Eric Braeden Was Rejected For Iconic James Bond Role. (Photo Credit – Instagram)
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Eric Braeden, who portrays the iconic Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless, was reportedly once up for the role of Iconic James Bond. However, Bradeden was rejected because of his nationality.
Eric Braeden is not just known for portraying The Great Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless, but he also had a prolific career outside of daytime television, including a role in one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, Titanic. Braeden also starred in some of the biggest television series in the 1970s, like Gunsmoke, The Rat Patrol, and Mission: Impossible. The actor once revealed he could have been one of the famous Bond actors.
According to Braeden, in the 1970s, James Bond fans almost got a completely different kind of 007 when the bosses asked him to don the tuxedo. Eric Braeden claims he was a serious candidate to replace Sean Connery in the Iconic franchise.
In an interview with Fifteen Minutes With Eric Braeden, he recalled that in the 1970s, Cubby Broccoli, the executive in charge of the Bond series, approached Braeden about playing 007.
Braeden said, “When Sean Connery said no for the first time, they were looking for another one. The producer, Cubby Broccoli, had seen me in a film called Colossus, and he was interested. We had lunch, and he asked if I still had a British passport.”
Braeden said he was rejected after they discovered he was German. He added, “So when they found out that I was German, that was the end of that story.”
Braeden is one of many actors who were asked to replace Connery. After Braden lost the role, it went to Roger Moore before the baton was passed on to Timothy Dalton.
In the 1980s, Broccoli approached Mel Gibson to star in the Iconic Franchise. However, Gibson turned down the role because he didn’t want to be stuck playing a character for decades.
