The Bond star was dating actress Jill St. John at the time, when the couple was invited to a social gathering at screen star Sharon Tate's home in Los Angeles by a mutual friend.

However, the pal never showed up to drive the couple to the party and Lazenby was left disappointed at the snub - but his annoyance turned to shock when he learned the next day that Tate and four others at the property had been stabbed to death by devotees of cult leader Manson.

Lazenby tells Britain's Daily Mail newspaper, "(My friend) never showed to pick us up. That was the night Sharon and her friends were murdered by Charles Manson's gang. I guess I just wasn't meant to be there."

Manson was imprisoned for life in 1971 after he was found guilty of conspiracy to murder several victims of his followers in a bloody rampage in California.