ROGER MOORE four press photos For Your Eyes Only Live and Let Die James Bond

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ROGER MOORE four press photos For Your Eyes Only Live and Let Die James Bond. Live and Let Die (1973). Live and Let Die was followed byThe Man with the Golden Gun the following year in 1974. [ 7] and not only did Fleming connect it with the religion. Paul Sorensen as Man In Checkered Suit. These are four original press photos of Roger Moore. 1. Roger Moore and Patrick MacNee in Sherlock Holmes in New York. 8x10 inches, with newspaper date on the back. 2. Moore as James Bond in For Your Eyes Only. Photo by Keith Hamshere credit on back, along with sheet specifying it was sent out for use with a syndicated Marilyn Beck column. 3. Moore as James Bond in Live and Let Die. ABC photo. 7x9. 4. Moore headshot sent out to promote Merv Griffin Show appearance. BACKGROUND Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 1927 – 23 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray Ian Fleming 's fictional secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions /MGM Studios film series, playing the character in seven feature films : 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). Moore's seven appearances as Bond are the most of any actor in the Eon-produced entries.[ 1] [ 2] On television, Moore played the lead role of Simon Templar , the title character in the British mystery thriller series The Saint (1962–1969). He played Beau Maverick in the American Western series Maverick (1960–1961), replacing James Garner as the lead, and starred with Tony Curtis in the action-comedy The Persuaders! (1971–1972). Continuing to act in the decades after his retirement from the Bond franchise, Moore's final appearance was in a pilot for a new Saint series that became a 2017 television film . Moore was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1991 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for services to charity. In 2007, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the film industry. He was made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 2008.[ 3] Early life Roger George Moore was born on 14 October 1927 in Stockwell , London.[ 4] He was the only child of George Alfred Moore (1904–1997), a Metropolitan Police officer based at Bow Street in central London, and Lillian "Lily" Pope (1904–1986).[ 5] His mother was born in Calcutta , India, to an English family.[ 6] He attended Battersea Grammar School , but was evacuated to Holsworthy in Devon during the Second World War , and attended Launceston College in Cornwall . He was further educated at Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Amersham , Buckinghamshire .[ 7] Moore was apprenticed to an animation studio, but he was sacked after he made a mistake with some animation cels .[ 5] When his father investigated a robbery at the home of the film director Brian Desmond Hurst , Moore was introduced to the director and hired as an extra for the 1945 film Caesar and Cleopatra .[ 8] While there, Moore attracted an off-camera female fan following, and Hurst decided to pay Moore's fees at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art . Moore spent three terms at RADA, where he was a classmate of his future Bond co-star Lois Maxwell , the original Miss Moneypenny . During his time there, he developed the relaxed demeanour that became his screen persona.[ 5] He graduated from RADA in 1945.[ 9] At 18, shortly after the end of the Second World War , Moore was conscripted for national service . On 21 September 1946, he was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps as a second lieutenant .[ 10] He was an officer in the Combined Services Entertainment section, eventually becoming a captain [ 8] commanding a small depot in West Germany , where he looked after entertainers for the armed forces passing through Hamburg.[ 11] Career Early work (1945–1953) Moore made his professional debut in Alexander Korda 's Perfect Strangers (1945) alongside actors Robert Donat , Deborah Kerr , and Glynis Johns .[ 12] Other early uncredited appearances include Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), Gaiety George , Piccadilly Incident (both 1946), and Trottie True (1949), in which he appeared alongside an uncredited Christopher Lee (both actors being cast by Brian Desmond Hurst as stage-door Johnnies ). In his book Last Man Standing: Tales from Tinseltown , Moore states that his first television appearance was on 27 March 1949 in The Governess by Patrick Hamilton , a live broadcast (as usual in that era), in which he played the minor part of Bob Drew.[ 13] Other actors in the show included Clive Morton and Betty Ann Davies . He had uncredited parts in films including Paper Orchid and The Interrupted Journey (both 1949). He was in the one-off programme Drawing-Room Detective on BBC TV (1950) and appeared in the films One Wild Oat and Honeymoon Deferred (both 1951). In the early 1950s, Moore worked as a model,[ 8] appearing in print advertisements in the UK for knitwear (earning him the nickname "The Big Knit")[ 4] and a wide range of other products such as toothpaste.[ 14] Moore travelled to the United States and began to work in television. He appeared in adaptations of Julius Caesar and Black Chiffon , and in two episodes of Robert Montgomery Presents , as well as the TV movie The Clay of Kings (all 1953). MGM (1954–1956) In March 1954, MGM signed Moore to a seven-year contract.