ROGER MOORE


LIVE AND LET DIE (1973)



YAPHET KOTTO



JANE SEYMOUR



GLORIA HENDRY



GEOFFREY HOLDER



DAVID HEDISON

Moore's Long-Delayed Debut, in Bond vs. Voodoo Tale...

LIVE AND LET DIE, the first of Roger Moore's seven outings as 007, has a terrific back story, that actually begins in 1962...One of the legends concerning how Sean Connery first got the role of James Bond concerned a London newspaper poll taken that year, asking the public who they wanted to see playing Ian Fleming's secret agent. According to the legend, Connery, who had just appeared in a BBC-TV production of "Anna Karenina", made such an impact that he was the readers' first choice. Years later, producer Albert Broccoli would confess that the poll's results were actually different; the actor the public preferred to play Bond was, in fact, Roger Moore, who had just begun his long run as Simon Templar in "The Saint" television series. With Moore unavailable, and Connery ready to work, Eon Productions went with the young Scottish actor, the poll's results were changed to favor Connery, and film history was made.

Jumping ahead to 1972, Broccoli felt he had the 'perfect' actor to replace the departed Connery as 007...Timothy Dalton! The young Welsh actor, only 25, had already garnered rave reviews for THE LION IN WINTER and a remake of WUTHERING HEIGHTS, and was frequently compared to Laurence Olivier through his acting ability and dark good looks. But Dalton, while admitting he was flattered by the offer, felt he was too young to be believable as the veteran British agent, and 'passed' on the role, joking to Broccoli to "ask me again in ten years or so" (The producer would, and Dalton would be Roger Moore's successor as Bond, in 1987's THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS).

Roger Moore, coming off "The Persuaders!", a failed TV series with Tony Curtis, 'courted' Broccoli with promises that he would follow the producer's instructions, and not become temperamental. Although, at 46, he was two years older than Connery, he looked ten years younger, with a large, devoted 'fan base'. Broccoli, a friend of several years, finally cast him in the role, with the stipulation, based on Connery's appearance in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, that Moore lose weight and get a haircut!

LIVE AND LET DIE, with a screenplay by Tom Mankiewicz, continued the lighter 'take' on 007 that he'd begun in DIAMONDS, with a story of drug trafficking intertwined with a spoof of Hollywood's voodoo films of the 1940s. In the role of drug lord Mr. Big/diplomat Kananga, Yaphet Kotto became Bond's first black villain, with the most impressive 'henchman' since 'Oddjob', the clawed Tee Hee, portrayed by Julius Harris. While future "Dr. Quinn" star, Jane Seymour, 21, in her screen debut, would be the virgin priestess Bond would 'deflower', it was the traditional Bond 'sacrificial lamb', Gloria Hendry, 24, who would stir the most controversy, as 007's first black bedmate (which would actually cost the film some southern bookings). Also of note is dancer/choreographer Geoffrey Holder as Baron Samedi, an immortal voodoo priest, whose presence doesn't make much sense in the film, but whose laugh is unforgettable!

Two other cast members deserve mention; David Hedison would make his first of two appearances over a 16-year span as Felix Leiter, Bond's CIA buddy; and character actor Clifton James, in the first of two films as redneck Sheriff J.W. Pepper, would add "dumb slapstick" to the 'new' 007 formula, and earn the ire of Bond 'purists', everywhere!

With the series' first 'rock' theme song (performed by Paul McCartney and Wings), LIVE AND LET DIE was a box office hit, establishing the lighter tone of the Roger Moore entries, and bringing in a younger, more 'hip' audience. For a new generation, Moore would 'be' 007, less violent than Sean Connery, but still possessing a 'killer' charm. Director Guy Hamilton had performed his patented 007 magic, yet again, and Albert Broccoli could breathe a bit easier, knowing his franchise had survived it's transition...


THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974)



CHRISTOPHER LEE



BRITT EKLAND



MAUD ADAMS

Guy Hamilton Misfire Is Silly Bond Outing...

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, Roger Moore's second appearance as James Bond, is a silly, loud, ultimately boring Bond outing, with so many faults that audiences stayed away in droves, nearly ending the Bond series.

