The only actor to fail five separate auditions for James Bond: “That was that for me”
Several actors have either been considered or auditioned for the role of James Bond before eventually getting the chance to play it, so it’s not as if a single unsuccessful screen test immediately rules somebody out of ever playing the character in the future.
Roger Moore was discussed behind closed doors before Sean Connery was hired for Dr No, and again when he initially vacated the franchise prior to the short-lived George Lazenby era, but he didn’t debut as 007 until 1973’s Live and Let Die.
Timothy Dalton was approached as a potential replacement for both Connery and Moore, but was adamant he was too young, and he only ended up getting the nod for 1987’s The Living Daylights when Pierce Brosnan’s commitments to the TV series Remington Steel ruled him out, and he didn’t have to wait too long to get his opportunity either.
However, nobody in the history of Bond has been as unfortunate or unlucky as Michael Billington, the only actor who’s been on the shortlist five times and was overlooked on every occasion. On the plus side, he did snag a small role as the KGB agent Sergei Barsov in The Spy Who Loved Me, so he did at least appear onscreen in one of the secret agent’s many globetrotting adventures.
He met with director Peter Hunt and did a photoshoot in character as 007 for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but lost out to Lazenby. Billington was also Cubby Broccoli’s preferred back-up if Moore wouldn’t commit to Live and Let Die, but he lost out again when the actor signed on the dotted line, which doesn’t even include his name coming up again for Diamonds Are Forever before Connery agreed to return.
In addition to screen testing for Moore’s first 007 outing, he tested again for Moonraker and Octopussy when replacements were being considered amid contractual renegotiations, only to emerge empty-handed every time. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and hoping for different results, and it’s remarkable that Billington persevered for so long given the constant rejection.
“I heard from my agent that there was going to be an offer made,” he recalled of Live and Let Die, per 007 Magazine. “When it was announced that Roger Moore was going to do it, I was stunned. Getting the Bond role was as close as could be, really. I think I was the unanimous choice at one point of both Cubby [Broccoli] and Harry [Saltzman] and Guy Hamilton; they all, at one time or another, gave me the seal of approval.”
Billington either auditioned, screen tested, met with a director and producer, or was photographed in Bond’s signature tuxedo for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, and Octopussy, and all he had to show for it at the end of the day was a cameo in a pre-credits sequence as a completely different character.