[ 15] He started his MGM contract with a small role in The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), flirting with Elizabeth Taylor . He appeared in Interrupted Melody , a biographical movie about opera singer Marjorie Lawrence 's recovery from polio, in which he was billed third under Glenn Ford and Eleanor Parker as Lawrence's brother Cyril.[ 16] That same year, he played a supporting role in the swashbuckler The King's Thief starring Ann Blyth , Edmund Purdom , David Niven and George Sanders .[ 17] In the 1956 film Diane , Moore was billed third again, this time under Lana Turner and Pedro Armendariz , in a 16th-century period piece set in France with Moore playing Prince Henri , the future king. Moore was released from his MGM contract after two years following the film's critical and commercial failure. In his own words: "At MGM, RGM [Roger George Moore] was NBG [no bloody good]."[ 4] Moore then freelanced for a time, appearing in episodes of Ford Star Jubilee (1956), Lux Video Theatre (1957) and Matinee Theatre (1957). Ivanhoe (1958–1959) Moore's first success was playing the eponymous hero, Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, in the 1958–59 series Ivanhoe , a loose adaptation of the 1819 romantic novel by Sir Walter Scott set in the 12th century during the era of Richard the Lionheart , delving into Ivanhoe's conflict with Prince John . Shot mainly in England at Elstree Studios and Buckinghamshire , some of the show was also filmed in California owing to a partnership with Columbia Studios ' Screen Gems . Aimed at younger audiences, the pilot was filmed in colour, a reflection of its comparatively high budget for a British children's adventure series of the period, but subsequent episodes were shot in black and white.[ 18] Christopher Lee and John Schlesinger were among the show's guest stars, and series regulars included Robert Brown (who in the 1980s played M in several James Bond films) as the squire Gurth, Peter Gilmore as Waldo Ivanhoe, Andrew Keir as villainous Prince John, and Bruce Seton as noble King Richard. Moore suffered broken ribs and a battle-axe blow to his helmet while performing some of his own stunts filming a season of 39 half-hour episodes, and later reminisced, "I felt a complete Charlie riding around in all that armour and damned stupid plumed helmet. I felt like a medieval fireman."[ 19] Warner Bros. (1959–1961) Moore in 1960 After that, Moore spent a few years mainly doing one-shot parts in television series, including an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1959 titled "The Avon Emeralds". He signed another long-term contract to a studio, this time to Warner Bros .[ 20] In 1959, he took the lead role in The Miracle ,[ 20] a version of the play Das Mirakel for Warner Bros. showcasing Carroll Baker as a nun. The part had been turned down by Dirk Bogarde . That same year, Moore was directed by Arthur Hiller in "The Angry Young Man", an episode of the television series The Third Man starring Michael Rennie as the criminal mastermind Harry Lime, the role portrayed by Orson Welles in the film version . The Alaskans (1959–1960) Moore in The Alaskans . (Moore is on the left.) Moore's next television series involved playing the lead as "Silky" Harris for the ABC /Warner Bros. 1959–60 Western The Alaskans , with co-stars Dorothy Provine as Rocky, Jeff York as Reno, and Ray Danton as Nifty. The show ran for a single season of 37 hour-long episodes on Sunday nights. Though set in Skagway, Alaska , with a focus on the Klondike Gold Rush around 1896, the series was filmed in the hot studio lot at Warner Bros. in Hollywood with the cast costumed in fur coats and hats. Moore found the work highly taxing, and his off-camera affair with Provine complicated matters even more. Moore later referred to the experience as his "most appalling television series." He subsequently appeared as the questionable character "14 Karat John" in the two-part episode "Right Off the Boat" of the ABC/WB crime drama The Roaring 20s —alongside Rex Reason , John Dehner , Gary Vinson , and Dorothy Provine—appearing in a similar role but with a different character name. Maverick (1960–1961) Moore as Beau Maverick Moore and Kathleen Crowley in Maverick. In the wake of The Alaskans , Moore was cast as Beau Maverick , an English-accented cousin of frontier gamblers Bret Maverick (James Garner ), Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly ), and Brent Maverick (Robert Colbert ) in the much more successful ABC/WB Western series Maverick . Moore appeared as the character in 14 episodes after Garner had left the series at the end of the previous season, wearing some of Garner's costumes; while filming The Alaskans , he had already recited much of Garner's dialogue, for the Alaskan series frequently recycled Maverick scripts, changing only the names and locales.[ 21] He had also filmed a Maverick episode with Garner two seasons earlier, in which Moore played a different character, in a retooling of Richard Brinsley Sheridan 's 1775 comedy of manners play The Rivals .[ 22] In the course of the story, Moore and Garner's characters switched names on a bet, with Moore consequently identifying himself as "Bret Maverick" through most of the episode.