Tom Jones was almost offered the role of James Bond, he has revealed. The singer claims he was once under consideration to play the secret agent, until it was decided he was too famous.

Jones made the revelation in a recent interview with the Radio Times, after he was asked about his regrets. "The only thing I regret is that I'd like to have had a pop at acting when I was younger," he said. "My name was up for James Bond at one time, but [producer] Cubby Broccoli apparently said I was too well known for people to believe it."

Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, who died in 1996, launched the Bond film franchise in 1962. He produced the next 16 movies, including 1965's Thunderball, for which Jones wrote the title song. With the exception of 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Sean Connery played the lead in every Bond film until 1973's Live and Let Die, when Roger Moore took over.

Although Jones did not get his shot at sipping that martini, the 71-year-old has since had several turns on the screen. He played himself in 1996's Mars Attacks! and appears in King of the Teds, a new TV drama. "I have a tendency to overact," he said. "It's a Welsh thing."