Classic Bond Forum

After having Lazenby leave the role after just one film, I think having Gavin an unknown American in the role would be the last nail in the coffin for Bond.
I often wonder how Gavin even came close to landing the Bond role?
Has anyone ever found out?

Captain Nash wrote:After having Lazenby leave the role after just one film, I think having Gavin an unknown American in the role would be the last nail in the coffin for Bond.
I often wonder how Gavin even came close to landing the Bond role?
Has anyone ever found out?

Agreed. I think anyone else, even Roger Moore, directly after Lazenby would have been a move considered my many "beyond desperate". I think Connery returning for one more film, and everyone being aware it was truly his last, was needed to make people comfortable with the transition. No one was prepared for a new Bond when YOLT came out but when DAF wasn't even released everyone knew it would be Connery's last.

Gavin signed to play Bond in DAF but David Picker, the head of UA, was unimpressed and decided to get Connery at 'any price'. Connery got a then unheard of deal and Gavin's contract was quietly bought out. Gavin played a Bondish spy in one of those OSS 117 films.

James wrote:Gavin signed to play Bond in DAF but David Picker, the head of UA, was unimpressed and decided to get Connery at 'any price'. Connery got a then unheard of deal and Gavin's contract was quietly bought out. Gavin played a Bondish spy in one of those OSS 117 films.

I don't think I knew of this.

I don't think I even know who he is

Dr. No wrote:I don't think I even know who he is

Sam Loomis in Psycho is probably his best-known role.

i'll look him up later.
I think UA made the right call just like MGM made the right call years later

Gavin was the US Ambassador to Mexico (I think) in the eighties. Ronnie gave him the job.

Whoa, he was actually signed?! I always assumed he was dropped right before the deal was signed. That officially makes him the only Bond actor not to get his own film.

Gavin was Bond for a short period. According to Roger Moore's LALD book, they strongly considered Gavin again after Connery declined to return after DAF. They decided instead that they should go for a British actor and Roger, as a worldwide television star, was deemed as safe a choice as anyone. According to the Virgin Bond guide Guy Hamilton wanted another American, Burt Reynolds, to do LALD. UFO star Michael Billington was gobsmacked when they cast Roger Moore because he thought he had the role in the bag and the press had even started to report that he was the new Bond.