If Cary Grant was Bond

christotheman · July 2009

How to you think Bond would've been like if he was Bond.
He sure as hell had suitability, he was good with the ladies and he had the attitude Bond needed.
Cubby Broccoli did want him but knew he would only do it for one movie, but how do you think Bond would've been like if Grant was Bond.

7289 · July 2009

Grant was a wonderful actor, but by the time Bond was brought to the screen was too old for the part.

Bond also would have required a bit more "toughness" than Grant had displayed before. I doubt Grant would have approved of the "sex scenes" in Doctor No. Despite Fleming's desire for Grant and Hitchcock, I don't think either were ever seriously interested in the material.

Movie producers often grab for a "big name star" in hope that it ups the take at the box office. In the case of Bond it was a happy coincidence Harry and Albert lucked upon the unknown, "Big Tam".

Napoleon Plural · July 2009

I suppose we have Charade, the nearest thing to it. I like the idea as a what if? but no more than that. Grant would always have seemed bigger than Bond and having him in say Thunderball just somehow doesn't seem that interesting, it lacks the X-factor his Hitchcock films had somehow.

zaphod · July 2009

Napoleon Plural wrote:

I suppose we have Charade, the nearest thing to it. I like the idea as a what if? but no more than that. Grant would always have seemed bigger than Bond and having him in say Thunderball just somehow doesn't seem that interesting, it lacks the X-factor his Hitchcock films had somehow.

Also North by Northwest. I like Grant a lot but am not sorry that it never came to be.

Dan Same · July 2009

I love Grant; an absolute cinematic legend and the kind of guy whose charm, suaveness and attractiveness are eternal. But I'm not fussed that he didn't get the gig. I don't think he was tough enough, and if he had worn the tux, we might not have gotten Connery.

Loeffelholz · July 2009

Cary Grant would have been the quintessential one-off James Bond...but there wouldn't have been a franchise. So it's best that he merely features in threads like this one! :007)

As for physicality and athleticism...even in his late fifties, well :v ...we really don't want me to go there, do we?

Hardyboy · July 2009

I think if Cary Grant had played Bond it would have been another Cary Grant role. Sean Connery was such an unknown quantity at the time Dr. No came out that people saw the character more than they did the actor (witness the fact audiences often ignored Connery's non-Bond features in the '60s). It was the fact people wanted to see James Bond that kept the series going.

thesecretagent · July 2009

I quite liked Cary Grant, but couldn't see him as Bond. A little too glib and witty and hardly physical enough for me. Whilst on this topic I think Gregory Peck would have been quite good.

hegottheboot · July 2009

It would have been one film-two if lucky. We would then have the British version of North by Northwest.
"No, I didn't steal Chang's hazard suit!"
Quick thought-can anyone imagine the scene in Miss Taro's apartment, but in a traditional Cary Grant screwball comedy like Arsenic and Old Lace? Really weird.

christotheman · July 2009

Hey guys I found this slideshow on GQ about the 50 most stylish men this past 50 years and Sean Connery and Cary Grant are among them:
http://men.style.com/gq/features/slideshow/v/091307STYLISH

If Cary Grant was Bond

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