The only actor officially cast as James Bond who never starred in a movie: “One piece of a remarkable life”
With one of cinema’s most coveted roles up for grabs once again, the identity of the next James Bond remains shrouded in mystery. Of course, the casting rumours always begin long before the current incumbent ends their tenure as 007, but only one actor was officially cast as the iconic secret agent who never got the chance to strut their stuff on the big screen.
Plenty of high-profile actors have turned down the chance to inherit the mantle, ranging from Sean Connery and Burt Reynolds to Mel Gibson and Hugh Jackman. Countless other future stars auditioned for Bond during the early stages of their careers, but none of them were actually hired before having the gig cruelly ripped out of their hands.
Once Sean Connery decided he’d had enough and retired the tux following You Only Live Twice, the ill-fated George Lazenby era began. He wasn’t British, and he certainly wasn’t an actor. The Australian made history as the only one-and-done 007 in the franchise’s history, a decision that made a mockery of the lengthy contract he’d signed.
The hunt was on for the third Bond in less than a decade, a casting race that settled on John Gavin. An American, he’d worked on Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus and had several tangential connections to the globetrotting series, having dated Thunderball‘s Luciana Paluzzi, co-starred with eventual The Spy Who Loved Me villain Curd Jürgens in OSS 117 – Double Agent and even served in naval intelligence for the United States Army during the Korean War.
It was confirmed in December 1970 that Gavin would replace Lazenby in Diamonds Are Forever until it became clear there was a chance to lure Connery back into the fold. There were already concerns about giving Bond to an American, and despite the ink having dried on his contract, Gavin was kicked out into the cold when the original vintage agreed to come back for one more film.
That kind of high-profile rejection could easily define a career, but Gavin went on to achieve some remarkable things. The same year Diamonds Are Forever was released, he began a two-year stint as the president of the Screen Actors Guild and eventually segued into politics before being named Ronald Reagan’s ambassador to Mexico, a role he performed between 1981 and 1986.
Following his death in February 2018 at the age of 86, SAG issued a statement describing Gavin’s “successful career in Hollywood” as “only one piece of a remarkable life.” He was an actor, a union president, a political ambassador, a businessman, and a philanthropist, not to mention his unique place in Bond history as the only actor officially announced as 007 who never got the chance to star in a movie.
