The iconic career of Roger Moore

On May 23rd, I heard the sad news that Roger Moore had passed away; he was 89 years old.  I have enjoyed Roger Moore’s work for many years.  He, of course, played James Bond, and he played him well, but he played many other roles as well.

For instance, I enjoyed watching him play Simon Templer on the TV show “The Saint”.  What struck me is Templer seemed to always be a step ahead of everyone else.  Like Batman, Sherlock Holmes, or MacGyver, his greatest asset is his keen mind.  That sort of character is intriguing to me.  Moore played Templer more than capably.

I’m planning on writing a second blog about Roger Moore later on that is devoted exclusively to his James Bond films.  But for today it’s sufficient for me to state that Moore played James Bond with class, charm, and sophistication (not to mention longevity; he played Bond for 12 years!).  

One of my favorite Moore as Bond moments was in the film “Moonraker”.  The main villain invites Bond to participate in pheasant shooting.  As Bond prepares to do so, we see that an assassin is hiding in a tree, with his sights on murdering James.  A group of pheasants fly over and Bond fires his rifle.  “You missed, Mr. Bond,” the villain responds.  “Did I?”  Bond replies.  The assassin falls out of tree, dead.  Bond knew about the assassination attempt all along and took care of business with his typical unflappable style.  It was a classic Bond scene, and Roger’s performance in it was excellent.   

Roger Moore worked after he retired from the role as James Bond also.  In 2002, he played a memorable character in an episode of the spy show “Alias”.  Arvin Sloane, the main villain of the show – particularly in the first two seasons – was a master manipulator.  But Moore’s character did what few could do: he actually manipulated Sloane!  This manipulation led to the murder of one of Sloane’s friends.  When Sloane finally realized what had happened, he angrily seeks Moore’s character out; he states that he knows that he was used and bamboozled.  But the character responds, “I haven’t the slightest idea what you are talking about.”  But he did know.  And yet again, Moore played his role very well.

My heart goes out to Moore’s family and friends.  He is survived by his wife and three children.  Regular readers of this blog are aware that I know what it’s like to lose a family member; writing a blog like this affects me differently than it used to.  Because my dad passed away, I know very well the pain, sorrow, and grief that tightly grips you.   I’m sure that Roger would have wanted us to focus on the characters that he had the opportunity to bring to life, and the enjoyment that he was able to bring to millions of people. 

Kevin