However, it was screenwriter and producer Pen Densham who needed Connery within the position as an alternative of the comic as King Richard.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Densham mentioned of Cleese: “I couldn’t stomach that because I felt all of the care, all of the investment, all the love, all the effort that the characters were playing all came down to a joke.”

He then boldly contacted the previous Bond’s agent asking if he would play the medieval monarch in an uncredited cameo.

The screenwriter and producer mentioned: “Passion empowers you, whereas technique doesn’t. I so wanted to not have the John Cleese that I said, ‘Would you give me Sean Connery? We can’t give him a credit because you can’t have the audience waiting for the whole movie to see him — but he only has to work one day.”’

The Bond legend’s agent, CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz, agreed – however requested a price of $1 million.

However, Densham informed Connery’s agent: “No. No. You don’t understand, we’re already over budget. We can’t afford that, but I guarantee you that it will be a part of film history.”

So in the long run, the unique 007 agreed to play King Richard for $250,000, which might be donated to a Scottish hospital.

The iconic cameo scene in query takes place proper on the finish of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves when Connery’s monarch interrupts the outlaw’s marriage ceremony to Maid Marian. Connery’s King Richard thanks Robin for saving the throne and offers the bride away.

Four years later, the Hollywood legend would play King Arthur in First Knight, whereas he additionally portrayed an ageing Robin Hood reverse Audrey Hepburn in 1976’s Robin and Marian.

Meanwhile, the Bond star had acted alongside Cleese in Terry Gillam’s Time Bandits. In truth, the Monty Python actor who nearly performed King Richard really portrayed Robin Hood within the 1981 movie.