Ian Fleming.
 Minshall worked for Fleming during the Second World War, as a member of the Royal Navy's Naval Intelligence Division.
The James Bond literary franchise is a series of novels and short stories, first published in 1953 by Ian Fleming, a British author, journalist, and former naval intelligence officer.
 James Bond, often referred to by his code name, 007, is a British Secret Service agent; the character was created by journalist and author Ian Fleming, and first appeared in his 1953 novel "Casino Royale"; the books are set in a contemporary period, between May 1951 and February 1964.
 Fleming went on to write a total of twelve novels and two collections of short stories, all written at his Jamaican home Goldeneye and published annually.
 Two of his books were published after his death in 1964.
"Casino Royale" is a live 1954 television adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming.
 An episode of the dramatic anthology series "Climax!
", the show is the first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel and stars Barry Nelson, Peter Lorre, and Linda Christian.
 Though this marks the first onscreen appearance of the secret agent, Nelson's Bond is played as an American spy with "Combined Intelligence Agency" and is referred to as "Jimmy" by several characters.
John Ashmead (1917–1992) was an American novelist, Naval Intelligence officer, and professor of English.
 His writings include "The Mountain and the Feather" about his experiences in the Pacific in World War II as a United States naval intelligence officer and translator.
 He received a commendation for obtaining information that helped Navy fliers shoot down the plane of Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who had masterminded the 1941 surprise attack on the U.S. military base at Pearl Harbor, HI, which brought the United States into the fighting.
 He co-authored "The Songs of Robert Burns" in 1988 with Professor John Davison.
 His PhD thesis was "The Idea of Japan 1853-1895: Japan as Described by American and Other Travellers from the West".
 * Ashmead was a graduate of Navy Japanese language program at the University of Colorado, Boulder and Berkeley.
 His work as a translator for Naval Intelligence aided in the assassination of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.
 He was a professor of English at Haverford College from 1948 to 1988.
 At Haverford, he pioneered the use of computers in education and research.
 He spoke as Fulbright lecturer in Osaka and Kyoto, Japan, Taipei, Varanasi, India and throughout India, and also taught in Athens, Greece at Athens College for Boys.
James E. Wise Jr., author, is a former naval aviator, intelligence officer, and Vietnam veteran, retired from the U.S. Navy in 1975 as a captain.
 He became a naval aviator in 1953 following graduation from Northwestern University.
 He served as an intelligence officer aboard the USS "America" and later as the commanding officer of various naval intelligence units.
 Since his retirement, Captain Wise has held several senior executive posts in private sector companies.
 His books include "", "The Silver Star", "The Navy Cross", "Stars in Blue", and "U-505: The Final Journey".
 He is also the author of many historical articles in naval and maritime journals.
 Captain Wise lives in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.
Ian Fleming Publications is the production company formerly known as both Glidrose Productions Limited and Glidrose Publications Limited, named after its founders John Gliddon and Norman Rose.
 In 1952, author Ian Fleming bought it after completing his first James Bond novel, "Casino Royale"; he assigned most of his rights in "Casino Royale", and the works which followed it to Glidrose.
Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was an English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer who is best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917.
 Educated at Eton, Sandhurst and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.

Question: Casino Royale was loosely based on a novel by Ian Fleming, an English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer who is best known for what series of spy novels?
Answer: James Bond