The real reason George Lazenby quit as James Bond after just one film, producer called hiring him ‘biggest mistake in 16 years’

Such was the animosity between director Peter Hunt and actor George Lazenby on the units of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service — Lazenby’s solely movie as James Bond — that when a stunt director advised Hunt that Lazenby might have harm himself whereas filming a troublesome sequence, Hunt’s response, in line with the actor, was, “No one’s seen him yet. If we kill him, we could do it all over again.”

Producer Albert Broccoli, in a Los Angeles Times interview, would name casting the Australian actor the “biggest mistake in 16 years. He just couldn’t deal with success. He was so arrogant. There was the stature and looks of a Bond, but Lazenby couldn’t get along with the other performers and technicians.”

But Lazenby didn’t wish to be caught taking part in Bond. Inspired by the counterculture motion of the 60s, he needed to be like Clint Eastwood. In an interview to the Guardian in 2017, he stated, “I had advice that James Bond was over anyway. It was Sean Connery’s gig and, being in the 60s, it was love, not war. You know, hippy time. And I bought into that. They also said there’s a guy called Clint Eastwood doing movies in Italy, getting 500 grand for a month, for doing a western. They said, you could do that. So I didn’t feel like I was losing the million dollars.”

“They offered me millions of dollars under the table to do another one,” Lazenby advised the Los Angeles Times in 2013. There was discuss of a seven-film contract.

 

“They made me feel like I was mindless,” Lazenby recalled to the Guardian. “They disregarded everything I suggested, simply because I hadn’t been in the film business like them for about a thousand years. What I’m going to do is look for a great director first, a good screenplay second. Meanwhile, no more Bond. I make better money doing commercials.”

But Lazenby had problem discovering work after his lone outing as Bond. He was decreased to taking out an advert in Variety in 1978, asking to be employed, whereas working in obscure Hong Kong motion pictures and small initiatives again in Australia. He later admitted that quitting Bond was a mistake.

According to fellow Bond actor Roger Moore, “George took some bad advice. I knew George then and have met him many times since. He admits he made a mistake.” Lazenby’s co-star, Diana Rigg, stated in a 2011 interview to the BBC, “Poor old George. I don’t know what he’s doing now, but he was definitely the architect of his own demise as a film star. I think he needed help, not in the acting – he was really quite good, wasn’t he? And attractive and sexy. He was just difficult offstage. He kind of thought he was a film star immediately and started throwing his weight around.”

Also learn: The actual purpose Pierce Brosnan was fired as James Bond, ‘kicked to the kerb’ by producers in favour of Daniel Craig

Lazenby stated in 2017 that he hasn’t seen On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in three many years, and is focussing on his household. “When I wouldn’t sign the contract, they put out the word that I was difficult to handle – and no film company wants to know about that, so I couldn’t get a job for years. So, I gave up looking,” Lazenby advised the Sydney Morning Herald. “There’s an element of me that thinks I should have done two Bond films to prove that they didn’t get rid of me. On the other hand, I wouldn’t have the life I’ve had. I have beautiful kids, which I may not have had if I continued with Bond. Instead, I was Bond-ing with my children.”

The producers requested unique Bond actor Sean Connery to return to play the character yet another time after Lazenby’s surprising departure. The collection was then rebooted with Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.

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