I was able to personally speak to Rutger Hauer once about his James Bond experiences. It was fascinating to say the least (we talked about him testing for Bond, too!):

The star of LadyHawke and other assorted films confirmed to the press back in 1983 he`d been asked three times to play a Bond villain, but he didn`t specify which role(s). With his blond hair perhaps he was asked to play Erich Kriegler or Max Zorin?

Hauer said: “I heard those rumors, too (that he was in consideration to play James Bond). I don`t know about James Bond, but they asked me three times to play Bond`s bad guy. At one point, I said I think it would be interesting if you really threaten Bond and what is the way to do that? Have a bad guy who has the same spirit, the same sense of humor and the same skill and let Bond face this guy and really be endangered. But the villains are sidekicks, they aren`t really strong. They wouldn`t change it for me.” Ironically, the same type villain he describes would come along some 12 years later in the form of Alec Trevelyan in the 1995 film GoldenEye.