13 replies to this topic

[marktmurphy]

http://www.telegraph...-Bond-role.html

So as we saw earlier this week, Martin Shaw was approached to audition for Bond in '78 or so. What do we reckon to that?

For a while I've quite liked the idea of Lewis Collins as Bond so it's quite weird that I've never considered Shaw until now. He's less the Bond 'type' I suppose, but probably better suited acting-wise. I think he probably should have had a crack at auditioning; beats 'Rhodes', and Connery didn't exactly have a bad career after 007.
It's quite easy to imagine him in For Your Eyes Only; he could have done the rougher, cold Bond rather well I think whilst still giving him a human edge. He'd have been especially good at the action.

[zencat]

So Moonraker was released in 1978, eh? News to me. Also odd that Babs would be this involved way back then.

Maybe it was more of a "I can make you a star, honey, now lets see you out of those jeans" moment. Go Babs.

[doublenoughtspy]

She would have been all of 18 at the time.

[marktmurphy]

So Moonraker was released in 1978, eh? News to me. Also odd that Babs would be this involved way back then.

I'm sure we can forgive him for not knowing exactly when something happened when it was about thirty odd years ago!

[plankattack]

Look at how upset everyone was with DC's hair colour. Martin Shaw - the permed Bond!!!

Seriously, like others I was always intrigued at the idea of Lewis Collins as Bond, and never really thought of Shaw as a potential 007. But he's always had the charm and the underlying sense of humour, and having made his name on an action show, I don't think there's any doubt he would have been convincing with the action. I think he easily could have pulled it off - there's no doubt that he's got the acting chops.

[jaguar007]

She would have been all of 18 at the time.

My comment about this over at MI6 was "o in 1978 a 33 year old Martin Shaw was having dinner with a 17 or 18 year old Barbara Broccoli "

[Loomis]

Forget Collins and Shaw. It's their PROFESSIONALS co-star Gordon Jackson who would have been a perfect fit for Fleming's Bond. In 1962, anyway.

[Guy Haines]

Forget Collins and Shaw. It's their PROFESSIONALS co-star Gordon Jackson who would have been a perfect fit for Fleming's Bond. In 1962, anyway.

Or a perfect M in 1978. The accent would have been irrelevant, I think. He'd been playing authority figures for years. The only problem I could have foreseen would be all those who remembered him in "Upstairs Downstairs" - could they imagine Hudson the butler as Bond's boss?

[mccartney007]

It seems as though every actor on the planet was asked to be James Bond at one point -- according to them, anyway.

[marktmurphy]

It seems as though every actor on the planet was asked to be James Bond at one point -- according to them, anyway.

He didn't say that he was asked to be Bond.
I don't find it all that hard to swallow; I'm sure they cast their net very wide.

[Turn]

It does seem that nearly every manly actor had tested for Bond at one time or another. The recent Clint Eastwood revelations are a good example of that. Shaw doesn't sound far-fetched, although Collins seemed a better fit. It seems more likely this offer would have come during the period Moore was holding out for a better contract around the time of FYEO.

I also doubt Cubby would have gone for Shaw at the time as he had a television contract and would have likely had the same line he did for Pierce Brosnan when he was still attached to Remington Steele.

There are numerous mistakes in the story - MR released in 1978; Babs' age; "Flemming"; a reference to a TV series without bothering to give the title. Maybe just this part was excerpted from a larger article because people would rather read about the Bond connection.

[Guy Haines]

It does seem that nearly every manly actor had tested for Bond at one time or another. The recent Clint Eastwood revelations are a good example of that. Shaw doesn't sound far-fetched, although Collins seemed a better fit. It seems more likely this offer would have come during the period Moore was holding out for a better contract around the time of FYEO.

I also doubt Cubby would have gone for Shaw at the time as he had a television contract and would have likely had the same line he did for Pierce Brosnan when he was still attached to Remington Steele.

There are numerous mistakes in the story - MR released in 1978; Babs' age; "Flemming"; a reference to a TV series without bothering to give the title. Maybe just this part was excerpted from a larger article because people would rather read about the Bond connection.

It was taken from a much wider interview with Martin Shaw in this week's Radio Times. The Bond stuff takes up just the last couple of paragraphs. As for the time line, well, I suppose he could have been approached in 1978, most likely along with many others, in case Roger Moore decided to quit (unlikely at the time, I think), but we all know the MR release date is quite wrong. One suspects it was a hastily cobbled together item in the Telegraph, following the item in the Radio Times (a spoiler, perhaps?)

[mildcigar]

Ar 5 foot 8 inches tall this would have looked odd, nearly as odd as Eastwood at 6 foot 4 inches.

Collins would of been suitable. What a waste.

[David Schofield]

Ar 5 foot 8 inches tall this would have looked odd

Indeed.

When it was clear Cubby wasn't really interested in anyone who didn't fit the conventional Hollywood leading man image of six foot plus, I doubt Cubby would have let Shaw through the door.

"Look, Barbara, darling, I can't pretend to offer James Bond to EVERY actor just because you fancy them rotten."