Bond producers Albert R Broccoli and Harry Saltzman went with unknown Australian model George Lazenby, who’d snuck into the 007 audition. The 29-year-old starred in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and was offered a contract for seven Bond movies, but he turned it all down. Lazenby’s agent had persuaded him that the Bond franchise was dying out, with the Aussie even moving away from 007’s clean-shaven image by wearing a fashionable beard and long hair at the premiere. Having lost their new Bond, the producers started contemplating Americans actors from John Gavin and Clint Eas...