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

At the time Gambon had been enjoying success in The Borderers, a TV period drama about the lives of a family of Scots living on the borders with England in the 1500s. Gambon swash buckled away as the tough head of one of the clans and, much to his surprise, had become something of an action hero. It was this series that brought him to the attention of the Bond producers and he was requested to see Cubby Broccoli in his Mayfair office, not knowing what the meeting was about. He was given a smoked salmon sandwich and a glass of champagne. Then Broccoli announced. ‘We’re looking for a new James Bond.’ Gambon was so flabbergasted he burst out laughing, ‘James Bond, me? But I’m bald,’ he said. ‘So was Sean, we’ll get around it,’ said Broccoli. ‘But my teeth are like a horse’s,’ said Gambon. ‘We’ll take you to Harley Street,’ Broccoli replied. ‘But I’ve got tits like a woman.’ ‘We’ll use ice-packs before the love scenes,’ said Broccoli, ‘Just like we did with Sean.’

Gambon was encouraged and believed the interview had gone well, but upon leaving the room noticed a parade of other actors waiting to audition outside. He never heard anything more. Just as bizarrely, a certain ex-soldier who had just begun the extraordinary life of adventure that one day was to see him acknowledged as, ‘the greatest living explorer’ by the Guinness Book of World Records, was also very seriously considered – his name, Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Certainly Fiennes had the perfect pedigree to play Bond. He was born in Windsor in 1944 to a well-to-do family and educated at Eton before joining the British army where he served for eight years, including a stint in the SAS. That was until he was thrown out for misappropriate use of explosives. He also served in the Sultan’s Armed Forces in Omar fighting Marxist terrorists. All this must have seemed manna from heaven to the Bond producers and perhaps it made some kind of sense recruiting from the armed forces, Bond having been a Commander in the Royal Navy. Still, the offer came out of the blue for Fiennes. ‘I was in Scotland at the time. I’d got married that year and having hardly any money we were living in a cottage with no electricity, it was literally in the middle of nowhere. One day a postman arrived and said that the William Morris agency were on the look out for a new James Bond. I don’t know if this is true, but this is what I heard, Mr. Lazenby had asked for a certain amount of money for doing a second Bond film and the producers had decided that the answer was to get some actor who wasn’t so keen on being paid too much but who did Bondy type things and they had asked around and someone had told them that I might answer that description.’

Fiennes hadn’t done any acting at all so didn't have the first clue why this agency had decided to screen test him but the offer arrived at a propitious moment. Fiennes had heard on the grapevine that there was a requirement for someone with military experience to lead the Headless Valley expedition in Canada. Desperate to land the job Fiennes had to get to London to see the people in charge at the Ministry of Defence. ‘But I literally couldn’t afford the British Rail ticket from Inverness. So this Bond interview was a real stroke of luck. I assumed that I would immediately be turned down, but would get my job with the Ministry of Defence, having had a free ticket to London and accommodation.’

But things didn’t quite work out that way, far from being dismissed instantly Fiennes found himself placed as one of the favourites. ‘There were various types of screen tests and as they went on I was constantly being surprised about getting through to the next one. I knew that once they saw me they would realise that it was absurd, but then when they kept on asking me back to the next stage I began to start getting stupid thoughts that perhaps the world had gone mad and I actually would be Bond. I had seen the previous 007 movies and I’d read all the books so I knew a bit about it. Finally I made it to the last group and the last group were actually vetted by Broccoli himself. I went in to see him. He had a big cigar. And he took one look at me and the phrase that he said in front of me, never mind what he might have said after I left the room, was, “your hands are too big and you’ve got a face like a farmer.” He didn’t mince his words at all. And obviously I didn’t get the role. But I ended up with the job I was after, to lead the Headless Valley expedition.’

During the screen tests Fiennes was secretly sneaking off to the Ministry of Defence and meeting with the army PR office that were in charge of the expedition. ‘And there were rather fewer contenders for that than there were for Bond. But I wasn’t the only contender, so I put in a plan as to how I would do it and ended up organising and leading that particular expedition, which was my first big expedition. So I’m obviously very grateful for that whole Bond experience happening because it worked out very well for me.’ And who knows whether Fiennes’ remarkable life of exploring would have happened at all, if the Bond producers hadn’t paid for that ticket down to London.

Another off the wall casting choice was, wait for it, singer and heartthrob Engelbert Humperdinck, famous for his power ballads ‘Release Me’ and ‘The Last Waltz.’ I contacted Humperdinck’s agent to see if indeed the rumours were true that the singer was approached to play Bond and received this reply: ‘I checked with Engelbert, and although there was some low level discussions about him testing for Bond, it never went any further than that.’ Short and sweet, but definitely a confirmation. But can you see Engelbert Humperdinck driving a moon buggy or vaulting over a police car in a speed boat? No, neither can I.

Looking further afield the producers unearthed a New Zealander called Roger Green. Then in his early 30s, Green had no formal training and had been a sheep farmer back home before arriving in ‘swinging’ 60s London. He’d just appeared in the small role of Duncan in the 1970 Dino De Laurentiis movie Waterloo, with another future Bond ‘might-have-been’ Ian Ogilvy. Green followed that up with an arty BBC2 TV play in which he appeared naked, ‘Nobody told me I was to be fully nude,’ Green recalls. ‘But, as they say, if the cause is worthy go with the flow. The irony of it was that at the exact same time of the broadcast Miss World was on BBC1. Fortunately very few people watched the first full frontal male nude on British television. Perhaps Broccoli & Saltzman did!’