After the success of LIVE AND LET DIE, producers Albert Broccoli and his longtime partner, Harry Saltzman (who would sell his shares of Eon Productions, after GUN), reassembled the director/writing team of Guy Hamilton, Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz for the filming of Ian Fleming's last Bond novel. While only the title would be retained (the novel, published after Fleming's death, is a very short, sketchy work, obviously never completed), the concept Maibaum and Mankiewicz created, of the world's greatest assassin 'targeting' 007, was an intriguing concept. In execution, however, the humor that had come to predominate the series would crush any chance the more dramatic elements might have provided to make it 'work'.

As the villain, Francisco Scaramanga, screen legend Jack Palance had been the producers' first choice, and with his scarred face and reptilian speaking voice, he might have made the assassin a frightening, worthy opponent for Bond. But when it was discovered that Christopher Lee was available, the famous Hammer "Dracula", who had been the first choice to play "Dr. No" in 1962, was quickly hired for the role. Lee, who was Ian Fleming's cousin, had a jaded elegance and aloofness that turned Scaramanga into a more tragic character, and far less menacing.

Scaramanga's ever-present butler, in a kind of homage to the enigmatic character from "The Prisoner" TV series, gave Hamilton the opportunity to create a visual 'joke', by hiring 3'11" Hervé Villechaize (of future "Fantasy Island" fame) to stand beside 6'6" Lee. Villechaize, a French-accented, cuddly teddy bear of an actor, would have the final fight of the film against 007, in one of the most ridiculous confrontations in Bond history.

While Swedish actress Maud Adams would be a beautiful addition to the list of Bond's doomed lovers, as Scaramanga's mistress (she would appear, as different characters, in two more Roger Moore outings, most memorably as the title character in OCTOPUSSY), Swedish Britt Ekland, Bond's 'main squeeze', was shrill, superficial, and annoying.

For each impressive element of the film, there was, at least, one silly element to offset it. The exotic beauty of Thailand had to compete against the return of redneck Sheriff J.W. Pepper (Clifton James), in a most unwelcome cameo (why a bigoted southern sheriff would vacation in Thailand is never explained). The spectacular 360-degree flying roll Bond's Hornet X performed across a Thai 'klong' (done, using computer calculations, in a single take), was offset by a silly, unnecessary 'loop-de-loop' sound effect added for a laugh. A pivotal scene of Bond fighting a martial arts champion at an evil school (which WAS, actually, funny, as Moore was no master, and used trickery to get an upper hand), was diluted by having two pre-teen Thai girls 'come to the rescue', and prove to be better fighters than Bond was, saving his butt. The list goes on and on...

Capping everything off is possibly the worst Bond theme song, ever, a 'wall of sound', annoying jingle performed, breathlessly, by Lulu.

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN was a mess, and Albert Broccoli, who had felt, with the success of LIVE AND LET DIE, that the Bond series had settled into an ongoing string of Roger Moore 'hits', was faced with the possibility, yet again, that the franchise might be finished...


THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977)



BARBARA BACH



CAROLINE MUNRO



RICHARD KIEL (with ROGER MOORE)

Bond, Back to Basics...

After the critical and commercial beating taken by THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, producer Albert Broccoli, now solely in charge of the 007 franchise, had to re-evaluate the series for the third time in less than ten years. Certainly, Roger Moore would never be believable as a Sean Connery-style Bond, but couldn't some of the Connery films' best elements be restored, and the comedy reduced a bit, to make Moore's Bond a bit less 'camp'?

The research, which became the basis of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, took over two years to complete, and the script went through many writers before the final draft, by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum. With a renewed emphasis on more realistic action, Broccoli brought back Lewis Gilbert to direct; his earlier Bond effort, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, while not a major 'hit', had featured the most spectacular action sequences of the series. With Gilbert on board, the production became very reminiscent of the Connery film (Even the concept of a supertanker 'swallowing' submarines echoed YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, and the spacecraft-'eating' SPECTRE capsule).

As the villain, esteemed German actor Curt Jurgens was cast as Karl Stromberg, an ideal choice, as the actor, with his bulging eyes, 'fit' the role of a fish-like megalomaniac. Playing his henchman, Jaws, in an inspired piece of casting, giant 7'2" Richard Kiel, 37, complete with 'bear-trap' steel teeth, would provide Moore with the greatest danger he'd ever face as Bond. Kiel was, in fact, so good in the role (possibly the most popular villain of the entire 007 franchise), that he would return in MOONRAKER, to bedevil Bond some more. Less successful, dramatically, but still astonishing to watch would be Stromberg's bikini-clad 'hit woman', Naomi, played by voluptuous Caroline Munro, 27.

