"On Her Majesty's Secret Service"

Above, Diana Rigg and George Lazenby.

One of my favorite movie genres is the James Bond series.

I was first introduced to James Bond in the persona of Sean Connery back in 1963 when my parents took me to see a double bill of From Russia With Love and Dr. No. I was hooked!

My family and I made it a point to see each subsequent Bond movie on its initial release in theaters.

I was disappointed when Sean Connery announced that he no longer wanted to play the role following You Only Live Twice. After all, he was James Bond!

Then, I saw a Life magazine article on the men Eon Productions had in consideration to be Connery's replacement. Of all of them, I thought Lazenby had the right look. Sure enough, Eon picked him to be the new James Bond.

The Bond movie scheduled for release, and featuring Lazenby's debut, was On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969. This was one of Ian Flemming's best Bond novels and it tells of Bond's tragic marriage. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum was written with Connery in mind, but Connery had other plans. What an amazing movie it would have been if Connery were paired with Diana Rigg instead of Lazenby! Rigg was already a favorite of mine with her role as Emma Peel in The Avengers. Plus, it had one of the best, if not the best, John Barry Bond scores.

As it was, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is one of the best of the Bond movies and I thought Lazenby, despite his limited acting experience, did well. I certainly would have preferred him to Roger Moore in later movies. But he had a falling out with producers Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli and he never starred as Bond again.

Connery was coaxed back to Bond in the following movie, Diamonds Are Forever. He had a pet charity in Scotland and Eon offered a sizable donation if he returned. This was an offer he could not refuse! Unfortunately, the movie itself was a bit of a letdown after On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Still, it was good to see Connery back. After this, he hung up his Walther PPK and turned the role over to Roger Moore.

What prompted this blog post was a retrospective article on On Her Majesty's Secret Service at Big Hollywood I just finished reading. I am in agreement with the reviewer's opinions. To read it, go here.