Left shaken and stirred (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Left shaken and stirred

AN icon of cinema history strolled nonchalantly into a Swindon store and said he did not want to discuss one of the industry's worst-ever career moves.

George Lazenby became a household name overnight when he took over from Sean Connery as James Bond in 1968.

After making one Bond movie he quit, after taking advice from former film producer Ronan O'Reilly, who believed the Bond films were old-fashioned and a spent force.

George, 66, said: "I don't want to talk about him."

And then he proceeded to talk about him, saying: "He gave me some advice. I took it, and I was wrong."

But judging from his tanned appearance and warm smile, he seems to have got over any lingering disappointment about his decision.

Married to former tennis star Pam Shriver, he has one young child and is soon to be the father of twins.

He said: "I don't know where my life would have gone if I hadn't turned down Bond.

"If I'd carried on I probably would have had three or four Hollywood wives and become a drug addict.

"I didn't have a mind of my own. I do wish that at 29 I'd had the mind I have now."

Among the many stories that have followed Lazenby around is how he persuaded producer Cubby Broccoli to give him the part of James Bond.

Legend has it that he bought an Aston Martin car and a Rolex watch and persuaded Broccoli to hire him in a barber's shop.

George said: "Well, the story is ten per cent true. I did once meet him in a barber's and I did have an Aston Martin at one time."

But it is certainly true that he wanted the part.

He said: "When they told me I'd got it, I said 'it's about time.'"

For a man who doesn't give interviews, George Lazenby was definitely giving an interview.

Speaking at the Infinitely Better store in the Brunel Centre, he told how the Bond team had ensured Lazenby's picture would be on the front cover of Life magazine.

He said: "Then that day the Pope banned the pill, and he got the front cover."

But while he was in Swindon George was in the mood for dispelling myths.

During the making of his one Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, he was said to have fallen out with both director Peter Hunt and British co-star Diana Rigg.

He said: "Peter Hunt fell out with me on purpose. He told some people 'The more we stay away from him the meaner he looks.'

"He told people not to talk to me so as to make me feel uptight for the film.

"Diana Rigg and I lived such different lives. She was a serious actress and I was a nobody who all of a sudden had a cherry role.

"She had worked hard for her role, so you can imagine how she felt."