[ 22] Moore's debut as Beau Maverick occurred in the first episode of the 1960–61 fourth season, "The Bundle from Britain ", one of four episodes in which he shared screen time with his cousin Bart (Jack Kelly). Robert Altman wrote and directed "Bolt from the Blue", an episode featuring Will Hutchins as a frontier lawyer similar to his character in the series Sugarfoot , and "Red Dog" found Beau mixed up with the vicious bank robbers Lee Van Cleef and John Carradine . Kathleen Crowley was Moore's leading lady in two episodes ("Bullet for the Teacher" and "Kiz"), and others included Mala Powers , Roxane Berard , Fay Spain , Merry Anders , Andra Martin and Jeanne Cooper . Upon leaving the series, Moore cited a decline in script quality since the Garner era as the key factor in his decision to depart; ratings for the show were also down.[ 23] Moore was originally slated to appear with both Jack Kelly and Robert Colbert in the series but by the time Colbert starred in his first episode, Moore had already left the series. Numerous early publicity stills of Kelly, Moore and Colbert posing together exist, however. Moore was still under contract with Warners, who cast him in The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961), making love to a nun played by Angie Dickinson , and Gold of the Seven Saints (1961), supporting Clint Walker . He also went to Italy to make the adventure comedy Romulus and the Sabines (1961). The Saint (1962–1969) Roger Moore (left) with Earl Green in The Saint. Moore posing with Egyptian actresses; Soad Hosny (first from left), Shwikar (second from right) and Sharifa Fadel at the Alexandria Television Festival in Alexandria , Egypt , August 1963.[ 24] Lew Grade cast Moore as Simon Templar in a new adaptation of The Saint , based on the novels by Leslie Charteris . Moore said in an interview in 1963 that he wanted to buy the rights to Leslie Charteris's character and the trademarks. The television series was broadcast by ITV in the UK between 1962 and 1969, and its overseas success made Moore a household name. After the strong performance in the US of the first two series in first-run syndication, NBC picked up the show in 1966. By early 1967, Moore had achieved international stardom.[ 25] The series established his suave, quipping style which he carried forward to James Bond, and it also saw him exhibit his trademark raised eyebrow. Francis Blagburn in The Telegraph writes, The raised eyebrow is perhaps the hardest facial gesture to perfect in the gentleman's arsenal. Get it right and you give the impression of someone who is in total control; get it wrong and you look like, well, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson (and no one wants that). Sir Roger wrote the book in how to raise an eyebrow... as Simon Templar, he coolly infers [sic ] that he knows, and he knows that you know that he knows.[ 26] The Saint ran from 1962 for six series and 118 episodes.[ 4] [ 20] Moore went on to direct nine episodes of the later series, which moved into colour in 1967.[ 27] [circular reference ] Several episodes were edited together to form two films, The Saint and the Fiction Makers (1968) and Vendetta for the Saint (1969).[ 28] Post-Saint films and The Persuaders! (1969–1972) He made two films immediately after the series ended: Crossplot (1969), a lightweight 'spy caper' movie, and the more challenging The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970). Directed by Basil Dearden , it gave Moore the opportunity to demonstrate greater versatility than the role of Simon Templar had allowed.[ 4] In 2004, Moore said of The Man Who Haunted Himself : "It was one of the few times I was allowed to act... Many say my best role was in The Man Who Haunted Himself . Being a modest actor, I won't disagree."[ 4] In one scene in the film, his character says "Espionage isn't all James Bond on Her Majesty's Secret Service." Moore in 1971 Lew Grade lured Moore to star alongside Tony Curtis in The Persuaders! . The show featured the adventures of two millionaire playboys across Europe. Moore was paid the then-unheard-of sum of £1 million for a single series, making him the highest-paid television actor in the world.[ 20] Lew Grade claimed in his autobiography, Still Dancing , that Moore and Curtis "didn't hit it off all that well".[ 29] Curtis refused to spend more time on set than was strictly necessary, while Moore was always willing to work overtime.[ 29] According to the DVD commentary, neither Roger Moore, an uncredited co-producer, nor Robert S. Baker , the credited producer, ever had a contract other than a handshake with Lew Grade.[ 29] Despite its focus on the UK and US markets, The Persuaders! became more successful in other international markets.[ 30] On its premiere on the ITV network, it was beaten in the ratings by repeats of Monty Python's Flying Circus on BBC One . It did however place in the Top 20 most-viewed television series in the UK throughout 1971.[ 31] The lack of success in the US, where it had been sold to ABC, Curtis put down to its showing at the Saturday 10pm slot, but it was successful in continental Europe and Australia.