You know his best as 'yer man' from Diagnosis Murder and Mary Poppins but did you know that Dick Van Dyke was once talking about taking on the role of James Bond? Us neither.
The actor, who is still going strong at the ripe old age of 87, has been telling interviewer Kevin Pollack that he was in talks to take on the iconic role after Sean Connery back in the day.
He says producer R 'Cubby' Broccoli called him in for a chat not long after he stormed the cinema screens in Mary Poppins. Seems as though the actor ruled himself out of the running though, reminding Broccoli of that god-awful English accent of his. "Oh, that's right - forget it!", the producer allegedly quipped.
That wasn't the end of his talk about the franchise though: Van Dyke says current Bond Daniel Craig "lacks the panache to be Bond". He did say Craig was a "wonderful actor" though, with "great physicality" to boot.
In other words, he's got plenty of Chitty but just not enough Bang Bang for Van Dyke's liking. Don't forget, that film was another Ian Fleming adaptation, so it really wouldn't have been too much of a flying leap now, would it?
