The Lazenby Era (1969)

 Following the departure of Sean Connery, the Bond series would continue with a new actor, which was by then a big obstacle for both Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. Actors who were considered but turned it down were Michael Caine, and Dick Van Dyke while rising stars like Terence Stamp and Oliver Reed were considered. Eventually the role went down to five candidates, and the one who won the role was an actor with little acting experience, an Australian model named George Lazenby.

Lazenby's sole 007 film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service was a box office hit but the fan reception to him as the Bond wasn't exactly enthusiastic, however fans have warmed up to him the years since and OHMSS would be considered one of the best Bond films.

Producers want to get away from the gadgets and cartoonish elements that were around in the past films, they wanted to bring 007 back to reality and get back to the basics of the character, this a battle cry that would be heard time and time again throughout the run of the series, there was no where else to go expect the idea of a spy on his own with a licence to kill which is what OHMSS does. The film is great, the action scenes, ski sequences, and set designs, the score and the first Bond movie to have an emotional center to it all hold up well. All nicely done. Telly Savalas does a cool suave interpretation of Blofeld, his mountain hideaway is one of the coolest villain lairs ever used. Diana Rigg gives her character who is Bond's love interest a brilliant performance which makes the film's ending much more heartbreaking and the action scenes are exciting and entertaining to watch , the ski sequences are some of the best done in the series. Lazenby does an exceptional job as Bond for an actor who never acted before, his chemistry with Diana Rigg is a high point as with his fight scenes, I even liked his line "This never happened to the other fellow", which is referring to Connery's Bond despite being the same character. I did not think that Lazenby was a failure as many thought. Had be returned he might have grown into the role, however he took bad advice from his agent not to sign for six or seven more pictures. It was also stated that Lazenby's arrogance and behavior one set was what led to his departure, this could thrown into debate. 

In the years following his brief stint as 007, Lazenby continued on with his film career by starring in an anti-war movie called "Universal Soldier", no relation to the series that starred Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren and he played Bond-like characters in several films and tv shows such as "The Return of the Man from UNCLE" (1983), "Never Too Young Too Die" (1986) starring John Stamos and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Diamonds Aren't Forever" (1989). When interview Lazenby would still bring up the topic of Bond and has stated that he regrets walking away after one movie and felt that he could have done one or a few more. I think he would have been the quintessential Bond if he had the opportunity to do more films in the series.