George Lazenby

Posted on by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors
  1. Sean Connery, Diamonds Are Forever, 1969.
  2. James Coburn, Giù la testa (UK: A Fistful of Dynamite; US: Duck You Sucker), Italy, 1970.  Always his own worst enemy, the rich ex-model – and ex-Bond – accepted, then refused  an invite from the maestroSergio Leone to be  IRA bomber John H Mallory opposite Rod Steiger and the Mexican Revolution. Well, George couldn’t do accents. However, he did play another IRA man in Hong Kong’s  E tan qun ying hui  (US: International Assassin) in 1976. And was badly dubbed by someone  who knew as little about accents as Lazenby did.At first, Sergio Leone was to produce only. Peter Bogdanovich was chosen to helm. He hated the script , yet his re-writes were so bad that Leone had him sacked and sent home  “in Tourist Class” – on studio orders. He’d never liked Bogdanovich when he arrived in Rome with his sister carrying his suitcases like a slave. Sam Peckinpah was next choice but Coburn and Rod Steiger insisted  on  Leone. Or no deal. “OK, I’ll do it but never ask me today what we’re doing tomorrow.”
  3. Angela Mao,Tie jin gang da po zi yang guan (US: Stoner), Hong Kong, 1973.    The  pitch had been: “It’s Lee! It’s Lazenby! It’s Bruce vs. Bond!”  However, on the very night – July 20, 1973 –  that Lazenby signed to join their second project(originally The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss),Lee’s next and most  ambitious movie as star and director,  the Jeet Kune Do maestro died in mysterious circumstances. He was 32.  Lazenby  actually took over Lee’s role, changing the titular cop from Asian to Aussie and Lazenby’s original  part went to… The Queen of Kung Fu.
  4. Hugh O’Brien, Game of Death, Hong Kong, 1978. Bruce Lee began directing it in ’72 as his ultimate martial arts movie statement. He halted the shoot to make Enter The Dragon. After his shock 1973 death, Dragondirector Robert Clouse was hired to rescue this project and crudely cash in on the death.  Lee’s pals like Muhammad Ali, James Coburn and Steve McQueen refused cameos. Lazenby quit the enforcer role of Steiner, due as the first of his four post-007 comeback roles opposite Bruce, his mentor and friend. Although some Bruce Lee fans adore this “tribute,” it is a total grave-robbing horror… Robert Clouse, who made Lee’s Hollywood debut, Enter The Dragon,1973, completed this shambolic mess with the nauseating new title. He used all of Lee’s directed fights (shot in 1973, and shelved while he made Dragon), a double in other scenes, a wholly different Western cast. Plus utterly tasteless shots of Lee’s real coffin and funeral.
  5. Kenneth Colley,  Life of Brian, 1979.    John Cleese’s “absolutely hilarious” suggestion  for Jesus… with a credit line reading: George Lazenby IS Jesus Christ! Lazenby’s agent insisted that George was overseas working on another film.
  6. Sean Connery, Never Say Never Again, 1983.

 

 

 Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls:  6