It was the kind of con that James Bond
himself would have been proud of.
George Lazenby had never acted in his life
when he convinced the producers of 007 to hire him to replace Sean
Connery.
The used-car salesman from Australia got
his hair cut at Connery's barber, borrowed one of the actor's suits
from his personal tailor on London's Savile Row and put on an
expensive Rolex.
Lazenby oozed sexual confidence and when
the producers sent a prostitute to his room to see if he was gay he
passed the 'test' with flying colors.
'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' was a
hit and earned Lazenby a Golden Globe nomination for best newcomer.
Then he threw it all away by refusing a
then unheard of $1million offer to do six more Bond films because he
did not like being told what to do by the studio.
After appearing in just one Bond film
Lazenby's name became a punchline and 'the George Lazenby of' became
a gag for late night TV shows.
But the 77-year-old has no regrets and now
says that he is happy he lived life on his own terms.
The improbable story of how a high school
failure from the other side of the world became one of the most
famous men alive - for one film - is told in a new
Hulu documentary.
'Becoming Bond' features an extended
interview with Lazenby in which he admits that quitting Bond was a
mistake - but one he would do again.
He says: 'It was a mistake but in a way
this is who I am. I don't know why, it doesn't make sense to some
people, they say he's crazy, but I lived my life the way I wanted
to.
'It's very hard for people to understand
that living life on your own terms in your own way is much
fuller...I may not be great, but I'm an original'.
Lazenby puts his desire to make the most
of his life down to being told that he would be dead before he was
12 because he was born with only half a kidney.
His father was a rail worker and and in
the documentary he describes himself as a 'wild larrikin' who hated
school and would steal cars from the age of six.
Lazenby got a job as a mechanic and then
switched being a used car salesman because it looked more fun.
His first sexual experience was at the age
of 15 when he began seeing a 23-year-old girl who lived next door.
Describing his first orgasm after they had
sex in his car, Lazenby says: 'All of a sudden something took over
my body, I was in space.
'It was the best feeling I've ever had in
my life. I went: "Holy s***". I thought I'd blown my penis apart.
'I got out of the car and struck a match
to see if everything was still there.
'I couldn't wait to get back in the car
and have another one. I ended up going down to her place every night
until a school teacher wrote a letter to my family that I couldn't
keep my eyes open during class.'
Lazenby fell in love with a girl called
Belinda but her father thought that he was beneath her.
So Belinda moved to London - and Lazenby
followed.
The couple moved in together and Lazenby
began working at a Mercedes Benz dealership where he was spotted by
a talent scout and became a model.
Lazenby was given the job advertising for
Fry's chocolate and was soon earning £25,000 a year, a massive sum
at the time.
But Belinda left him after he cheated on
her with a German model who invited him to spent a week in Spain
with her.
Another time his best friend, fellow
Australian model Ken Gaherity, put LSD in the tea of a girl they had
met and the pair ended up in bed together.
In 'Becoming Bond' Lazenby says: 'It was a
different era, it was make love, not war. I was a 24-year-old crazy
Australian and some girls were attracted to it.
'It was the craziest sexual time I've ever
had. The women in the 1960s were just as sexual orientated as the
men, and they were breaking out.
'I'd pull the women off the street and
take them into Ken's place, and the next thing you know we have a
threesome going. We did this dozens of times, sometimes two or three
times a day'.
By that point the Bond franchise was in
trouble; the five previous films had made $370 million but Connery,
the first 007, was fed up with the role.
The producers, Harry Saltzman and Cubby
Broccoli, were desperate to find a new Bond.
In the documentary Lazenby says that he
only went to the casting because he heard about it during a
threesome with fellow Australian Ken Gaherity, his best friend.
Lazenby went to see casting agent Maggie
Abbott who told him: 'I think you're right for James Bond. You're
just very sure of yourself, very arrogant, they're looking for
this.'
Lazenby didn't know what arrogant meant so
said: 'Thank you.'
To look the part Lazenby went to Savile
Row and borrowed one of Connery's suits from his personal tailor.
He went to Connery's barber and got a
Rolex watch and marched into the office of casting director Dyson
Lovell, who was impressed.
Lovell took him to meet Saltzman and
Lazenby lied that he had been working in films in Russia and China
because he knew that they couldn't check them.
Unlike other actors Lazenby stood by the
window and ignored Saltzman, who had taken off his socks and shoes
and had his feet on the desk.
Lazenby's arrogance worked and he was
asked back for a screen test - but he folded before the film's
director Peter Hunt.
Hunt laughed uncontrollably and told him:
'What? And you say you can't act? You've fooled two of the most
ruthless men I've ever met in my life. Stick to your story, and I'll
make you the next James Bond.'
Lazenby had to undergo a four month
testing process including riding a horse bareback and swimming laps
in a pool in front of Saltzman and Broccoli.
He went to a voice coach who put a match
in his mouth to help him speak with a British accent as by doing so
it stopped the muscles moving which made him sound Australian.
One night a man came to Lazenby's hotel
room with a woman and told him that she wanted to have sex with him.
Lazenby obliged as the man sat in a corner
reading a newspaper. Lazenby says in 'Becoming Bond' that he told
him: 'Aren't you going to join in? I thought he was going second. I
thought he was a bloody pervert'.
As the man and the women left Lazenby's
room the man said: 'The studio thought you were gay, and you're
not.'
In the documentary Lazenby says: 'I had no
idea it was a test. I just thought I got lucky.'
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James Bond and Kina Lillet
