Would Connery have fit?

It's a difficult one for me to answer.... I can't imagine anyone but Roger Moore in this one as I've grown up with Bond. But I guess I'd feel the same way if Sean Connery had starred and the question was being asked of someone else.

Yeah he could have, but if his performance was going to be anything like his DAF performance its best that they moved on.

It would have been a radically different film if he had chosen to take it.

Wouldn't have worked for Connery. also aside from Moore, the other names considered were John Gavin, Burt Reynolds, Michael Billington, Jeremy Brett, radio presenter Simon Dee, Julian Glover, Timothy Dalton (who turned down as he did not wish to replace Connery at the time), William Gaunt, Simon Oates, David Warbeck, the adventurer Ranulph Fiennes and Guy Peters. Out of all these names, I don't think none of them would have made the role their own but copying what Connery had done, though I think Billington might have worked because he was the alternative choice had Moore declined and remained a candidate in case Moore did not return in future films (For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy). Moore's casting worked because he gave Bond a different personality with his toungue and cheek humour, he had good chemistry with Jane Seymour and in real life he was good friends with David Hedison, who played Felix.

No, Connery was racist and refused to work with black actors as main characters

He could have had he not half assed his performance like he did in Diamonds Are Forever

Nope, not at all, and I'm a big Connery fan.

Connery's my favourite Bond but Jesus Christ, his toupee and his bushy eyebrows looked ridiculous in Diamonds Are Forever in '71. I'd hate to think how he'd have looked two years later in this.

Add in him giving another lifeless, just doing it for the money performance, and Bond often been the butt of the jokes - wall rotating, floor opening up - and it would've been a depressing sight to end his legacy with. No, it was time for someone new.