In the seemingly never ending stream of celebrities departing from this mortal coil the passing of Sir Roger Moore is a hard one to take. The eighty nine year old actor had been battling cancer.
From the mid Fifties Moore was a regular face on our TV screens with recurring roles In Ivanhoe and Maverick. His big break came in the Title role of the TV adaptation of The Saint. As Simon Templar he was the epitome of sixties cool in show that was stylish and showed off its high production values every single week. After the seven year run he moved on to The Persuaders where he starred as Lord Brett Sinclair alongside Tony Curtis.
Starring in that show led to him being cast in arguably his most famous role, James Bond. Over the course of seven films Moore took the character in a totally different direction to his predecessors. His take on the famous spy was not to everyone’s taste but his characterisation and screen presence ensured that the success of the Bond franchise went from strength to strength. He maintained a movie profile outside of the franchise and continued to appear in films and television series after he hung up the Walther Ppk. In recent years he was in semi retirement where he concentrated on his charity work with UNICEF.
For me, the best memory of Moore is tied in with school. For several years in primary school we had to wait about at school for the bus to pick us up. Every Wednesday I hoped for rain (not uncommon in Scotland) so we were forced indoors and got to watch re-runs of The Saint on afternoon television. It was, and still is, the best way to spend an hour on a rainy day.
Sir Roger you will be missed.
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