When making an appearance on 'The Late Late Show', the 'Taken' star admits to host James Corden that twenty six years ago, he was approached to take on the role of the 007 agent.

• Jun 28, 2021

AceShowbiz - Liam Neeson's late wife shot down the idea of the "Taken" star playing James Bond.

The Northern Irish actor reveals he was approached to play 007 26 years ago, but he clearly failed to impress Bond boss Barbara Broccoli, who stopped phoning after a couple of calls.

Neeson now admits he would probably have turned down the role if it was offered, because his then-fiancee, Natasha Richardson, wasn't on board.

"They approached [me]," he told "The Late Late Show with James Corden" host James Corden. "I believe it was a couple of calls from Barbara Broccoli, who's now the main producer of the Bond films. This was after I had done 'Schindler's List', which was 26 years ago. But I wasn't offered it."

"I know they were looking at various actors and I, apparently, was among them. However, my dear departed wife did say to me..., 'Darling, if you're offered James Bond, and you're going to play it, you're not going to marry me.' "

Richardson when she died of a traumatic head injury in 2009 following a skiing accident in Quebec, Canada. In 2014, Neeson opened up about the loss when speaking to Anderson Cooper for "60 Minutes". He shared, "It was never real. It still kind of isn't. There's - there's periods now in our New York residence when I hear the door opening, especially the first couple of years, she would always drop the keys in the - on the table. Say, 'Hello?' "

"So anytime I hear that door opening I still think I'm gonna hear her, you know. And, then, it's - grief's like - it hits you. It's like a wave. You just get this profound feeling of instability. You feel like a three-legged table. Just suddenly you just - the Earth isn't stable anymore," he described further. "And then it passes and becomes more infrequent, but I still get it sometimes."