I actually found this book by complete accident on Amazon. I was adding the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming to my wish list and this book came up as a suggestion. After reading the description, I decided to buy it. I just finished this book yesterday It's quite good and funny in some parts. That's why Roger Moore was my favorite actor to play James Bond; he always had funny, but sarcastic comments and he didn't look like your typical action film hero
He was born Roger George Moore on 10/14/1927 to Lily Pope and George Alan Moore. His father worked as a policeman and was only 23 when Roger was born. Roger talks about growing up in London, how someone asked him what he wanted to be when he got older and he replied a policeman. He talks about the various illnesses that struck him in his younger years. He describes it as being a frequent thing. Such as going into the hospital to have his tonsils removed and being scared at the hospital surroundings. Or having double bronchitis. Or having to go into the hospital for a circumcision
He mentions that there was a story going around that he had been "abused" as a child and abused by his father. He stated that these stories were untrue and especially hurtful. While it never states exactly what type of abuse, he does mention that when he was in the Cubs (cub scouts in the US), he and a friend encountered a stranger who said Roger had "nice knees", which Roger took to mean something darker, possibly something of a sexual nature. The stranger wanted to flash him and Roger ran for it. The stranger took off with the food that Roger and his friend Reg had brought. He stated something to the effect of "if the stranger couldn't have our bodies, he would have our food", calling the stranger a "dirty pervert." He told his mother when he was in his teens about it because he felt ashamed, despite nothing of a sexual nature happening
As the 1930s turned into the 1940s, Roger talks about how London and the rest of England braced for impact in what would become known as The Blitz. How all children were sent to the countryside for their protection. He was sent to stay with a family who all but hated his mere presence. Then he was sent to a family who he absolutely adored. The mother, he says, made the best pies in the world. He states one of his favorite activities was swimming and, one day, while swimming with his father, they both had to seek shelter as they saw an aerial battle between a German fighter plane and a British RAF Hurricane and how the Hurricane did a barrel roll, which he called a Victory Roll, after winning the aerial fight
As a teen, he had a close friend named Norman. One day, they both thought it would be a great idea to "borrow" Roger's dad's air rifle and air pistol. While Roger was loading his air pistol, his friend Norman already had the air rifle loaded. He proceeded to shoot Roger in the leg, thinking it was funny. The comedy wore off quickly as Roger's leg proceeded to hurt him and lock up completely. Once again, Roger was off to the hospital to find out that the lead BB from the gun had not only left a bruise, but broken skin and lodged itself in the bone of his leg, a few inches below his knee. He had to undergo surgery to have it removed and be monitored for lead poisoning afterward. Since then, he has hated firearms or any kind of violence. His hatred of blood sports and hunting came from an incident when he was a child. He had thrown a small rock at a bird's nest, killing it. He was so devastated by it that, from that point on, he began to strongly hate any kind of blood sport. He does not support hunting of any kind
To make some extra money, Roger heard some people were taking up "extra" work on films. Appearing as extras in the background. Roger decided to give this a go and had a revelation-he really enjoyed acting and performing. As such, the director of a play he was in suggested Roger enroll in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA). There, he would learn the essentials of becoming an actor. While there, he befriended a female classmate, who was from Canada, who would, later on, appear in at least seven of his films. That classmate was Lois Maxwell, and she would go to star as the lovely Miss Moneypenny in the seven James Bond films that Roger would star in. Not surprisingly, as a teen, Roger also did a stint in the military. And, as he said, health issues would come back to haunt him. He suffered, for a short time, with yellow jaundice and kidney stones. After his stint in the military, he went back into acting in rep theatre. As time went on, he would star in films and, with the advent of television, television programs. He surprisingly ended up on a few American-based television programs, such as Maverick, starring James Garner. He appeared on that program playing Brett Maverick's English cousin Beau. For some reason, some people thought the small facial mole that Roger has under his left eye was not photogenic, so they would airbrush it out of photos
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| Roger Moore and Lois Maxwell |
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| Roger Moore as Brett Maverick's English cousin Beau Maverick |
As time went on, he would star in more films and television shows. When the 1960s rolled around, he would appear in the television program that would really make his name big. That program was The Saint, where he starred as Simon Templar. He would also appear on the television program The Persuaders. With the 1960s, he also married an Italian actress named Luisa Mattioli and they both had two children, a daughter named Deborah and a son named Geoffrey, whom Roger named in honor of an actor named Jeffrey Hunt. Roger said he couldn't wipe the smile off of his face with the birth of his two kids. Like any new parent, he learned what worked with kids and what didn't. He found out that, while on set for a film one day, he had Deborah with him. The film required a 21 gun salute and Deborah screamed at the gunshots. Afterwards, he had to calm his daughter down. As the 1960s morphed into the 1970s, he would get a call regarding a role that he would now be world famous for. The role concerned a certain British spy who is a definite ladies man. That role would be the world famous British super spy James Bond
