Roger Moore: Can I call Bond girls ‘crumpet’?
Roger Moore bowed to political correctness and agreed that actresses in 007 films should no longer be billed as Bond girls. But what should they be called?
‘Bond female doesn’t have the same ring, does it?’ he said. ‘Bond lady, perhaps? or what about . . . Bond crumpet?!’
realising his gaffe, he laughed and said: ‘oh, Bond crumpet will get the angry brigade going on Twitter!’
The 87-year-old star, who’s celebrating seven decades in the entertainment game, had been talking about manners; and how political correctness had got out of hand.
‘When I was brought up, we were always boys and girls, and men and women. You would stand up for a lady when she came into a room — but you get called a sexist pig if you show manners like that now.
‘The problem is that leading ladies get called all kinds of things today. But a Bond girl was always a Bond girl. The rest — Bond female, Bond lady — don’t sound right. But I do like Bond crumpet!’
Moore was the most prolific Bond and worked with several, ahem, Bond leading ladies. So who was his favourite?
‘Maud Adams, who was in two. She did The Man With The golden gun, and she came back. That never happens — but she did, in octopussy. Always on time — and also Swedish,’ he said, approvingly. Back on the subject of good manners, I was impressed that when I rang him, Moore was in the kitchen, cooking boiled rice for his wife, Kristina.
‘I love doing things for her. It’s Uncle Ben’s. You can’t muck it up,’ he told me.
Moore has always had an easy charm, and is a born raconteur. Those skills will be on display when he goes on the road again with a series of one-night stands, kicking off at the Yvonne Arnaud in guildford on october 18, and followed by shows in Cambridge, Blackpool, Harrogate, Cheltenham, Manchester and exeter (more information at aneveningwithsirrogermoore.com).
In September, he will launch his new book, Bond on Bond and, along with Stephen Fry and ewan Mcgregor, release an app featuring them ( and others) reading tales by Hans Christian Andersen.
He will carry on working. ‘Actors don’t retire — the phone stops ringing,’ he said.
But there’s a reason he keeps doing his theatre tours. ‘Maybe it’s to do with a necessity to hear the applause,’ he said.
‘You never get applause when you are making a film.’