On Her Majesty's secret Service (1969)

The only James Bond film to feature Australian actor George Lazenby

Summary

-James Bond has managed to woo the daughter of a mob boss while also investigating the true reason for allergy research being conducted by Blofeld in the Swiss Alps

Cast

-George Lazenby: James Bond

-Diana Rigg: Tracy

-Telly Savalas: Blofeld

-Gabriele Ferzetti: Draco

-Ilse Steppat: Irma Bunt

-Lois Maxwell: Miss Moneypenny

-Bernard Lee: M

Did You Know?

-At age 29 during filming, George Lazenby was the youngest actor to play James Bond. The other actors were older. Sean Connery-31, Sir Roger Moore-45, Timothy Dalton-40, Pierce Brosnan-41 and Daniel Craig-38

-The building used as Blofeld's headquarters was a partially complete restaurant on top of Mt. Schilthorn. The owners allowed filming there on the conditions of the interior set being made permanent fixtures and EON Productions paying $125,000 and constructing a helicopter pad. When the restaurant opened, it was named Piz Gloria, which was used in the movie. The way the public could access the restaurant was by cable car from Murren or Stechelberg. It became the first established revolving restaurant in the mountains in the world

-There are several reasons why George Lazenby only played Bond once. 1.) His youthful arrogance annoyed producer Albert Broccoli. The incredibly brutal British tabloids kept writing negative stories and constantly comparing him to Sir Sean Connery. 3.) Lazenby believed the Bond movies had gone as far they could go in the 1970s, especially with more sophisticated films like The Graduate and Easy Rider coming out

-This was the only film where Ilse Steppat spoke English. She could not enjoy her new found fame because she died less than a week after the movie was released from a heart attack

-For the opening scene, there are railroad ties under the sand so Bond can drive his Aston Martin on the beach

-The title was inspired by a phrase commonly known to those who live in Britain. Any sort of correspondence arriving from a government office was usually addressed with not a stamp, but the words "On Her (on his when there was a king) Majesty's Service" printed on the envelope.

-Timothy Dalton was offered the part of James Bond. He was 22 at the time, but felt he was inexperienced and too young to take the role. He would play Bond later in The Living Daylights (1987) and License to Kill (1989)

-Adam West, a personal friend of producer Albert Broccoli, was offered the chance to play James Bond. He turned it down, saying that he felt the role should be played by an English actor

-The photograph of Teresa "Tracy" Draco's mother was an actual photo of Dame Diana Rigg's own mother

-Joanna Lumley and George Lazenby had different ways of relaxing when not filming. She picked flowers and knitted a blanket for her young son while he learned to play "Hey Jude" by The Beatles on his guitar

-George Lazenby is the only actor known for playing James Bond who didn't come from the UK. He's Australian. Pierce Brosnan was born in Ireland, but moved to the UK when he was young

-To help him get the role of James Bond, George Lazenby went to the same barber and tailor as Sean Connery so that when he showed up at the offices of Albert Broccoli Harry Saltzman, two of the producers, he'd look more like Sean Connery. Ironically, when Lazenby was getting his hair cut, Albert Broccoli was in the barber shop. This successfully led to Lazenby getting the role

-This was George Lazenby's theatrical debut

-There were various actresses considered for the role of Tracy Draco. They included Brigitte Bardot, Jacqueline Bisset and Catherine Deneuve. Bardot was the first choice for director Peter R. Hunt, but Bardot had chosen to appear with Sean Connery in Shalako (1968). Dame Diana Rigg was then chosen because of her performance as Emma Peel on the British spy television series The Avengers (1961)

-This is the second film in the Bond series, the first one being Goldfinger (1964) where the actress playing the Bond girl is older than the actor playing Bond

-Lois Maxwell, who plays Miss Moneypenny, is twelve years and six months older than George Lazenby

-When the final scene showing Tracy Bond's death was originally written, George Lazenby was brought to tears. Director Peter R. Hunt wanted to re-shoot the scene, stating "Bond does not cry". There were only two takes for this. George Lazenby convinced Hunt to use the first take, saying that the circumstances (his wife being killed), this should be the exception. This became the first time (until the 2012 release of Skyfall) that Bond can be seen openly crying