1973 marked the debut of Roger Moore as the star of James Bond, but that same year also saw another actor play 007. Over half a century since Ian Fleming's spy first debuted on the big screen, the role of James Bond remains one of the most coveted in cinema. Following Sean Connery's classic interpretation and the underappreciated George Lazenby, Moore would become the most prolific iteration of Bond, and was followed by Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan before current 007, Daniel Craig, reinvented the role in Casino Royale. Craig will be hanging up his Walther PPK after No Time To Die, due to release later in 2020 when the speculation over his successor will no doubt kick into gear fully.
Aside from this official line of James Bond actors in the Eon movies, a handful of others have portrayed the iconic British spy. A 1954 TV adaptation of Casino Royale saw Barry Nelson precede Connery as 007, while David Niven took the part of an older, retired Bond in another version of Fleming's casino story, this time in a 1967 comedic effort. After reprising the role once already for Eon with Diamonds Are Forever, Connery himself became an unofficial Bond in the 1980s by appearing in Never Say Never Again, released by Warner Bros. There is, however, one more Bond actor often overlooked by fans: Christopher Cazenove.
In 1973, the BBC's Omnibus documentary series aired an episode called "The British Hero," exploring various fictional protagonists hailing from the United Kingdom. The documentary was comprised of reimagined, refilmed scenes from the stories throughout history, with a single actor (Cazenove) playing each of the heroes. Undoubtedly the most famous of the episode's subjects was James Bond, and Cazenove became 007 in newly-shot scenes from both Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever. While Cazenove's role as Bond is incredibly brief, and only takes place within the context of a documentary, his portrayal did leave a lasting impression among fans, as the scenes strove to be faithful to Ian Fleming's version of Bond. This is shown in how the famous 'laser between the crown jewels' scene becomes a rotating blade instead.
However brief, James Bond fans of the day certainly enjoyed seeing a live-action 007 that didn't adhere to Hollywood's vision for the spy, and was more accurate to the character Fleming first created. Despite the evidently low-budget production of Omnibus compared to Eon's movie series, the scenes succeeded in capturing the grittier side of Bond that was missing in the 1960s and 1970s and there was a certain detail in Christopher Cazenove's performance, despite not lasting particularly long. This might've been helped by Cazenove's starring role as a member of the British armed forces in The Regiment - an origin that mirrored Bond's own military background. Accordingly, Cazenove developed somewhat of a cult status, and his scenes were revisited as part of Bond's 50th anniversary celebrations. The actor was even one of the names mooted as a potential successor to Roger Moore many years later.
It speaks to the popularity of Bond as a character that Christopher Cazenove's fleeting part in the franchise is still remembered. However, Cazenove's Bond also proves that even as the Roger Moore era was just beginning arguably the most light-hearted era of the 007 movie series, there was an appetite for a more grounded, authentic James Bond.
