10 Completely Insane Ways Film Actors Scored Famous Parts

1. George Lazenby - James Bond

He may be regularly labelled as the worst Bond to don the tux, but the story of how George Lazenby won the part of 007 is a fascinating one, and an inspirational one to any megafan also after the part.

Lazenby claims that he first realised he wanted to be Bond in 1962, upon taking a girl to the cinema to see the first movie of the series. The pair of them were blown away by Sean Connery's suave performance, and so Lazenby went all out to imitate the man himself; he bought a Rolex watch, got the same haircut, and even bought a Savile Row suit that Connery didn't want.

When his chance came in 1969, he turned up for an audition, despite not being invited; he bolted past the receptionist, and barged into where the directors and producers were, charmingly asking, "I heard you're looking for James Bond?" After bluffing about acting experience, he was invited back a day later.

In his proper audition, he punched a stunt director in the face, reportedly breaking his nose. Producer Albert R. Broccoli was astounded by the display of aggression that Lazenby had shown, not least because this stunt director was a professional wrestler; the punch was completely accidental, but won the Aussie the role.

By the time he came clean about his complete lack of experience, it was too late. Besides, he'd already gatecrashed a studio, earned an audition, convinced a whole crew that he was an actor, and knocked out a wrestler: if this man wasn't James Bond, who was?

Lazenby would give the iconic role up almost immediately after the film was released, on advice from his agent that he'd be typecast should he stay for the seven-movie contract that Eon had lined up for him. It seems the one aspect of Connery's life that Lazenby should have enlisted, was his management.