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Sir Roger Moore, Dead at 89
Roger Moore was never one to take himself, or his acting, too seriously.
“I have three expressions,” he said, “left eye, right eye and none moving at all.” Of the six men who have officially taken on the persona of James Bond on film, his was the lightest of touches. His was the Bond of the double entendre, the raised eyebrow and, uh, keeping the British end up.
While never praised as widely as Sean Connery or Daniel Craig, his Bond was the most enduring, spanning seven films over a twelve year period. Before that he was a television star in ITV’s The Saint, which ran from 1962-69. The first two seasons ran in the US in syndication before being added to NBC’s prime time lineup.
Based on Leslie Charteris’ books and successful movie franchise of the 1930s and 40’s, Moore played an affable thief, a sort of Robin Hood who kept the money for himself. Its success in the US market was notable for the fact that ITV switched to color production long before color transmission was approved in the UK. There have been attempts to revive the character (with Ian Olgivy in 1978 on CBS and with Val Kilmer in the 1997 feature film) but without Moore both efforts fell flat.
None of Moore’s films or television appearances will ever be mistaken for high art, but they remain durable for his style and the era that they reflect.
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Published in Entertainment
I’m partial to ffolkes myself.
AWWWW! The Saint goes marchin’ in… :-( (Enjoyed The Persuaders, too, actually.) Have to give a shout-out to Simon Dutton’s turn in a British-German co-produced series in the late-80s, early-90s, too.
The Saint and 007 with Dad … A major part of my childhood.
For those of us born late 60’s, we loved Connery, but starting with Live and Let Die, Moore was the first Bond we saw at the cinema. A new Bond film was a VERY big deal. For Your Eyes Only may have been my favorite, but enjoyed them all … second only to Cannonball Run ;)
Damn it.
A worthy actor who entertained us all. RIP sir.
Ah, sad but 89 is not a bad age to live to. May he rest in peace.
ffolkes was pretty good.
Curiously, my friend and I learned today that Sean Connery is actually three years younger than Moore.
RIP, Mr. Goldfarb. ;)
I, too, was going to mention ffolkes. According to Wikipedia, “Moore once said in an interview that he preferred this film to all the James Bond movies he had starred in while acknowledging that he had been miscast in the lead role.”
I disagree that he was miscast. While the film is just OK, his performance is so delightful – because it is light years away from his Bond persona – that ffolkes should be seen by anyone who enjoyed Moore’s work.
Sir Roger Moore Death: Bond Girl Jane Seymour Pays Tribute
There was a lovely story I heard about him. Years ago, though after his Bond days were behind him, he was working on a movie and the star was behaving terribly towards the cast and crew. Moore took at the actor aside and told him that there was no need for that kind of behavior. The star replied that he was not there give a great performance, not win Miss Congeniality and Moore told him that given where things were going, Miss Congeniality might be sometime to shoot for.
That’s the mark of a good guy.
Moore was the original choice for Bond; he was what they envisioned Bond should be. Wasn’t available so they went another way.
But I liked ffolkes because he’s so insufferable.
He also enjoyed parodying his Bond role while working with Olivier-like actors Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLouise in “Cannonball Run”.
Dad P. took Mom P. out to see both “Octopussy” and “For Your Eyes Only” as date nights. When I watched on TV later, with her, I understood why. :-)
I was five years old in 1983. I didn’t know who James Bond was or what the movie was about, but I remember thinking, Octopussy was a fun word to say. :)
Like others here, Roger Moore was the Bond I grew up with. Apparently he was a notorious practical joker on-set, whose favorite target was Desmond Llewelyn (who played “Q”.) A typical trick was to replace his cue cards with gibberish or rude words to try to put him off.
Whatever role I saw him in, he always seemed to be enjoying himself. He’ll be missed. RIP.
Roger Moore’s character Sean Finn delivers an anti-drug message in The Wild Geese:
Moonraker was the first Bond I saw in a theater. Live and Let Die is one of my favorites.
Here’s another charming story about an actor who seems to have been a true gentleman.
To all passersby…click this link. It will make your day.
First impressions stick with one: To me, he was Beau Maverick, the “white sheep” of the Maverick clan.
Here’s a nice interview from 2015.
A quote to make a Ricocheteer’s heart go pitty-pat:
Rest in Peace Mr. Moore.
Not a particularly good movie. Still, as my college roommate said after we saw it, “Tomorrow we are going to have some beers and then we are coming back here to see it again!”
A film of his I liked was “Gold” from 1974 co-starring Susannah York and Ray Milland. Moore plays the superintendent of a South African gold mine. A group of gnomes in London are conspire to cause a mine disaster which will flood the mine and kill a lot of miners, so they can profit from the rise in price of gold. One of the gnomes is John Gielgud who only has brief screen time unfortunately.
And there’s fourth horseman, not shaken nor stirred.
RIP Roger Moore — there’s a special place in Heaven for the 2nd best Bond. Let’s hope it isn’t raking Sir Connery’s grass.
A&E biography:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poycCqKkreM
And he was a big part of one of my all time favor-ite movies: 1978’s The Wild Geese.
Same here, and mainly for that reason he was my favorite Bond. Plus I prefer his lighter touch, the Bond movies are too farcical to take seriously as spy thrillers, I like a Bond who’s in on the joke and doesn’t take himself too seriously, either.
Requiescat in pace.