Who was the first actor to play Jason Bourne?

In 1988 ABC authorized a made-for-TV movie based on Robert Ludlum's 1980 best seller "The Bourne Identity". Well known actor Richard Chamberlain was selected for the lead. Prior to "The Bourne Identity", Chamberlain was already famous for his roles in "Shogun", "The Thorn Birds", "Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold" and many others. Jaclyn Smith, noted for "Charlie's Angels" was his love interest.

Unlike the movie version, this was a much more accurate adaptation of Ludlum's book. In fact, for the movie, co-producers Doug Liman and Frank Marshall decided other than the fact that Bourne was an assassin and had lost his memory they would throw out the book and write the movie from scratch. Surprisingly, they were right and the 2002 movie received much higher reviews than the TV version.