Roger Moore

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Sir Roger Moore

Roger Moore posing on the set of The Sea Wolves, Goa, December, 1979
Born Roger George Moore
October 14, 1927 (1927-10-14) (age 80)
Stockwell, London, England
Spouse(s) Doorn van Steyn
Dorothy Squires
Luisa Mattioli
Kristina Tholstrup

Sir Roger George Moore KBE (born 14 October 1927) is an English actor. He is perhaps best known for portraying two British action heroes, Simon Templar in the television series The Saint from 1962 to 1969, and James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He has been a UNICEF ambassador since 1991.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Moore was born in Stockwell, London (sometimes referred to by Moore in interviews as Saint Ockwell). The son of Lillian "Lily" (née Pope), a housewife, and George Moore, a policeman,[1] he attended Battersea Grammar School, but was evacuated to Holsworthy, Devon during World War II and was then educated at Dr Challoner's Grammar School. He then attended the College of St Hild and St Bede at the University of Durham.[citation needed] Upon turning 18, shortly after the end of the war, Moore was called up for National Service. He was commissioned as an officer and eventually became a Captain. In his usual self-deprecatory style, he claimed that his commission was because he physically fitted the stereotype of an officer, rather than having any outstanding ability or leadership skills. Moore served in the Royal Army Service Corps, commanding a small depot in West Germany. He later transferred to the entertainment branch (under luminaries such as Spike Milligan), and immediately prior to his National Service, there was a brief stint at RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), during which his fees were paid for by flamboyant, openly gay film director Brian Desmond Hurst, who also used Moore as an extra in his film Trottie True. Moore was a classmate at RADA with his future Bond colleague Lois Maxwell, the original Miss Moneypenny. The young Moore first appeared in films during the mid to late-1940s, as an extra. Moore's film idol as a child was Stewart Granger. As a 17 year old, Moore appeared as an extra in the film Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), finally meeting his idol on set. Moore later worked with Granger in The Wild Geese.

[edit] Early career and The Saint

In the early 1950s, Moore worked as a male model, appearing in print advertisements for knitwear (earning him the amusing nickname "The Big Knit"), and a wide range of other products such as toothpaste – an element that many critics have used as typifying his lightweight credentials as an actor. His earliest known television appearance was on 27 May 1950, in Drawing Room Detective, a one-off programme. Presented by veteran BBC announcer Leslie Mitchell, it invited viewers at home to spot clues to a crime during a playlet, whose actors also included Alec Ross (first husband of Sheila Hancock) and Michael Ripper. Barring interviews, Moore has not worked for BBC television since.

Although Moore won a contract with MGM in the 1950s, the films which followed were not a success and, in his own words, "At MGM, RGM (Roger George Moore) was NBG [no bloody good]." His starring role in The Miracle, a version of the play Das Mirakel for Warner Bros., had been turned down by Dirk Bogarde.

Eventually, it was television in which Moore made his name. He was the eponymous hero in the serial Ivanhoe, a very loose adaptation of the romantic novel by Sir Walter Scott, and he also appeared in the series The Alaskans, as well as playing Beau Maverick, an English cousin of frontier gambler Bret Maverick (James Garner) in Maverick.

It was not until 1961 that worldwide fame arrived, when Lew Grade cast Moore as Simon Templar in a new adaptation of The Saint, based on the novels by Leslie Charteris. Moore said in an interview, during 1963, that he wanted to buy the rights of Leslie Charteris's character and the trademarks, but didn't have enough money. He also joked that the role was supposed to have been meant for Sean Connery who was unavailable. The television series was made in the UK with an eye on the American market, and its success there (and in other countries) made Moore a household name. It also established his suave, quipping style which he would carry forward to James Bond. Moore would also go on to direct several episodes of the later series, which moved into colour in 1967. The opinion has often been expressed that the monochrome episodes of the series, which were closer adaptations of Charteris's work, were superior to the colour episodes, which displayed a stronger leaning towards fantasy and were arguably trying too hard to imitate other shows of that time.[citation needed]

