# Roger Moore dead at 89 years of age **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [May 23, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275 "2017-05-23T13:51:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/1 "2017-05-23T13:51:44Z")
[Pretty much what the headline says.](http://abc13.com/entertainment/actor-roger-moore-known-for-james-bond-role-dies-at-89/2026672/) EDIT: [Tweet from ABC News](https://twitter.com/ABC/status/867007057043611648/photo/1) containing a statement from his children confirming his death. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/2 "2017-05-23T13:56:37Z")
Shit! ☹ He’ll always be Simon Templar to me. RIP, Roger! ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/3 "2017-05-23T14:00:09Z")
His Bond was the one I grew up with. A lot of Bond fans prefer Connery and Craig for their “toughness”, but I’ve always liked the sophisticated wittiness that Moore brought to the role (though Brosnan is my favorite, overall). Possibly my all-time favorite Bond scene: [It’s all in the wrist.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH3Awdz0aVE) ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/4 "2017-05-23T14:02:45Z")
One of my earliest movie memories is the submarine Lotus from _The Spy Who Loved Me_. I was only like 4 or 5 at the time (pre-cable, and we never went out to the movie theater so we were most likely watching it on broadcast TV). Of course I understood absolutely nothing that was happening, but that image stuck and has remained with me my whole life. His Bond movies were, overall, super-cheesy, but they were also exceptionally memorable, containing some of the most iconic and well-known gadgets and villians, all things that makes me love them most. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/5 "2017-05-23T14:05:27Z")
I loved him in _ffolkes_. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/6 "2017-05-23T14:12:57Z")
I raised an eyebrow when I saw this. Two tributes to Sir Roger: [video 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Nx7jNqHqI), [video 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC8dWWImNzU) [NSFW]. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/7 "2017-05-23T14:15:52Z")
Is he the first movie Bond (in the official canon) to die? I seem to recall it being an unusual case that they were all still alive after all this time. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/8 "2017-05-23T14:21:37Z")
RIP His Bond movies were probably the worst ones but they were the ones I grew up with so they were my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/9 "2017-05-23T14:27:20Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Shit! ☹ He’ll always be Simon Templar to me. > > RIP, Roger! Ditto. > [@Quimby](#): > > RIP > > His Bond movies were probably the worst ones but they were the ones I grew up with so they were my favorites. I think he could have been the best Bond if he started younger and was in the better movies. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/10 "2017-05-23T14:30:27Z")
Sad to see another familiar face go. Never cared for him as Bond, I was always a Connery man, but I did really like him as The Saint on TV. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/11 "2017-05-23T14:32:18Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Is he the first movie Bond (in the official canon) to die? I seem to recall it being an unusual case that they were all still alive after all this time. Yes, if you don’t count David Niven (as you don’t) from _Casino Royale_. Or Barry Nelson from the 1950s version of _Casino Royale_. I’m sure other folks who have played Bond in other media have died, too. But Moore is, AFAIK, the first of the EON Productions Bonds to go. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/12 "2017-05-23T14:38:20Z")
I wasn’t a big fan of Moore’s Bond, although he wasn’t responsible for the direction the series went. He was very good in _For Your Eyes Only_ and the first third or so of _Octopussy_, the best of the Bond roles he’d been given. Like many of the other Bonds, he tried to differentiate himself from the role afterwards so he wouldn’t be typecast, and largely succeeded, with **ffolkes** and others. But he did keep coming back to the role, playing pretty much the same character in _Cannonball Run_ and voicing Lazenby (!) in _Cats and Dogs: The REvenge of Kitty Galore_, among other things. Yeah, I remember him as The Saint, and in THe Persuaders. I was too young to recall his other TV roles. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/13 "2017-05-23T14:56:16Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Yes, if you don’t count David Niven (as you don’t) from _Casino Royale_. Or Barry Nelson from the 1950s version of _Casino Royale_. I’m sure other folks who have played Bond in other media have died, too. But Moore is, AFAIK, the first of the EON Productions Bonds to go. Bob Holness was the first to play him on the radio I believe. But there are so many rumours about Bob that it’s hard to be sure. Was this one true, but the sax on Baker Street was a lie? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/14 "2017-05-23T15:11:50Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > His Bond was the one I grew up with. A lot of Bond fans prefer Connery and Craig for their “toughness”, but I’ve always liked the sophisticated wittiness that Moore brought to the role… As someone described him, ‘The Smirk that Swallowed James Bond Whole’. I grew up with the Roger Moore films too. Watching them again, many are just right for a child. High camp and slapstick. Not to mention the blatant misogyny. Nevertheless, Roger Moore will forever be a Bond, and his films, as bad as they are compared to others in the franchise, remain iconic. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/15 "2017-05-23T15:15:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > But he did keep coming back to the role, playing pretty much the same character in _Cannonball Run_ [drops into karate stance] “I must warn you . . . I’m _Roger Moore_.” [/drops into karate stance] ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/16 "2017-05-23T15:59:47Z")
Moore will always be The Saint to me, too. I enjoyed his Bond films, but they were really played as if he was Simon Templar working for British intelligence. Which may have contributed to the common misconception that the Saint was some kind of detective rather than a law-breaker who went after criminals mostly for the sport of it. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/17 "2017-05-23T16:27:06Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I wasn’t a big fan of Moore’s Bond, although he wasn’t responsible for the direction the series went. He was very good in _For Your Eyes Only_ and the first third or so of _Octopussy_, the best of the Bond roles he’d been given. > > Like many of the other Bonds, he tried to differentiate himself from the role afterwards so he wouldn’t be typecast, and largely succeeded, with **ffolkes** and others. But he did keep coming back to the role, playing pretty much the same character in _Cannonball Run_ and voicing Lazenby (!) in _Cats and Dogs: The REvenge of Kitty Galore_, among other things. > Yeah, I remember him as The Saint, and in THe Persuaders. I was too young to recall his other TV roles. \*\*\*Eyes \*\*\* was by far the best of Moore’s Bond movies. He also had a cameo in Val Kilmer’s _ **The Saint** _, as the radio newscaster at the end. Not too long ago (around Christmas or Easter, I guess), I saw him narrating a documentary about the Holy Land. _ **The Persuaders** _ was a good series. I wish it had lasted longer (the theme music gives me chills). One role he played that is seldom mentioned nowadays is the mercenary in _ **Wild Geese** _, opposite Richard Burton, Richard Harris, and Stewart Granger. That was one helluva movie, even with the silly overnight conversion of the South African. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/18 "2017-05-23T16:39:52Z")
Good time to pull the Volvo out for a spin. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/19 "2017-05-23T16:39:53Z")
He was in the TV show _Maverick_ as Bret and Bart’s cousin, Beau. They explained away his accent by having him be recently returned from England, where his pappy had sent him away to school. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275/20 "2017-05-23T17:09:44Z")
I liked him, but a comedian once called him “James Bond Lite” and that’s always stuck in my head. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-moore-dead-at-89-years-of-age/787275.md?page=2)