[ 29] In Germany, where the series was aired under the name Die Zwei ("The Two"), it became a hit through especially amusing dubbing which only barely used translations of the original dialogue. James Bond era (1973–1985) Moore as Bond Moore's Bond was very different from the version created by Ian Fleming and the one portrayed by Connery. Screenwriters such as George MacDonald Fraser provided scenarios in which Moore was cast as a seasoned, debonair playboy who would always have a trick or gadget in stock when he needed it. This was designed to serve the contemporary taste of the 1970s. Moore's version of Bond was also known for his sense of humour and witty one liners; as Moore himself said: "My personality is different from previous Bonds. I'm not that cold-blooded-killer type. Which is why I play it mostly for laughs."[ 32] Live and Let Die (1973) Moore in 1973 Due to his commitment to several television shows, in particular The Saint , Roger Moore was unavailable for the James Bond films for a considerable time. His participation in The Saint was as actor, producer, and director, and he also became involved in developing the series The Persuaders! . In 1964, he made a guest appearance as James Bond in the comedy series Mainly Millicent .[ 33] Moore stated in his autobiography My Word Is My Bond (2008) that he had neither been approached to play the character in Dr. No , nor did he feel that he had ever been considered. Only after Sean Connery had declared in 1966 that he would not play Bond any longer did Moore become aware that he might be a contender for the role.[ 34] After George Lazenby was cast in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Connery was enticed back to the role of Bond again for Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Moore did not consider the possibility until it seemed clear that Connery had stepped down as Bond for good. With The Persuaders! having been cancelled following poor ratings in the US, Moore was approached, and he accepted producer Albert Broccoli 's offer in August 1972. In his autobiography, Moore writes that he had to cut his hair and lose weight for the role. Although he resented having to make those changes, he was finally cast as James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973).[ 34] Being 44 when he was cast in the role, Moore remains the oldest actor to portray Bond. Moore then made Gold (1974), based on a novel by Wilbur Smith for producer Michael Klinger and director Peter R. Hunt . He was paid US$200,000 plus a percentage of the profits.[ 35] The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) Moore made his second Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), which was a hit, though less successful than Live and Let Die . It featured Christopher Lee as the main antagonist. Also appearing were Britt Ekland , Herve Villechaize and Maud Adams . He then made a comedy That Lucky Touch (1975) which was a box office disaster. Moore made an Italian-shot action film Street People (1976), then went back to South Africa for another Klinger-Hunt movie from a Wilbur Smith novel, Shout at the Devil (1976), which was successful in Britain, though less so in the US. Lee Marvin was a main cast member. Ian Holm was also featured, as well as Barbara Parkins .[citation needed ] The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) Moore returned for a third outing as Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), which was a massive box-office success. It also starred Barbara Bach and Richard Kiel in his first appearance as the villain Jaws .[ 36] He returned to South Africa for a third action movie shot there, The Wild Geese (1978), produced by Euan Lloyd and directed by Andrew V. McLaglen . It was a sizeable hit in Britain and Europe but, like Shout at the Devil , less so in the US.[ 37] The cast featured Richard Burton , who had top billing, and Richard Harris. Moore played the lead in Escape to Athena (1979) partly financed by Lew Grade. It was a heist adventure set in war-time Greece, and starred Telly Savalas and David Niven, and features mostly American character actors, including Elliott Gould , Stefanie Powers , Richard Roundtree , Sonny Bono , and Italian actress Claudia Cardinale . Roger Moore (with top billing) plays a charming former Austrian antiquities dealer turned crooked camp commandant, asked to guard Greek antiquities desired by the Third Reich, and also guard the collection of archaeologists who are being forced to work to find and recover these objects, but he has other plans for the treasure he guards and for the people under his watch. Moonraker (1979) Roger Moore in 1979. Moore followed the success of his fourth outing as Bond, Moonraker (1979), with an action film, North Sea Hijack (1980), also known as ffolkes . Moore played a very un-Bond-like hero, opposite Anthony Perkins . The film was a box-office disappointment.[ 38] Better received was The Sea Wolves (1980), another World War Two adventure, based on James Leasor 's book, Boarding Party, which reunited many of the crew from The Wild Geese including Euan Lloyd and McLaglen. It was based on the true story of a March 1943 event in British India and Portuguese Goa, in which a group of retired members of the Calcutta Light Horse , colonelled by David Niven's character, assist regular British Army operatives, played by Moore and Gregory Peck , in destroying German ships in neutral Mormugao harbour, all the time surrounded by German spies and Indian nationalist intrigue. Trevor Howard , Patrick Macnee and Barbara Kellerman also co-star, with a who's-who lineup of British character actors. Moore was in two all-star comedies: Sunday Lovers (1980), which flopped at the box office, and The Cannonball Run (1981), which was a hit. The latter featured an ensemble cast, including Jackie Chan , Burt Reynolds , Dean Martin , Dom DeLuise , Sammy Davis Jr , and Farrah Fawcett . For Your Eyes Only (1981) Moore returned for his fifth outing as Bond in For Your Eyes Only (1981). Octopussy (1983) Following the film For Your Eyes Only , Moore expressed a desire to leave the role, and other actors were screen tested, including James Brolin , but Moore was eventually enticed back for Octopussy (1983).