Well I thought for a change I would do a post in dedication to the English actor, Roger Moore, who passed away sadly yesterday at the age of 89 after losing his battle to cancer.
Roger was of course best known for his role as James Bond, which he played during the years of 1973 to 1985, which was the longest running time that any actor so far has played the part. However, Roger was also of course well known for appearing in such shows as The Saint, where he played Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-esque character, who stole money from criminals and kept it for himself. The Saint itself ran for seven years from 1962 to 1969 and the role was a big success for Roger that allowed his breakthrough.
CAREER
Roger's career also spanned back as early the 1940's where he started out as a male model and would appear in many TV adverts for different products. Roger then went on to make his first TV appearance in The Governess in 1949, which was a live broadcast show. He would then go on to sign a seven year contract with MGM where he made a series of films that were largely unsuccessful but he would appear along such as performers as Glenn Ford, David Niven, Ann Blyth and Lana Turner.
After this, Roger began his career in TV properly as he appeared in several series such as Ivanhoe, where he played the title role. After this he starred in the Western series, The Alaskans and later he gained more success in another Western TV show named Maverick where again Moore played the lead part.
Roger then gained further attention when he appeared in The Saint as Simon Templar, which as I previously mentioned ran for seven years but he ultimately grew tired of the role and wanted to move on to do other things. And this was then followed by another TV series, The Persuaders, which Moore starred along side the American actor, Tony Curtis (probably best known for his role in Some Like It Hot) as two billionaire playboys. The two actors apparently didn't get along that well with each other however it ran for only two seasons before it was cancelled.
It was then after this that Roger heard the news that Sean Connery would step down from playing the role of James Bond for good, so Roger would then go on to be offered the part in 1972 and he accepted. And from here Roger would then film his debut as Bond, "Live and let die" in which Bond would take on a drug kingpin, Kananga (played by Yaphet Kotto) and the film clearly paid a homage to the Blaxploitation films of that period.
From Roger would go on to star in six more Bond films, "The Man with the Golden Gun", "The Spy who Loved Me", "Moonraker", "For your eyes only", "Octopussy" and lastly "A view to a kill". Moore started out playing the part with shades of Sean Connery's hard hitting portrayal and this was especially noticeable in "The man with the golden gun" however Roger insisted that he didn't want to down that avenue with the role. So, later Roger would soften his portrayal a little and would continue use witty one-liners, sauve charm and quick wits when it came to defeating his enemies.
It is of course said that out of the seven films, Roger starred that "The spy who loved me" was considered the best by fans of the series and it was also Roger's favourite film of the franchise. It would also be the film, which would introduce one of the series most memorable villains, Jaws, the seven foot steel toothed henchman (played by Richard Kiel).
As Roger's time in the role as Bond however went on, he felt that by the time he filmed "For your eyes only" that it was time to step down and let another actor take on the part. However when Sean Connery made a surprise return to the part himself with the "Thunderball" remake "Never say never again", the producers approached Roger to play the part once more in order to compete with Connery's film. This would then see Roger be persuaded (no pun intended!) to do another film with "Octopussy" which was as outrageous as the series had got up to this point.
Roger's time in the role however would come to an end with his finale "A view to a kill" where by this time Roger was 58 years old and clearly showing his age in the part and he even joked himself that by then "I was 400 years too old to play the part!". Unfortunately however the film was not well received by the critics or audiences alike at the time and today is not regarded as one of the better Bond films.
Roger of course also made plenty of other films outside of playing Bond, even during his era of the part, such as the thriller, "Gold" in 1974, and the two war adventure films "Shout at the devil" in 1976 and "The Wild Geese" in 1978 where he co-starred with Tele Savalas (who had also played Blofeld in the Bond franchise).
After his time as Bond had finished, Roger would not make his comeback to acting until 1990 where he appeared in less successful films such as Bullseye along side Michael Caine. Moore would later go on to appear in other films such as Claude Van Damme's actioner, The Quest in 1996 and even the feature film of the pop group, The Spice Girls called Spice World in 1997 and then later Boat Trip in 2002.
HUMANITARIAN WORK
Roger was also well known for his humanitarian work as he became an ambassador for UNICEF after his good friend and actress, Audrey Hepburn got him involved in the organisation. Roger was also a keen animal rights activist and was involved in a production video for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) which spoke against the production and wholesale of foie gras (the liver of a duck or goose).
HEALTH
In the later years of his life however, Roger had a series of health issues such as skin cancer, prostate cancer for which at the time he was successfully treated for. Roger would also toward the end of his life be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2013, which left unable to drink alcohol as a result. And sadly last of all, Roger, on 23 May, lost his life to cancer, with his family by his side in Switzerland.
SUM UP
So to sum up, Roger Moore for me was an underrated and talented actor, who had great charisma, charm and warmth and his portrayal of James Bond was one of the best in series for which I'm sure he will always be remembered for. And for me personally he was one of my favourite actors to have played the part of Bond as he brought a jovial light heartedness to the role with his witty quips and charm and ability to handle the action just aswell as any of the other actors to have played 007.
So, Roger rest in peace, sir and without a doubt you will be sorely missed by your many fans throughout the world.
Right, so that's it for now and I'll be back again soon with a review of sorts but until the next one its bye for now.
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