The Search For Bond Part 1 of an exclusive 3-part article

While prospective Bond suitors fell away, Kevin McClory remained convinced he’d found box office gold in Fleming’s spy hero and forged ahead. Very quickly Alfred Hitchcock became the front runner to direct. But if the master of suspense were to come onboard it was made quite plain to Fleming that the decision as to who played Bond would be taken by Hitchcock himself – and his choice was James Stewart. And how did Fleming react to Hitch’s suggestion of a man famous for playing cowboys being his suave secret agent, surprisingly philosophically actually according to this letter to Ivar Bryce. ‘Of course James Stewart is the toppest of stars and personally I wouldn’t at all mind him as Bond if he can slightly anglicise his accent. If we got him and Hitchcock we really would be off to the races.’ Perhaps Fleming was so desperate to get Bond onto the screen he was prepared to compromise totally. Bryce, far more sensibly, was heavily against the casting. ‘I shudder at lackadaisical Stewart portraying dynamic Bond.’ He wrote back to Fleming.

Interestingly at the same time a 90-minute television adaptation of FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE was under development in America with James Mason already cast as Bond. If that proved a ratings hit Mason would become the man most identified in the public’s mind as 007. ‘So if the worst comes to the worst, we might have to settle for him,’ Fleming wrote Bryce, sounding not entirely won over by the idea. Mason was, after all, more famous as a silky villain, utterly superb as Captain Nemo in Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. In the end, though, the FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE TV drama never materialised. But Fleming did later change his mind about Mason, according to the author’s cousin by marriage, Sir Christopher Lee, who informed me. “I know who Ian thought was the best person to play Bond – James Mason, who would have been marvellous. He had all the right qualities. I don’t think anyone has ever succeeded in putting Ian Fleming’s James Bond up on the screen. The closest in my opinion is Pierce Brosnan.”

McClory at this point favoured Trevor Howard as Bond and met the actor at least twice to discuss it, in July and October 1959. Fleming disagreed, saying that Howard, at 43, was too old and that someone in his early 30s was required. Fleming now suggested Peter Finch. Reminded by McClory that Finch was actually only a year younger than Howard, Fleming wrote back: ‘I would be happier if the part could be given to a young unknown actor, with established stars playing the other roles.’ A prescient point, for a virtually unknown actor in his early thirties would eventually win the role of Bond, 32 year old Sean Connery.

By this stage McClory had hired noted English screenwriter Jack Whittingham to fashion his and Fleming’s disparate scenario into a workable script, but alas that was about as far as the project went. Christened ‘Thunderball’, Fleming took Whittingham’s screenplay and without his or McClory’s permission used the basis of it for his next James Bond novel, not even bothering to change the title. The two men sued for plagiarism and won, with McClory ending up with the film rights to the story. But to all intents and purposes he could do little with them on his own; his thunder had been stolen by producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman who in 1961 struck up a partnership destined to become the most successful in entertainment history. They shared the same dream as McClory, that of bringing 007 to the screen. The only difference was - they succeeded in doing it!

The question of who would play the part of James Bond in Dr. No became the male equivalent of the search for Scarlett O’Hara in MGM’s 1939 epic Gone With The Wind. As early as 1958 Cubby Broccoli had been toying with the idea of making Bond films and even went so far as to offer the role to Peter Lawford. This London born actor certainly had the background and personality to play Bond. The son of a World War I hero, Lawford was an MGM contract player in the 1940s and married four times, once to the sister of John F. Kennedy, making him brother in law to the President of the United States. He was also a notorious womaniser claiming such Hollywood scalps as Lana Turner, Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe. Most famous of all Lawford was part of Frank Sinatra’s famous Rat Pack.

Actually Lawford would have made a pretty decent 007. He was familiar to American audiences and combined David Niven-like English charm with a mild toughness. But the prospect of playing a spy just didn’t appeal for him back in 1958. It was a missed opportunity that remained one of Lawford’s deepest regrets.

Because of the impact he’d made as John Drake in the TV spy series Danger Man Patrick McGoohan was one of the first people approached by the producers to play 007 in Dr. No. But he turned Broccoli & Saltzman down flat no less than three times, according to the actor himself, and never regretted the decision. “Patrick actually would’ve made a wonderful Bond,” says John Glen an editor on Danger Man and someone who would become the 007 series’ most prolific director. “Pat was asked but said no thank you. He had a thing about kissing on screen and had some hang-ups about the Bond character. I thought he was a wonderful actor.”

A self-styled puritan, the licentious and violent behaviour of the Bond character was pure anathema to McGoohan. Such a stance was also the reason why he turned down the opportunity to play The Saint when offered it by his TV boss Lew Grade. Amazing to think isn’t it that over a 12-month period McGoohan had the chance to play both James Bond and Simon Templar. The man who eventually landed the role of Leslie Charteris’ playboy adventurer, Roger Moore, was also another early Bond candidate, although his involvement in The Saint TV series immediately ruled him out and he was never interviewed. When Moore finally landed the role in 1972 Broccoli told him that he had indeed been on their original short list.

For a long time Broccoli had visualised Cary Grant as Bond, and it’s not difficult to understand why. Born in Bristol, Grant had made a career for himself in Hollywood as the ideal, smooth English gentleman, with just a hint of cruelty and darkness. The two men were actually very close friends; Grant had been best man at Cubby Broccoli and Dana Wilson’s wedding. “I went over to Hollywood to meet him,” said Terence Young, who’d been hired to direct Dr. No. “I’d known him for some years. And Cary said, ‘No way, dear boy, I’ll do one picture and that’s it, I’m not going to sign for three or four films.’”

