George Lazenby, Australia’s first and only actor to play the iconic role of James Bond, has shared how he scored the role of 007.
The 82-year-old actor is travelling around Australia, revealing secret 007 stories on stage, along with a concert performance featuring all the famous songs from the James Bond movies.
During his tour, Lazenby stopped by the Sunrise studios to share how he joined the elite list of Bond actors that include Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, Sean Connery and Daniel Craig.
Chatting with Nat Barr and Kochie, he said it’s all about who you know.
“I started off with a friend of mine who wanted to be an actor and he had a date with a casting director, and he said ‘you’ve got to help me out, my girlfriend has come back into town’,” Lazenby said.
The only Aussie to ever play James Bond, George Lazenby, told Sunrise how the infamous Hollywood casting couch resulted in him landing the screen role of a lifetime playing super spy @007 pic.twitter.com/hfqCrZbzWz
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) August 31, 2022
“I went to meet the casting director, Maggie Abbott, who was the biggest agent in London at the time.”
“Then we went home, I won’t tell you what we did, but you can guess, and she was quite impressed.”
“She had a casting couch?” Koch asked, stunned.
“Uh, yes,” Lazenby replied.
George was working as a model at the time, and said he had no intention of going into acting until Abbott tracked him down.
Lazenby also admitted to turning down big money to continue on as Bond after his manager convinced him to follow Clint Eastwood’s path into westerns.
The actor is touring Australia performing songs made famous by the Bond franchise throughout September.
He’ll be joined by SAS Australia contestant and Australia’s Got Talent winner Bonnie Anderson, and The Voice Australia’s Luke Kennedy.
Image credits: Getty Images
This article first appeared on OverSixty.