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| Roger Moore as Simon Templar, The Saint |
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| Roger Moore in The Persuaders |
The first James Bond film for Roger Moore would be Live and Let Die. Paul McCartney and his band Wings ended up providing the iconic theme song. While filming, there were a few problems here and there. While filming a car chase scene in New York, one of the stunt drivers, who was black, was arrested by police, who were suspicious about a black man driving a Cadillac, the car used for the chase scene. When they ran the plates, they discovered the plates were fake. It was up to one of the directors to clear up everything. And then, while filming the boat chase scene in Louisiana, Roger fell ill with kidney stones. Doctors prescribed him a medicine called methylene, which had the unfortunate issue of turning urine bright blue. Because of this and other painkillers, he was quite out of it and accidentally urinated on his clothing in his wardrobe, thinking it was the bathroom. He also managed to crack two of his teeth and twist his knee during the boat chase scene
After Live and Let Die, it was on to The Man With the Golden Gun. This would be one of the more popular and successful of the Roger Moore-era James Bond films. The director and producers wanted to "toughen" James Bond up a bit, and to do that, in one scene, where Bond is looking for information on a mysterious arms dealer named Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), he threatens to break a woman's arm. Roger didn't feel comfortable with that. He states that his version of Bond would have rather charmed the information out of her. The 1970s also seen Roger and his wife Luisa bringing another child into the world, a son they named Christian. While filming The Man with the Golden Gun, he mentions that a body double was used in certain scenes for the main Bond girl, Britt Ekland. This body double was larger in certain areas that Britt Ekland. He would go to do other James Bond films after this. After this, it was Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, The Spy Who Loved Me, Octopussy
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| Roger in The Man with the Golden Gun |
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| Roger Moore in Moonraker |
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| For Your Eyes Only |
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| The Spy Who Loved Me |
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| Octopussy |
His last Bond film was to be A View to A Kill. He wanted this to be his last outing as James Bond because he felt he was getting too old for that type of stuff, being fifty four years old at the time. He thoroughly enjoyed doing the movie, but states it's his least favorite film only because of the villain, Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), machine gunning innocent people towards the end. Despite the "difficult to work with" reputation that Christopher Walken had been given, Roger felt this was an unfair judgement. He thought Christopher was a decent, nice man and that Christopher stated he liked being prepared and preferred that others be prepared as well to do a good job
He'd also had a lot of issues with the leading ladies, Tanya Roberts and Grace Wilson. He stated they both were worried more about appearance than performance. They would frequently touch up their hair and lipstick. It had gotten to a point where Roger hid their compacts and lipsticks, only to discover they had multiple compacts and lipsticks inside their handbags. He is a firm believer of "If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all." This rule, he states, firmly applies to Grace Jones. Both Roger and Grace had dressing rooms next door to each other. When Roger wasn't shooting, he would take an afternoon nap. That was out of the question as Grace liked to play loud music. Specifically music of the heavy metal variety. Roger had asked her time and time again to turn down the music. It had gotten to a point where he took a chair and beat it against the wall in frustration
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| Roger Moore with Tanya Roberts |
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| Roger Moore with Grace jones |
And if it wasn't bad enough he had to contend with leading ladies more concerned about appearances than performance, he had to contend with mother falling ill and eventually passing away. He left the set one day to attend his mother's funeral, much to the dismay of the director and producers of a film he was working on. "His mother just passed" said one producer, obviously sympathizing with Roger. The director and other crew were far less sympathetic
As the 1980s turned into the 1990s, Roger focused his time and efforts on working with UNICEF. He was deeply passionate about helping those less fortunate. And, as he stated, illness would once again creep back into his life. He had undergone a physical, only to discover that he had the big C-cancer. He underwent treatment for it and was declared free of cancer. Later on, he had to go into the hospital again, this time to have a pacemaker put in because he blacked out. He spent less time working on films and TV and more time working with UNICEF. He was even awarded a knighthood, making him "Sir" Roger Moore and his wife Kristina Lady Moore. He was also awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for his humanitarian work with UNICEF
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