Something about which I have oft-wondered. Why did the George Lazenby, the second actor to play James Bond, only appear in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, then never appear in another Bond movie?
It's tempting to assume that the negative reaction and general feeling that Lazenby was inferior to Connery directly led to his short career as MI6's finest, but this wasn't the case. Despite the poor appraisals of Lazenby's performance, the Bond team actually wanted their new man to stay on, but he declined the offer and opened the door for Connery to briefly return, before Roger Moore was eventually chosen as a more permanent replacement. It's curious that an inexperienced actor would turn down the chance to continue in the major role of James Bond, especially since Lazenby's decision to leave was not made due to the bad press, but because of bad advice.
In the 2017 documentary Becoming Bond, Lazenby describes both his entry into the world of 007 and his reasons for departing. Lazenby claims he was offered a contract for 6 more James Bond adventures, but had been advised by his agent, Ronan O'Rahilly, to turn the deal down. O'Rahilly convinced Lazenby that the James Bond franchise didn't harmonize with the increasingly widespread hippy culture of the late 1960s and 1970s, and action heroes such as Bond would soon be seen as outdated relics. Lazenby also felt that he could break into the spaghetti western genre in a Clint Eastwood-esque fashion, but was blacklisted from the industry after turning down the Bond contract. His reputation was tarnished further by reports of being difficult on-set, and movie roles proved far harder to come by than Lazenby and his management had anticipated.
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For the audience's part, modern opinion now sees Lazenby's sole James Bond performance as a far better turn that many gave him credit for at the time, while Sean Connery's return in Diamonds Are Forever is conversely considered to have been a film too far for the original 007. Despite this drastic change of public sentiment, Lazenby's film career vanished as quickly as it began, with Bond both making and breaking the aspiring actor. Regardless, the Australian holds a special place in James Bond history, and it's fascinating to think where the franchise would be today if George Lazenby had made those further 6 films.
For my mind, I have always enjoyed On Her Majesty's Secret Service as a classic James Bond movie. I never felt that Lazenby was a bad turn at the character. In fact, I thought that he brought a bit more serious tone to the role. This is more pronounced when contrasted to Sean Connery's chauvinistic portrayal of the famous British spy.
Still, interesting stuff about the inner-working and decision-making process behind the scenes!
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