Display screen legend Dick Van Dyke stated he was supplied a possible career-altering function in one of many world’s most well-known film franchises.
“Cubby Broccoli came to me and said, ‘Would you like to be Bond?’” he informed Al Roker of NBC’s “Today” in an interview performed forward of his one centesimal birthday subsequent month.
Van Dyke stated Broccoli, who produced lots of the James Bond movies, supplied him the function of 007 when Sean Connery left. Connery left the function twice, in 1967 and 1971 (or 3 times, in the event you rely the non-canonical “Never Say Never Again” in 1983). It’s not clear when Van Dyke was approached, however there was a purpose he wasn’t .
“I said, ‘Have you heard my British accent?’” he stated, referring to his well-known try at a Cockney accent when he portrayed Bert in 1964’s “Mary Poppins.”
He even apologized for it in 2017, when the British Academy of Movie and Tv Arts gave him a Britannia Award for excellence in tv.
“I appreciate this opportunity to apologize to the members of BAFTA for inflicting on them the most atrocious Cockney accent in the history of cinema,” he stated, in keeping with The Guardian.
Donaldson Assortment by way of Getty Photographs
Van Dyke added that on the time, nobody informed him simply how dangerous it was.
“I was working with an entire English cast and nobody said a word, not Julie [Andrews], not anybody said I needed to work on it so I thought I was alright,” he recalled.
Within the new interview, Van Dyke stated he regretted turning down Bond, however added there was one half he’s needed that he can nonetheless play.
“I wanted to be Scrooge,” he stated. “Always wanted to play Scrooge, and I could do it. It’s just November. I still got time.”
Van Dyke turns 100 on Dec. 13, and is marking the event with a brand new guide: “100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life.”
See extra of his interview with Roker beneath.
