But what if Roger Moore gives Cubby Broccoli a definitive "NO" after Diamonds are Forever? What then? Who gets the part (Connery was done) and what direction does the series go? Much of the Moore-era was tailored to Moore's strengths (as seen in The Saint) with humor and gadgets and not so much hand-to-hand fighting.
How about Christopher Lee? Obviously it would alter the casting of
Man with the Golden Gun, but I think he would have been a pretty solid choice. He presumably got on with the Broccoli production team and I can imagine them pointing out the Fleming connection in the publicity. Given Lee's history in horror films I surmise they would have written him more as a sneaky spy than an international playboy that everybody knew, which was Roger Moore's biggest beef with the character. As a straightforward uncomplicated punch-the-baddies / get-the-girl hero Lee would have seemed odd but no more than Timothy Dalton, who as pointed out was also under consideration at the time.
I've always thought that Bond's actor should have three attributes. He should be a plausible ladies' man, which rules out Lewis Collins. He should look commanding and worldly in a suit - does anybody remember those adverts for Asahi, with Debbie McGee and Richard Whiteley? "Breeding. Extra Stately." And he should look plausibly tough. And he should be clever but not
too clever. Christopher Lee doesn't quite fit but then again neither did Roger Moore.
The problem with casting Bond in the 1970s is that the British film industry on the whole was going through a terrible period. There was a big crop of British stars in the 1960s, but all the work dried up in the 1970s. The Bond actors tend to be drawn from the ranks of post-television pre-stardom supporting actors, but I simply can't think of all that many British actors who were employed in the 1970s. Malcolm McDowell was too young. John Hurt might have fit. I like to imagine that somewhere in the universe there is a planet where Richard Lester directed
Moonraker, starring Michael Crawford as a smarter Bond for the sensitive seventies.