Please read my unedited post #57, and this time CAREFULLY:

"The thing to keep in mind about Lazenby is that, back then, Connery was HUGELY successful -- and typecast -- as James Bond, and audiences were NOT used to (or as used to) having a wildly popular leading character be replaced by a different actor in a sustained film franchise. (I'm not talking about stuff like Tarzan movies, which were made by different producers and studios throughout the years, or low-budgeters like the Charlie Chan serials.)"