By 1967, the James Bond films had stamped a distinct cinematic experience, with a structural formula for the agent’s missions, the recurrence of characters and their portrayers, and visual and musical motifs, among other elements. Encompassing these bonding elements and the franchise they were representing had been Sean Connery’s embodiment of the titular spy. Yet, when James Bond came back to theaters in Peter R. Hunt’s directorial effort, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), a new face was incarnating the character: George Lazenby. The new actor’s entry succeeded five films with Connery as Bond, and in retrospect, ended up sandwiched in its predecessors’ tenure, with the original actor returning to the role for the film that followed. Recasting was not entirely uncommon during the earlier Bond films: Desmond Lewellyn’s Q turned out to be armorer Boothroyd from Terence Young’s Dr. No (1962), and by 1965, Felix Leiter, portrayed by Jack Lord, Cec Linder and Rik Van Nutter, beca...
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