You would think that being given the role of James Bond would only happen to those guys that had an established history in the world of acting. However, that’s not the case when it comes to George Lazenby, the guy that ended up taking over the role from Sean Connery for the movie, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, in 1969. Prior to that, he had been in a few commercials and had been working in advertising as a model. Legend states that he was having a haircut in London and the guy sitting beside him was Albert Broccoli, who was the producer of the Bond series.
It is said that Broccoli recognized Lazenby from the commercials he had been in and made the decision that he could be a good Bond. Upon inviting him for a screen test, Lazenby then turned up dressed the part, including the Rolex watch. It seems that he managed to hit the mark, as he was then given the role but ultimately ended up making just the one movie. He said that the crew wouldn’t listen to him because he had no acting background and his career pretty much collapsed after it.
It seems that one Bond movie was his highlight, and he was only ever really known then for being married to the tennis player Pam Shriver.