Early work (1945–1953) Moore made his professional debut in
Alexander Korda's
Perfect Strangers (1945) alongside actors
Robert Donat,
Deborah Kerr, and
Glynis Johns. Other early uncredited appearances include
Caesar and Cleopatra (1945),
Gaiety George,
Piccadilly Incident (both 1946), and
Trottie True (1949), in which he appeared alongside an uncredited
Christopher Lee (both actors being cast by Brian Desmond Hurst as
stage-door Johnnies). In his book
Last Man Standing: Tales from Tinseltown, Moore states that his first television appearance was on 27 March 1949 in
The Governess by
Patrick Hamilton, a live broadcast (as usual in that era), in which he played the minor part of Bob Drew. Other actors in the show included
Clive Morton and
Betty Ann Davies. He had uncredited parts in films including
Paper Orchid and
The Interrupted Journey (both 1949). He was in the one-off programme
Drawing-Room Detective on BBC TV (1950) and appeared in the films
One Wild Oat and
Honeymoon Deferred (both 1951). In the early 1950s, Moore worked as a model, Moore travelled to the United States and began to work in television. He appeared in adaptations of
Julius Caesar and
Black Chiffon, and in two episodes of
Robert Montgomery Presents, as well as the TV movie
The Clay of Kings (all 1953).
MGM (1954–1956) In March 1954,
MGM signed Moore to a seven-year contract. He started his MGM contract with a small role in
The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), flirting with
Elizabeth Taylor. He appeared in
Interrupted Melody, a biographical movie about opera singer
Marjorie Lawrence's recovery from polio, in which he was billed third under
Glenn Ford and
Eleanor Parker as Lawrence's brother Cyril. That same year, he played a supporting role in the swashbuckler ''
The King's Thief'' starring
Ann Blyth,
Edmund Purdom,
David Niven and
George Sanders. In the 1956 film
Diane, Moore was billed third again, this time under
Lana Turner and
Pedro Armendariz, in a 16th-century period piece set in France with Moore playing
Prince Henri, the future king. Moore was released from his MGM contract after two years following the film's critical and commercial failure. In his own words: "At MGM, RGM [Roger George Moore] was NBG [no bloody good]." Christopher Lee and
John Schlesinger were among the show's guest stars, and series regulars included
Robert Brown (who in the 1980s played
M in several James Bond films) as the squire Gurth,
Peter Gilmore as Waldo Ivanhoe,
Andrew Keir as villainous Prince John, and
Bruce Seton as noble King Richard. Moore suffered broken ribs and a battle-axe blow to his helmet while performing some of his own stunts filming a season of 39 half-hour episodes, and later reminisced, "I felt a complete Charlie riding around in all that armour and damned stupid plumed helmet. I felt like a medieval fireman."
Warner Bros. (1959–1961) After that, Moore spent a few years mainly doing one-shot parts in television series, including an episode of
Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1959 titled "The Avon Emeralds". He signed another long-term contract to a studio, this time to
Warner Bros. In 1959, he took the lead role in
The Miracle, He had also filmed a
Maverick episode with Garner two seasons earlier, in which Moore played a different character, in a retooling of
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775
comedy of manners play
The Rivals. Moore's debut as Beau Maverick occurred in the first episode of the 1960–61 fourth season, "
The Bundle from Britain", one of four episodes in which he shared screen time with his cousin Bart (Jack Kelly).
Robert Altman wrote and directed "Bolt from the Blue", an episode featuring
Will Hutchins as a frontier lawyer similar to his character in the series
Sugarfoot, and "Red Dog" found Beau mixed up with the vicious bank robbers
Lee Van Cleef and
John Carradine.
Kathleen Crowley was Moore's
leading lady in two episodes ("Bullet for the Teacher" and "Kiz"), and others included
Mala Powers,
Roxane Berard,
Fay Spain,
Merry Anders,
Andra Martin and
Jeanne Cooper. Upon leaving the series, Moore cited a decline in script quality since the Garner era as the key factor in his decision to depart; ratings for the show were also down. Moore was originally slated to appear with both Jack Kelly and Robert Colbert in the series but by the time Colbert starred in his first episode, Moore had already left the series. Numerous early publicity stills of Kelly, Moore and Colbert posing together exist, however. Moore was still under contract with Warners, who cast him in
The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961), making love to a nun played by
Angie Dickinson, and
Gold of the Seven Saints (1961), supporting
Clint Walker. He also went to Italy to make the adventure comedy
Romulus and the Sabines (1961).
The Saint (1962–1969) (first from left),
Shwikar (second from right) and
Sharifa Fadel at the Alexandria Television Festival in
Alexandria,
Egypt, August 1963.