The Saint ran for six seasons and 118 episodes, making it (in a tie with The Avengers) the longest-running series of its kind on British television. However, Moore grew increasingly tired of the role, and was keen to branch out. He made two films immediately after the series had ended: Crossplot, a lightweight 'spy caper' movie, and the more challenging The Man Who Haunted Himself (1971). Directed by Basil Dearden, it gave Moore the opportunity to demonstrate a wider versatility than the role of Simon Templar had allowed, although reviews at the time were lukewarm, and both did little business at the box office.

Television lured Moore back to star, alongside Tony Curtis, in what has become another cult series, The Persuaders!. Even more light-hearted in tone than The Saint, it featured the adventures of two millionaire playboys across Europe. It was for this series that Moore was paid the then unheard-of sum of one million pounds for a single series, making him the highest paid television actor in the world. However, Lew Grade claimed in his autobiography Still Dancing, that Moore and Curtis "didn't hit it off all that well". Curtis refusing to spend more time on set than was strictly necessary, while Moore was always willing to work overtime.

The series failed in America, where it had been pre-sold to ABC but it was successful in Australia and in Europe. In Germany, where the series was aired under the name Die Zwei, it became a hit through a special funny dubbing that only barely used the original translations of the dialogs. And in Britain it was also popular, although on its premiere on the ITV network, it was beaten in the ratings by repeats of Monty Python's Flying Circus on BBC1. When Channel 4 repeated both The Avengers and The Persuaders! in 1995, it was generally agreed that the latter, which had not been seen for many years, had not aged as well as the former. It has not been seen on any of the five main UK terrestrial channels since.[2][3]

Since then, The Persuaders has enjoyed something of a renaissance both on television and DVD, with the 'rivals' Moore and Curtis reuniting to provide commentaries on the most recent issues. In France, where the series (entitled Amicalement Vôtre) had always been popular, the DVD releases accompanied a monthly magazine of the same name.

[edit] James Bond (1973–1985)

There are many apocryphal stories as to when Moore's name was first dropped as a possible candidate for the role of James Bond. Some sources, specifically Albert R. Broccoli from his autobiography When The Snow Melts, claim that Moore was considered for Dr. No, and that he was Ian Fleming's favourite for the role after apparently having seen Moore as Simon Templar in The Saint; however, the series did not begin airing in the United Kingdom until October 4, 1962 – one day before the premiere of Dr. No.

Other sources, such as the insert for the special edition DVDs, claim that Moore was passed over for Bond in favour of someone who was older. As Moore is older than Sean Connery, this is probably not true. Publicly, Moore was not linked to the role of 007 until 1967, when Harry Saltzman claimed he would make a good Bond, but also displayed misgivings due to his popularity as Simon Templar. Nevertheless, Moore was finally cast as James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973).

Roger Moore's seven years as Simon Templar earned him enough popularity (and credibility) among fans of detective fiction to earn many Bond fans' acceptance, despite the inevitable comparisons to Connery. Moore played Bond in:

To date, Moore is the longest-serving James Bond actor, having spent twelve years in the role (from his debut in 1973, to his retirement from the role in 1985), and made seven official films. (Connery also made seven, but his last Bond film, Never Say Never Again (1983), is not part of the official EON Productions series.) He is also the oldest actor to play Bond: he was 46 when he debuted, and 58 when he announced his retirement on December 3, 1985, as it was agreed by all involved that Moore was too old for the role by that point. Moore himself was quoted in the contemporary press as saying that he felt embarrassed to be seen doing love scenes with beautiful actresses who were young enough to be his daughters.

Moore's James Bond was light-hearted, more so than any other official actor to portray the character. Connery's style, even in its lighter moments, was that of a focused, determined agent. Moore often portrayed 007 as somewhat of a playboy, with tongue firmly in cheek. The humour served Moore and his fans well through most of his Bond tenure.

