Roger Moore: A Biography

by Roy Moseley, Philip Masheter, Martin Masheter

Sir Roger George Moore KBE (born 14 October 1927) is an English actor and humanitarian. Moore played the British secret agent James Bond in seven feature films between 1973 and 1985. Moore worked as a model and made several appearances in minor films and television dramas before finding more substantial roles in the television serials Ivanhoe (1958-1959), The Alaskans (1960-1961) and Maverick (1961). Moore's most significant television work came with his portrayal of Simon Templar in The Saint from 1962 to 1969 and his starring alongside Tony Curtis in the television drama The Persuaders! (1971). Moore was cast as Bond in 1973 and portrayed him in Live and Let Die (1973); The Man with the Golden Gun (1974); The Spy Who Loved Me (1977); Moonraker (1979); For Your Eyes Only (1981); Octopussy (1983); and A View to a Kill (1985). He worked regularly throughout his Bond era, and sporadically since then.

Genres: Biography

Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1985 just before the release of “A View To A Kill”, this fairly thorough biography is an entertaining read. Covering his life in detail, with plenty of behind the scenes information on the films (a lot of which I hadn’t read before), this does occasionally (but not overly) fall into that 80s biography trap of including sequences that the writer could never have witnessed but is generally well written. Moseley does a good job of keeping the pace brisk and with some key interviews (though not with Sir Roger himself), it highlights how well regarded he was by his peers and friends and how generous he was with his time and charity work. The book is fairly straightforward with his marriages and how they affected him and his wives and there are even hints of the abuse he suffered from Luisa that weren’t really made public until much later. Showing a dedicated father, this is an entertaining record of a fascinating man and, as a big fan of Sir Roger, I’d very much recommend it (though read his autobiography first).

[Saqib Khan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspiring.