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George Lazenby

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George Lazenby
Lazenby at the November 2008 Big Apple Con in Manhattan.
Born
George Robert Lazenby
Spouse(s)Christina Gannett (1971-1995)
Pam Shriver (2002-2008)

George Robert Lazenby (born 5 September 1939) is an Australian actor and former model, best known for portraying James Bond in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Early life

George Lazenby was born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia on the 5th of September 1939. He was born Pedro Fernandes but then ended up changing this in 1959 to the more catchy screen name George Lazenby. After leaving school he worked as a salesman at a Morris Motor Company dealership in Canberra and as a ski instructor. He also won several skiing competitions and played bass guitar in a band called The Corvettes. He served in the Australian Army Special forces, reaching the rank of Sergeant and becoming an unarmed combat instructor. He moved to London in 1964 as a model, then as an advertising actor. By 1968, he was the highest-paid male model in the world (reportedly, in 1967, he made £40,000 directly from modelling, and £60,000 from commercials and product endorsements — equivalent to more than £1M in 2004); he was also the European Marlboro Man.

Career

Despite starring in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) (the combined gross earnings of which exceeded $100 million worldwide in the 1970s, then the standard establishing an actor as a box office success), Lazenby's acting career did not flourish.

In the 1970s, Lazenby worked in Hong Kong with Bruce Lee. A planned luncheon meeting with Lee and Raymond Chow to discuss a movie project for the Golden Harvest film Game of Death collapsed after Lee's sudden death, although Lazenby would still go on to make three of the four films he signed to do with Lee in Hong Kong, The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss (1974), The Man From Hong Kong (1975) (also known as The Dragon Files), and A Queen's Ransom (1976). Lazenby was only featured with archive footage when Game of Death was finally released in 1978, after a 5-year delay caused by Lee's death while it was still in production.

Lazenby's Hong Kong martial arts action films were very successful financially but without Lee the films did not have much commercial impact. Lee's death effectively derailed Lazenby's comeback after he had left the role of James Bond in 1969.

Although he had previously worked in television advertising and an Italian spy themed B-movie, Lazenby's first serious acting role was as James Bond in the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). Lazenby is the second actor to portray the British secret agent in a Bond feature film after Sean Connery, who had become a cultural icon in the role.

The film's producers, mistrusting Lazenby's ability to carry the film, overdubbed his voice with George Baker's in scenes where Bond impersonated Sir Hilary Bray (Baker's character), something not done with a leading actor whose original language is English. According to an interview, his difficulties stemmed from director Peter R. Hunt's refusal to speak directly with him, and brusqueness in asking Lazenby's friends to clear the set before filming.[1] Lazenby also had a personality conflict with leading lady Diana Rigg.[2]

Lazenby has portrayed James Bond several times over the years in numerous parodies and unofficial 007 roles, most notably the 1983 TV movie The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. and an episode of The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents, entitled "Diamonds Aren't Forever". He also made a guest appearance on the popular TV series Superboy during the show's second season in 1990. He appeared with Sylvia Kristel in several new Emmanuelle films in the 1990s.

Lazenby's singular portrayal of the iconic Bond character has led to other actors being called "the George Lazenby of" various entertainment franchises. Actor Paul McGann stated that he did not want to be the George Lazenby of Doctor Who. Referring to the Batman film series, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said "George Clooney is the big zero of the film, and should go down in history as the George Lazenby of the series."[3] In a 2006 episode of The Daily Show, comedian John Oliver suggested that Pope Benedict XVI is the George Lazenby of the papacy, in comparison to "John Paul II's Sean Connery".

Personal life

In August 2008, it was reported that Lazenby's wife, former tennis player Pam Shriver, had filed for divorce from Lazenby. Documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court cite "irreconcilable differences" for the end of the couple's six-year marriage. The couple have three children, including twins born in 2005.[4]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ Interview in Bondage, magazine of the James Bond 007 Fan Club
  2. ^ Retrovision magazine interview with Peter R. Hunt
  3. ^ Mick LaSalle (1997-06-20). "Batman Chills Out". San Francisco Chronicle. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  4. ^ Pam Shriver files for divorce from former Bond George Lazenby - The Australian
Preceded by
Sean Connery

1962–1967

James Bond actor

1969

Succeeded by
Sean Connery

1971


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