By then Green’s agent had decided his client would make a jolly good Bond and persuaded him to have a photograph taken. When this was sent to EON’s casting director, Green was asked to come and meet Broccoli. ‘I proceeded to try to impress him with my acting ability by embellishing my very small acting CV,’ Green remembers. ‘I was well relieved when Broccoli said, “we are not so concerned with your acting ability. We’re more interested in how athletic you are?” This was music to my ears as I had just completed a successful rugby career where I had achieved near All Blacks status at an early age and had played for the Junior All Blacks against the touring British Lions in 1959. I told Broccoli of this and the meeting ended with Broccoli saying, “I want you to meet my partner Harry Saltzman,” and promptly made an appointment for me.’

Green’s meeting with Saltzman was held around his board room table with director Guy Hamilton and others present. ‘They asked me if I felt I could do this role. Of course I said yes. They then handed me the script of the forthcoming screen test to be held at Pinewood Studios at 6am on the date nominated. I was asked to have a haircut with their favourite barber.’ Green had only a few days to organise himself. He called his girlfriend and together they rehearsed the scene, while another friend introduced him to a stuntman who gave tips about how to react in a staged fight in front of cameras. Finally the day of the test arrived and Green turned up at Pinewood in a suit and tie. The actress Imogen Hassel had been hired to play the role of Tiffany Case. Bond stuntman Bob Simmons was the bad guy. Green surmised that his audition was merely one of several planned that morning. ‘The finished screen test itself lasts all of 10 minutes,’ says Green. ‘It begins with me as Bond pouring myself a drink and lighting a cigarette with Tiffany Case in her boudoir wearing a negligee. Dialogue takes place between us when there is a knock at the door and Tiffany asks Bond to, “see who that is.” Bond opens the door, the visitor introduces himself and proceeds to swing at Bond, who of course does not let up until the intruder is dead on the floor, after several karate chops. After the first take I asked Guy Hamilton if he wanted to go again. “No, we’ve enough in the can,” he said. This surprised me but upon seeing the take I was not surprised as it stood up well. The audition ended with Guy Hamilton saying, “I want to tell you, you have a great chance of getting this part, we will get back in touch with your agent.” For this sheep farmer on extended holiday in the UK this was certainly an event to cause me to walk on air for the next three months.’

Over that period Green was regularly informed by his agent that other contenders for the role were being ‘let go’ one by one. Then eventually he read in the press that Connery was returning: ‘and I was at last let go! My agent said that Hamilton, Broccoli & Saltzman had wished me to play the role but United Artists had said, “Not another unknown antipodean actor, please!” I’d been quite confident about getting the job, but was realistic enough to realize the odds were great, after all I was not a trained actor, nor had I sought the role in the first place. But I had always felt I could make a good job of it if invited.’

Still, Green has an amazing souvenir of his 007 close encounter; a personal 16mm copy of his screen test that was given to him by EON. ‘On a final note, I could never understand what the Bond producers saw in me as I am well aware that drama school and lots of training and experience were required before one succeeded in this cut throat business. Still, who was I to complain; I did not lie to them and as a New Zealand sheep farmer foot loose in the drawing rooms of Belgravia I had a ball.’

Another actor who thought he had a real chance of landing Bond, and was led to believe that he was in the producer’s short list of six, was Michael McStay, especially when an official-looking telegram arrived at his house announcing: ‘The next James Bond is ex-policeman Michael McStay.’ The ex-policeman tag was a reference to the popular ITV television series No Hiding Place in which he co-starred as Det. Sgt. Perryman. ‘Then the phone rang,’ recalls McStay. ‘It was Fleet Street on the end of the line, they heard I was up for Bond and wanted to send some photographers round to my house. They duly arrived and asked me to pose in various situations.’ The shots included McStay and his wife in their garden and kitchen and then an impressive solo image of McStay sitting with a vodka bottle and glass in the foreground. Obviously the photojournalists were hoping that if McStay were suddenly announced as Bond, they’d have the scoop and the first pictures of him.

It was all rather odd because that same evening McStay and his wife attended a party where one of the guests was television director Steve Previn, brother of André (the pianist, conductor, and composer). ‘I eventually drifted over to join his party,’ says McStay. ‘And everyone was busy talking about this total crap the press was running about a new James Bond. And Previn said, “They’ve already cast Connery.” And someone replied, “But Sean Connery’s not doing anymore.” And Previn said, “Yes he is, they’ve persuaded him to do one more and they’ve offered him Scotland to do it.” And that was the one more that Connery did. And after that they got Roger Moore. So that was it for me.’

Born in 1933 in East London, McStay was and has remained predominately a television actor. Early in his career he appeared in episodes of Dixon of Dock Green and Crossroads, and then the big break arrived in 1964 when he joined the cast of hit police drama series No Hiding Place. He stayed on that show for two and a half years and became a well-known face. An experience he wasn’t altogether comfortable with and it’s one of the reasons why he’s never regretted losing out on Bond. ‘Your life changes totally when you play Bond, so I don’t think I would have wanted it.’ Another hurdle for McStay in playing Bond would have been the character’s trademark humour. ‘I could never handle those deadpan one-liners which Sean Connery did so wonderfully, and poor old Lazenby couldn’t handle at all. It’s very hard to just throw those lines away.’ Throughout the 70s and beyond McStay continued to work in television appearing in The Persuaders, Doctor Who and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. Had McStay been asked to play Bond, however, just how would he have gone about it? ‘I’ve played a lot of policemen and a lot of villains and somewhere between those two there is James Bond. But those one-liners would have still worried me a great deal.’

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