10. Michael Caine
Year Considered: 1967
Reason He Didn't Get The Role: Wanted To Avoid "Spy" Typecasting It's perhaps of no surprise to learn that Michael Caine was offered the role of James Bond, given that he's Michael Caine, and Michael Caine should be given all the roles in all the movies, and - going by his massive filmography - has presumably been offered them all, too. What's more surprising though, is that - given Caine's own self-declared "I'll do any movie" mantra - there was actually a point in his career where he'd consciously turn down movie roles. I mean, the man did
Jaws 4, for God's sake, and he didn't want Bond? Though Michael Caine is obviously a legendary actor of the highest order, I'm still not sure that he would have been right for this role anyway: I don't see Michael Caine as being particularly suave, and he's not conventionally handsome (sorry Michael), as much as he's just gritty and real. Harry Palmer,
yes, James Bond, not really. Of course, it might've been nice if we could've had just one Bond movie with Michael Caine in the midst of things. That's like, ammunition for a hundred years worth of Bond-inspired pop cultural joking.