[ 39] The circumstances around Octopussy ' s release were highly unusual, in that another James Bond film was being released in the same year. Spearheaded by Thunderball producer Kevin McClory (who retained the film rights to the property because the antecedent 1961 Ian Fleming novel was based on an unfilmed 1959 screenplay produced under the aegis of McClory, Jack Whittingham and Fleming), the non-Eon production Never Say Never Again featured his predecessor Sean Connery returning to the role of Bond. Although tantamount to a loose remake of Thunderball , it was not set in the continuity of the previous Eon Bond films. This led to the media dubbing the one-time situation the "Battle of the Bonds". He made a cameo as Chief Inspector Clouseau , posing as a famous movie star, in Curse of the Pink Panther [ 20] (1983) (for which he was credited as "Turk Thrust II"). Then, he tried a thriller The Naked Face (1984), written and directed by Bryan Forbes . A View to a Kill (1985) Moore starred in his final Bond film, A View to a Kill (1985). He was the oldest actor to have played Bond – he was 45 in Live and Let Die , and 58 when he announced his retirement on 3 December 1985, having played the part for over twelve years. With seven films, Moore holds the record for playing Bond the most times in the Eon series, but is tied with Sean Connery in number of times playing Bond when counting Connery's non-Eon appearance in Never Say Never Again (1983).[ 40] In 1987, he hosted Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond .[ 41] Post-James Bond career (1986–2017) Moore in 2012. Moore said, about his decision to leave the role of James Bond, that "It wasn't because of the physical stuff as I could still play tennis for two hours a day and do a one-hour workout every morning. Physically I was okay, but facially I started looking…well, the leading ladies were young enough to be my granddaughter and it becomes disgusting." In his personal opinion, he looked too old to be "hanging around women in their early twenties without it appearing creepy."[ 42] Moore did not act on screen for five years after he stopped playing Bond; in 1990, he appeared in several films, as well as in the writer-director Michael Feeney Callan 's television series My Riviera . He then starred in the film Bed & Breakfast , which was shot in 1989;[ 43] and also had a large role in the 1996 film The Quest . In 1997, he starred as the Chief in Spice World .[ 44] At the age of 73, he played a flamboyant homosexual man in Boat Trip (2002) with Cuba Gooding Jr. The British satirical puppet show Spitting Image had a sketch in which their latex likeness of Moore, when asked to display emotions by an offscreen director, did nothing but raise an eyebrow; Moore himself stated that he thought the sketch was funny and took it in good humour. Indeed, he had always embraced the "eyebrows" gag wholeheartedly, and quipped that he "only had three expressions as Bond: right eyebrow raised, left eyebrow raised, and eyebrows crossed when grabbed by Jaws ".[ 26] Spitting Image continued the joke, featuring a Bond film spoof, The Man with the Wooden Delivery , with Moore's puppet receiving orders from Margaret Thatcher to kill Mikhail Gorbachev . Other comedy shows at that time ridiculed Moore's acting, with Rory Bremner once claiming to have had a death threat from one of his irate fans following one such routine.[ 45] In a nod to his 1960s TV show, Moore had a vocal cameo in The Saint (1997) as a radio newsreader as Simon Templar drives away at the end of the film. In the year 2000, he played the role of a secret agent in the Christmas special Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings , shown on BBC One on Christmas Day. Filming all his scenes in the London Eye , his mission was to eliminate another agent whose file photo looks like Pierce Brosnan. In 2002, he had a small cameo role in the German police procedural series Tatort (episode 506: "Schatten" – "Shadow", 28 July 2002) as himself signing an autograph on a Unicef card. In the 1981 film The Cannonball Run , in a parody of both himself and James Bond, Moore played Seymour Goldfarb, a wealthy but delusional playboy who believes himself to be Roger Moore and enters the race driving an Aston Martin DB5 . In support of his charitable work for UNICEF, Moore lent his voice to the character of the magic snowman, Lumi Ukko, for a 1990 feature film produced by Pavlina Ltd/FIT. The film is UNICEF-endorsed and is dedicated to the "world's children".[ 46] An audiobook titled The Magic Snowman and The Rusty Ice Skates features his voice. His daughter, the actress Deborah Moore , narrated the book in honour of her father's legacy and his work for UNICEF. 