Burt Reynolds says he regrets turning down the role of James Bond in 1970. Appearing on the TV show Good Morning America to promote his new autobiography, But Enough About Me, the actor said he was offered the chance to take over from George Lazenby after the Australian actor quit the Bond series following his debut in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1969.

“I think I could have done it well,” said Reynolds, who at the time he was offered the 007 role was a relatively unknown actor. His breakout role was in Deliverance in 1972. “In my stupidity, I said, ‘An American can’t play James Bond, it has to be an Englishman – Bond, James Bond. Nah, I can’t do it.’ Oops. Yeah, I could have done it.”

After Reynolds rebuffed the role, producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman turned once again to Sean Connery, who agreed to play 007 for a sixth time in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) for a then-record $1.25m (£820,000) salary.

Reynolds also spoke about turning down the role of Han Solo in Star Wars (1977), which went on to hold the highest-grossing film record for two decades. “I was busy,” said Reynolds, “but I wasn’t so busy I couldn’t have done it.”

In other Bond news, the imposing desert lair where Daniel Craig’s Bond takes on the villainous Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) in Spectre is up for sale for $6m. In the movie, it takes Bond and his companion, Dr Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), several hours to travel through the Sahara by train to the villa from Tangiers, in Morocco. The six-year-old glass, metal and concrete building, designed by Algerian-trained architect Imaad Rahmouni, is actually eight kilometres from Marrakech and is surrounded by lush greenery. Its minimalist, dusty appearance in the movie was created mostly with special effects.