George Lazenby

George Robert Lazenby was born September 5, 1939 in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia, to Sheila Joan (Bodel) and George Edward Lazenby. Who is best known for being the second actor to portray James Bond in the Eon series, which he did in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Australian actor George Lazenby was the youngest actor to don the title (at 29 years old). Although signing on for seven Bond films, he only appeared in one bond movie, claiming that the producers treated him poorly. In later interviews, Lazenby expressed that Bond was archaic in the liberated 70s and that he prefers being “a car salesman to a stereotyped James Bond.”

Personal Quotes

• 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.
• [on GoldenEye (1995)] If Pierce Brosnan walked into a room, I doubt anyone would look up. But this is the '90s and women want a different man, a man who shows his feminine side. Pierce definitely has that.
• [In 2002, speaking in retrospect about his decision to resign from the role of James Bond after only one film] Without any doubt I should have gone back to do at least one more, just to dispel any rumours that they fired me. Anybody that knows me and has been around me knows that I walked away from it, which wasn't a smart thing to do from a career stand-point.
• [on being cast as James Bond] At first I was very humble about it and naive. And then I kinda got on the bandwagon and sort of said, 'I must be who they say I am' and demanded limousines and the whole bit.
• I was socking the bottle like crazy. I had maybe two bottles of vodka a day. I'd saturate myself and pass out. It was to insulate me from the madness around Bond.
• (On his astrologer) Even before I made the Bond picture she said I would become famous, and that there would be big problems for a couple of years", he said. "Then she assured me that I would be back at the top of my profession by the end of 1973. It's absolutely fantastic, because everything she has told me has happened.
• I much prefer being a car salesman to a stereotyped James Bond. My parents think I'm insane, everybody thinks I'm insane passing up maybe millions of pounds. Nobody believed me. They thought it was a publicity stunt. But it's just me doing my own thing.
• (On Sean Connery The interesting thing about that is - I've never met Sean. I don't know him at all. Once, years ago, he came to pick up someone who was staying at my house and I saw him through the door. That's all. But I always admired him. I tried to copy him when I played Bond because, after all, I wasn't an actor so I thought my best chance would be to try and be as close to Connery as I could.
• Sean Connery was James Bond for me. He did very well and I was intimidated because he was a real actor. He had James Bond created around his personality and that weakened my position. It was difficult to follow him.
• I think James Bond is great, but some of his little idiosyncracies I don't like, such as champagne and caviar, which I can't stand.
• (On the Bond producers) They made me feel like I was mindless. They disregarded everything I suggested simply because I hadn't been in the film business like them for about a thousand years.
• Bond is a brute. I've already put him behind me. I will never play him again. Peace - that's the message now.
• After the Bond fiasco nobody would touch me. Harry Saltzman had always said, 'If you don't do another Bond you'll wind up doing spaghetti Westerns in Italy. But I couldn't even get one of those. My agent couldn't believe it. But the word was out - I was 'difficult'.
• (In 1978) Being James Bond was like being a cola bottle. People came along and drank you dry. James Bond was so big that I myself didn't really exist.
  
  He is the only actor to portray James Bond that wasn’t from the British Isles, and his only one role included:
  
  On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) - $400,000