Liam Neeson´s late wife said she would not marry him if he took James Bond role

The late wife of Liam Neeson, Natasha Richardson, is said to have told him that she would not marry him if he accepted the role of James Bond.

Richardson is said to have been fairly adamant about the roles that he should accept according to Rolling Stone on February 21.

The star, who has enjoyed significant success in many similar roles, said that Richardson talked him out of making himself available for the James Bond role. At the time the producers were looking for a new leading man for the 1994 classic GoldenEye.

He said: “My lovely wife, god rest her soul, said to me while we were shooting Nell down in the Carolinas, ‘Liam, I want to tell you something: If you play James Bond, we’re not getting married’.”

Instead, the lead role went to Pierce Brosnan who went on to complete a few more titles before retiring as the British spy.

Neeson said he was never formally offered it but was interested and would´ve jumped at the chance were it not for Richardson. But he says they did have a laugh about it saying: “I would tease her by going behind her back, making my fingers as though I’m holding a gun, and then [hums the James Bond theme]. I loved doing that s**t!

“She gave me a James Bond ultimatum. And she meant it!”

Neeson has said that his desire to marry Richardson was stronger than his need to be James Bond and that led to a 16-year marriage before she sadly died in a skiing accident in 2009. She suffered horrific head injuries and died a short while after.

Speaking to Anderson Cooper he said he still feels profound instability following her death adding: “The Earth isn’t stable anymore and then it passes and it becomes more infrequent, but I still get it sometimes.

“[Her death] was never real, it still kind of isn’t. There’s periods now in our New York residence when I hear the door opening, especially the first couple of years.

“Anytime I hear that door opening, I still think I’m going to hear her.”

Few would turn down the opportunity to be James Bond, but not many would do so if their partner said she would not marry him if he took the role.

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