Roger Moore (1927-2017)

Roger Moore as Ivanhoe.

By Steve Green: (Sir) Roger Moore died today, May 23, “after a short battle with cancer”, aged 89. Appearances as James Bond aside, he did take the double lead in The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970), adapted from Anthony Armstrong’s short story “The Strange Case of Mr Pelham”; Moore apparently considered it his favorite role and among his best performances. Recent work included a vocal role in Troll Hunters, scheduled for release next year.

Moore’s other roles of interest to genre fans include Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe in the Ivanhoe series (1958), Beau Maverick in Maverick (1959-1961), and Simon Templar in The Saint (1962-1969).

8 thoughts on “Roger Moore (1927-2017)

  1. Damn, damn and damn.

    I adored The Saint series, very close in tone (IMHO) to Peter Gunn. Did they mean anything by naming him Simon Templar? Or did they just it, admittedly, a cool name. Connery turns 87 this’s August, and Lazerby is relatively young at 78 come August.

  2. Amazing actor. We’ve lost so many of the greats now that actually had a ton of range and could do so much to emotionally move audiences beyond the “realism” of much of today’s bland films.

  3. I was never that found of The Saint as a TV series. He was a criminal, not an associate to the police, dammit! Aside from that, Roger Moore was perfect for the role.

  4. I enjoyed Sir Roger Moore in his many roles, but the part I mainly associate him with is Lord Brett Sinclair in The Persuaders, one of the few shows that got better when dubbed into German.

  5. I think the basic reason for calling him Simon Templar was that the initials spell ST. Obviously, once the name is in place, Knight Templar references are also available, but the book of that name is apparently the fourth in the series, so presumably not the source of the idea.

  6. @Hampus Eckerman: the TV series was … sanitized; my mother commented when it came out that every successive Templar was prettier than his predecessor. But IIRC the book character also changed, rather like Batman, in accordance with public taste; the original was (e.g.) much more prone to violence.

  7. The BBC has a pictorial summary of Moore’s career. My grandfather, a huge Western fan, probably would have known that he appeared in the U.S. TV show Maverick, but I didn’t.

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