Roger Moore Biography

Sir Roger George Moore, KBE (born 14 October 1927) is an English actor known for his suave and witty demeanor. He is known best for portraying two fictional British action heroes, Simon Templar in the television series The Saint from 1962 to 1969, and, as Sean Connery's successor, James Bond in the successful film series from 1973 to 1985. He has been a UNICEF ambassador since 1991.

Moore was born in Stockwell, London, the son of Lillian Pope and George Moore, a policeman. He attended Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England. During World War II, he served in the entertainment branch (above luminaries such as Spike Milligan).
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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". He first appeared in films in the 1940s, as an extra.

During the early 1950's, he was a male model, appearing in print advertisements for toothpaste and knitwear, something which many critics have brought up when making adverse comments on his work. Besides having been The Saint for ATV/ITC, many episodes of which he also directed, Moore was Ivanhoe, the noble knight, appeared in the series The Alaskans, played an English cousin of James Garner as television's Maverick, the Wild West gambler, and was also featured as the leading man of The Persuaders!, again for ATV/ITC.

It was for this he 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, as Lew Grade, head of ATV, admitted in his autobiography Still Dancing, Moore and co-star Tony Curtis "didn't hit it off all that well" and the series failed in America, where it had been pre-sold to ABC.

And when that show had its first re-run in the U.K. for many years, on Channel 4 in 1995-96, critics and the majority of viewers were united in being alarmed at how badly dated it now seemed, due to what were seen as ridiculous costumes, sexist attitudes and forced, unfunny byplay between Moore and Curtis; one Channel 4 continuity announcer actually introduced it as "kitsch", and it has only been shown on satellite and cable since then.

Moore as James Bond, 007There are a lot of apocryphal stories as to when Moore's name was first dropped as a possible candidate for the mantle 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 favorite for the role after apparently having seen Moore as Simon Templar; however, this story is often debunked by fans and Bond-film historians, who point to the fact that the series did not begin airing in the United Kingdom until October 4, 1962 — only 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 wasn't 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).

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, who was and is a friend of Moore. After Live and Let Die, Moore also played the suave and sophisticated agent in:

To date, Moore is the longest-serving James Bond actor at twelve years (from when he was signed in 1973, to his retirement from the role in 1985), and 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 Bond series.) He is also the oldest actor to play Bond: he was 45 when he debuted and 58 when he announced his retirement on December 3, 1985, as it was agreed by all involved in the franchise that Moore had got too old for the role by that point. Moore himself was quoted 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 detective. Moore often portrayed 007 as somewhat of a playboy, with tongue firmly in cheek. The humor served Moore and his fans well through most of his Bond tenure. Fans also relished the moments when his Bond was all business, especially in the more intense parts of The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, and Octopussy (when, despite wearing a clown getup, he defuses a bomb.) Despite all the commercial success, some Bond fans were unhappy at Moore continuing to play the character until his late fifties, and it is generally agreed that of the six actors to have played Bond, Moore's portrayal was the furthest removed from the character created by Ian Fleming. Moore has also been blamed by some for turning the Bond character into a parody of himself. His role in Cannonball Run (1981) amounts to elaborate self-parody: he plays a dentist, Sidney Goldfarb Jr., who believes himself to be Roger Moore in the James Bond role.

Since having filmed Octopussy in India in 1983, where he was shocked at the utter poverty on display, Moore has engaged in humanitarian work. His colleague Audrey Hepburn impressed him with her work for UNICEF, and consequently he became UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1991. He was the voice of "Santa" in the UNICEF cartoon "The Fly Who Loved Me."

Roger Moore has never been popular with critics, who have often described his acting as limited. 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".

The notorious satire show "Spitting Image" once had a well-remembered sketch in which their latex likeness of Moore, when asked to display emotions by an offscreen director, does nothing but raise an eyebrow. That series later featured 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 theat from an irate fan of Moore's, following one such routine.

Now in his late seventies, Moore appears only occasionally in film or television, notably 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 Pierce Brosnan series of Bond films.

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, he would abandon Squires (who sued him for attempted reinstatement of conjugal rites) for starlet Luisa Mattioli, living with her until their marriage in 1969. Moore has a daughter and two sons with Mattioli; son Geoffrey Moore also is 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 1996, later marrying Christina Tholstrup, while there were many rumours of his womanising during his early years in Hollywood, as an MGM contract player. He was a leading man there, notably in television.

At a dinner in Moore's honour, held by the Variety Club of Great Britain in 1989 in honour of his charity work, talk show host Michael Aspel remarked that critics had called him "wooden" and "bland" so often that "on this assessment, Roger Moore emerges as a cross between Pinocchio and a King Edward potato"; and introducing highlights of the event for BBC TV, Barry Norman, whose own father Leslie Norman directed many episodes of "The Saint" and "The Persuaders!", admitted that "among the loftier critics these days, it's fashionable to decry Roger Moore, to say that he's always himself and he can't act".

Characteristically, when making the closing speech, Moore himself noted "I've never received a nomination or an Academy Award - and that after I went to the trouble of learning two more facial expressions." There were further jokes at his image when he was used as the comedy character Alan Partridge's hero, arguably as a reflection of Alan's conservative and conformist nature, Moore himself having publicly supported the Conservative Party in the General Election of 2001.

Moore was also 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."

Moore underwent major but successful surgery for prostate cancer in 1993, an event he later referred to as a life-changing experience. He had a pacemaker fitted after collapsing on stage in New York in 2003. In 1999, Moore was created a Commander of the British Empire (CBE), and a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) on June 14, 2003.

ROGER MOORE PICTURES

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ROGER MOORE BIOGRAPHY