James Bond star Roger Moore, 89, dies

May 25, 2017



On Tuesday, British actor, best known for portraying of the 1960s series  and the spy character , died in Switzerland at the age of 89.

Before his death, Moore fought recently diagnosed. His family confirmed his death on Twitter saying, "It is the heaviest of hearts, we must share the awful news that our father, Sir Roger Moore, passed away today. We are all devastated."

Other stars paid tribute to Roger Moore via Twitter, including, , , , and , who sang the for Bond film  featuring Moore as Bond.

Moore was born in, an only child to his working-class parents on October 14, 1927. During World War II, he and his mother mostly stayed in, 25 miles from London. Moore left in 1943 to work.

Moore's father, a detective sergeant, came to the home of film director that had been robbed. Moore was introduced by his father to Hurst and then started his acting career in summer 1944 as an in the film. Impressed, Hurst helped Moore gain extra parts in two other films and then paid for Moore's acting studies at the.

Moore was assigned to the in 1945 and then, after training, was ranked captain. Afterwards, he appeared in modeling engagements, like appearance in  magazine.

Moore arrived in the United States in 1953 and then signed a contract with (MGM) for mainly supporting roles. He portrayed the male lead in 1956 film. He first appeared on television as the titular character of the late-1950s series . He later appeared in some series, like  from 1960 to 1961, replacing  as the lead of the series.

Moore then portrayed Simon Templar, stealing from rich antagonists, in the ITV series The Saint. The series ran 118 episodes from 1962 to 1969. Due to his contract for The Saint, Moore was prevented from being cast as James Bond for the 1962 film, which stars , the first actor to portray Bond.

Moore eventually became the third actor to portray Bond, and his first Bond film was the 1973 film. He would appear again as Bond in six more films:, 1974; , 1977; , 1979; , 1981; ', 1983; and ', 1985.

In 1991 Moore became a. His UNICEF work earned him (CBE) in the late 1990s. He was knighted in 2003 for that.

Throughout 2000s, Moore performed voiceovers in mostly animated films and made appearances in some other live-action films, like the 2002 film, portraying a gay man resembling Bond. Then he wrote his 2008 autobiography My Word Is My Bond and other books, including memoir One Lucky Bastard and Bond on Bond.

Moore married four times, to four different women. He was survived by his fourth wife, Danish-Swedish multimillionaire Kristina "Kiki" Tholstrup, and his three children.