George Lazenby

Date de naissance
5 septembre 1939 · Queanbeyan, Nouvelle-Galles du Sud, Australie
Nom de naissance
George Robert Lazenby
Taille
1,88 m

Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli, remarked that Lazenby could have been the best Bond had he not quit after just one film.
He was offered a seven-movie deal by the Bond producers, but quit the role because he felt that the tuxedo-clad Bond would die out in the new hippie culture that had permeated society in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
He was a close personal friend of Bruce Lee. He met Lee in 1972 and the two became fast friends. Lazenby studied Lee's personal martial arts and philosophical teaching of "Jeet Kune Do" under Lee until the time of Lee's death in 1973. Lazenby was actually going to have dinner with Bruce the night he died. Lazenby would later say that it was Lee's teachings that allowed him to go on to have such a successful business career and personal life.
He says that his favorite Bond film is Goldfinger (1964).
He is estimated to be the wealthiest actor to have played James Bond.

[Albert R. Broccoli] will tell you that I was a failure and difficult to work with. Unfortunately, he told a lot of people that and it meant that it was impossible to get employment.
[the result of his decision not to continue playing James Bond] I didn't have a job, I had two kids, I was married, and I was broke.
[when asked why he wanted to be James Bond] I'm looking forward to the broads and the bread.
I look back and think, "How did that happen?" I had no idea where I was going when I got into the Bond film. When I became famous I didn't know how to handle it, so it almost drove me crazy. In retrospect you can only blame yourself. I'd loved to have had that time over again and done another one or two [Bond films], it would have worked out great for me.
Fame is short-lived and you're the last to know when you are no longer hot. I used to be able to stroll into London clubs like Tramp. But one day I turned up and the doorman blocked my way. Suddenly I was no longer Bond, I was just plain old George Lazenby, and that didn't even give me license to get into a club.