Michael Gambon biography reveals 007 audition

07-Jul-2009 • Bond News

According to a new biography, Irish actor Michael Gambon's first real screen break came in The Borderers, a BBC2 series concerning the lives of an extended family of Scots, living on the borders with England in the 1500s and dealing with raiders, rustlers and political shenanigans. Ian Cuthbertson would play Sir Walter Ker, patriarch and warden of the area, while Michael would swashbuckle away as Gavin Ker, the tough head of another branch of the clan. The show would run from December 1968 to March 1970 and would, amazingly, turn Gambon into somethig of an action hero.

This would bring him to the attention of the Broccolis, then desperately seeking a new James Bond, after George Lazenby's On Her Majesty's Secret Service had failed [to live up to box-office expectation] and Sean Connery had again refused to return. He met up with Cubby Broccoli in Mayfair, not knowing what the meeting was about. When told it was Bond he was flabberghasted. But I'm bald, he said. So was Sean, we'll get around it. But my teeth are like a horse's. We'll take you to Harley Street. But I've got tits like a woman. We'll use ice-packs before the love scenes, just like we did with Sean. Their replies convinced him that he was in, the new 007 and a soon-to-be worldwide sensation. But, on leaving, he noticed a parade of others waiting to audition. Beyond this, the Broccolis were concerned about casting another unknown. Worldwide fame was to take a little longer, it seemed.

Connery would ultimately return for "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971) and a record pay day.

Gambon went on to play opposite Daniel Craig in the well-received "Layer Cake" (2004).