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Later today, at 6:05pm, ITV 4 will be playing the iconic James Bond movie, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. This movie was a turning point for the series, as it was the first picture without Sean Connery playing 007. Instead, George Lazenby stepped into the role – but his tenure didn’t last long. He only starred in one movie before Connery was forced to make a triumphant return to the series for one final movie. Lazenby certainly made the most of his time as Bond, however. Starting with how he claimed the role.
Lazenby famously claimed the Bond role by walking into the London offices of MGM and demanding an audition. The Australian model did not have any previous acting experience but was so convincing in his screen test that he broke another actor’s nose during a test fight. When the 30-year-old arrived on the set for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, he had an extremely odd experience.
Speaking to the Daily Express in 2010, Lazenby revealed: “I’d been given thousands of dollars of spending money and it was all piling up in my suitcase.” He was reportedly being paid up to £1,000 a day (approximately £16,832 in 2020), all of which he was storing in suitcases.
But when the film’s on-screen villain, Telly Savalas, caught wind of this massive amount of cash rolling around, he hatched a devious plan.
Savalas played Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the picture and had a great rapport with Lazenby, but things quickly got out of hand between them.
Savalas was keen to make a point with the new 007 star, so invited him to play a game. Lazenby recalled: “Telly saw [the suitcase] one day and asked: ‘Wanna play poker?’ Well, I’d never played poker and started losing.”
The Aussie actor reportedly lost a massive chunk of change in the games that followed, leaving Savalas extremely happy with himself. The loss was so devastating that the film’s management had to step in.
Word eventually got to Harry Saltzman, a Canadian film producer and one of the Bond bosses who worked on the first few 007 movies alongside the legendary Albert “Cubby” Broccoli. Once he heard what had happened to Lazenby, he challenged Savalas to his own game of poker. The story goes that Saltzman won back every penny owed to the Bond actor, and promptly returned it to the now-desolate star. But not before he gave Savalas a stern word.
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Lazenby remembered Saltzman confronted Savalas about his underhanded actions.
The 007 star recalled: “[Harry] Saltzman put a stop to it and told Telly: ‘Leave my boy alone.'”
Despite the poker incident, it seems like both Savalas and Lazenby had a good relationship on set. Savalas was a well-known star at the time, having previously acted in such projects as The Dirty Dozen, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and The Fugitive.
Lazenby later shared a fond memory he had of Savalas on set, proving that the 007 villain actor was incredibly kind.
Lazenby said: “The only thing I remember coming from Telly that did help me as – we rehearsed the scene, our first scene together (I forget where it was but it was up on that mountain) and apparently they had forewarned him that I was a novice actor.”
Savalas was not going to stand for this kind of talk, so turned to the bosses and declared: “He doesn’t need any help. I’ve got to watch out, he will blow me off the screen.”
Lazenby added: “So that was, in a way, a compliment, because I came out remembering all my lines and Telly hadn’t had his down yet, although he did by the time we started to shoot, and I had to have mine down because if I didn’t there was no way I could remember them in five minutes like he can.”
