This Never Happened to the Other Fella! (1 Viewer)

[Reed Grele]

My friends and I were walking around Yale University, New Haven, CT yesterday. Just taking in some of the sights,

We were looking at the statue of the first president of Yale located on the old (original) campus.The statue happens to have Roman numerals on the plaque, which I happen to be able to read, so I was translating them to my friends.

Suddenly, I heard a vaguely familiar voice over my right shoulder. "Why do they use Roman numerals on these things!". I turned to the direction of the voice in order to explain to the the now plainly visible figure of a tall, lean, gray haired gentleman why I believed Roman numerals were used instead of Arabic numerals. Finally, getting a good look at the person, who happened to be just finishing a chocolate ice cream cone, II stopped my explanation abruptly. My jaw dropped open. Because standing right before my eyes was none other than the second James Bond, George Lazenby.

"Are you George Lazenby?" I exclaimed. "Yes" he proclaimed. I offered my hand, he offered his, and we shook hands. I could not believe that I was suddenly in the presence of one of my idols! He very graciously consented to allow my friends and me to have our picture taken with him.

I couldn't believe that no one else in the area had paid any attention to him, I was the only one, it seemed, who had recognized him. During the photo session, I was explaining to my friends who we had the pleasure of meeting. Mr. Lazenby could not have been more cordial and patient as we posed with him for pictures.

I was so flabbergasted by this chance encounter, that I didn't even think to ask for his autograph, or if he would say the famous words: "Bond, James Bond" for me,

After several minutes of posing for photos, I finally thanked him, shook his hand again, and he walked away. No one else in the immediate area took notice of him.

Here are a few of the photos:

 

[ChristopherG]

That's awesome!

 

[David_B_K]

Cool! I wish Lazenby had stuck around longer as 007. He was a tad amateurish in OHMSS, but he improved as an actor with more experience.

 

[atfree]

Cool! I wish Lazenby had stuck around longer as 007. He was a tad amateurish in OHMSS, but he improved as an actor with more experience.

Me too...when you think about it, Lazenby would have changed the whole trajectory of the Bonds. He was only 30, could have easily done them til he was in his late 40's. Had he elected to accept the contract offered, he would have erased the Moore era completely.

 

[Bob Cashill]

With him, Diamonds Are Forever might have been a more satisfying followup, with Savalas repeating as Blofeld, too.

 

[Charles Smith]

Oh man, that is just great. Congratulations on such a serendipitous meeting!

 

[Sam Posten]

Shoulda set him up for a HTF interview =)

 

[Joseph Bolus]

With him, Diamonds Are Forever might have been a more satisfying followup, with Savalas repeating as Blofeld, too.

Also, OHMSS would have closed with a happy ending.

According to the producers, if Lazenby had stayed OHMSS would have ended with the wedding. Riggs' character would not have been killed until the opening of DAF. (This is where the Bourne series got the idea for the ending of the first movie in that series and the opening of the second movie.)

 

[George_W_K]

Very cool encounter! Great thread title as well!

 

[Osato]

My friends and I were walking around Yale University, New Haven, CT yesterday. Just taking in some of the sights,

We were looking at the statue of the first president of Yale located on the old (original) campus.The statue happens to have Roman numerals on the plaque, which I happen to be able to read, so I was translating them to my friends.

Suddenly, I heard a vaguely familiar voice over my right shoulder. "Why do they use Roman numerals on these things!". I turned to the direction of the voice in order to explain to the the now plainly visible figure of a tall, lean, gray haired gentleman why I believed Roman numerals were used instead of Arabic numerals. Finally, getting a good look at the person, who happened to be just finishing a chocolate ice cream cone, II stopped my explanation abruptly. My jaw dropped open. Because standing right before my eyes was none other than the second James Bond, George Lazenby.

"Are you George Lazenby?" I exclaimed. "Yes" he proclaimed. I offered my hand, he offered his, and we shook hands. I could not believe that I was suddenly in the presence of one of my idols! He very graciously consented to allow my friends and me to have our picture taken with him.

I couldn't believe that no one else in the area had paid any attention to him, I was the only one, it seemed, who had recognized him. During the photo session, I was explaining to my friends who we had the pleasure of meeting. Mr. Lazenby could not have been more cordial and patient as we posed with him for pictures.

