Sir Roger Moore: a life in pictures

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Sir Roger Moore: a life in pictures

 

Sir Roger Moore has died in Switzerland aged 89 after a short battle with cancer. The actor will forever be remembered for his most famous role as James Bond 007, which he made his own through a unique brand of humour and swagger.

 

We look back at this life and career through a selection of pictures.

 

Sir Roger Moore rose to fame on the charm and good looks that accompanied his skill as an actor.

 

Here's a very young Roger, pictured in 1953 with Jennifer Haking, as he began his career as a model.

 

He was a keen rider and made sure to start his day with his horses when pursuing his acting career in Hollywood in the late 1950s.

 

One of his earliest roles was playing Ivanhoe in 1958 in a television remake of Walter Scott's classic novel.

 

Sir Roger was married four times. His second wife was the acclaimed singer Dorothy Squires and they were together for 15 years.

 

From 1962 to 1969, Sir Roger became one of the UK's most popular TV stars playing the Saint, aka the debonair Simon Templar, a conman whose mission was stealing from the corrupt wealthy.

 

In 1971 Sir Roger landed the joint lead role in the action/comedy TV show The Persuaders! Alongside Tony Curtis. Sir Roger played Lord Brett Sinclair and Curtis the self-made millionaire Danny Wilde.

 

Sir Roger starred with Britt Ekland in the 1974 Bond movie the Man with the Golden Gun in which they faced by the evil Scaramanga, played by Sir Christopher Lee. The movie was one of seven 007 features with Sir Roger in the leading role.

 

Sir Roger jokes around with the Duke of Edinburgh at the premiere of James Bond film Moonraker in 1979.

 

Sir Roger was invited to perform a sketch along with Sir Michael Caine at the London Palladium in honour of the Queen Mother's birthday in 1990.

 

Sir Roger was an active supporter of the global children's charity Unicef and got together with US comedian Whoopi Goldberg - and a muppet - in 2005 to front a campaign highlighting the impact of Aids and HIV on children.

 

The actor received a knighthood for his charity work in 2003.

 

Sir Roger was an international star throughout his life and was guest of honour at a racing event in Germany with his last wife, Kristina Tholstrop, in 2013.

 

Sir Sean Connery pays emotional tribute to fellow Bond Sir Roger Moore. The original big screen 007 said he will “miss” Sir Roger, with whom he enjoyed a long friendship “filled with jokes and laughter”.

 

Fellow former Bond Pierce Brosnan shared a picture of the pair together and said he was a big part of his life

 

 

IN HIS OWN SUAVE WORDS... 

 

Women have played a big part in my life on and off-screen and I think I’ve finally worked them out. I always make sure I have the last word. That word is ‘yes’.

 

‘It just gave me a stiff neck’ — explaining why taking Viagra left him neither shaken nor stirred.

 

Intelligence is my most endearing quality, according to [his wife] Kristina. That’s her Swedish sense of humour.

 

Being eternally known as Bond has no downside. People call me Mr Bond when we’re out and I don’t mind a bit. Why would I?

 

‘I had creaking knees and my leading ladies could have been my granddaughters’ — on his last appearance as James Bond in A View To A Kill, aged 57.

 

‘I lie all the time. I say different people, otherwise you’ll upset somebody’ — on his favourite Bond girl.

 

I’m one lucky b******. In my early acting years, I was told that to succeed you needed personality, talent and luck in equal measure. I contest that. For me it’s been 99 per cent luck. It’s no good being talented and not being in the right place at the right time.

 

The saddest thing about ageing is that most of my friends are now ‘in the other room’. I miss David Niven the most. I still can’t watch his films without shedding a tear.

 

Some of the things I’ve done in my life I’m ashamed of. We don’t talk about those, though. If I could give my younger self some advice it would be: ‘Grow up!’

 

I still have some of Bond’s suits in my wardrobe, but they don’t fit me now. In the 007 days I was so thin that if I turned sideways you could mark me absent.

 

My mum instilled in me the proverb: ‘I cried because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet.’ Those words are always with me and I’m a believer in showing kindness to others and not expecting repayment.

 

Medicine has always fascinated me and I’m a hypochondriac. It’s not that I wake up every morning and think: ‘I’m dying.’ At my age, I know I am.

 

[Mr Grumpy 768]

Mrs G and myself have a great soft spot for Roger Moore. His first outing as James Bond was in Live and Let Die which opened in the cinemas in 1973. We went to see that for our first date and we call Live and Let Die our film. Needless to say we have seen every Bond movie since and have the complete set on DVD/Bluray.