Quite a few actors have put on a tuxedo over the years to play English spy James Bond, and James Brolin was almost one of them. He auditioned and won the role when producers were looking to replace Roger Moore, who played with the idea of leaving Bond behind. Brolin would've been the only American to have ever taken on the role of 007, but a feud between the franchise's producers and the studio kept it from happening.
Roger Moore began his run as James Bond in 1973 with Live And Let Die. He would go on to star in seven of the movies in total, but after shooting five of them, he tried to walk away from the role for the first time. He was looking for other opportunities outside of the pigeonhole he found himself in as 007. It's interesting to note that Sean Connery, the first actor to play Bond, also walked away and was replaced after five films (only to return twice more). Moore planned his departure after For Your Eyes Only, so Brolin was invited to audition as Bond for the next film, Octopussy. And he actually landed the part.
Tall and sophisticated, Brolin was a successful leading man who had previously been in Westworld and The Amityville Horror. His lack of an English accent didn't seem to be a concern for anyone, as you can see in the two screen tests (below). In the first, Brolin shows off his fighting prowess against an intruder. In the second, he romances a woman while wearing only a towel. These, of course, are the two skills that any actor to play James Bond has to have in spades.
Brolin was all set to move to London to begin filming when Moore changed his mind and reclaimed James Bond as his own. It came at a time when a rogue James Bond movie (that is, one not made by Eon Studios, which had produced all of the Bond films) was being produced. The film rights to Ian Fleming's book Thunderball belonged to producer Kevin McClory, and he convinced Sean Connery to come back as 007 in a remake (Thunderball had previously been adapted to film in 1965). The remake was the film now known as Never Say Never Again, and it was set to be released the same year as Octopussy. Eon Studios didn't want to risk introducing a new actor as James Bond up against Connery, so Moore was wooed back, and Brolin was left in the dust.
He bounced back, though, and even mocked his would-be 007 status in Pee Wee's Big Adventure. And so, the dream of having an American play James Bond was thwarted. The screen tests from his audition prove that Brolin was more than capable to play the spy. He had the looks, the demeanor, and the physicality to be a convincing Bond. He was also a decade younger than Moore, who was in his mid-50s when Octopussy came out - and it showed. It's unfortunate that the need to compete against a rival Bond film stripped away the chance for fans to see what Brolin's take on James Bond would've been like.