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Turned down a Bond film? Or was turned down?

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  • 007HallY007HallY
    edited August 2 Posts: 4,230
    Oh agreed, the faceless Blofeld is great. But that's not exactly subtle and certainly not boring either (Pohlmann has this wonderful, elaborately menacing delivery to his lines, and the whole idea of us only seeing Blofeld's cat/hands is also pretty elaborate, but cool).

    Also, Werich may well have been fired from YOLT with the public excuse being that he was ill. Don't know 100% though.
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Venutius wrote: »
    Bowie turned down the offer to play Zorin because he 'didn't want to spend five months watching my double fall off mountains'! He also claimed that Sting was offered the role after him.

    That's another one I was thinking of. Apparently Cubby liked that he had two different coloured eyes.

    What's funny is that he apparently didn't have two differently coloured eyes. The reason people think that though is because one pupil was permanently dilated (I didn't completely clock it until it was pointed out to me on these forums!) The producers seemingly thought he had different coloured eyes and I think an early draft of AVTAK referenced this with Zorin. Bowie would have been an awesome villain though.
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 5,449
    Mathis1 wrote: »
    Gerard wrote: »
    For GF : Orson Welles was approached to play Goldfinger, but was rejected because he asked too much money. Theodore Bikel did some auditions as well (which you can find in the boni of the Ultimate Edition DVD), but was rejected as well.

    For YOLT, Czech actor Jan Werich was approached, but the producers thought he looked too much like Santa Claus to play the ruthless head of an international criminal cartel.

    I believe it was director Lewis Gilbert who made the "Santa Claus" comment. And Werich fell ill before shooting and Donald Pleasance was a late replacement!

    They actually started shooting with Jan Werich in the role and after the first few days Gilbert realized it was a mistake. Pleasance was hired while the film was being made. They didn't reshoot and in some scenes you will see the top of Blofeld's head with hair.

    One wonders if they had given Jan the scar treatment would that have upped the villainy enough? Was Pohlmann going to dub him? Not sure.


    I have heard that Hopkins was all set to come aboard TND but then had lunch with Judi Dench who remarked that the script was being worked on while shooting had begun. Or that they didn't have a finished script and that caused him to back out. Might be an urban legend though.
  • DaltonforyouDaltonforyou The Daltonator
    Posts: 556
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    I believe that Patrick McGoohan turned down the Bond role because as a Catholic he disapproved of the sex and violence of the stories.

    Seriously? That's crazy. If the 'sex and violence' in the Bonds put him off, one wonders how many other roles he turned down.

    One has to remember the 'sex and violence' in Bond was cutting edge stuff at the time.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,657
    QBranch wrote: »
    Burt Reynolds not mentioned here yet.

    "An American can't play James Bond. It just can't be done."

    Respect.

    Adam West said the same. Ironically, I could see West pulling Bond in OHMSS, and in particular, DAF and LALD. Both DAF and LALD do at times feel like Batman 66 episodes in tone and style. I give West more respect for turning Bond down so soon after Batman ended. He was typecast for a long time after Batman, and Bond would have given him steady work.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,334
    Wasn't Grace Jones originally supposed to be in OP?
  • DaltonforyouDaltonforyou The Daltonator
    edited August 3 Posts: 556
    She would've stuck out like a sore thumb in that film.
  • George_KaplanGeorge_Kaplan Being chauffeured by Tibbett
    Posts: 693
    DEKE_RIVERS wrote: »
    Lewis Collins could have worked in the early 80s.

    Lewis Collins and Oliver Reed are the most intriguing almost-Bonds to me.
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 5,449
    I have never heard why Cubby and Harry were toying with an American Bond after OHMSS. Reynolds, West and other American actors were considered. Hell they even signed John Gavin to a contract of some kind. I shudder to think how this would have impacted the series with an American Bond.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited August 3 Posts: 3,799
    thedove wrote: »
    I have never heard why Cubby and Harry were toying with an American Bond after OHMSS. Reynolds, West and other American actors were considered. Hell they even signed John Gavin to a contract of some kind. I shudder to think how this would have impacted the series with an American Bond.

    Also in The Living Daylights with Christopher Reeve and Mel Gibson, in Octopussy, you have James Brolin.

    Heck Canadian and French actors were also considered in The Living Daylights too: Christopher Lambert (French American) and Daniel Pilon.
  • DEKE_RIVERSDEKE_RIVERS
    Posts: 1,396
    Daltonforyou wrote: »
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    I believe that Patrick McGoohan turned down the Bond role because as a Catholic he disapproved of the sex and violence of the stories.

    Seriously? That's crazy. If the 'sex and violence' in the Bonds put him off, one wonders how many other roles he turned down.

    One has to remember the 'sex and violence' in Bond was cutting edge stuff at the time.

    They are problematic today...
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,334
    If sex is problematic, I'm afraid our species is in trouble.
  • CrabKeyCrabKey
    Posts: 2,008
    DEKE_RIVERS wrote: »
    Daltonforyou wrote: »
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    I believe that Patrick McGoohan turned down the Bond role because as a Catholic he disapproved of the sex and violence of the stories.

    Seriously? That's crazy. If the 'sex and violence' in the Bonds put him off, one wonders how many other roles he turned down.

    One has to remember the 'sex and violence' in Bond was cutting edge stuff at the time.

    They are problematic today...

    Without explanation, there's no way to address this statement.
  • TorgeirtrapTorgeirtrap
    Posts: 17,783
    Frederick Stafford apparently turned down the chance to play Bond after Connery left.
    In March 1970 Stafford claimed that Harry Saltzman wanted him to play James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service but he was unable to accept due to his commitment to make Topaz. He said "although at first I thought no one could take over from Sean. But after seeing the latest Bond film... I know I can."
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