Liam Neeson has revealed that his late wife refused to let him audition for the role of James Bond.

The prospect of Neeson cavorting with Bond girls led Natasha Richardson to issue an ultimatum: marriage or 007.

At the time, in 1994, the couple were engaged and working together on Nell, a Hollywood film. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Neeson said he had been approached by Barbara Broccoli, the Bond producer, about succeeding Timothy Dalton.

“I know the Broccolis. They looked at a bunch of actors. Schindler’s List had come out and Barbara had called me a couple of times to ask if I was interested and I said, ‘yes, I would be interested,’” he said.

“And then my lovely wife, God rest her soul, said to me while we were shooting Nell in the Carolinas, ‘Liam, I want to tell you something: if you play James Bond, we’re not getting married’.

“She gave me a James Bond ultimatum. And she meant it! Come on, there’s all those gorgeous girls in various countries getting into bed and getting out of bed. I’m sure a lot of her decision-making was based on that.”

Neeson said he would tease Richardson by humming the Bond theme and making his fingers into the shape of a gun to recreate the famous pose from the films’ opening titles.

The role eventually went to Pierce Brosnan. That same year, Neeson and Richardson got married.

Richardson died in 2009, aged 45, after a skiing accident in Canada.

Neeson described it as a “freak accident” and said Richardson’s family had helped him to look after the couple’s children in the aftermath.

“Natasha’s mother, Vanessa [Redgrave], and her sister [Joely Richardson], kind of moved in, and I had a wonderful assistant, Joanna… People just came to help, you know? In a big way. And I’ll never, ever forget that.”

Afterwards, he said: “I remember calling my agent and I said, ‘I don’t care what it is. I’ll take anything. I have to work. I have to pay bills. I have to keep the family together’. Luckily, work did come in.”

Neeson, 70, expressed his displeasure at a recent appearance on a US talk show, The View, in which presenter Joy Behar joked about having a crush on him.

“I just wasn’t impressed. I’m uncomfortable in those situations,” he said. “It’s just a bit embarrassing.”