In an effort to 'update' Bond into an era of feminists, the strongest, most independent love interest to appear in at Bond film to that point was introduced. Soviet Major Anya Amasova, portrayed by Ringo Starr's wife, exotically beautiful Barbara Bach, 29, was Bond's opposite number on the Russian side, and an equal to 007 in every way. In a pivotal scene, she would display a knowledge of Bond's past that even included his dead wife, Tracy (the first time Bond's marriage had been mentioned since ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE). Moore's reaction to her comment would be both emotional and abrupt, and demonstrated that he could do far more than just deliver witty one-liners.

From the spectacular ski chase pre-title sequence, climaxing with a parachute free fall off a cliff (love that 'Union Jack'!), to Bond and Anya's confrontations with superhuman Jaws, amid ancient Eygptian ruins, and later, onboard a train (reminiscent of 007's fights with Red Grant in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, Oddjob in GOLDFINGER and Tee Hee in LIVE AND LET DIE), to the amazing Lotus that would do service on land and in the ocean, to the massive tanker battle as Bond disarms a nuclear warhead (shades of GOLDFINGER), THE SPY WHO LOVED ME would do homage to 007's previous adventures, and utilize humor in support of the on-screen action, instead of spoofing it (other than the brief use of the LAWRENCE OF ARABIA theme...you'll spot it).

And to top things off, Carly Simon's rendition of the film's title tune, "Nobody Does It Better", would become a Top Ten hit, worldwide.

Critics and audiences loved THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, hailing it as Moore's best performance, and one of the better Bonds of all time. Things were, again, looking up for 007...but STAR WARS was about to debut, and things would go dreadfully amiss, when Broccoli decided to send Bond into space, in MOONRAKER...


MOONRAKER (1979)



MICHAEL LONSDALE



LOIS CHILES (with ROGER MOORE)



CORINNE CLERY



RICHARD KIEL (with ROGER MOORE)

Bond, Beyond...And WAY Out of his Element...

With the phenomenal 1977 success of STAR WARS worldwide, a long untapped audience of science fiction fans was 'discovered'...and Albert Broccoli, long-time James Bond producer, saw what he thought would be a golden opportunity to tap into it. While the follow-up for the successful THE SPY WHO LOVED ME was to be FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, he moved MOONRAKER up, instructing screenwriter Christopher Wood to write a "Bond in Space" movie.

It was NOT one of Broccoli's better ideas...

The whole concept of combining fleets of space shuttles, a 1950's style space station, battles between ray-gun wielding spacesuit-clad Marines and baddies...and the sophisticated British spy, in the middle of it all...was so completely far-fetched that it destroyed any shred of old-fashioned adventure left to 007. And, while Bond movies were pure escapism, one of the biggest selling points had always been exotic, romantic locales we COULD actually visit, someday...and low Earth orbit is NOT a prime travel destination!

The novel, by Ian Fleming, did, in fact, have something of a 'science fiction' plot, featuring rockets and a hideously-scarred industrial villain named Hugo Drax, but was such a dated story that only Drax would be carried over to the film, in the person of French actor Michael Lonsdale, 48, one of the more listless enemies Bond has faced.

The opening pre-title sequence would, however, be one of the best of the series, as Bond, a bad guy, and unstoppable Jaws (Richard Kiel, 39, back, by popular demand, from THE SPY WHO LOVED ME), are free-falling from an airplane, fighting for the single parachute between them. The stunt men looked remarkably like the actors, and the scene, requiring dozens of free-falls to shoot, is astonishing, marred only by the silly climax, as Jaws crashes into a circus tent to the sounds of calliope music.

The storyline, of a madman launching himself and a select group into space, then releasing a virus to destroy all human life, returning, after the virus was eliminated, to repopulate the planet, was, in some respects, just a variation of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, using space as the refuge, instead of the ocean. But in general silliness, MOONRAKER had SPY beat, hands down, with scenes of Bond cruising on a tacky motorized gondola through the streets of Venice; on horseback, riding through the Pampas to the theme music of "The Magnificent Seven"; giant Jaws getting a 'love interest' (a tiny, innocent-looking yet buxom Blanche Ravalec), set to the strains of Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet"; and Bond effortlessly piloting a space shuttle through re-entry while inducting Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles, 32) into the THOUSAND Mile High Club...it was as if all the lessons learned from the failure of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN had been forgotten.

