10 Major Movie Roles That Were Recast (And Made A LOT Worse)
8. George Lazenby - On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Over the decades, George Lazenby's one-and-done stint as James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service has undergone something of a reappraisal from both fans and critics alike, and while he may have grown into the role had he stuck around a bit longer, the big Australian's performance remains more than a little wooden.
Of course, it would have been a daunting task for any actor to have followed in the footsteps of Sean Connery, the charismatic tour-de-force who turned 007 into an icon, but while On Her Majesty's Secret Service deserves to be commended for making some big changes to both the style and the mythology of the Bond franchise, Lazenby's obvious inexperience as a leading man is hard to ignore.
Admittedly, he gets a lot more dramatic heavy lifting to do in the story than anyone would have expected, but the unproven Lazenby struggles to put his stamp on Bond's latest reinvention and lacks even one tenth of the charm Connery brought to the role.