Despite his rising profile, von Sydow limited his work exclusively to Sweden early in his career, constantly turning down offers to work outside the country. He was first approached at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival to act in American films, but refused the proposition, saying that he was "content in Sweden" and "had no intention of starting an international career". He also turned down the opportunity to play the titular role for "Dr. No" (1962) and Captain von Trapp in "The Sound of Music" (1965). In 1965, von Sydow finally took up on George Stevens's offer and made his international debut, playing Christ in the epic "The Greatest Story Ever Told". He accepted the part against the advice of Bergman, spent six months at the University of California, Los Angeles, preparing for the role, and adopted a Mid-Atlantic accent. The film introduced von Sydow to a wider audience, but ultimately performed below expectations at the box office. He went on to play a crop-dusting pilot in "The Reward" (1965) and a fanatic missionary in "Hawaii" (1966). For his performance in "Hawaii", von Sydow received his first Golden Globe nomination. To his own frustration, however, von Sydow would become frequently cast in villainous roles, such as a neo-Nazi aristocrat in "The Quiller Memorandum" (1966), a Russian colonel in "The Kremlin Letter" (1970), a meticulous and elegant international assassin in "Three Days of the Condor" (1975), Emperor Ming the Merciless in "Flash Gordon" (1980) and James Bond's nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld in "Never Say Never Again" (1983).