While Chiles was merely adequate as Bond's love interest, French star Corinne Clery, 29, as Drax' associate/mistress, doomed Corinne Dufour, was radiantly beautiful, and had me wishing the actresses had switched roles!

On a sad note, this would be Bernard Lee's last performance as 'M', before his death, in 1981, at age 73. While actor Robert Brown would assume the role, from OCTOPUSSY until LICENSE TO KILL, it would be years before another 'M' (Judi Dench) would show the same kind of charisma and gruff authority.

MOONRAKER, while a big moneymaker (thanks, in large part, to a huge marketing blitz prior to release), was universally panned, with many critics declaring that the Bond franchise had become a joke whose time had passed.

The criticism was not lost on Broccoli, who accepted responsibility for the fiasco, and was planning a new direction for the agent, in a move that would NOT please Roger Moore...


FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1981)



CAROLE BOUQUET



LYNN-HOLLY JOHNSON



TOPOL



JULIAN GLOVER



SHEENA EASTON (Opening Credits)

Bond, Back to Basics, Part II...

If the failure of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN resulted in producer Albert Broccoli's returning to an earlier, THUNDERBALL/YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE approach to 007 film making, the disastrous reviews of MOONRAKER had the producer looking back even further...to the grittier, low-tech world of Ian Fleming, in fact.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, combining elements of several Bond short stories (as well as the climactic "Live and Let Die" 'shark dragging' sequence) would introduce a tougher, more physically active Roger Moore, in the kind of 'rough and tumble' performance everyone assumed only Sean Connery could pull off. And no one was less pleased by the decision than 53-year old Moore, who preferred his Bond to be light and comic (a la Cary Grant), and NOT banged up and bloody! Moore announced his retirement, and it took a hefty pay raise to lure him back.

The first directorial outing for long-time editor/second unit boss, John Glen, the film's pre-title sequence would be an in-house joke directed at writer/producer Kevin McClory, who had struggled against MGM/UA for several years in an attempt to make his own Bond movie. The final resolution restricted him to remaking THUNDERBALL (which he had co-written with Ian Fleming and Jack Whittingham), and utilizing characters of that film. Broccoli, not wanting McClory to use 'Ernst Blofeld', who had appeared in THUNDERBALL, as leverage for a share of the profits, dropped any reference to the character after DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. Now, after ten years, Broccoli decided to 'reintroduce' a bald, villainous man in a Nehru jacket, holding a cat, but NEVER to refer to him by name, thus preventing McClory from taking action. After Bond visits his wife, Tracy's grave (only the second time the bride, murdered by Blofeld in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, had been referred to), the agent is trapped in a helicopter remotely-controlled by the 'Blofeld' look-alike. Eventually, Bond gets the upper hand, and drops the wheelchair-bound villain down a chimney to his death. Take THAT, McClory!

The film, involving the recovery of a lost British decoding device, would involve rival Greek 'mobs' (headed by Julian Glover and Topol), WWII-based blood feuds, an English/Greek girl (French beauty Carole Bouquet) on a quest for vengeance for her parents' murder, and a young ice skater (Lynn-Holly Johnson) with a crush on the 'much older' Bond. (While much was made of Bond gallantly saying 'No' to her youthful advances...a first for the libido-driven 007...Bouquet, 24, who Bond DOES sleep with, was, in fact, only a year older than Johnson!) For Roger Moore, who would suffer through over-zealous fistfights, near-drowning, car wrecks, and a dangerous mountain climb, the film would result in more injuries than he'd ever sustained playing 007, but would garner him his best reviews as the secret agent, ever.

And, to top things of, an event unseen by the camera would become the stuff of legend. While filming an early scene between Bond and Countess Lisl von Schlaf (lovely Cassandra Harris), her 29-year old actor husband visited the set, and met Moore and Broccoli. The producer, impressed by the actor's poise and good looks, remarked that "he might make a good James Bond, someday."

Thus was Pierce Brosnan introduced to the world of 007!

With FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, a new, tough James Bond would emerge, to the delight of Bond purists, everywhere...but the actor who truly 'defined' a tough Bond was about to re-emerge, after a 12-year absence. Roger Moore would soon be competing against his illustrious predecessor, Sean Connery...