20 per cent of the book's proceeds are pledged to the organisation. In 2009, Moore appeared in an advertisement for the Post Office . In 2010, he provided the voice of a talking cat called Lazenby in the film Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore , which contained several references to, and parodies of, Bond films. In 2011, he co-starred in the film A Princess for Christmas with Katie McGrath and Sam Heughan and, in 2012, he took to the stage for a series of seven Evenings with in UK theatres; in November, guest-hosted Have I Got News for You .[ 47] A slightly thinner-faced Moore contributed to a charity song in 2017. His last on-screen performance was in 2017, a brief appearance near the end of the remake of The Saint . In 2015, Moore was named one of GQ ' s 50 best-dressed British men.[ 48] In 2015, he read Hans Christian Andersen 's "The Princess and the Pea " for the children's fairy tales app GivingTales in aid of UNICEF .[ 49] Advocacy Humanitarian work Moore's friend Audrey Hepburn had impressed him with her work for UNICEF, and consequently he became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in August 1991.[ 50] His character, Simon Templar , made a pitch for UNICEF near the end of "The Revolution Racket",[ 51] airing on 5 November 1964. He was the voice of Father Christmas or 'Santa' in the 2004 UNICEF cartoon The Fly Who Loved Me .[ 52] Animal welfare Moore was an active proponent of animal welfare causes, particularly in his later life. He worked prolifically alongside PETA in campaigning against foie gras , narrating short exposés in 2006 and 2012,[ 53] as well as appearing in ad campaigns, some of which he personally funded.[ 54] He also wrote columns in various publications, and directly to politicians and businesses, regarding the issue. For his efforts, he was named PETA UK Person of the Year in 2009.[ 55] The campaign against Selfridges successfully prompted them to discontinue sales in 2009, while another British company (Creek Projects Investments) shuttered plans to build a large foie gras facility in China in 2012, in response to Moore's advocacy.[ 56] Moore also voiced concern for issues of wild animal welfare. He publicly raised awareness regarding the living conditions of Morgan , a wild-caught killer whale who had been taken into captivity, as well as successfully leading the campaign to ban the use of wild animals in British circuses .[ 57] He was an outspoken critic of sport hunting ; in response to the killing of Cecil the lion , an incident which sparked global outrage, The Telegraph published an opinion piece by Moore:[ 58] "Sport" hunting is a sickness, a perversion and a danger and should be recognised as such. People who get their "amusement" from hunting and killing defenceless animals can only be suffering from a mental disorder. We know that we should protect the most vulnerable and helpless in society, not destroy them – much less derive pleasure from doing so. Thankfully, those of us with a conscience are appalled by the idea of gunning down animals for the sake of a thrill or a photo. Interest in hunting in Great Britain and elsewhere is steadily declining since decent people prefer to hike, take photographs, kayak and generally enjoy the outdoors without killing other beings. Personal life Doorn van Steyn In 1946, aged 18, Moore married a fellow RADA student, the actress and ice skater Doorn van Steyn (born Lucy Woodard), who was six years his senior;[ 59] Moore and Van Steyn lived in Streatham with her family, but tension over money matters and her lack of confidence in his acting ability took their toll on the relationship,[ 60] during which he allegedly suffered domestic abuse .[ 61] Dorothy Squires In 1952, Moore met the Welsh singer Dorothy Squires , who was 12 years his senior, and Van Steyn and Moore divorced the following year.[ 62] Squires and Moore were married in New York.[ 62] They lived in Bexley , Kent , after their wedding.[ 63] They moved to the United States in 1954 to develop their careers, but tension developed in their marriage due to their age difference and Moore's infatuation with starlet Dorothy Provine , and they moved back to the United Kingdom in 1961, where they resided in Sutton Coldfield , near Birmingham .[ 62] Squires suffered a series of miscarriages during their marriage, and Moore later said the outcome of their marriage might have been different if they had been able to have children.[ 62] During their tempestuous relationship Squires smashed a guitar over his head and, after she learned of his affair with the Italian actress Luisa Mattioli , who later became Moore's third wife, Moore said, "She threw a brick through my window. She reached through the glass and grabbed my shirt and she cut her arms doing it...The police came and they said, 'Madam, you're bleeding' and she said, 'It's my heart that's bleeding'."[ 59] Squires intercepted letters from Mattioli to Moore and planned to include them in her autobiography, but the couple won injunctions against the publication in 1977, which led Squires to unsuccessfully sue them for loss of earnings.[ 62] The numerous legal cases launched by Squires led her to be declared a vexatious litigant in 1987.[ 64] Moore paid Squires's hospital bills after her cancer treatment in 1996; she died in 1998.