Mel Gibson was turned down for the role of James Bond as he is too short.

The 5ft 9ins star was keen to take on the iconic British spy role many years ago, but film producer Cubby Broccoli was not keen. He was adamant Bond had to be tall and intimidating, and didn’t think Gibson was imposing enough.

“At one point Mel Gibson wanted to play Bond and Cubby was against it,” says Tom Mankiewicz, who wrote Live And Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun.

“Cubby first of all had a thing about tall people. Bond had to be tall. And so Mel Gibson was too short. But he was a big star.”

Would Mel Gibson have made a good Bond? If not, who would have been better? Have your say below.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.

End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

Bosses at film studio United Artists were so keen to get Gibson on board they asked Mankiewicz to do everything in his power to persuade Broccoli, but he would not budge.

Mankiewicz recalled: “Somebody at United Artists said to me, ‘Call him and tell him Mel Gibson would be great.’
And Cubby said, ‘I don’t want to make a Mel Gibson movie, I want to make a James Bond movie.’ ”

Other stars to have played the suave spy include Timothy Dalton, who is 6ft 2ins, 6ft 1ins Pierce Brosnan and Sir Sean Connery who measures 6ft 2ins.

I am going to surprise everyone and place my support behind Mel Gibson as James Bond. Here’s my top 5 reasons for doing so.

The Top 5 Reasons Why Mel Gibson Would Not Make Such a Bad James Bond

5. He already enjoys a strong drink

4. Octo-Mel could handle Octopussy

3. He already knows how to knock up young Russian women

2. He wouldn’t be the first anti-Semitic Australian in the role

1. It is not such a stretch to imagine Bond referring to a woman as “Sugartits”

Pam Shriver says Australian 007 George Lazenby is an abusive alcoholic who gave beer to their toddlers and threatened to kill her.

The Grand Slam doubles champion also alleged in court documents that Lazenby assaulted her during drunken rages and often scared their three young children with his temper.

She alleges he once launched an anti-semitic attack against senior Israeli government officials who were dining in the same swanky Los Angeles restaurant.