OCTOPUSSY (1983)



MAUD ADAMS



LOUIS JORDAN

Moore Goes to India, in Year of Battling Bonds...

With the screen's original (and many said 'best') 007, Sean Connery, back in action after 12 years, in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, Albert Broccoli and Eon Productions felt compelled to make OCTOPUSSY as wide-ranging and action-packed as possible...but they almost had to do without the services of their current James Bond, Roger Moore.

Moore was working on a picture-to-picture contract, and, at 55, the physical punishment he'd experienced in FOR YOUR EYES ONLY was not something he wanted to make a habit of! Other actors were tested for the role (including 43-year old James Brolin, who looked remarkably like Sean Connery in a screen test with Maud Adams), but Broccoli never liked the idea of an American as Bond, so he and Moore hammered out a contract.

While OCTOPUSSY had been the title of a Fleming story, the original tale was discarded, and replaced by a screen story by "Flashman" author George MacDonald Fraser, involving Bond in a Cold War plot set in India and Germany. With the successful team of screenwriters Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson and director John Glen, the film would continue the harder-edged, more physical Bond introduced in FOR YOUR EYES ONLY.

From the spectacular pre-title sequence as Bond hijacks a tiny Acrostar jet in Cuba, and performs a nifty job of acrobatic flying and destruction, OCTOPUSSY sets the bar high for the competing Connery film. The actual story, beginning with the death of a 'double-0' agent in clown make-up, and carrying a fake Faberge egg, leads Bond to discover a suspicious alliance between evil Indian Prince Kamal (eternally elegant screen legend, Louis Jourdan, 64), renegade Soviet General Orlov (a larger-than-life Steven Berkoff, 45), and the mysterious owner of a female circus, Octopussy (Swedish actress Maud Adams, 38, making her second appearance in a Bond film, and one of most beautiful and talented of 007 leading ladies).

With most of the action set in India, and shot in and around an actual potentate's estate, there is an opulence in OCTOPUSSY unlike any other film in the series, and the film offers three memorable supporting characters; Octopussy's second-in-command, Magda, (acrobatic Swedish beauty, Kristina Wayborn, 29), giant henchman Gobinda (Indian heart-throb Kabir Bedi, 37), and Bond's traditional 'sacrificial lamb', Vijay (Indian tennis great Vijay Amritraj, 29, making his acting debut). Despite too-frequent lapses into camp (Vijay using a tennis racket as a weapon, Bond giving the Johnny Weissmuller 'Tarzan' yell while swinging through vines to elude Kamal's hunters, Desmond Llewelyn, as 'Q', piloting a 'Union Jack'-emblazened hot-air balloon in a climactic rescue scene), the Indian sequences are very impressive.

The European sequences (actually shot in England) are also exciting, particularly a harrowing fight on a circus train, and Bond, in clown make-up, attempting to discover and disarm a nuclear device (the third time 007 had been called upon to do it...he should have had a union card, by then!) Best of all would be the climactic fight between Bond and Gobinda, atop an airplane in flight...far-fetched, naturally, but an amazing piece of mayhem.

OCTOPUSSY would mark the high point of all the Roger Moore 'Bond' films, perhaps not as successful a Fleming interpretation as FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, but capturing the best elements of his finest performances of his ten years in the role. While obviously aging, he still carried the signature charm and humor that made his 007 unique, and the years had not, to this point, proved overly detrimental in his action scenes. MGM/UA knew they had a winner, and the studio mounted a massive publicity blitz for the film, to further 'outdo' the Connery effort. OCTOPUSSY would easily outgross NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, despite an equally extraordinary performance by a very fit and still sexy Sean Connery.

Roger Moore now felt that he could leave 007 on a high note...sadly, he would be pulled back into service one last time, and the result, A VIEW TO A KILL, would not have anyone cheering...


A VIEW TO A KILL (1985)



CHRISTOPHER WALKEN



TANYA ROBERTS



TANYA ROBERTS



GRACE JONES



PATRICK MACNEE

Moore's Last Bond a Disappointing Throwback...

Roger Moore, during the filming of OCTOPUSSY, told interviewers that it was about time to turn in his Walther PPK, as he was getting "too long in the tooth" to be portraying James Bond.

