Stanley Baker turned down the role of James Bond before Connery was cast, reveals his widow

02-May-2004 • Bond News

One of the greatest Welsh screen actors, Zulu star Stanley Baker, was offered the role of James Bond before Sean Connery - and turned it down, reports ICWales.

He didn't want to be tied to a three-film, five-year deal offered by producer Cubby Broccoli, Baker's widow Lady Ellen revealed.

Not only that - he signed to play the lead in the gritty British hit feature, This Sporting Life (1963), but the role was cruelly snatched away from him.

Filming on The Guns of Navarone overran and kept Baker on set and he was forced to drop out.

The role of the volatile rugby league anti-hero, opposite Llanelli's Rachel Roberts, was played by Richard Harris and propelled him to stardom and an Oscar nomination.

Yet despite these disappointments, Baker was to triumph in 1964 - with Zulu, the feature epic of the heavily outnumbered South Wales Borderers' heroic 1879 battle against the Zulu warriors in Natal.

Two major screenings of the film, to celebrate its 40th anniversary, will be held in Wales next weekend - on Saturday, April 17, in Bangor, and on Sunday, April 18, in Aberystwyth.

The film was a labour of love for Baker, who co-produced and starred with the relatively unknown Michael Caine - and the film became the third most successful UK film of its year.

It had earned its costs many times over by 1976, the year Baker died of cancer aged 48.

For most of the Zulus, taking part in the movie was a revelation. They had never seen a film before, Lady Ellen Baker revealed.

The film crew hastily arranged for them to see silent film comedies and Tom Mix silent westerns projected onto whitewashed rocks on location. This helped them to rehearse battle scenes.

In his final year, Baker, from Ferndale, Rhondda, proved his personal courage.

During his last illness he played the lead in BBC TV's multi- part version of How Green Was My Valley, opposite Sian Phillips.

Thanks to `Jim` for the alert.