Lazenby -How a Threesome Led Him to the Role of James Bond

Lazenby 007Got to admire George Lazenby’s candor, in a Podcast interview with the Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg at the TCM Classic Film Festival Lazenby openly talks about his time as Bond as well as what led him there. While we are not exactly sure what “Podcasts” are, we sincerely hope those poor Orcas make back to their families safely.

In all seriousness (and very bad jokes) aside please give the link above a click to hear Lazenby’s in his own words. It’s a fun interview, truly a treat for any Bond fan.

Special thanks to Alessandra for posting the link.

 

As Lazenby, now 75, explains with surprising candor, he was a car mechanic in Australia who pursued a girl to England, whereupon he stumbled into a career as a top model and then, through information procured during a threesome, a casting session for the role of the coolest man in the world, 007.

 

  • The aforementioned journey, up to and including the sexual encounter that led him to Bond franchise producers Harry Saltzman and Albert “Cubby” Broccoli.
  • The efforts that he made to prepare for that meeting, including obtaining a Rolex, a specially cut suit and a haircut from the same barber who cut Connery’s and Broccoli’s hair (“I wanted to be James Bond. What man doesn’t?”… “I stood there with my Rolex showing…. I said, ‘I heard you’re looking for James Bond.’ “).
  • Coming clean to Peter Hunt, the editor on the previous Bond films who was assuming the directing helm on the sixth (“I said, ‘Peter, I’ve never acted in my life….’ He starts rolling on the floor laughing. He said, ‘You’ve fooled two of the most ruthless men I’ve met in my life! They made me come back from Switzerland to see you! Stick to your story and I’ll make you the next James Bond!’ “).
  • The things that he had to do, over the course of four months, to prove that he deserved the part (“They set me up [with a prostitute] to see if I was gay or not”; he shot a screen test with a Russian wrestler, who he accidentally knocked out, at which point Saltzman “just stepped over him, grabbed my arm, took me over to the wall and said, ‘We’re going with you.’ “).
  • The misunderstanding with Hunt that led the first-time director to refuse to engage with the first-time actor throughout the entire shoot (“He never spoke to me ’til the end of the movie — even at the end of the movie he wouldn’t speak to me.”).
  • The “perks” of playing the part (He slept with just about every girl who worked on the film — except for costar Diana Rigg, who had told him, “You and I can have something together if you don’t mess with the other girls,” and then caught him doing just that.).

  2 comments for “Lazenby -How a Threesome Led Him to the Role of James Bond

  1. I swear… this guy was exactly the kind of man James Bond embodies.  No other Bond movie to date feels as natural or real to life as OHMSS does even today.  Part of the credit for that goes to George… the rest goes to the cocks in charge who picked the right guy for the job.

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