My Train of Thought

MY REMEMBRANCES OF SIR ROGER MOORE

With the passing of Sir Roger Moore this week, there have been many tributes and remembrances of him.  So I thought I would mention my two cents worth as well.

It all began back on Saturday mornings in 1958.  At the ripe age of ten, I loved the pageantry and loftiness of knights with their colorful banners and crests, along with their fair ladies, castles and lords.  I had watched Richard Greene in the ITC series The Adventures of Robin Hood, but was now seeing Wilfred of Ivanhoe portrayed by this handsome man named Roger Moore. 

Little did I know that Moore had been acting for quite some time.  A few years later I happened to catch him opposite Elizabeth Taylor in The Last Time I Saw Paris.  Despite the fact that this film had been made four years prior to Ivanhoe,  I had a difficult time seeing my knight as a scoundrel, ladies' man, playboy, and a "love them and leave them" sort of guy. Nevertheless, Roger certainly was up to the task!

My next encounter with Mr. Moore was in 1959.  This was after he shed his knightly role and starred with Carroll Baker in The Miracle.  This film held special meaning for me - my grandmother took me to see this one.  Carroll Baker portrayed Teresa, a young girl about to become a nun. Historically, British troops were in Spain fighting Napoleon's army, but their casualties forced a retreat to Teresa's village.  A wounded Captain Michael Stuart (Moore) was nursed back to health by Teresa (Baker). During his recuperation they fell in love. Tormented between her love for him and remaining in the convent, she became a traveling gypsy singer.  She was reunited with Michael who asked her to marry him, but she turned him down.  She feared that any man who loved her was destined to die.  She went to a church and vowed to return to the convent if Michael's life would be spared.  

Michael cannot believe he survived the blast

During a battle, the British were being pummeled by canon fire.  One hit the ground where Michael was charging.  All soldiers but he were killed.  As he slowly arose, he saw his helmet had been sheared by the blast, yet he was alive.  Returning to Teresa's village, he was told she was now "the bride of Christ".  He then left to return to fighting and back to England.  By the way, the "miracle" was not that Michael was spared.  It was that the revered statue of the Blessed Virgin, who had brought peace and prosperity to the village had come down from the pedestal upon which she rested, and took Teresa's place as a nun.  All during that time, the village suffered from famine and drought.  Once Teresa returned, the shadow of the Madonna is seen rising back to her regular place.

Roger Moore was catching the eye of movie and television producers here in the U.S.  He was cast with Dorothy Provine (Roaring 20's) and Jeff York (veteran actor for Disney) in  a short-lived series called The Alaskans.  This vehicle took place during the Klondike Gold Rush in Alaska.  Both York and Moore were adventurers who sought not to make their fortunes , but rather to cheat the prospectors out of their claims and gold. The series was unlike many westerns that aired during the era.  While not a huge success, this series did ensured his status with Warner Brothers.

Roger Moore and Jeff York

James Garner had been synonymous with Maverick. A dispute with Warner Brothers resulted in his departure from the series.  Enter Roger Moore.  Ironically, he had been told he was not replacing Jim Garner.  What Moore found out though, was that the wardrobe they gave him for his Beau Maverick character had labels with Garner's name sewn on them!  I had been a huge fan of Maverick....because of James Garner.  With his exit, admittedly, I only watched the shows featuring Roger's Beau.  Moore had stated that he was familiar with the dialogue because  it was the same or similar to what was said in The Alaskans!  He left after only doing fourteen episodes due to the quality of the scripts in 1961.

Bart, Beau, and Bret Maverick

At this point Moore returned to England to star in another ITV series based on mystery, intrigue, and the stories of Leslie Charteris (1962).  He left his smooth talking gambler role and now became The Saint.  This series was the perfect role for him.  When my family relocated to the Detroit area back in 1964, I discovered a Canadian station that aired both U.S. and British shows - CKLW-TV.  It was on this channel where SImon Templar and I first met. Roger was stunning in the role - polished, suave sophisticated, but a bit of a rogue who occasionally was beaten up, knocked unconscious, etc. Four years into its production (1966), the show caught on here in the U.S. and was a summer replacement for NBC.  The show aired in color in 1968. Roger became part owner of the show and wore his own wardrobe. The series ended its run in 1969 but he reprised his role in 1978 for The Return of the Saint.

