The Peculiar Truth about the Aussie James Bond

• Throughout his life, George Lazenby has been a successful failure. He failed in school. He failed as a car salesman. He failed to win the love of a sweetheart whom he had followed across the world.

• His biggest success, however, was landing the film role of a lifetime when he was cast as 007 in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969).

• He managed to fail at that, too.

• Lazenby was an Australian born and raised in farm towns in New South Wales. After high school, he joined the Australian military. Then he became a car mechanic and later a salesman. In 1963, he followed a girl to London to win her over. When she went for a professional athlete instead, he remained in England and found work as a car salesman.

• A London talent agent convinced him to try male modeling. With his natural good looks, Lazenby fell into the profession.

• In 1966, Lazenby was voted Top Model of the Year.

• By coincidence, he got his hair cut at the same location as Albert Broccoli, the famous producer of the James Bond film series. Broccoli liked Lazenby’s appearance and offered him an audition for the next Bond movie.

• Sean Connery was fed up with playing the iconic role and the intense fame that came with it, so he chose to move on. That left a vacancy in the franchise. Over 400 men were considered for the role.

• During Lazenby’s audition, he got carried away and accidentally slugged a stunt coordinator in the face. Broccoli admired that kind of raw emotion.

• Despite having had no film acting experience and having only been a male model for a few short years - and being Australian, not British - George Lazenby got cast as the new James Bond.

• British film actress Diana Rigg was cast as Tracy, the woman whom Bond marries in the picture. She already had an accomplished career on stage and television, most notably as Emma Peel in The Avengers. She and Lazenby reportedly never got along.

• According to rumors, Rigg disliked him so much that she would eat garlic before filming scenes where she had to kiss him. She later called that untrue but also expressed her distaste for Lazenby.

• Some called him arrogant on the film set. He thought he had been mistreated. Desmond Llewellyn, the actor who portrayed Q for years, detested Lazenby. It was not a good working situation.

• In the midst of filming, Lazenby declared that he would only play the role that one time - despite already having a contract for many more Bond movies. He later claimed that his agent talked him out of continuing  because the character had become too out of touch with the times.

• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was released to mixed reviews. Although the story was entertaining, Sean Connery was a tough act to follow.

• True to his word, the Australian parted ways with James Bond after his only performance. Albert Broccoli agreed to let Lazenby go. That paved the way for Roger Moore who made seven subsequent Bond films.

• Lazenby returned to his native Australia for a while. He married and later divorced. He then went broke and fell into alcoholism. In the late 70s, he made his way to Hollywood and found film and TV roles but nothing that came even close to the success of his only Bond film.

• In 2002, he married retired tennis pro Pam Shriver in Los Angeles. They divorced in 2011.

• As of this writing, George Lazenby is still alive at age 86 but retired from acting. His name has been used throughout the decades as a showbiz buzzword for a flash-in-the-pan performer.