'The girls were getting younger and I was just getting too old.' 'Sadly, I had to retire from the Bond films,' he said at a ceremony to award him a star on Hollywood's 'Walk of Fame', just ahead of his 80th birthday. He followed it with The Man With the Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979), For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Octopussy (1983) before bowing out after A View to a Kill in 1985, when he was 57. Sir Roger made his debut in Live and Let Die, after the producers made him lose weight, get fit and cut his hair. Sir Moore said in his autobiography he had been approached about playing James Bond, novelist Ian Fleming's fictional secret agent, as early as 1967.īut it was not until 1973 that he finally won the role - despite, at 45, being two and a half years older than Connery, the man he replaced. He also played alongside Tony Curtis in the 1970s crime series The Persuaders.

It was not until the following decade that he achieved worldwide fame, starring in British television show The Saint as smooth-talking adventurer Simon Templar. He landed an MGM studio contract but only had supporting roles during the 1950s. Sir Roger began his acting career as an extra in the 1940s before studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. 'I've not done badly for a boy from Stockwell, where I used to gaze at the silver screen in wonderment, little realising I'd be a part of this magical world,' he wrote in his autobiography, My Word Is My Bond. Which is why I play it mostly for laughs,' he once said.īorn Roger George Moore, on Octoin the London suburb of Stockwell, he was the only son of a police constable and his wife, and had a happy childhood. He went on to become a real-life hero as an ambassador for UNICEF, even as he downplayed his own talents. Sir Roger Moore was also one of the last of the old-style movie stars, who counted Frank Sinatra and David Niven among his friends and lived in luxury in Switzerland and the French Riviera.

But he outgunned Sean Connery and all the other actors to have played 007 by taking the role he fondly called 'Jimmy Bond' in a record number of seven films. Known for his ironically raised eyebrow and deadpan quips, Sir Roger Moore's take on the suave superspy was more tongue-in-cheek than that of his manly predecessor Sean Connery.

Sir Roger Moore dies after battling Cancer on May 23īritish actor Roger Moore was never one to boast about his acting ability but then the facts spoke for themselves - he played James Bond in more films than any other man.

His first Bond film was Live and Let Die and last was A View to a Kill.

Sir Roger Moore played James Bond in 7 films over 12 years.

Bond with me jimmy