By now, American viewers were used to seeing Moore on both the large and small screens, but he extended his episodic work to France, Italy and Britain in The Persuaders.  He was paired up with veteran actor Tony Curtis.  Produced by ITC and airing on ABC, the show only lasted one season.  I really enjoyed the series as it was a case of opposites attract. Curtis portrayed a man raised in the slums who rose up to become head of an oil business. Moore portrayed a British noble, jet-setting across Europe.  They met in a bar, got into a fight and were given the choice of incarceration or working for a judge to bring criminals to justice who escaped through legal loopholes. Personally, I thought they played well off each other.  The Persuaders had many elements of The Saint - exotic scenes, cars, and lovely women. with a playful demeanor, but it aired at the same time as Mission:Impossible.  Even though its run was not successful here in the U.S., it was enormously popular in Europe and Australia.  A unique bit of trivia...Roger selected his own wardrobe for he marketed a line of men's clothing, designed by him!

The year 1973 was a year of firsts for me - new job, first time to travel to Europe, Live and Let Die as the first Bond song nominated for an Academy Award, and....the first time Roger Moore would take up the mantle of 007. He would appear as the famous spy in seven films. His Bond was not the suave, aloof spy as portrayed by Sean Connery (I loved his Bond too!).  Roger brought a lot more tongue in cheek and humorous double meanings in dialogue to his James B.  After A Time To Kill in 1985, he left 007 behind.  They had great theme songs for the Bond films, but this one is my absolute favorite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaV-6qerkqI&feature=youtu.be

Roger did other films in between his 007 stint and after passing the Bond mantle on to Timothy Dalton.  While they were not huge box office successes, I enjoyed his pairing with Patrick MacNee (Watson) in Sherlock Holmes in New York (1976); however, I enjoyed Patrick's role of Watson more than Roger's Sherlock.

Roger as Sherlock and Patrick MacNee as Watson

Another less than stellar film featured Moore with Michael Caine.  I appreciiated the lighthearted flavor of the 1990 film Bullseye, with both men play dual roles as con men and nuclear scientists willing to sell their plans to the highest bidder. The government seized the scientists but wanted the con men to pretend they were the real scientists in order to determine who had the stolen plans and get them back.  If you are a fan of both actors, you will chuckle as you watch them.   I'd seen Caine in some zany roles, but not Roger, so this was really different.  Some reviews of this film would state the actors had so much fun that they forgot about their audience. I was truly amused to see Roger and Michael sporting kilts and trying to escape in them!

On screen, Roger will most likely be best remembered for his role as James Bond.  However, it's in reality where his star shone brightly again.  In 1991 Audrey Hepburn recruited him as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He was made Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the Empire for contributions to the arts/sciences and work with charitable and welfare organizations.  He was knighted by the Queen in 2003 and became Sir Roger Moore. He had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007.  In 2008 France awarded him the Commander of the National Order of Arts and Letters.  He authored three books - one on the making of the Bond film Live and Let Die, his autobiography, My Word Is My Bond, and Bond On Bond for the 50th anniversary of the franchise.

The last performance I saw of Sir Roger was in a Hallmark TV movie (2011) called A Princess For Christmas. As the Duke of Castleberry, he portrayed a bit of a Scrooge thinking Christmas was a humbug.  There were no Christmas trees or decorations n the castle, no holiday balls, in short, he was still in mourning for his son who died and had the gall to marry an American commoner.  It's his grandchildren who help to melt his icy heart.  And, as with all Hallmark movies, they lived happily ever after.  You could tell that his health was not the best.  While he still had the charm and wit, it was apparent that time was catching up with him. 

While Sir Roger Moore has left us, he will always have a place in my heart.  Whether in knightly armor, a dashing soldier, gambler, spy, or character in a mystery, or humanitarian, Roger Moore will always be a shining star. 

Rest in peace, Sir Roger.