Jaclyn Smith came surprisingly close to adding a James Bond movie to her résumé while she was playing Kelly Garrett on Charlie’s Angels.
The actress says she was offered the role of Dr. Holly Goodhead, the astrophysicist and CIA agent who joins Roger Moore’s 007 in 1979’s Moonraker. Smith wanted to take the part, but the film conflicted with her television schedule, she told PEOPLE.
Smith approached Charlie’s Angels producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg about making both projects work. They told her the Bond film overlapped with the series’ production schedule and that they were not willing to change it.
Smith ultimately turned down Moonraker and remained with the ABC series. Nearly five decades later, she admits she was disappointed but does not describe the decision with resentment, largely because of the loyalty she felt toward Spelling and the show that had transformed her career.
The ‘Charlie’s Angels’ Schedule Was the Dealbreaker
Smith gives a direct account of the missed opportunity in her memoir, I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie. “I was offered the part of Holly Goodhead in Moonraker,” she writes, according to Entertainment Weekly.
The opportunity also carried a personal connection because Moonraker would have reunited Smith with Richard Kiel, her former Switch costar. Kiel played the towering, metal-toothed villain Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me and returned for Moonraker.
When Smith asked Spelling and Goldberg whether the television schedule could accommodate the film, their answer was no. “They said it conflicted with the Charlie’s shooting schedule, a schedule they weren’t willing to change,” Smith writes. “So I turned down the part.”
Smith had signed a contract with the series and has connected her decision to the way she was raised in Houston. Speaking about her loyalty to Spelling, she told PEOPLE that she believed in honoring the commitment she had already made rather than forcing a confrontation over another opportunity.
Holly Goodhead Would Have Put Smith Opposite Roger Moore
Holly Goodhead was far more than a brief Bond appearance. The official James Bond site describes the character as an astrophysicist, astronaut and CIA agent working undercover while investigating billionaire Hugo Drax.
Goodhead initially appears to be connected to Drax’s space program before Bond discovers her real allegiance. She eventually joins him as the investigation moves from California and Venice to Rio de Janeiro and finally into space, where they work together to stop Drax’s plan.
Lois Chiles ultimately played the role opposite Moore. The official Bond archive says Chiles landed the part after an unexpected meeting with director Lewis Gilbert on an airplane.
Kiel also returned as Jaws, giving Smith another reason the project appealed to her. She had worked with him before Charlie’s Angels on Switch, the CBS detective series starring Robert Wagner and Eddie Albert.
Smith Says She Never Held the Decision Against Aaron Spelling
Smith’s relationship with Spelling is a major reason she does not describe the missed Bond role as something she remained angry about.
“He was a genius, and he was a great friend too,” she told PEOPLE. Smith has recalled Spelling supporting her well beyond the practical demands of producing Charlie’s Angels, including helping her family and showing what she considered unusually personal loyalty to the people who worked for him.
She also remembered his generosity, joking that employees sometimes had to stop him from giving them gifts. Smith said Spelling once made a call on her behalf when she was trying to get her children into a school, something he had no professional obligation to do.
Her attachment to Charlie’s Angels mattered as well. Smith was one of the three original leads when the series premiered in 1976 alongside Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jackson, and she ultimately became the only original Angel to remain a regular through all five seasons.
Kate Jackson Lost a Major Movie Opportunity Too
Smith was not the only original Angel whose television contract interfered with a major film offer. Kate Jackson has said the series prevented her from accepting the role of Joanna Kramer in Kramer vs. Kramer, which eventually went to Meryl Streep.
Streep won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1979 film. Smith told PEOPLE that she understood why Jackson remained disappointed about losing the opportunity, while also returning to the contractual obligations the actresses had accepted when they joined the series.
“We did sign a contract, and there are certain rules,” Smith said.
Her own shorthand for the Moonraker decision comes from home. “I did want to do it,” Smith said, “but in Texas, you dance with the person that brought you to the party, and he did, and I loved him for it.”