Lew Grade cast Moore as
Simon Templar in a new adaptation of
The Saint, based on the novels by
Leslie Charteris. Moore said in an interview in 1963 that he wanted to buy the rights to Leslie Charteris's character and the trademarks. The television series was broadcast by
ITV in the UK between 1962 and 1969, and its overseas success made Moore a household name. After the strong performance in the US of the first two series in first-run syndication,
NBC picked up the show in 1966. By early 1967, Moore had achieved international stardom. The series established his suave, quipping style which he carried forward to James Bond, and it also saw him exhibit his trademark raised eyebrow. Francis Blagburn in
The Telegraph writes,
The Saint ran from 1962 for six series and 118 episodes. Several episodes were edited together to form two films,
The Saint and the Fiction Makers (1968) and
Vendetta for the Saint (1969).
Post-Saint films and The Persuaders! (1969–1972) He made two films immediately after the series ended:
Crossplot (1969), a lightweight 'spy caper' movie, and the more challenging
The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970). Directed by
Basil Dearden, it gave Moore the opportunity to demonstrate greater versatility than the role of Simon Templar had allowed. Curtis refused to spend more time on set than was strictly necessary, while Moore was always willing to work overtime. On its premiere on the
ITV network, it was beaten in the ratings by repeats of ''
Monty Python's Flying Circus'' on
BBC One. It did however place in the Top 20 most-viewed television series in the UK throughout 1971. The lack of success in the US, where it had been sold to ABC, Curtis put down to its showing at the Saturday 10pm slot, but it was successful in continental Europe and Australia.
Live and Let Die (1973) Due to his commitment to several television shows, in particular
The Saint, Roger Moore was unavailable for the James Bond films for a considerable time. His participation in
The Saint was as actor, producer, and director, and he also became involved in developing the series
The Persuaders!. In 1964, he made a guest appearance as James Bond in the comedy series
Mainly Millicent. Moore stated in his autobiography
My Word Is My Bond (2008) that he had neither been approached to play the character in
Dr. No, nor did he feel that he had ever been considered. Only after
Sean Connery had declared in 1966 that he would not play Bond any longer did Moore become aware that he might be a contender for the role. Being 44 when he was cast in the role, Moore remains the oldest actor to portray Bond. Moore then made
Gold (1974), based on a novel by
Wilbur Smith for producer
Michael Klinger and director
Peter R. Hunt. He was paid US$200,000 plus a percentage of the profits.
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) Moore made his second Bond film,
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), which was a hit, though less successful than
Live and Let Die. It featured
Christopher Lee as the main antagonist. Also appearing were
Britt Ekland,
Herve Villechaize and
Maud Adams. He then made a comedy
That Lucky Touch (1975) which was a box office disaster. Moore made an Italian-shot action film
Street People (1976), then went back to South Africa for another Klinger-Hunt movie from a Wilbur Smith novel,
Shout at the Devil (1976), which was successful in Britain, though less so in the US. Lee Marvin was a main cast member. Ian Holm was also featured, as well as
Barbara Parkins.
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) Moore returned for a third outing as Bond in
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), which was a massive box-office success. It also starred
Barbara Bach and
Richard Kiel in his first appearance as the villain
Jaws. He returned to South Africa for a third action movie shot there,
The Wild Geese (1978), produced by
Euan Lloyd and directed by
Andrew V. McLaglen. It was a sizeable hit in Britain and Europe but, like
Shout at the Devil, less so in the US. The cast featured
Richard Burton, who had top billing, and Richard Harris. Moore played the lead in
Escape to Athena (1979) partly financed by Lew Grade. It was a heist adventure set in war-time Greece, and starred
Telly Savalas and David Niven, and features mostly American character actors, including
Elliott Gould,
Stefanie Powers,
Richard Roundtree,
Sonny Bono, and Italian actress
Claudia Cardinale. Roger Moore (with top billing) plays a charming former Austrian antiquities dealer turned crooked camp commandant, asked to guard Greek antiquities desired by the Third Reich, and also guard the collection of archaeologists who are being forced to work to find and recover these objects, but he has other plans for the treasure he guards and for the people under his watch.
Moonraker (1979) Moore followed the success of his fourth outing as Bond,
Moonraker (1979), with an action film,
North Sea Hijack (1980), also known as
ffolkes. Moore played a very un-Bond-like hero, opposite
Anthony Perkins. The film was a box-office disappointment. Better received was
The Sea Wolves (1980), another World War Two adventure, based on
James Leasor's book, Boarding Party, which reunited many of the crew from
The Wild Geese including Euan Lloyd and McLaglen. It was based on the true story of a March 1943 event in British India and Portuguese Goa, in which a group of retired members of the
Calcutta Light Horse, colonelled by David Niven's character, assist regular British Army operatives, played by Moore and
Gregory Peck, in destroying German ships in neutral
Mormugao harbour, all the time surrounded by German spies and Indian nationalist intrigue.
