Didn't say Pierce was my favorite, Lazenby is, by a fucking mile. You just knew that handsome mother fucker was method acting. I merely pointed out, the characterisation of bond in that iteration of the franchise was more in keeping with the spirit of the movies preceeding them.
Hell David Niven in the original CR poops all over XXXX. Speaking of which, the original CR was pretty much a comedy and the template for the rest of the franchise. The Bond movies should never be compared to the books, in fact any one who makes comparisons between a movie franchise (as apposed to a film adaptation) is in for a bad time.
Bond movies are meant to be a rollicking good time, with equal measures of unbelievability, misogyny and corny humour. Austin Powers was closer to the spirit of movie Bond than the last 3 yawn fests.
Was layer cake the movie you were thinking of? Good movie, but hard to take anything away from a movie where you spend the last the quarters of it rooting for the protagonist to cop it in the neck. Or maybe Cowboys and Aliens? which admittedly, is his best work, as his wooden dour faced acting matched the similarly grey script and barely there direction.