BOND STAR ROGER MOORE LOSES BATTLE WITH CANCER AT 89
Roger Moore, the dapper British actor who brought tongue-in-cheek humour to the James Bond persona in seven films, died on Tuesday in Switzerland. He was 89.
The death, attributed to cancer, was confirmed in a family statement on Twitter. It did not say where in Switzerland he died.
Moore was the oldest Bond ever hired, taking on the role when he was 46. He also had the longest run in the role, beginning in 1973 with Live and Let Die and winding up in 1985 with A View to a Kill.
After surrendering the Bond role to Timothy Dalton, Moore appeared in a half-dozen unexceptional movies, made a few television appearances and did voice work in animated films. Mostly, however, he turned his attention elsewhere, becoming a Unicef goodwill ambassador in 1991. He was made a commander of the British Empire in 1999 and was knighted in 2003.
Roger George Moore was born October 14, 1927, in Stockwell, London, the only child of George Alfred Moore, a London police officer who dabbled in amateur theatre, and the former Lily Pope.
He was drafted during the final year of World War II, serving as a second lieutenant in the Royal Army Service Corps. After the war he did stage work in London and Cambridge and appeared in mostly uncredited movie parts.
During his tenure as 007, Moore played almost a score of unrelated acting roles, most notably The Cannonball Run (1981) and the television movie Sherlock Holmes in New York (1976).
His last film appearance was a supporting role in The Carer (2016), about an aging and ailing British actor.