Screen test for Bond role in Diamonds are forever
sirso
Posts: 209MI6 Agent
This screen test by an unknown actor called Roger Green for Diamonds Are Forever, has to be one of the worst performances of an actor as Bond.
Comments
Thanks, sirso. Yes, it wasn't very good but he might have looked a whole lot better in the film proper.
That's some of the worst movie fighting I've ever seen, even though we have to take in account that it's unedited. At one point Bond even helps his enemy get to again!
He actually sounds like a cross between Connery and Lazenby. It’s difficult to tell if he would have been any good because even when you see actual behind-the-scenes footage of on-set action it doesn’t look very good until it’s all been processed and edited.
A good find though, sirso, I’ve never been aware of this before.
Thanks for posting that. The fighting is not particularly good but no sound effects really makes it much worse. The actor playing Bond really lacks any screen presence or charisma. I can see why they would choose Lazenby over someone like this.
Thanks, guys.
I was also struck by the difference a lack of sound effects makes in a fight scene.
I wonder who proposed Roger Green for the screen test.
Here is a list of actors who were proposed for Bond at various time, and those who declined the role:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_actors_considered_for_the_James_Bond_character
Is the stuntman in the fight scene the same one as in Thunderball's pre-credit sequence... the guy dressed as a woman? He has the same build and movements.
Yes, it's Bob Simmons.
Mr Simmons had many claims to fame, but perhaps the most notable is that he was the first to play James Bond on the big screen. It's him in the gunbarrel for DN (and FRWL and GF too).
He's very fragile if he gets killed by falling over!
Is that Imogen Hassell as Tiffany?
Yes, that's her.
That high nasal voice would never do. Sean Connery was low and resonant like James Earl Jones, and the following actors all managed to follow suit.
Is the dialog really "Mind if I smoke" "Not if its tobacco"? I swear thats what it sounds like. They are in Amsterdam after all
I thought the traditional audition scene was Tatiana in the hotel room bed, but I guess they also need one to see how the actor fights
Thanks. I had an idea it could be him. I saw him on the Russell Harty show in 1980 being interviewed about his stunt work on For Your Eyes Only which was being shot that year. Peter O'Toole was the star guest, and he and Simmons had a stage fight using swords, as Simmons was the fight arranger in the production of Macbeth that O'Toole was starring in that year.