Terence Stamp on how he blew his chance to play James Bond

British actor Terence Stamp has revealed that he blew his chance to take over the role of James Bond after Sean Connery stepped down due to his radical plans to re-introduce the character.

According to a new interview with the Evening Standard, Stamp was approached by producer Harry Saltzman when Connery first stepped away from the role after "You Only Live Twice" in 1967.

“Like most English actors, I’d have loved to be 007 because I really know how to wear a suit. But I think my ideas about it put the frighteners on Harry. I didn’t get a second call from him."

"He took me out for dinner at the White Elephant in Curzon Street. He said, ‘We’re looking for the new 007. You’re really fit and really English."

"I was very shocked but I thought it was great. ‘The fact is,’ I said, ‘Sean has made the role his own. The public will have trouble accepting anyone else. But in one of the books it starts with him disguised as a Japanese warrior. If we could do that one, I could start the movie in complete Japanese make-up. By the time it came off they are used to me a little bit. I would love to do it like that.’ He wasn’t impressed.”

Instead Stamp departed from society and spent time at an ashram in India. He has since adopted a nomadic lifestyle. "The films I love to do don’t equip me to live in the kind of house I’d like. So it’s good that I’ve a philosophy on it."

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