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However, I suppose something about the test I had done, and this is a picture CUBBY BROCCOLI had picked out from the Photo Shoot that stayed in his mind.
Eventually, Cubby picked up the phone and asked me to do something in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME. I found out later that Harry Saltzman had gone and Cubby was on his own. It seems they had been doing alternate pictures up till then. What was on offer wasn’t BOND but a small role SERGEI. I knew that if I did it, it might prevent me from doing BOND in the long run; but I thought “Why not?” A couple of weeks in SAN MORITZ skiing and BOND was only a picture or two from demise anyway, or so I thought, “What did I care?” My choice was should I try and play it like Bond? I decided to go the ‘Anti Hero’ route, ‘Darker’ inside.
I teamed up with second unit director JOHN GLENN to shoot the skiing shots but apart from evenings at dinner I didn’t see much of him. Most work was done by WILLIE BOGNER skiing backwards with a MOVIE CAMERA between his legs pointing behind him. Not a bad stunt in itself. We shot the opening sequence in record time and half a day in PINEWOOD completed the task. Not a big pay-check but never mind; I liked LEWIS GILBERT, who had directed YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. Time went by; ‘Spy’ was a hit. I couldn’t think why. A man called JAWS who could bite sharks? It was what we called ‘abstract art’ in film study.
I’d just finished filming COOGAN in the British TV Series THE PROFESSIONALS when I got the call to go to Paris for another series of tests. MOONRAKER was being ‘Prepped’ and they were looking at Bond Girls. I didn’t feel much like playing Bond having just played a crazed underworld criminal but I took the job. I did some scenes with imported beauties like Shelly Hack and Susan Reed. Also local talent such as the beautiful Sylvia Krystel and a lovely girl called Cyrielle Besnard.
The word got out that they wanted LOIS CHILDS. Lois came over to shoot some tests but I think she already had the role so the rest was strictly cosmetic. Lewis told me that he thought I should do the next one, but it was up to Cubby. My final obstacle, according to Lewis, would be if Cubby invited me out to dinner on the last night of the tests. He did and we had a pleasant dinner with Cubby, Mrs Broccoli, Lois, John Glenn, myself and Barbara, Cubby’s daughter. Barbara and I spent a night ‘on the town’ in Paris, with John Glenn as chaperone. The next day I was on a plane back to London; and that was that, or so I thought.
Some months later, I found myself in Hollywood on a job unrelated to Bond. I was alone in a downtown Los Angeles hotel, so I called the Bond Office in Culver City to see if anyone from the unit was in town. Barbara, who was doing film studies at Loyola Marymont called me and we went to a Hollywood Party. I enjoyed the time Barbara and I spent together and we became close.
Time passed and FOR YOUR EYES ONLY was on the horizon. By this time the ‘usual suspects’ were gone. Lewis, I was told had asked $1,000,000 to do the picture so he was shown the door, and JOHN GLENN was at the helm; script by Richard Maibaum, close to retirement and Michael G. Wilson, a lawyer by profession. The sharp and witty Christopher Woods dialogue was, sadly no more. The troops were gathering to go to CORFU to begin filming but ROGER was being “Coy”. I think the money was an issue. Cubby had me fitted out with Wardrobe and flew me to Corfu. We had a picture shoot and here are a few of the results.
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