Trevor Howard,
Patrick Macnee and
Barbara Kellerman also co-star, with a who's-who lineup of British character actors. Moore was in two all-star comedies:
Sunday Lovers (1980), which flopped at the box office, and
The Cannonball Run (1981), which was a hit. The latter featured an ensemble cast, including
Jackie Chan,
Burt Reynolds,
Dean Martin,
Dom DeLuise,
Sammy Davis Jr, and
Farrah Fawcett.
For Your Eyes Only (1981) Moore returned for his fifth outing as Bond in
For Your Eyes Only (1981).
Octopussy (1983) Following the film
For Your Eyes Only, Moore expressed a desire to leave the role, and other actors were screen tested, including
James Brolin, but Moore was eventually enticed back for
Octopussy (1983). The circumstances around
Octopussys release were highly unusual, in that another James Bond film was being released in the same year. Spearheaded by
Thunderball producer
Kevin McClory (who retained the film rights to the property because the antecedent 1961
Ian Fleming novel was based on an unfilmed 1959 screenplay produced under the aegis of McClory,
Jack Whittingham and Fleming), the non-Eon production
Never Say Never Again featured his predecessor
Sean Connery returning to the role of Bond. Although tantamount to a loose remake of
Thunderball, it was not set in the continuity of the previous Eon Bond films. This led to the media dubbing the one-time situation the "Battle of the Bonds". He made a cameo as Chief
Inspector Clouseau, posing as a famous movie star, in
Curse of the Pink Panther In 1987, he hosted
Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond. Moore did not act on screen for five years after he stopped playing Bond; in 1990, he appeared in several films, as well as in the writer-director
Michael Feeney Callan's television series
My Riviera. He then starred in the film
Bed & Breakfast, which was shot in 1989; and also had a large role in the 1996 film
The Quest. In 1997, he starred as the Chief in
Spice World. At the age of 73, he played a flamboyant homosexual man in
Boat Trip (2002) with
Cuba Gooding Jr. The British satirical puppet show
Spitting Image had a sketch in which their
latex likeness of Moore, when asked to display emotions by an offscreen director, did nothing but raise an eyebrow; Moore himself stated that he thought the sketch was funny and took it in good humour. Indeed, he had always embraced the "eyebrows" gag wholeheartedly, and quipped that he "only had three expressions as Bond: right eyebrow raised, left eyebrow raised, and eyebrows crossed when grabbed by
Jaws".
Spitting Image continued the joke, featuring a Bond film spoof,
The Man with the Wooden Delivery, with Moore's puppet receiving orders from
Margaret Thatcher to kill
Mikhail Gorbachev. Other comedy shows at that time ridiculed Moore's acting, with
Rory Bremner once claiming to have had a death threat from one of his irate fans following one such routine. In a nod to his 1960s TV show, Moore had a vocal cameo in
The Saint (1997) as a radio newsreader as Simon Templar drives away at the end of the film. In the year 2000, he played the role of a secret agent in the Christmas special
Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings, shown on BBC One on Christmas Day. Filming all his scenes in the
London Eye, his mission was to eliminate another agent whose file photo looks like Pierce Brosnan. In 2002, he had a small cameo role in the German
police procedural series
Tatort (episode 506: "Schatten" – "Shadow", 28 July 2002) as himself signing an autograph on a Unicef card. In the 1981 film
The Cannonball Run, in a parody of both himself and James Bond, Moore played Seymour Goldfarb, a wealthy but delusional playboy who believes himself to be Roger Moore and enters the race driving an
Aston Martin DB5. In support of his charitable work for UNICEF, Moore lent his voice to the character of the magic snowman, Lumi Ukko, for a 1990 feature film produced by Pavlina Ltd/FIT. The film is UNICEF-endorsed and is dedicated to the "world's children". An audiobook titled
The Magic Snowman and The Rusty Ice Skates features his voice. His daughter, the actress
Deborah Moore, narrated the book in honour of her father's legacy and his work for UNICEF. 20 per cent of the book's proceeds are pledged to the organisation. In 2009, Moore appeared in an advertisement for the
Post Office. In 2010, he provided the voice of a talking cat called
Lazenby in the film
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, which contained several references to, and parodies of, Bond films. In 2011, he co-starred in the film
A Princess for Christmas with
Katie McGrath and
Sam Heughan and, in 2012, he took to the stage for a series of seven
Evenings with in UK theatres; in November, guest-hosted
Have I Got News for You. A slightly thinner-faced Moore contributed to a charity song in 2017. His last on-screen performance was in 2017, a brief appearance near the end of the remake of
The Saint. In 2015, Moore was named one of
GQs 50 best-dressed British men. In 2015, he read
Hans Christian Andersen's "
The Princess and the Pea" for the children's fairy tales app GivingTales in aid of
UNICEF. ==Advocacy==