George Lazenby, who is currently eighty-four, had extremely large shoes to fill when he was cast as James Bond on Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1968.

Sadly, the actor misfitted the shoes, which were previously owned by the renowned Sean Connery, after he took some incorrect advise.

After Lazenby’s meteoric rise to fame ended, the real-life playboy turned his attention to starting a family and taking care of his late son, who passed away in 1994 from a brain tumor.

Following the 1963 release of Dr. No, the James Bond film series shot to stardom, starring seven different actors in several films that took place across five decades to bring the fictional character to life.

The first to portray the dapper and seductive James Bond in five films between 1962 and 1967 before growing bored with the role is the late Sean Connery, whose image came to be associated with the secret service agent.

“Fed up to here with the whole Bond bit,” Connery declared in a 1965 interview with Playboy (via Time). He went on to say that it was “a bit of a bore” to be recognized by fans as the character.

Upon his departure, the film’s producers faced an enormous challenge: they needed to find a new actor who could live up to the renowned character’s hype.

Broccoli, chocolate, and charm
When George Lazenby, then 29 years old, received the breakthrough part in the sixth episode of the legendary James Bond tale, he was an unknown actor in Australia.

And all it required was a broccoli, some chocolate, and a lot of charisma.

Born in 1939, the model caught the notice of director Albert R. Broccoli, who produced numerous James Bond films over his career, including 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, when he appeared in a series of ads for Fry’s Chocolate Cream.

Lazenby reportedly went above and above to land the part that Connery had left behind, according to IMDB.

This includes using his last few dollars “to buy a very Bond-esque-looking Rolex watch and a tailor-made suit from Sean Connery’s tailor, which was originally made for Connery.”

The man had only worked as a model and promoted Fry’s Chocolate, but he was given the chance to try out, and the producers, Harry Saltzman and Broccoli, thought they had discovered their next James Bond.

negative evaluations
The 1969 release of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service drew harsh criticism and wore out Connery analogies.

Lazenby, according to former Chicago Tribune critic Gene Siskel, “doesn’t fill Sean Connery’s shoes, Aston-Martin, or stretch pants.” The new 007 is less of a man and more of a boy. He doesn’t place food orders with the same enthusiasm and, in general, doesn’t have the smug smile that Connery carried with him and conveyed to his audience.

In reference to the negative reviews, the actor told the Daily Mail, “I didn’t get upset because I didn’t read them.”

Additionally, the real-life playboy was unaware of the negative evaluations until he ran into one at a nightclub. “I owe you an apology for writing a bad piece about you, but Broccoli and Saltzman told me it was open season on you,” one of the top reporters at the time stated to me.

He explains that it was “open season” because “I still hadn’t signed the contract to do more films,” which made it awkward for them.

“The bond had ended.”

Lazenby received a contract for $1 million and the opportunity to play James Bond in six more films, even if the reviews were unfavorable.

However, his manager advised him not to sign.

“Ronan O’Rahilly, my manager, wasn’t too excited. Do not do that, he said. Clint Eastwood is a man who makes Westerns in Italy for a whopping $500,000. Instead, you could perform two of those.

According to Lazenby, “We thought Bond was over.”We were in error.

Deleted from the list
Lazenby claimed he “was blacklisted in the movie industry” after declining to sign the Bond contract because “it was put around that I was difficult.”

Following his meteoric ascent and descent, Lazenby worked in TV and movies for a number of decades in supporting roles.

“It wasn’t my calling,” he acknowledges, “but I was Bond.”

Man of the lady
Despite not being a big cinema star, ladies continued to like him for his portrayal as the lady’s man, which he maintained after Bond.

He told the Telegraph, “One of the best things in the world is being a ladies man.”

In 1971, he married Christina Gannet, his first wife, and finally settled down. Together, Melanie (born in 1973) and Zachary (who battled a brain tumor for eight years before passing away in 1994) are the couple’s children.

Gannet claims that when their son passed away, the “devastated” father felt “helpless and frustrated” over his inability to heal Zack.

“The little boy on my right arm passed away at 19 with metastasized brain tumors,” the Australian writes below a photo of him with Gannet and the two children that she posted on Facebook. I still cry every time I remember it.

Lazenby divorced Gannet a year after Zachary passed away, and he wed tennis gold medallist Pam Shriver from 2002 to 2011.

George, Jr. (born 2004) and the twins Kate and Sam (born 2005) are the couple’s three children together.

Despite the fact that his current life would be drastically different if he had persisted in playing James Bond, Lazenby, who turns 85 in September, claims that his kids are his greatest accomplishment.

“My kids are my real achievements in life,” says Lazenby, referring to his family who often appear beside him in his social media posts. Extremely pleased with everyone.

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