Why a soap opera star was too scared to replace Roger Moore as James Bond: “I would be absolutely crucified”
Playing James Bond is one of the most daunting tasks in cinema, and it’s proven too daunting for many actors, based on how many of them have been offered the role and turned it down.
While there’s no shortage of stars, both unproven and established, who’d bite anyone’s hand off for the chance to embody cinema’s most famous secret agent, the list of names who’ve rejected the opportunity is significantly longer than the one who rued the day their audition fell flat.
A couple have even been officially cast in the role before having it snatched away from them at the last second, but Rupert Friend wasn’t the first person to dismiss an advance from the Broccoli family because he was terrified at the prospect of shouldering the burden of becoming 007.
When Roger Moore’s contract was winding down, Eon Productions adopted a scattershot approach to finding the next Bond that saw the producers break from tradition and make a number of inquiries to American actors, including Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, and James Brolin.
One who slipped through the cracks was John James, best known for his eight-year and Golden Globe-nominated stint as Jay Colby on the small screen phenomenon Dynasty. Born and raised in Minnesota, he’s played a couple of English characters before, so adopting the accent wouldn’t have been a problem.
“Off I went and drove through the gates at MGM and proceeded up to Cubby Broccoli’s office where he was seated behind his desk with a couple of other producers,” he recalled. “I said I was obviously a big fan of Bond, but then I cut to the chase and said, ‘Thanks for the offer, but I hate to tell you this, Mr Broccoli, but my feeling is that Bond should be played by an Englishman.'”
James acknowledged that he was “very flattered” to find himself in the running, but he couldn’t shake the fact that his origins might be an issue. “I just feel in my gut that it would be a mistake,” he confessed. “That I’d be hung, drawn, and quartered by Bond fans as an American playing the role.”
Understandably, he remembered Broccoli being “quite taken aback by this actor turning him down,” but James wouldn’t budge. As much as he looked good in a tux on Dynasty, becoming the first American actor to headline a James Bond movie, especially after Moore’s lengthy tenure, was a bridge too far.
“I just knew that however good my English accent was, the audience would know, and the publicity surrounding the film would focus on my being an American,” he explained. “Unless I was anything other than a smashing success, my career would be in difficulty. I would be crucified, absolutely crucified. I was really concerned about that.”
Ironically, that opened the door for Timothy Dalton to swoop in as Moore’s replacement, who himself had turned down the part before his predecessor was cast because, at 22 years old, he didn’t think he was experienced enough to become the first star to step into Sean Connery’s massive shoes, and he had a point looking at what happened to George Lazenby.
