Line #11 Creator/GeorgeLazenby


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2	[[caption-width-right:300:[[Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService This never happened to the other troper.]]]]
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4	George Robert Lazenby (born 5 September 1939 in Goulburn, Australia) is an Australian actor, former car salesman and model.
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6	He is best known for being the first and [[OneHitWonder brief]] successor of Creator/SeanConnery as Film/JamesBond, in a single film, ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService''. He and Creator/PierceBrosnan share the distinction of being the only non-British Bonds (although with Brosnan being Irish, Lazenby is still the only Bond not to come from the British Isles, which also makes him the only non-European Bond, although he is of European descent) as well as the only professional martial artist to play the role (he has a Black Belt in Shotokan-Ryu Karate). His contract was for an unprecedented ''seven'' movies, but he left because of the troubled filming [[note]]which was partly due to his inexperience with acting and movie crews, he having only worked in adverts beforehand[[/note]], the contract they wanted him to sign (which dictated [[ContractualPurity how he was supposed to look and act even off camera]] for the entire duration of the deal) and because his agent thought spy movies were getting outdated, believing hippy movies were the way to go. After a couple of hippie movie flops, Lazenby finally decided he'd had enough and fired him.
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8	He was a close personal friend of Creator/BruceLee, having met him in 1972. Lazenby studied Lee's personal martial arts and philosophical teaching of "Jeet Kune Do" until the time of Lee's death in 1973. He was going to have dinner with Lee the night he died, actually.
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10	In his post-Bond career, Lazenby has played in TV movies, commercials, various recurring roles in TV series, several [[AdamWesting Bond movie]] [[{{Parody}} spoofs]] and several [[HongKongFilms Hong Kong action films]], using his martial arts expertise. He also made TV guest appearances and James Bond-related documentary appearances, and provided voice for several animated movies and series. He's also had several successful non-acting business ventures such as car sales and real estate.
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12	!!Works he has appeared in include:
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14	* ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' (1969) as Film/JamesBond
15	* ''Universal Soldier'' (1971) as Ryker
16	* ''Film/TheManFromHongKong'' (1975) as the BigBad, Jack Wilton
17	* ''Film/TheKentuckyFriedMovie'' (1977) as The Architect (segment "That's Armageddon")
18	* ''Saint Jack'' (1979) as Senator
19	* ''[[Series/TheManFromUNCLE Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.]]'' (1983) as "J.B."[[note]](an [[LawyerFriendlyCameo unnamed]] [[Film/JamesBond spy wearing a tux who drives a weaponized Aston Martin DB5]])[[/note]]
20	* ''The New Series/AlfredHitchcockPresents'' (1989, 1 episode) as James (a spoof of James Bond)
21	* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperboy'' (1990, 2 episodes) as Jor-El[[note]]Actually an alien impersonating Jor-El to lure Superboy into a trap.[[/note]]
22	* ''Film/{{Gettysburg}}'' (1993) as Brigadier general J. Johnston Pettigrew
23	* ''Film/TwinSitters'' (1994) as Leland Stromm
24	* ''Fox Hunt'' (1996) as Chauncey
25	* The ''Film/{{Emmanuelle}}'' made-for-TV movie series (1992-1998) as Mario
26	* ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'' (1999, 1 episode) as Commander [=McCabe=]
27	* ''Series/ThePretender'' as Major Charles (1999-2000, 4 episodes)
28	* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' (1999-2000, voice) as the King of the Royal Flush Gang
29	* ''Series/{{Legit\|2013}}'' (2014) as Jack Jefferies
30	* ''A Winter Rose'' (2014) as Henry
31	* ''Hunter'' (2015) as General Bullmount
32	* ''Becoming Bond'' (2017 documentary) as himself
33	* ''In the Blink of an Eye'' (2020)[[note]]James Bond fan film starring children in adult roles.[[/note]]
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35	!!Tropes and Trivia in his works:
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37	* ActionHero: He was arguably the most physically capable of the Bonds, owing to his own military experience and martial arts expertise; he was a combat instructor in the Australian army, holds black belts in Judo and Shotokan Karate, and trained with Bruce Lee.
38	* AdamWesting: He'll gladly accept to spoof [[Film/JamesBond his most famous role]] here and there, be it in unrelated productions or fan films.
39	* AwesomeAussie: As Bond and much of his work due to his military training and martial arts skill.
40	* BecomingTheBoast: He had zero acting experience when he applied to be James Bond and proceeded to lie through his teeth about being an experienced actor through the whole audition process. When he finally cracked and confessed to Peter Hunt that he wasn’t an actor, Hunt laughed and said that if he managed to fool everyone so far, he ''was'' an actor.
41	* OldShame: He has stated that he regrets taking the advice of his agent not to reprise the role of Bond; tellingly, the two men parted ways in the years after the fact.
42	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
43	** The big one is that, as stated above, he walked away from the role of James Bond after just one film. The original plan for ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' had been for Tracy's death to occur in [[Film/DiamondsAreForever the follow-up]], but since Lazenby was leaving, the producers decided to keep it in just one movie; Bond seeking revenge for the murder of his wife (or even acknowledging that she'd existed, for that matter) was not explicitly addressed within the franchise until ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'', though it's perhaps the reason Bond (a returning Connery) is particularly pissed off and frantically searching for Blofeld around the world in TheTeaser of ''Film/DiamondsAreForever''.
44	** He was offered the role of Bond once again by Creator/AlbertRBroccoli in ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'' after the final departure of Creator/SeanConnery from the series, but this time director Creator/GuyHamilton objected, and Creator/RogerMoore was cast instead.
45	** The rival Bond producer to Broccoli, Kevin [=McClory=], wanted him as first choice to play Bond in ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain'', but the part ended up going to Sean Connery for star power reasons.
46	** He was offered the part of Gig Young in ''Film/GameOfDeath'', but Bruce Lee's death made him decline it.
47	** Creator/JohnCleese once said he wanted to cast Lazenby as UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} in ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian''; Cleese not only found the novelty of the idea hilarious, but he was also eager to advertise ''Life of Brian'' with the {{tagline}} "George Lazenby IS Jesus Christ."

Context Creator / GeorgeLazenby