Although often considered a "lightweight", due to never having had a significant stage career or having appeared in serious dramas, Moore is the only James Bond actor other than Timothy Dalton who can boast a dramatic education at RADA, the prestigious London drama college—Moore attended for six months.

[edit] Later career and UNICEF

Roger Moore in the United States, October 14, 2007
Roger Moore in the United States, October 14, 2007

His post-Bond acting career has been light. In the words of his friend Michael Caine, with whom he co-starred in the unsuccessful Bullseye! (1990), "Now he can't get a job." At the age of 74, Moore was given the chance to go against type with his portrayal of a flamboyant homosexual in Boat Trip (2002).

In 1983, his life changed when filming in India. Shocked at the poverty in India, he became interested in the Third World humanitarian effort. His friend Audrey Hepburn had impressed him with her work for UNICEF, and consequently he became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1991. He was the voice of 'Santa' in the UNICEF cartoon The Fly Who Loved Me.[4]

Now having reached his 80th birthday (14 October 2007), Moore appears only occasionally in film or television, notably as Lord Edgar Dobbs in The Quest (1996) and an episode of the American TV series Alias in 2002. In a commercial for London's 2012 Olympic bid, Moore once again suited up as James Bond. He appeared alongside Samantha Bond, who played Miss Moneypenny in the Bond films during the Pierce Brosnan era. He still appears regularly on chat shows, chiefly to promote the work of UNICEF.

On October 11, 2007, (3 days before he turned 80), Moore was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work on television and in film. Attending the ceremony were family, friends, and Richard Kiel, whom he had acted with in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. Moore's Star was the 2,350th star installed, and is appropriately located at 7007 Hollywood Boulevard.[5]

[edit] Personal life

Moore left his first wife, skater Doorn Van Steyn, for singer Dorothy Squires, who was several years his senior but was, at that time, considerably more famous than he was. In turn, while filming in Italy in 1961, he abandoned Squires (who sued him for attempted reinstatement of conjugal rights) for actress Luisa Mattioli, living with her until their marriage in 1969. Moore has a daughter and two sons with Mattioli; son Geoffrey Moore is also an actor and owns a restaurant in London. Daughter Deborah Moore made a guest appearance as a flight attendant in Die Another Day. Again, he unexpectedly ended this marriage in 1993, later marrying Kristina 'Kiki' Tholstrup.

Moore was involved in the production of an informative video for PETA that protests against the production and wholesale of foie gras. Moore narrates the video, which shows how ducks and geese are force-fed in order to appease the demand for the delicacy.

In 1999, Moore was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), and a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) on June 14, 2003. The citation on the knighthood was for Moore's charity work, which has dominated his public life for more than a decade. In perhaps his final riposte to the critics, Moore said that the citation "meant far more to me than if I had got it for acting... I was proud because I received it on behalf of UNICEF as a whole and for all it has achieved over the years".

[edit] Royal Circles

Roger Moore has a friendship with some of the Danish royals; Prince Joachim and his then-wife Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg invited him and his wife Kiki to attend the christening of their youngest son, Prince Felix. On May 24, 2008 he and his wife attended the wedding of Prince Joachim of Denmark and his French fiancée Marie Cavallier.

[edit] Awards

  • 2007: Received a star for motion pictures on the Hollywood Walk of fame
  • 2003: German Federal Service Cross: for his work battling child traffickers as special representative to UNICEF
  • 1979: Golden Globe Award: World Film Favorite-Male

[edit] Publications

Moore wrote a book about the filming of Live and Let Die, based on his diaries. Roger Moore as James Bond: Roger Moore's Own Account of Filming Live and Let Die was published in London in 1973, by Pan Books. The book includes an acknowledgment to Sean Connery, with whom Moore has been friends for many years: "I would also like to thank Sean Connery – with whom it would not have been possible."