Another suave and handsome leading man considered was Rod Taylor, then most famous for his role in the 1960 film version of H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine. Who knows, he might have become the first Ozzie Bond before George Lazenby. Born in New South Wales in 1930, Taylor came to Hollywood in the 1950s and his virile matinee idol looks assisted him in scoring numerous film roles. Broccoli in particular wanted Taylor to screen test for Bond but the actor declined. “I thought it was beneath me,” Taylor confessed years later. “I didn’t think Bond would be successful in the movies. That was one of the greatest mistakes of my career! Every time a new Bond picture became a smash hit, I tore out my hair. Cubby and I laughed about it ever since.”

Two other ‘name’ choices were Steve Reeves and Stanley Baker. Ex body builder Steve Reeves had come to prominence in a series of Italian Hercules pictures and apparently said no to Broccoli’s Bond offer because he was earning far more Lire in Italy. According to Stanley Baker’s widow, Lady Ellen, the Welsh star also refused the Bond producer’s overtures as he didn’t want to be tied down to a multi-film deal. Like fellow Welshman and friend Richard Burton, Baker’s screen presence was gritty and combustible, possessing an aura of dark, even menacing power. You can quite easily visualize Baker cracking skulls with Robert Shaw aboard the Orient Express in From Russia With Love.

Another popular British actor on the producer’s list was Michael Craig, then a Rank contract player. Born in India in 1928 to an English father on military duty, Craig spent much of his adolescence in Canada where he acquired a slight accent. This may have been what Broccoli & Saltzman saw in him, a debonair leading man not plagued with a clipped British accent but an American type drawl that would play well on both sides of the Atlantic. Craig left school for the Merchant Navy at 16, but finally returned to England and the lure of the theatre. Film extra work and small speaking parts eventually led to a series of starring roles in popular movies like Campbell’s Kingdom (1957), Doctor in Love (1960), taking over from Dirk Bogarde as St. Swithin’s newest doctor hunk in the perennial comedy series, and the Ray Harryhausen adventure Mysterious Island (1961).

With his Rank contract expiring Craig was being wooed by Hollywood, so Broccoli & Saltzman were determined to pounce. I emailed Michael Craig, who told me that although he was never actually offered the Bond role, the producers did contact his agent about setting up a meeting. “At the time,” Craig writes. “Saltzman and Broccoli were more or less joke figures in the film business in England, responsible for some real pot boiling stinkers and notoriously bad payers. No one knew quite how they had managed to get the rights to the 007 franchise, but everyone expected them to really screw up if their past record was anything to go by. The money on offer was £5,000, I think, not great even then, and they’d want an option for further films at a slightly higher fee. My agent and I agreed that it wasn’t much of a proposition and I turned down the interview. I later found out that a number of actors of my age and experience had likewise turned it down. I’m not remotely suggesting that I’d have been offered the part, or that I’d have been any good in it, I’m just saying how it was for me. Connery was terrific, no one could have been better.”

One man who gave the offer to play Bond serious thought only to ultimately reject it was Ian Hendry, then a popular television actor thanks to his role in the first ever series of The Avengers. Born in 1931 in Ipswich, Hendry’s ambition was always to be an actor and he attended London’s Central School of Speech and Drama, landing on the same course as future M, Judi Dench. Initially, Hendry was The Avengers undoubted star, ably supported by Patrick Macnee as John Steed. However, production of the first season was curtailed by a strike and Hendry used the opportunity to depart in order to make films. It was this desire to further his career in the
cinema that coloured Hendry’s decision to reject Bond. He didn’t want to be tied down to a series of films after he’d just finished a year on The Avengers. He later admitted his decision was a career changing mistake, and talked about how his Bond would have been a very different proposition. “Bond is supposed to be a man you would pass in a crowd, but you can’t help but notice the characters created by Connery and Roger Moore. I would have been the bloke you do pass in the crowd – until you see the steel in his eyes.” Not naturally handsome or particularly debonair, Hendry guessed that this might have hindered his particular portrayal. “My type of character wouldn’t have been so successful. People like big glamorous men. But my face has never been glamorous and my Bond would have been very down to earth.”

Given the limited budget of Dr. No (just under a million dollars), it’s debatable whether Broccoli & Saltzman could ever have afforded a major star like Cary Grant. And so they turned their sights instead upon either a complete unknown or an actor yet to make it big, in that way audiences would automatically accept him as Bond and the producers could also control and put that actor under a long term contract.

Pretty high on that list was Richard Johnson. Director Terence Young’s preferred choice Johnson was born in London in 1927, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and performed in John Gielgud’s repertory company. While nurturing a growing reputation as a Shakespearean actor of some note, Johnson began making small appearances in films and was spotted by Hollywood and put under contract to MGM. Undoubtedly it was Johnson’s debonair and handsome looks, and considerable acting ability, that made Terence Young insist Broccoli & Saltzman meet him, which they did, only for Johnson to turn them down flat. Like so many, it was the necessity of signing a multi-picture contract that proved the stumbling block, “I didn’t much fancy the prospect of playing the same part for seven years,” he later revealed. In any case Johnson was still tied to his MGM contract, which didn’t end until 1965. “So that gave me a reasonable excuse to be able to say no.”

Another Bond potential was smoothy William Franklyn, who may have been on Broccoli & Saltzman’s list because of his role in the then popular ITV television series Top Secret as British agent Peter Dallas. “So I had
a bit of mileage under my belt as a smooth spy type.” Born in London in 1925, Franklyn served in the paratroops during the war before appearing in films like Above Us the Waves (1955), and the Hammer film Quatermass 2 (1957).

Revealing once that he was amongst the short list of six actors drawn up by the Bond producers, Franklyn never got to strap on a Walther PPK but soon after got the job that earned him his place in TV history, lending his distinctive tones to advertise Schweppes tonic water, with the whispered words: ‘Schhh! You know who.’

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