- Title: Former Bond Roger Moore dead at 89
- Date: 23rd May 2017
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - OCTOBER 11, 2007) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, ROGER MOORE, ON PLAYING JAMES BOND, SAYING: "But, there again the Hollywood moguls in all their wisdom, they kissed me goodbye and I went back to Europe, and I managed to get a job playing seven years playing "The Saint." I got to work with Tony Curtis in "The Persuaders!" And then they decided that I would replace Sean Connery as Bond. I am very very grateful I managed to make seven of those, I suppose seven is my lucky number. Sadly, I had to retire from Bond because the girls were all getting too young or I was getting too old - I can't remember which. It looked rather disgusting, it was like love in the afternoon and there ain't nothing wrong with that." UNVEILING OF ROGER MOORE'S STAR ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME MOORE HOLDING PLAQUE MOORE STANDING ON STAR CANNES, FRANCE (FILE - MAY 20, 1999) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) MOORE AND CURRENT WIFE CHRISTINA THOLSTRUP AT AMFAR GALA (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, ROGER MOORE, SAYING: "Looking forward to it, I see a lot of old friends, and some young ones I hope." STANKOVIC CAMP, MACEDONIA (FILE - MAY 13, 1999) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MOORE VISITING REFUGEES FROM KOSOVO FOR UNICEF (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, ROGER MOORE, SAYING: "If you can bring a smile to anybody's face, when they're in dire straits, then it's worth it." MOORE LOOKING AT TOYS LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - OCTOBER 17, 2006) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, ROGER MOORE, SAYING: "Bond certainly gives you a financial security, a notoriety which has been particularly useful in the work I've chosen over the last 16 years which is being a UNICEF ambassador. I get media and press attention because they are curious to know why an ex-James Bond is working for children, which gets them in, they want to talk about Bond but I can always get the subject back onto the children."
- Embargoed: 6th June 2017 14:31
- Keywords: death actor James Bond Roger Moore
- Location: UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATIONS / GIZA, EGYPT / PINEWOOD, ENGLAND / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, INDIA / CANNES, FRANCE / STANKOVIC CAMP, MACEDONIA / ELSTREE, ENGLAND / LONDON, ENGLAND
- City: UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATIONS / GIZA, EGYPT / PINEWOOD, ENGLAND / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, INDIA / CANNES, FRANCE / STANKOVIC CAMP, MACEDONIA / ELSTREE, ENGLAND / LONDON, ENGLAND
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Celebrities,Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA0046I28WG7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
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PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL
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British actor Roger Moore, who won international fame playing secret agent James Bond, died on Tuesday (May 23) aged 89, his family said on the actor's official Twitter account.
His 12 years as James Bond, the British agent with a voracious appetite for danger and sex, made Moore a millionaire and a heartthrob the world over.
"It is with a heavy heart that we must announce our loving father, Sir Roger Moore, has passed away today in Switzerland after a short but brave battle with cancer," his three children announced in a statement on the Twitter account.
The son of a London policeman, Moore once said the upper-crust image he portrayed both on and off the screen was a carefully nurtured cover for his shyness and timidity. He also said he was terrified of playing the sex scenes which were a key part of the Bond movies.
Moore's big breakthrough as an actor came in 1962, when he won the part of ""The Saint" in a popular television series of the same name. In this role, he honed his image of the urbane Englishman with a stream of damsels to rescue from distress.
In 1973 came the coveted part of James Bond, writer Ian Fleming's action man spy 007, who held cinemagoers across the world in thrall. The Bond films were said to have earned Moore 14 million pounds ($22 million).
He moved to the United States to become a tax exile.
"I don't see why a chap shouldn't do what he likes and live where he wants on his money, and the British government, which allows talent to go abroad because of taxation, has only itself to blame," he said in an interview in 1989.
After handing over the role of Bond to Timothy Dalton, Moore went into semi-retirement, living a millionaire's life and traveling between his homes in Los Angeles, Switzerland and the south of France.
In 1991, he became an ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund.
Moore is survived by his fourth wife, Scandinavian socialite Kristina "Kiki" Tholstrup, whom he married in 2002. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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