A new documentary reveals the producers of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service had their doubts about George Lazenby’s sexuality after casting him to play 007.

The Australian was a model whose most prominent work had been a TV commercial for Big Fry chocolate. He had the physique and self-assurance for the part but there was one big question.

Lazenby reveals: “They sent a girl up to my apartment to make sure I wasn’t gay. A little while later they had their answer. I sure as hell wasn’t.”

He went on to be the most notorious womaniser of all Bond actors as he tried to live the 007 life on screen and off.

“Suddenly I was James Bond and you can imagine what that did to me,” says Lazenby. “I don’t want to brag but I had at least one girl a day.

“There was a tent on set where the stuntmen used to keep the mattresses they fell on in fight scenes. It was a good place to take a chick if you were in a hurry.”