George Lazenby in a 1979 episode of Hawaii Five-O
George Lazenby, 84, the one-time James Bond film actor, said on social media he's retiring.
"This hasn't been an easy decision but it's time to announce my retirement from work," Lazenby said on social media, including his official account on X (formerly Twitter). "Therefore, I won't be doing any more acting or making public appearances."
"I can now concentrate on spending more time with my family," Lazenby said on a separate X post.
Lazenby assumed the 007 role at the age of 29, making him the youngest actor to wear Bond's shoulder holster. The Australian was cast as Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. He was cast in the part after Sean Connery quite the part (for the first time).
"When the Bond thing came up, the odds were I'd get it because I wanted it more than anybody else," Lazenby said in the 2012 documentary Everything Or Nothing. "I wasn't an actor. But I wanted that job, though."
As Lazenby told the story, he admitted to director Peter Hunt he had no acting experience. By that time, however, producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli were interested. Lazenby got the nod from among five finalists.
OHMSS, arguably, was the Eon Productions film that was most faithful to its Ian Fleming source material.
The film, however, was a long and stormy production. Lazenby departed the series after the one film.
After OHMSS, the Australian appeared in various films and television shows. They included comedies (playing "The Architect" in a portion of Kentucky Fried Movie that parodied disaster movies) and dramas.
Other credits included appearing as a secondary villain in Hawaii Five-O, in a 1979 episode filmed in Singapore. He also played "JB" in 1983's The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E., a TV movie based on the 1964-68 television series. JB wore a white dinner jacket and drove an Aston Martin DB5.
Here is one of Lazenby's posts on X (formerly Twitter):
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