[ 65] [ 66] Luisa Mattioli Moore at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival with wife Luisa Mattioli. In 1961, while filming The Rape of the Sabine Women in Italy, Moore left Squires for the Italian actress Luisa Mattioli .[ 66] Squires refused to accept their separation, and sued Moore for loss of conjugal rights , but Moore refused the court's order to return to Squires in 28 days.[ 66] [ 62] Squires also smashed windows at a house in France where Moore and Mattioli were living, and unsuccessfully sued the actor Kenneth More for libel, as More had introduced Moore and Mattioli at a charity event as "Mr Roger Moore and his wife".[ 66] Moore and Mattioli lived together until 1969, when Squires finally granted him a divorce, after they had been separated for seven years.[ 65] At Moore's and Mattioli's marriage in April 1969 at the Caxton Hall in Westminster, London, a crowd of 600 people was outside, with women screaming his name.[ 67] Moore had three children with Mattioli: the actress Deborah Moore (born 27 October 1963) and two sons, Geoffrey (born 28 July 1966) and Christian (born 23 August 1973).[ 68] Geoffrey is also an actor, and appeared alongside his father in the films Sherlock Holmes in New York (1976) and Fire, Ice and Dynamite (1990). In later life, he co-founded Hush Restaurant in Mayfair , London, with Jamie Barber ,[ 69] and released a single in 2023 under the name Jaffa Moore called "You and I" which featured vocals from the late Glee actor Naya Rivera and included host of stars in the music video miming along to the song.[ 70] [ 71] Geoffrey and his wife Loulou have two daughters. Moore's younger son, Christian, is a film producer and has four children: a daughter from his first marriage to Heidi Moore, and two sons and a daughter from his second marriage to Lara Sidawi.[ 72] Kristina "Kiki" Tholstrup Moore and Mattioli separated in 1993 after Moore developed feelings for a Swedish-born Danish socialite, Kristina "Kiki" Tholstrup .[ 66] Moore later described his prostate cancer diagnosis in 1993 as "life-changing", which led him to reassess his life and marriage.[ 68] Mattioli and Tholstrup had long been friends, but Mattioli was scathing of her in the book she subsequently wrote about her relationship with Moore, Nothing Lasts Forever , describing how she felt betrayed by Tholstrup and discarded by Moore.[ 66] [ 68] Moore remained silent on his divorce from Mattioli, later saying that he did not wish to hurt his children by "engaging in a war of words".[ 68] Moore's children refused to speak to him for a period after the divorce, but they were later reconciled with their father.[ 68] Mattioli refused to grant Moore a divorce until 2000, when a £10 million settlement was agreed.[ 73] Moore subsequently married Tholstrup in 2002.[ 68] Moore said that he loved Tholstrup as she was "organised", "serene", "loving", and "calm", saying, "I have a difficult life. I rely on Kristina totally. When we are travelling for my job, she is the one who packs. Kristina takes care of all that".[ 68] Moore also said that his marriage to Tholstrup was "a tranquil relationship, there are no arguments".[ 74] Tholstrup had two children, Hans-Christian Knudsen Jr. and Christina Knudsen, from a previous marriage; Christina described her stepfather as a positive influence, saying, "I was in difficult relationships but that all changed" when her mother met Moore. Christina Knudsen died of cancer on 25 July 2016, at the age of 47; Moore wrote, "We are heartbroken" and "We were all with her, surrounding her with love, at the end".[ 75] [ 76] [ 77] Political views Moore in 1973 by Allan Warren . On politics, Moore stated he was a conservative and thought that conservatism was the way to run a country.[ 78] He was described as a "lifelong" supporter of the Conservative Party and endorsed the party during the 2001 general election .[ 79] [ 80] [ 81] However, Moore also expressed a reluctance to be seen as an overtly political figure and felt his work with UNICEF meant that he could not involve himself directly in politics.[ 80] In 2011, Moore expressed his support to Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron regarding his policy on the European Union , stating: "I think he's doing absolutely wonderfully well, despite the opposition from many members of his own party. Traitors, I call them. I mean any hardliner within the Conservative Party who speaks out against their leader. You should support your leader."[ 82] Moore also expressed support for Britain keeping the pound sterling as its national currency and was glad the British government had not joined the single EU currency , stating: "I would have been very upset if we'd had to take the Queen off our currency. They'd probably have to take her off the stamps and everything. I am British and I'm fiercely independent. And I think we should be independent, as Sean Connery is about Scotland."[ 83] In 2015, Moore criticised what he regarded as excessive political correctness within the film industry and felt that rewriting James Bond 's sexuality, gender or ethnicity would be a mistake, arguing "it is not about being homophobic or, for that matter, racist – it is simply about being true to the character."[ 84] [ 85] Moore retained membership of the entertainment and media trade union BECTU (now part of Prospect) until his death, having joined as an apprentice animation technician before his acting career took off. At his death, he was the union's longest-tenured member.