ZAMM.COM

Sean Connery was succeeded twice as James Bond. Roger Moore is best remembered for doing so in 1973’s LIVE AND LET DIE — but George Lazenby did it five years earlier after Connery quit for the first time.

Lazenby, who was born Sept. 5, 1939 in Australia, had no acting experience aside from doing commercials when Bond producers Harry Saltzman & Albert Broccoli hired him for the 1969 Bond episode ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE. While he was eager to play 007 then, he’s famous now for having walked away from the role despite having been given a seven picture Bond deal.
Lazenby’s strategy to become Bond brought him to Connery’s London barber and tailor so he’d resemble Connery when he first met the producers. As luck had it, Broccoli also used Connery’s barber and had seen Lazenby there — and reportedly thought he had a Bond look. Lazenby spent some of his last pounds at the time to buy a bespoke suit that had been cut for Connery, but that he hadn’t picked up.

Thus armed, Lazenby went on to meet with Saltzman, Broccoli & Peter Hunt, who was directing SERVICE after having edited early Bonds like DR. NO, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE & GOLDFINGER. After bluffing about his acting credits, Lazenby was given a screen test, during which he told Hunt he’d made everything up and really wasn’t an actor. Hunt laughed it off: “You just strolled in here and managed to fool two of the most ruthless bastards in the business. You’re an actor!”

When Connery exited after 1967’s YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, Saltzman & Broccoli considered saying Bond needed plastic surgery because he’d become too recognizable to work undercover. They decided against that, but did put an inside joke in the pre-credits scene. Lazenby as Bond saves a mysterious woman from drowning, who then speeds off in her convertible — leaving Lazenby to protest into the camera, “This never happened to the other fellow!”

Lazenby quit just before SERVICE’s Royal Premiere in London Dec. 18,1969. He’d decided that youth appeal films like THE GRADUATE & EASY RIDER would be the most popular movie genre in the ’70s. After Lazenby confided to his agent that he now had some doubts about playing Bond, it got back to the producers who were, understandably, quite unhappy. Despite Lazenby’s seven Bond films offer and a signed letter of intent for him to do DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, it all suddenly ended.

Their new first choice for Bond was Burt Reynolds, who wasn’t available. Adam West (TV’s BATMAN star) passed because he thought Bond should be played by a British actor. After that, they signed John Gavin, a Los Angeles native who’d recently played a French spy in a European thriller.

Then Connery unexpectedly agreed to be handsomely over-paid to return once more as Bond. Of course, they also had to pay Gavin in full to not play Bond, but having Connery back again made it worth every pound.