Yet to general film fans, “OHMSS” is an outlier, even an aberration.

Much of the explanation lies with the casting of Lazenby, an Australian actor. A former model and car salesman, he assumed a role that Sean Connery had made famous after the first five Bond movies. (Connery quit the part after “You Only Live Twice” in 1967. But he returned after “OHMSS” for “Diamonds Are Forever” in 1971 — and for the non-EON production “Never Say Never Again” in 1983.)

Indeed, there was so much uncertainty about how to present Lazenby to a curious and even skeptical public that in some advertisements his face was deliberately obscured. At one point, Maibaum suggested a scene in which 007 has cosmetic surgery to confuse his enemies.

“I’m told that mine was the biggest screen test in history,” Lazenby, now 80, said in a telephone interview from his home in Santa Monica, Calif. “I think there were 800 applicants and 300 screen tests. They tested me for four months. They tested me every which way — fights, horseback riding, swimming.”

Lazenby had big shoes to fill, and some critics thought he filled them well enough. “Lazenby is pleasant, capable and attractive in the role, but he suffers in the inevitable comparison with Connery,” Variety wrote. Other voices were harsher. His “acting is noncommittal to the point of being minus,” wrote The New York Post.

“At the time, I thought I did a good job,” Lazenby said. “Now I know I could do it better.”

Hunt personally chose Rigg, who had recently come off “The Avengers,” as the chief Bond Girl. “I know why he called me,” Rigg said in a telephone interview. “George was an inexperienced actor, so they decided to pair him with an experienced actress. I hope I did help him. For someone who had never done a movie before, he was quite good.”