George Lazenby , the Australian actor best known for playing James Bond in the 1969 film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service , has announced his retirement from acting. The 84-year-old said in a statement that his career has been a “fun ride but getting older is no fun”. “This hasn’t been an easy decision but it’s time to announce my retirement from work.
Therefore, I won’t be doing any more acting or making public appearances, doing any more interviews or signing any more autographs as of today,” he said. Lazenby, who also played Civil War General J Johnson Pettigrew in the 1993 film Gettysburg , said he will be concentrating on spending time with his family in Los Angeles. “I would like to thank my manager and friend, Anders Frejdh, for helping me since 2013 - the best representative I ever had,” he said.
“My sincere gratitude to everyone out there for your love and support over the years. It has meant a lot to me.” He was the second actor – and only Australian so far – to play British MI6 agent 007 in the James Bond movie franchise, replacing Sean Connery after five films .
But unlike his Bond colleagues – Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig – Lazenby played Bond only once. He has the shortest Bond tenure in the franchise’s history. According to Lanzeby, and the 2017 documentary Becoming Bond , Lanzeby turned down a million-dollar contract proposed by the studio after shooting his first Bond.
The documentary expl.