BY MARK MAWSTON
Sunday, 29 September saw the BFI in London celebrating "Bond Day", the annual worldwide homage to agent 007. This year marks the 50th anniversary of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" as well as the 40th anniversary of "Moonraker" and the 20th for "The World is Not Enough". I'd been with Cinema Retro's cover guy for our latest issue, actor John Richardson, and we’d been looking at shots from when he’d auditioned for the role of
Bond in "OHMSS" back in 1969. As John himself said “I wasn’t right for the role.
I wasn’t the right build and the guy who did do it was far more suited to the
role than meâ€. That “other fella†that John was referring to was George Lazenby
who attended a post-screening Q&A of "OHMSS" with David Walliams. This event
was worth the ticket price alone as it resulted in what the BFI called “The bluest
interview†on its stage ever. The reason it was unforgettable were the stories
that George shared from the filming of his first and only appearance as 007
(bar "Return of The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and a couple of ads and guest spots in which he played a thinly-veiled 007-like character). Probably
the most memorable was when George told of his first day on set when the crew
had taped a German Sausage to his inside leg under his kilt in order to get a
reaction from the girl who put her hand there up there in the film to write her
room number on his inner thigh. George and the crew were expecting screams of
fright but actress Angela Scoular was merely nonplussed and just asked “Aren’t
you wearing underwear� I think this says more for her long-time boyfriend
Lesley Phillips than anything else!
George also discussed his time with Bruce
Lee, as it was George who Bruce was dining with on the night he died. In a
scene very similar to the one in Quentin Tarantino’s recent "Once Upon a Time In
Hollywood", George regaled us with stories of his time with Bruce. He said the
reason they became friends is that Bruce, just like in the Tarantino film, was always surrounded
by groups of people and was discussing how long it would take to dispatch those standing
around him at the time. He went round each person, from actors to stunt men to
bodyguards with answers like “10 seconds, 30 seconds, one minute†until he got
to George. He looked at Lazenby and said “I’m not sure how long it would take
me to get you down, George. How long do you think� George said he just looked
at Bruce and said “As long as it takes you to catch meâ€. From that moment he and Bruce were friends. This
memorable screening was followed by "Moonraker", which was just as well-received.
The Q&A after this screening (which was a rare big screen showcase for
Derek Meddings amazing special effects) included Martine Beswick, Carole Ashby, composer
David Arnold, David Walliams and director John Glen. Again, some of the stories
were quite ear-opening yet just as informative (and as blue!) as George’s had
been. Humor has always been an important component of Bond, and I’m hoping there will be some of it on display in Daniel Craig’s last outing "No
Time to Die" which wrapped that day too, making September 29th, 2019 a Bond-tastic one
for all fans of Agent 007.
(Photos copyright Mark Mawston. All rights reserved.)