Roger Moore was born in Stockwell,London on October 14,1927 In 1939, because of the war he was shuttled around from school to school and one place he visited in the early days of his fame was a childrens home in mill hill east,called St Vincents Convent which is near finchley, Mill Hill East,North London, which was run by nuns who looked after children in care or if familys needed help,the reason I know this is because I was at the same convent school.They use to have a big signed picture of him in the day room and it was around this time he was becoming well known as the Saint and sometimes he used to pop in and visit the home and leave gifts for the children and staff,we use to run around the volvo 1800 while roger spoke to the members of staff.So years later on when Roger Moore became part of the Unicef movement it was no surprise to me because he was doing his best for children years before.
Roger Moore finally left school at the age of fifteen , his father got him his first job working for a company called Publicity Picture products his job was to run around making tea,painting cells ,and doing errands for staff,he made a mistake one day and was fired,but during the year he was there he became a member of Actt,which later down the line enabled him to direct episodes of the Saint and the Persuaders.
In 1944 Roger Moore was to play an extra in the epic British film production of Caesar and Cleopatra which starred Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains,One of the co directors Brian Desmond spotted Roger and asked him if he wanted to be an actor at which roger said yes.So Desmond sent Roger to the Royal Academy Of Dramatic Art and also paid for his schooling,While at the R.A.D.A.Roger met an actress who later down the line was going to working with him on the Bond films,Her name was Lois Maxwell who played Miss Moneypenny.
Roger Moore wa called up for national service soon after leavng R.A.D.A.,He dated Doorn Van Steyn who he met at R.A.D.A. throughout his serviceand they got married in December 1949.After leaving the service Moore did some modeling to make ends meet,he got divorced after meeting Dorothy Squires and married her on July 6th 1953,roger did a bit of stage work in the usa but it didn't work out,but the break came when he got a screen test for MGM,So he made four films in hollywood "Last time I saw paris"in 1954,and three films in 1955 "Interrupted melody " "The kings thief "and"Diana".
Roger returned to England in 1956 to sign up for the title role of Ivanhoe a 39 episode TV Series for the British and American markets made by a company called Columbia .After Ivanhoe Roger joined Warner Bros in america,he made three movies for them " The Miracle " Gold of the seven saints " and " The sins of Rachel Cade ".Warner Bros then wanted Roger to play the lead role in their new western The Alaskans which ran for 36 episodes.From that series he went into the role of Maverick for 19 episodes and then asked to be released from his contract because the scrips for Maverick were the same scripts from the Alaskans,so roger left Warner Bros and returned to England .
In may 1961 he filmed " The rape of the Sabines " in Rome he said it was his worst film to date, but some good came out of it because he met Luisa Mattioli and both fell in love, Roger then made one more Italian film" No mans Land",once filming was complete he left Dorothy Squires to live with his new love Luisa Mattioli .In 1962 Dorothy Squires and Roger started divorce proceedings which did'nt get finalized untill 1969 because Dorothy took her time in letting the divorce go through.While all this was going on in Rogers life ,a man called Leslie Charteris was selling the TV rights to his Saint stories , No screen test was necessary for Roger to take the lead role because Lew Grade who brought the rights had seen Roger in Ivanhoe and Maverick . And the rest they say is history.
Roger Moore played the Saint between June 1962 and the summer of 1968 in all 118 episodes were made with Roger playing the famous Simon Templar and he also directed nine of the episodes.In the four years between hanging up his halo and becoming James Bond,he made two films Crossplot and The man who haunted himself ,then Lew Grade asked Roger to play Lord Brett Sinclair in a new production called The Persuaders with a parner called Danny Wilde played by Tony Curtis .
The name Roger Moore was now known world wide. He married Luisa Mattioli on April 11th 1969 and had three children.In 1973 Roger got the role of James Bond after Sean Connery called it a day . it was a tough act to follow Sean in the role of 007,because Sean Connery had made the role his own much the same way Roger had done with Simon Templar.He played James Bond between 1973 and 1985 ,but not like the Saint character ,more with a tougue in cheek kind of way which got a mixed reception from his fans because half of them wanted to see him play 007 like he played the Saint .But a new younger fan club was building who saw him as James Bond and didn't like Sean Connery as 007 , which goes to prove you can't please everyone.
He Played the role of James Bond for seven films, it was after A View To A Kill that Roger called it a day and handed the role over to Timothy Dalton.During the time Roger played 007 he also made other films.Gold was made in 1974,That Lucky Touch in 1975, Shout At The Devil in 1976, The Sicilian Cross in 1976,Wild Geese in 1978, Escape to Athena in 1979, ffolks in 1979,The Sea Wolves in 1980, Cannonball Run 1980,and The Naked Face in 1984. After leaving the role of 007 Roger made a few other films Bed & Breakfast,Fire and Ice,and Dynamite. In 1990 he played opposite his daughter Deborah in the film Bullseye with Michael Caine.
Since then Roger has been doing voice overs for programs and even did a voice over in the Saint film starring Val Kilmar, his face was used in a TV ad taken from the Saint to sell cars and also appeared in the Spice Girls Movie and The Quest plus The Enemy and also the Boat Trip to name but a few and he has also played a few tv small parts in between major events.He is working for U.N.I.C.E.F. and also does work for Star Organizations for Spastics,Roger is now called Sir Roger Moore after receiving his OBE from the queen for all his work in charities,but now we all want to see him receive a top award for all his work in TV & Film.But whatever Roger Moore Does in the future we will always remember him for the roles of Simon Templar and James Bond.
