Roger Moore: Why I could never take 007 seriously
I saw Bond as comical ... how could I be a spy when everyone knew who I was, even down to my drink of choice?
The alcohol, the smoking, the sunbathing, the promiscuity, not to mention the death-defying stunts. These were the hallmarks of Sir Roger Moore’s James Bond.
But in reality, the actor enjoyed a life far removed from this – with his pleasures, especially towards the end, being much simpler than those of 007.
The trademark martinis – shaken, not stirred – were out because of Sir Roger’s Type 2 diabetes and he gave up the cigars in his sixties when he started coughing up blood after chain-smoking for a solid six hours.
As for the tan, a run-in with skin cancer left him obsessive about keeping out of the sun.
When it came to the promiscuity, that was also off the agenda because of his love for Kristina Tholstrup, who became the actor’s fourth wife in 2002. Sadly this week, she became his widow after he died in Switzerland, aged 89, following a short battle with cancer. Happily, when I met Sir Roger for his final major interview, I found he retained what was probably his Bond’s defining characteristic – a sense of humour. Whatever else may be said about Daniel Craig, the current holder of 007’s licence to kill, he is not exactly a barrel of laughs. Sir Roger told me: “I always saw the part as inherently comical. How could I possibly be a spy when everybody knew who I was, even down to my drink of choice? “Also, it beggared belief that I could fly a jet plane, operate a mini-submarine, know what to do in space and ski down black runs – straight off cliffs when I became an expert parachutist – without so much as turning a welllacquered hair. “I saw the humour as a necessary release in the films,
a way of drawing breath between all the action and a signal to audiences that I wasn’t taking myself too seriously and so neither should they.”
There was clearly a lot more fun to be had on camera – and off it – in his heyday of the 1970s and 1980s.
“It was a carefree time,” he said. “If the crew were getting out of hand, I turned a soda syphon on them.
“I imagine that would result in a complaint to Human Resources or Health and Safety these days.
“Cubby Broccoli produced my films and it was like being part of a family for everyone who worked for him. He would cook pasta for us all.”
Sir Roger explained: “Of course, political correctness was never exactly our strong suit. I remember Lois Chiles on Moonraker going mad when Cubby observed what a ‘cute ass’ she had.
“She screamed at him, ‘What do you mean by that, you chauvinistic pig? How dare you talk to me like that’. He was just saying that she looked lovely. I didn’t see it was anything to get upset about, but times were clearly changing.”
With typical modesty, Sir Roger attributed his record as the longestserving Bond – he played the part seven times – to him being “cheap”.
This is certainly true in comparison to the reported £39million that Craig has earned for a 007 movie.
But the franchise has turned into much more of a business. Sir Roger said: “Cubby took the view it wasn’t done to talk about money.
“Only once did the subject come up and it was during a particularly tense stand-off between my agents and lawyers and their people.
“We sat playing backgammon. He was shaking the cup. Suddenly he said, ‘You can tell your agent to go s*** in his hat’. And that was that.”
Big money equated to big headaches, Sir Roger reckoned. “I can see why Daniel doesn’t always sound entirely enthusiastic about making the films,” he said. “There is a huge pressure to deliver.
“It seems a pity to me, though, that the scriptwriters can’t manage to get a few more jokes into them.”
If Craig doesn’t have Sir Roger’s humour, Sir Roger never had Craig’s abs. He said: “I’d occasionally do some exercises at home but I never cared for gyms. I wonder if Ian Fleming ever saw the character as quite such an Adonis.
“There is talk these days of a black actor, a gay actor or indeed a woman playing the part.
“While I know all this fits in with progressive attitudes, I’m against it for the reason Fleming was quite clear in the books about how he saw the character – and he was none of these.”
Sir Roger decided to quit as Bond after A View To A Kill when he thought he looked too old to be “hanging around women in their early twenties without it appearing creepy”.
That 1985 film was very nearly not the last time he played the role.
The surviving Bonds – himself, Sir Sean Connery, Timothy Dalton, George Lazenby and Pierce Brosnan – almost got together on screen, but Connery was unwilling to participate.
Sir Roger said: “I love Sean, but he takes himself more seriously than me.”
As an actor, London-born Sir Roger never really retired, taking his one-man show on the road in his last years.
But acting and the showbusiness lifestyle never meant as much as his job as an ambassador for children’s aid group Unicef.
He said: “I’m more proud to be associated with Unicef than any mere film. The only thing of value about being a celebrity is that it gives you a chance to do some good. If you don’t use that, it’s a hell of a waste.”