Home Q News Entertainment Sir Roger Moore, former James Bond actor, dead at 89

Sir Roger Moore, former James Bond actor, dead at 89

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Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images) (SWITZERLAND) —  Sir Roger Moore, the actor best-known for playing super-spy James Bond in seven films in the 1970s and 1980s, has died. He was 89.

Moore’s family made the announcement Tuesday morning on his Twitter account

“With the heaviest of hearts, we must share the awful news that our father, Sir Roger Moore, passed away today, said the statement from his children, Deborah, Geoffrey and Christian. “We are all devastated.”

The statement declared Moore died in Switzerland “after a short, brave battle with cancer.”

The message added, “The love with which he was surrounded in his final days was so great it can’t be qualified in words alone.”

Moore was already well-known as the dashing star of the hit TV spy series The Saint,  which ran on British TV from 1962 to 1969, when he donned the James Bond tux in the wake of Sean Connery’s exit from the role following 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever.  George Lazenby was the second Bond, starring in one film, 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, before Connery returned for Diamonds Are Forever.

Moore remains the actor who played the suave superspy the most times, with seven films, beginning with The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974 through 1985’s A View to a Kill.  His portrayal of 007 also was most associated with the campy humor that characterized the role as his run progressed. 

Moore also appeared on the big screen in 1981’s Cannonball Run and 1983’s Curse of the Pink Panther, and briefly starred with Tony Curtis in the TV series The Persuaders, which ran a single season in 1971-197.

Moore was also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and was knighted in 2003 in no small part for his charity work. In 2008, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Moore was married four times, most recently to Kristina Tholstrup, in 2002.  He leaves behind his wife and three children.

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