Why Burt Reynolds turned down the role of James Bond

Burt Reynolds has played many classic roles, from Bo “The Bandit” Darville in “Smokey and the Bandit” to Lewis Medlock in “Deliverance.” However, before those two instances, the actor got the chance to take on what would surely have been the most well-known role of his career when he was offered the chance to lead the James Bond franchise. Why would he refuse? Well, it was for the simple reason that he thought the character should be played by a Brit. Yet in several interviews over the years that followed, Reynolds said he felt “stupid” for saying “no” to Bond.

Despite all the great roles he played, the late star also made quite a few missteps during his career. He had Clint Eastwood to blame for his worst western.“Navajo Joe,” in which he played the titular Navajo man in what was, to say the least, questionable casting. Elsewhere, even Reynolds regretted his failure in the gangster film, “City Heat”, which also starred Eastwood. Come to think of it, I’m not sure the pair’s friendship was of much use to Reynolds, who, while still a legend in his own right, ultimately failed to earn the same kind of respect as his peer.

Even keeping these errors in mind, one could argue that Reynolds, died in 2018made his biggest mistake by refusing the role of James Bond. Not that playing England’s greatest spy would have earned him the same kind of esteem as Eastwood, but it would have given him a major boost in an era before he fully became a movie star.

There are plenty actors who almost played James Bondmany of whom became known for botching this role. Henry Cavill is an example, with the Brit’s name never completely disappearing from casting conversations, even after his loss to Daniel Craig (although Cavill’s Bond audition suggests he probably shouldn’t have been cast). On the other hand, we don’t hear much about Burt Reynolds letting Bond slip through his fingers, and if you had asked the man himself why that might happen, he would have said it probably had to do with the fact that he was a Yankee.

In the early 1970s, Reynolds was still waiting for his breakout role. The 60s had seen him make a pretty decent name for himself on television, playing part-time Deputy Marshal Quint Asper in “Gunsmoke” and as police lieutenant John Hawk in “Hawk.” On the film side, he had played the aforementioned “Navajo Joe” alongside a handful of other westerns that were thankfully better than his attempt at portraying a Native American. But his breakthrough performance as Lewis Medlock in 1972’s “Deliverance” was still a few years away, meaning Reynolds really could have benefited from one of the biggest movie franchises of the era.

Unfortunately, he didn’t feel up to the task simply because of his nationality, and while one might think that would have precluded him from taking on “Navajo Joe,” Reynolds justified this and several other Native roles by making a dubious claim about his Cherokee ancestry. However, pretending to be British was apparently a step too far.

During an appearance on “Good Morning America” ​​(via The guardian) Burt Reynolds spoke about being offered Bond after Sean Connery resigned after 1967’s “You Only Live Twice.” “I think I could have done it well,” Reynolds said. “In my stupidity, I said, ‘An American can’t play James Bond, it has to be an Englishman – ‘Bond, James Bond. No, I can’t do it.’ Oops. Yeah, I could have done that.”

Could he? Legendary Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli certainly thought so. He outright offered the role to Reynolds, the actor remembered in a 2007 film. interview how “Sean Connery had said he wanted more money and left” before Broccoli “came to visit me and said, ‘We want you to play James Bond.'” In a separate 2018 interview with DeadlineThe “Boogie Nights” star further explained why he turned down the producer, saying he “wasn’t worried” about the accent he thought he could do a “passable” job with. “I just felt at the time I thought there might be resistance from the public,” he explained. “I don’t know. What was wrong with me? I should have done it.”

Of course, Broccoli eventually found his next Bond in Australian actor George Lazenby, who only starred in one film with “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” in 1969. After that, Connery returned for one more turn in a tuxedo before Roger Moore stepped in, ensuring that Reynolds never got a good attempt at the accent. Contrary to Liam Neeson, who is glad he never played Bond However, Reynolds never seemed to get over turning down the opportunity.