He should have heeded his own advice; instead of ending his reign on the high note of OCTOPUSSY, he would reluctantly agree to do one more Bond, and A VIEW TO A KILL was simply awful!

The creative team of director John Glen, and scriptwriters Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson, who'd rejuvenated 007 with grittier, more physical, less comedy-driven adventures (FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, OCTOPUSSY) rejected the formula in VIEW, opting instead for the overblown comic escapades of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and MOONRAKER. While this probably pleased Moore, who, at nearly 58, had always preferred comedy to action, it betrayed the good 'karma' that the recent Bonds had generated with fans.

From the opening sequence, shot in Iceland and Switzerland, of Bond snowboarding to elude Russian ski troops, ultimately joining a comely lass in a motorized 'iceberg' getaway, the film feels artificial. As Moore pulls down the hood of his parka, his facial features are so stretched and mask-like that one suspects he'd had plastic surgery done between films, and the results had gone awry.

The story, of genetically-'improved' madman, Max Zorin (a youthful, blond-haired Christopher Walken, 42), with a plan to flood Silicon Valley in California, destroying America's 'stranglehold' on the world's microchip technology, was already passé by 1985 (Japan had long since passed us), and seemed merely an excuse to bounce Bond around Paris, Ascot, and San Francisco for some flashy stunts, like a parachute leap off the Eiffel Tower, or a firetruck chase through the rolling streets of San Francisco. Although Zorin and Bond 'size each other up' as adversaries, it is Zorin's mistress, May Day (Grace Jones), who appears the most formidable. The black Jamaican singer/model, 37, tall, muscular, and absolutely ferocious, is so intimidating that the aging Bond's bedding of her is patently unreal (looking fragile, Moore seems more likely for heart failure than an orgasm after a night of passion with her!)

As the film's 'sacrificial lamb', 63-year old Patrick Macnee (the legendary star of "The Avengers" TV series that also provided two of Bond's greatest leading ladies, Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg), is the most welcome ingredient of the film. A cousin of the 1967 CASINO ROYALE 'Sir James Bond', David Niven, Macnee and Moore had been friends for many years, and had made the TV-movie, "Sherlock Holmes in New York", together, in 1976 (with Moore as Holmes, and Macnee as Watson), as well as appearing in the 1980 theatrical release, THE SEA WOLVES (co-starring Niven). As a trainer who suspects Zorin of using performance-enhancing substances on his horses, the 'old pros' are delightful together, in scenes often ad-libbed. Moore's reaction to his murder is both simple and profound, a rarity in this film.

Then there is "Charlie's Angel" Tanya Roberts, as Bond's love interest, geologist Stacey Sutton. Chosen by Albert Broccoli on the basis of her performance in THE BEASTMASTER (which should give you an indication that 'Shakespeare in the Park' ISN'T in her resume), the 29-year old actress is epically bad, breathlessly moaning "Oh, James!" and frowning and pouting to convey 'deep' emotion. Until Denise Richards' even more inept performance as 'Christmas Jones' in THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, Roberts would hold the title of "Worst Bond Leading Lady". One almost wishes that Zorin and Bond, in their climactic fight on the Golden Gate Bridge, might have thrown HER off!

In a bizarre twist, the worst Bond film would have one of the best theme songs, as Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" would hit #1 on the U.S. pop charts.

Despite the regret Eon Productions expressed, as Roger Moore announced this would DEFINITELY be his last Bond film, no one protested his decision, and no more calls would be made begging him to return. James Bond needed a MAJOR overhaul, and a younger, tougher, more dynamic actor to pull it off...and there were not one, but TWO candidates, waiting in the wings...

*******

And as for Roger Moore...While he has made a few post-Bond films, a majority of his time has been spent as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and the multitude of other charitable causes he works tirelessly for (recognized by Queen Elizabeth, with a Knighthood, in 2003).

Maintaining his friendship with Albert Broccoli until the producer's death, in 1996, he spoke at the memorial service, and remains on excellent terms with Barbara Broccoli, Eon Productions, and all the other Bond actors (appearing, a few years back, as an Oscar presenter, with Sir Sean Connery)...

Sir Roger, forever identified as both Simon Templar (AKA 'The Saint'), and 007, is far more charming, entertaining, and accessible than either of the creations, and, approaching 80, remains a fan favorite, with a witty and engaging Official Website...


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