George Lazenby
George Lazenby playing James Bond
Born in Queanbeyan City, New South Wales, Australia on 5th September 1939
Starred In On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
The second entry to the part of James Bond was George Lazenby. Born on 5th September 1939, Lazenby started work as model. Apart from the few TV commercials that he appeared in, (where Cubby Broccoli spotted him) he had no acting experience prior to being cast as James Bond.
George Lazenby took on the character of James Bond at a very crucial time in the Bond series; Sean Connery had just left and the part was left to this relatively unknown Australian actor to keep the Bond series going.
Due to a mediocre audience reaction, and advised that the Bond series would die out anyway, George Lazenby would only star in one James Bond film. It can be said that Lazenby was against the odds when he took on the role of James Bond. With the pressure of being the new James Bond after Connery’s departure - his long shadow still very much present and combined with Lazenby’s disagreements with Cubby throughout production, things didn't go too smoothly for the Australian actor.
The producers of James Bond introduced George Lazenby to worldwide audiences in a way that is used for lots of other characters throughout the Bond films. As with Sean Connery in Dr No, and Ernst Stavro Blofeld in You Only Live Twice, the audience only gets to see parts of the character before they are introduced. Bond is seen lighting a cigar, the back of him, and him looking at Teresa Di Vicenzo through a telescopic sight. It is not until Bond rescues Tracy from the sea, that George Lazenby introduces himself to Tracy in James Bond’s classic way.
Numerous elements where inserted into On Her Majesty's Secret Service to convince audiences that George Lazenby was still James Bond. The credits showed scenes from previous films slipping through an hourglass and a scene in James Bond's apartment where he examines famous artefacts from previous films. Unfortunately due to only doing one film George Lazenby did not really have chance to develop his character of James Bond. Who knows what would have happened if George Lazenby would have continued to develop his character in subsequent films, in his role as Bond, James Bond. §