I was so flabbergasted by this chance encounter, that I didn't even think to ask for his autograph, or if he would say the famous words: "Bond, James Bond" for me,

After several minutes of posing for photos, I finally thanked him, shook his hand again, and he walked away. No one else in the immediate area took notice of him.

Here are a few of the photos:

View attachment 33559

View attachment 33560

Very cool!!!

 

[Stan]

Just looked him up on IMDB. Acted a lot up until about 2000, slowed down a bit, but still active at 77. Guessing most of it is British or Aussie TV, things I've never heard of.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Me too...when you think about it, Lazenby would have changed the whole trajectory of the Bonds. He was only 30, could have easily done them til he was in his late 40's. Had he elected to accept the contract offered, he would have erased the Moore era completely.

I remember disliking his portrayal of Bond quite strongly. He was amateurish and didn't have the Bond (IMHO) gravitas. This is news to me that it was his choice not to continue in the role. I had always assumed the producers elected not to continue with him in the role.

Perhaps it would have been worth it to avoid the Moore movies, I liked him as Bond even less.

 

[RobertR]

He seemed like a nice guy, but "nice" is not what you want for Bond. You want someone who's suave and sophisticated, but with an underlying tone of danger.

 

[Stan]

"he would have erased the Moore era completely."

We can dream that era never happened

Other than Moonraker, they were pretty bad. Of course the '70s overall were pretty bad, the Bond franchise just got sucked into it like many other films. Moore never really fit the classy, suave type of guy that Bond needed to be.

 

[RobertR]

Moonraker is pretty awful too. It's full of self referential parody (playing Close Encounters and Magnificent Seven and Romeo and Juliet themes), and a ridiculously superhuman, invulnerable villain.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Moonraker is pretty awful too. [It has a] ridiculously superhuman, invulnerable villain.

If you're gonna call out Moonraker for that, doesn't Spy Who Loved Me also need to be called out? I think Jaws is a ridiculous character in both of those movies. I actually enjoy Moonraker more than Spy - the first two thirds or so of Moonraker is actually a pretty good mystery, and the ending is cheesy but fun. I'd take Moonraker over any of Moore's 80s Bond movies.

 

[RobertR]

If you're gonna call out Moonraker for that, doesn't Spy Who Loved Me also need to be called out?

Absolutely. Jaws is over-the-top cartoonish.

 

[atfree]

I remember disliking his portrayal of Bond quite strongly. He was amateurish and didn't have the Bond (IMHO) gravitas. This is news to me that it was his choice not to continue in the role. I had always assumed the producers elected not to continue with him in the role.

Perhaps it would have been worth it to avoid the Moore movies, I liked him as Bond even less.

From the DVD ULTIMATE EDITION OHMSS extras:

"Although Lazenby had been offered a contract for seven movies, his agent convinced him that the secret agent would be archaic in the liberated 1970s, and as a result he left the series after the release of On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969."

7 films would have encompassed (assuming the same order as they were subsequently made), DAF, LALD, TMWTGG, TSWLM, MR, FYEO, and Octopussy. Assuming the same time frames, Lazenby would have been only 44 after Octopussy, plenty young enough to do AVTAK and maybe even both Dalton entries. It would have certainly been interesting at the least.

 

[Johnny Angell]

From the DVD ULTIMATE EDITION OHMSS extras:

"Although Lazenby had been offered a contract for seven movies, his agent convinced him that the secret agent would be archaic in the liberated 1970s, and as a result he left the series after the release of On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969."

7 films would have encompassed (assuming the same order as they were subsequently made), DAF, LALD, TMWTGG, TSWLM, MR, FYEO, and Octopussy. Assuming the same time frames, Lazenby would have been only 44 after Octopussy, plenty young enough to do AVTAK and maybe even both Dalton entries. It would have certainly been interesting at the least.

I hope he fired that agent.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Very cool story, Reed.

If you're gonna call out Moonraker for that, doesn't Spy Who Loved Me also need to be called out? I think Jaws is a ridiculous character in both of those movies. I actually enjoy Moonraker more than Spy - the first two thirds or so of Moonraker is actually a pretty good mystery, and the ending is cheesy but fun. I'd take Moonraker over any of Moore's 80s Bond movies.

Most of the Moore films were cheesy. IMO, the best was For Your Eyes Only, followed by The Man With The Golden Gun. While Live and Let Die had its moments, the Smokey and the Bandit moments killed it. Great theme song, though.