The Australian actor who once portrayed the iconic 007 character was seen in Los Angeles on Friday, shortly after his well-known ex-wife disclosed that he is dealing with dementia.

George Lazenby, 85, appeared frail as he relied on a walker during a sunny afternoon outing, with a nursing aide staying close by his side. 

Over five decades have passed since Lazenby donned the role of James Bond in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”—his only appearance as the legendary spy—yet he still exudes that classic appeal, offering a quick and charming smile.

Clad in a light blue polo and black pants, the Golden Globe-nominated actor maintained a steady pace, even relying on his nurse for support at times while walking down the sidewalk.

The rare sighting comes after Lazenby’s ex-wife, Wimbledon champion Pam Shriver, 63—who divorced the actor in 2008 after six years of marriage—penned a deeply personal essay about reuniting with Lazenby and stepping in as his caregiver as he ‘enters the last phase of his life.’

‘George is 85 now, and he has dementia, but he is still very much himself. A softer version of himself, perhaps – and this is the key,’ she wrote for The Telegraph.

Pam and George first met at Wimbledon in 2000 and married two years later, when she was 40 and he was 63. 

They went on to have three children before finalizing their divorce in 2011, citing irreconcilable differences.

However, their split was far from amicable. 

‘I won’t pretend that it was anything less than horrific,’ Pam admitted in the essay, adding, ‘We didn’t speak for two years.’ 

But over time, the former couple managed to put their rocky past behind them, especially as they now co-parent their children and face George’s health decline together.

According to Shriver, the turning point came in January 2025, when the Los Angeles wildfires nearly trapped her ex. 

‘There was a moment, earlier this year, when he was caught up in the Los Angeles wildfires and only made it out by a whisker,”’she wrote. ‘That day, I realized how much he still means to me.’

‘As George enters the last phase of his life,’ she continued, ‘I just want to extend this late period of reconciliation and renewal for as long as I can.’

Now, the pair have settled into a quiet routine. 

‘We go for walks together, chatting about the kids and all the little anxieties which anyone with an older relative will recognise,’ she shared. 

‘His dementia affects his short-term memory, but he tells stories about his younger days… climbing on to the boat to London in 1964 with just a few dollars in his pocket. Chasing the girl who left Canberra because her father did not want her associating with this guy from the wrong side of the tracks.’

She added, ‘Now we have settled into a routine where I try to spend at least an hour with George every day when I am at home.

‘It does not matter if the Tennis Channel shows the same matches all the time because he doesn’t remember the details.’

Though his stint as Bond was short—just one film between Sean Connery’s You Only Live Twice and Live and Let Die—Lazenby’s impact as the only 007 to walk away from the role remains legendary.

As Pam recalled, ‘He enjoyed all the high jinks he got up to during the nine-month filming of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: the boozing, the weed-smoking, the assignations with various members of the cast.’

But not everything about being Bond came easy. 

‘He also found it difficult to deal with all the expectations that went with a role of that size,’ she wrote. 

‘He grew a beard for the premiere, just to annoy his bosses. And then, when they offered him £1 million to sign up for another six movies, he walked away.’

Looking back, Lazenby himself was modest about his 007 debut. 

‘I did the best I could,’ he said in Mark Edlitz’s 2019 book The Many Lives of James Bond. ‘I felt that I had to copy Sean Connery in a sense.’