[ 86] In 2007, Moore also voiced his support to workers from the Cadbury chocolate factory at Keynsham who were protesting against the plant's closure.[ 87] Tax exile Moore became a tax exile from the United Kingdom in 1978, originally to Switzerland, and divided his year between his four homes: an apartment in Monte Carlo , a holiday house in the coastal Tuscan town of Castiglione della Pescaia , a chalet in Crans-Montana , Switzerland, and a home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence , France.[ 74] [ 88] Moore became a resident of Monaco, having been appointed a Goodwill Ambassador of Monaco by Prince Albert II for his efforts in internationally promoting and publicising the principality.[ 89] Moore was scathing of the Russian population in Monaco, saying, "I'm afraid we're overstuffed with Russians. All the restaurant menus are in Russian now."[ 88] Moore was vocal in his defence of his tax exile status, saying that in the 1970s, with taxes levied on top earners under the Labour government of James Callaghan , he had been urged by his "accountants, agents, and lawyers" to move abroad because, "At that point we were taxed up to 98% on unearned income , so you would never be able to save enough to ensure that you had any sort of livelihood if you didn't work."[ 59] Moore said in 2011 that his decision to live abroad was "not about tax. That's a serious part of it. I come back to England often enough not to miss it, to see the changes, to find some of the changes good. ... I paid my taxes at the time that I was earning a decent income, so I've paid my due".[ 90] Illness and death Moore had a series of diseases during his childhood, including chickenpox , measles , mumps ,[ 91] double pneumonia [ 92] and jaundice ,[ 93] and had his appendix , tonsils and adenoids removed.[ 94] Moore was a long-term sufferer of kidney stones [ 95] and as a result was briefly hospitalised during the making of Live and Let Die in 1973[ 96] and again whilst filming the 1979 film Moonraker .[ 97] Whilst filming the boat chase in Live and Let Die , Moore crashed a speedboat and suffered a fractured tooth and concussion. During filming for The Spy Who Loved Me , Moore suffered burns on his buttocks during a chair explosion stunt. In 1993, Moore was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent successful treatment for the disease.[ 98] In 2003, Moore collapsed on stage while appearing on Broadway,[ 99] and was fitted with a pacemaker to treat a potentially deadly slow heartbeat.[ 88] He was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2013.[ 88] Some years before his final cancer illness, a tumour spot was found in his liver. Then, in 2017, during the period that he was treated for cancer, he fell, badly injuring his collarbone .[ 100] [ 101] The grave of Roger Moore in Monaco Cemetery Moore died in the presence of his family at his home in Crans-Montana , Switzerland, on 23 May 2017, from cancers of the lung and liver.[ 101] [ 102] [ 103] [ 104] He is buried in Monaco Cemetery .[ 104] Royal circles Moore had friendships with some of Denmark's royal family; Prince Joachim and his then-wife Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg , invited Moore and his wife Kiki to attend the christening of their youngest son, Prince Felix . In 2004, he attended the Wedding of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, and Mary Donaldson . On 24 May 2008, Moore and his wife attended the wedding of Prince Joachim to his French fiancée Marie Cavallier .[citation needed ] Moore also had a long-standing friendship with Princess Lilian of Sweden, whom he first met on a visit to Stockholm for UNICEF. Moore's wife Kristina, who was born in Sweden, was already a friend of Princess Lilian's through mutual friends. In his autobiography, Moore recalled meeting the princess for tea and dinners whenever his wife and he visited Stockholm. He spoke of his recollections at the princess's memorial service at St Peter and St Sigfrid's Church in Stockholm, on 8 September 2013.[ 13] [ 105] On 1 and 2 July 2011, Moore and his wife attended the wedding of Albert II, Prince of Monaco and Charlene Wittstock .[ 106] Awards and legacy "Most people settle on Sir Roger Moore or Sir Sean Connery as their favourite Bond. Why Moore? Because he was Bond incarnate, and then some. He was the quintessential Englishman, somewhere between gentleman and jester – a slick, schmaltzy, suave provocateur. He handled the tone of the role perfectly, pitching his delivery somewhere between the camp kitsch of [Pierce Brosnan] and the smouldering cool of Connery. Moore's 007 was, in a word, fun: never above a wry laugh, preferably with a dry Martini in hand." — Francis Blagburn writing in The Telegraph , May 2017.[ 26] Moore was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1999 New Year Honours [ 107] and was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2003 Birthday Honours for charitable services, especially UNICEF and latterly Kiwanis International , which had dominated his public life for more than a decade.[ 108] On being knighted, Moore said that the citation "meant far more to me than if I had got it for acting... I was proud because I received it on behalf of UNICEF as a whole and for all it has achieved over the years".[ 109] On 11 October 2007, three days before he turned 80, