Telly Savalas took poker prize from George Lazenby after seeing suitcase of money

Today at 3:25pm on ITV the long-lasting James Bond film – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – will hit TV screens.

This movie was a turning level for the collection, because it was the primary image with out Sean Connery as 007.

Instead, Bond bosses employed George Lazenby to step into the function – however his tenure did not final lengthy.

The Australian star solely performed James Bond in a single film earlier than he was let go by the franchise homeowners, forcing Connery to make a triumphant return to the collection for one remaining film (till he later returned as soon as once more in Never Say Never Again).

Lazenby definitely made essentially the most of his time as Bond, nonetheless. Starting with how he claimed the function.

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Lazenby famously claimed the Bond function by strolling into the London workplaces of MGM and demanding an audition. The mannequin didn’t have any earlier performing expertise however was so convincing in his display check that he broke one other actor’s nostril throughout a check battle. When the 30-year-old arrived on the set for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, he had a particularly odd expertise.

Speaking to the Daily Express in 2010, Lazenby revealed: “I’d been given thousands of dollars of spending money and it was all piling up in my suitcase.” He was reportedly being paid as much as £1,000 a day (roughly £16,832 in 2020), all of which he was protecting in suitcases across the movie set.

But when the movie’s on-screen villain, Telly Savalas, caught wind of this huge amount of money rolling round, he hatched a devious plan.

Savalas performed Ernst Stavro Blofeld within the image and had an important rapport with Lazenby, however issues shortly acquired out of hand between them. As they acquired bored on the set, they started chatting. And Savalas got here up with an ingenious plan.

Savalas was eager to make some extent of Lazenby, so invited him to play a sport. The Aussie recalled: “Telly saw [the suitcase of money] one day and asked: ‘Wanna play poker?’ Well, I’d never played poker and started losing.”

The actor reportedly misplaced a sizeable chunk of money within the betting video games that adopted, leaving Savalas extraordinarily proud of himself because the pile of cash in entrance of him continued to develop. The loss was so devastating that the movie’s administration needed to step in.

Word ultimately acquired to Harry Saltzman, a Canadian movie producer and one of many Bond bosses who labored on the primary few 007 motion pictures alongside the legendary Albert “Cubby” Broccoli. Once he heard what had occurred to Lazenby, he challenged Savalas to his personal sport of poker. The story goes that Saltzman received again each penny owed to the Bond actor, and promptly returned it to the now-desolate star. But not earlier than he gave Savalas a stern phrase.

Lazenby remembered Saltzman confronted Savalas about his underhanded actions.

The 007 star recalled: “[Harry] Saltzman put a stop to it and told Telly: ‘Leave my boy alone.'”

Despite the poker incident, it looks like each Savalas and Lazenby had a great relationship on set. Savalas was a well known star on the time, having beforehand acted in such initiatives as The Dirty Dozen, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and The Fugitive.

Lazenby later shared a fond reminiscence he had of Savalas on set, proving that the 007 villain actor was extremely sort.

Lazenby stated: “The only thing I remember coming from Telly that did help me as – we rehearsed the scene, our first scene together (I forget where it was but it was up on that mountain) and apparently they had forewarned him that I was a novice actor.”

Savalas was not going to face for this type of discuss, so turned to the bosses and declared: “He doesn’t need any help. I’ve got to watch out, he will blow me off the screen.”

Lazenby added: “So that was, in a way, a compliment, because I came out remembering all my lines and Telly hadn’t had his down yet, although he did by the time we started to shoot, and I had to have mine down because if I didn’t there was no way I could remember them in five minutes like he can.”