Joseph Wiseman, a stage and screen actor who played the sinister title character in Dr. No, the 1962 film that introduced Sean Connery as James Bond, has died. He was 91.

Wiseman, who had been in declining health the last few years, died Monday at his home in New York City, said his daughter, Martha Graham Wiseman.

The Canadian-born Wiseman already had appeared on Broadway numerous times and in films such as Detective Story and Viva Zapata! when he was cast as the mysterious villain opposite Connerys 007. The diabolical Dr. No was a formidable foe.

As Los Angeles Times movie critic Philip K. Scheuer put it: Out pfui-ing Fu Manchu, Dr. No reveals himself to be the head of a vast underworld organization called SPECTER and dedicated to the destruction and domination of mankind. And, by gad, he has the equipment to pull it off.

Wiseman hadnt an inkling that he was participating in the launch of what became one of the most successful movie franchises of all time.

I had no idea it would achieve the success it did, he told the Los Angeles Times in 1992 with a laugh. As far as I was concerned, I thought it might be just another grade-B Charlie Chan mystery.

Although Wiseman was part of movie history, his daughter said he viewed Dr. No with great disdain.

He was horrified in later life because thats what he was remembered for, she said. Stage acting was what he wanted to be remembered for.