Moore's autobiography My Word is My Bond (ISBN 0061673889) will be published by Collins in November 2008.[6][7]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Criticism

Moore has had, and continues to have, an enormous fanbase worldwide, particularly in Western Europe and in the USA, and, as James Bond, was undeniably one of the film world's top box office stars for most of the 1970s. However, those fans of his from outside the UK have often been disappointed to find that, in Britain, he is not considered to be very critically respected (in the way that Anthony Hopkins and indeed, Sean Connery are).

He has been somewhat unpopular with critics, who have often derided his acting as limited and wooden. In the New York Times of 29 December 1974, Vincent Canby sarcastically wrote that he hereby awarded Moore "the Kabuki Acting Award… in recognition of the manner in which he has reduced all human emotions to a series of variations on one gesture, the raising of the right eyebrow." And in The Good Film And Video Guide (published 1986), David Shipman wrote of A View to a Kill that Moore as James Bond was "not so much like a piece of plastic, as something embalmed but moving." John Brosnan, who with his 1972 book, James Bond In The Cinema, became the first writer to seriously consider the phenomenon of the Bond movies in themselves, as opposed to the books, consistently urged Broccoli to replace Moore, writing in his review of Moonraker in Starburst magazine that he was "plastic...more James Bland than James Bond."

The satirical British TV show Spitting Image once had a sketch in which their latex likeness of Moore, when asked to display emotions by an offscreen director, does nothing but raise an eyebrow. Moore himself has stated that he thought the sketch was funny, and took it in good humour. Indeed, he had always embraced the 'eyebrows' gag wholeheartedly, slyly claiming that he "only had three expressions as Bond: right eyebrow raised, left eyebrow raised and eyebrows crossed when grabbed by Jaws." Spitting Image continued the joke, featuring a Bond movie spoof, The Man with the Wooden Delivery, with Moore's puppet receiving orders from Margaret Thatcher to kill Mikhail Gorbachev, and many other comedy shows of that time ridiculed Moore's acting, Rory Bremner once claiming to have had a death threat from an irate fan of Moore's, following one such routine. Moore is a lifelong Conservative,[citation needed] and publicly supported the British Conservative Party in the 2001 General Election. However, in December 2007, he joined a protest in Bristol organised by the left-wing Unite trade union against the closure of a nearby Cadbury chocolate factory.[8][9]

It can be argued that Moore is more of a personality than an actor. In the early 1970s, the BBC very much wanted him to host a talk show; in his own words, they 'bent over backwards and offered a great deal of money'. He declined the offer, which may have been given to Michael Parkinson instead, but after giving up the Bond role, has more often been seen hosting award ceremonies, guesting on talk shows' and generally being himself, than actually acting.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Roger Moore Biography (1927-)
  2. ^ More precisely, BBC1, BBC2, the ITV network, Channel 4, and Five, the five 'traditional' terrestrial stations. The series has since been seen shown on the digital terrestrial-only station ITV4. (See ITV4 reference below)
  3. ^ "ITV4" article, Wikipedia. Version used dated 2006-10-29, retrieved 2006-11-06.
  4. ^ The Fly Who Loved Me
  5. ^ http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iVEzDK99xVldzImafMdKLA9cQOJw][http://www.roger-moore.com/etoile-hollywood2007.htm
  6. ^ Roger Moore's official website
  7. ^ Amazon UK
  8. ^ "News January/February 2008: Cadbury's Crazy closure challenged", T&G Record, Transport and General Workers' Union, 23 January 2008. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 
  9. ^ Deedes, Henry. "Pandora: Comrade Moore joins the fight", The Independent, December 13, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 

[edit] External links

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Preceded by
Sean Connery
1971		 James Bond actor
1973–85		 Succeeded by
Timothy Dalton
1987–1989
v • d • e
James Bond films and actors
"Official" films (EON Productions)
Films
Actors
Films
Actors