The Search For Bond Part 2 of an exclusive 3-part article

When it was Lazenby’s turn to do the fight he got caught up in the moment and let fly with a massive punch, accidentally breaking Borienko’s nose. It was partly over-enthusiasm and part naïveté, the fact that Lazenby just wasn’t used to carrying out stunt fighting. “When they turned on the camera I went a little crazy.” But it worked. Saltzman was watching from the sidelines, stepped over the prone Borienko and told Lazenby. ‘We’re going with you.’

Once the test was over (Leech later admitted that the fight turned out better than the one in the finished film), it was Hunt’s job to edit it all together into a 10-minute show reel. “It was tremendous.” In Hunt’s view Lazenby had the right look to be Bond. “The physical side of him was excellent; the acting side of it was a gamble. But I felt confident I could make him James Bond.” Broccoli agreed: "In his physique and looks and his walk he was the best of the candidates. He had the masculinity.” Others didn’t agree, like Bob Simmons. “Who’s George Lazenby,” he said. “I couldn’t see a chocolate box carrier as James Bond.”

Someone else not wholly convinced by the decision was the man who first set the wheels in motion at EON, Dyson Lovell. ‘The minute George was cast I was kind of alarmed, so I thought we’d better surround him with some really strong people, hence the reason why we got Diana Rigg and Telly Savalas. I must say, I’d hate to be credited with casting George Lazenby!’

It’s impossible now to imagine the pressure and task Lazenby was faced with as the new 007. Not only was he following in the footsteps of an actor who had become one of the biggest icons of the decade thanks to playing Bond, and someone who was still totally identified in the role, but he was doing so with no acting experience whatsoever, and having not made a single film in his life. People often forget that On Her Majesty’s Secret Service wasn’t just Lazenby’s Bond debut; it was his debut movie full stop.

The problems surrounding Lazenby and the making of OHMSS have been well-documented, the tensions on the set and his refusal to reprise the role, largely because he got bad business advice about Bond being an anachronistic figure in the current cinema trend, with films like Easy Rider grabbing the attention of audiences. The producers tried to shrug off the fact that they had to go back to square one and find another Bond by blasting, “there were 14 Tarzans!” One of the first names to come up this time, as in 1961, was Roger Moore, but he’d already committed to The Persuaders TV show. Of course Connery back on board was what the bosses at United Artists really wanted for their seventh Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, but Broccoli & Saltzman were hesitant, in Dana Broccoli’s words, “to beg a reluctant actor to act.” And so the search was on to find Bond number 3, a search that quickly began to resemble the mad, blind scramble that ended up with Lazenby’s casting. The most unqualified of people were approached. How else can you explain the producers’ thought patterns behind the potential marquee legend: Michael Gambon is James Bond? Undoubtedly a great actor, Gambon went on to be knighted by the Queen for services to the industry, and won millions of fans when he played Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, but Bond he never was. Indeed when Gambon himself heard the news that he was being considered he was rendered dumbstruck.

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