ROGER – OVER AND OUT
Gavin and Stacey actor recalls Dorothy Squires’ last days with her movie star husband
AS A gaggle of female admirers surrounded her husband Roger Moore, furious Dorothy Squires bellowed at him: “Come on you p****!”
Their marriage was on the rocks and things were a far cry from when the actor who would play James Bond first swept her off her feet.
The revelations have been made in a new book, called My Heart is Bleeding, by Gavin and Stacey star and Dorothy’s friend, Johnny Tudor.
He first met her when Dorothy and Roger were on their way to a private showing of 1961’s Tammy Tell Me True, when she invited him and his dad along. Dorothy had written the movie’s theme.
“After too much champagne and the two-hour film, we emerged blinking and half-cut into the harsh daylight of the street,” Johnny said.
“A bunch of young girls immediately surrounded Roger, pleading for his autograph.
“We walked on with Dorothy, who pretended not to notice the gaggle of giggling girls then, turning to Roger, she yelled ‘come on you p**** we’ll be late’.
“I was to realise later that her total indifference to Roger’s star status was because their marriage was on the rocks.” The actor said goodbye to his fans. “But it was obvious things weren’t right – not long after that their muchpublicised break-up hit the press,” Johnny said.
“Putting on a brave face, Dorothy linked arms with my father and me and announced in a commanding voice that we were all going to Raymond’s Revue Bar – she’d booked a table to celebrate.”
It was a far cry from when Dorothy, from Pontyberem, Carmarthenshire, first met Roger. Her pal Betty had invited him to a party Dorothy was holding.
“When Roger arrived at Bexley railway station he called the house and told me that Betty had invited him to the party and asked how could he find St Mary’s Mount,” Dorothy told Johnny.
“I told him to wait at the station and I would send someone to get him.
“I asked him how the driver would recognise him. Ever the joker, Roger said that he was short, fat and bald.”
He was not short, fat and bald. Dorothy immediately fancied him.
“I’m sure the feeling was mutual, for although Dorothy was 12 years older than Roger, at 36 she was still in her prime and a very charismatic woman,” Johnny said.
“She wasn’t just a star, she had the aura of stardom. When she walked into the room, she lit it up.
“Dorothy had two personalities – the down to earth Welsh woman that her friends saw and the up-front professional persona for the public.”
Johnny only ever saw Dorothy drop her guard when she was around someone she had the hots for.
“She became, for want of a better word, coquettish,” Johnny said.
“The night she met Roger she was being very coquettish.
“She fancied him but she was trying very hard to play it cool.”
Dorothy, who was born Edna, was in the kitchen cooking chicken.
“She was throwing pieces of chicken onto two huge solid silver trays and smothering them in barbecue sauce when Roger followed her into the kitchen and, in her words, was hovering,” Johnny said.
“Dorothy, not wanting to look too keen, told him she was busy but if he wanted another drink to help himself.”
When the party came to an end Roger hung back.
“He poked the dying embers of the fire and made no attempt to go,” Johnny said. “Dorothy told him that her maid’s son could give him a lift to the station.”
The Saint star told her he thought the last train had gone.
“Roger, captivated by the charismatic Dorothy, suddenly kissed her,” Johnny said.
“Dorothy, taken aback, asked what the f*** he thought he was doing. Ignoring her protestations, he picked her up in his arms and carried her up the grand sweeping staircase.”
She later recounted that their relationship “started with a squabble, then he carried me off to bed”.
“She said she felt like Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind and from that moment on it was obvious that he would become the love of her life.”
They married in New Jersey on July 6, 1953. The marriage lasted until 1961, when Moore left her for Italian actress Luisa Mattioli. In 1969 Dorothy and Roger divorced.
My Heart is Bleeding, by Johnny Tudor, is published by The History Press and priced £14.99.