20 Things You Didn't Know About Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

20. A More American Bond

The previous Bond film had not been massively successful at the US box office and producers, Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were concerned about alienating one of their major markets.

When George Lazenby resigned from the role of James Bond, they seriously considered casting an American actor as Double-0 Seven. They approached such stars as Adam West, Clint Eastwood, and Burt Reynolds who were flattered, but told them that only a British actor could play James Bond.

Eventually, they cast John Gavin - who had portrayed Sam Loomis in Sir Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) - as the new Double-0 Seven and were ready to start filming when the CEO and President of United Artists, David V. Picker emphasised that the new Bond film would only be successful if Sean Connery returned as James Bond.

Picker agreed to Connery's demands of a then-unprecedented fee of £1.25 million (which he donated to his charity, the Scottish International Education Trust), a percentage of the profits, and funding for two back-to-back films of his choice. Ultimately, only one of these films was made - Sidney Lumet’s The Offence (1973) - as Connery abandoned his plans to make a faithful film version of William Shakespeare's play, Macbeth when Roman Polanski beat him to it.

Nevertheless, Cubby insisted that John Gavin's contract as the shortest-lived James Bond still be paid in full.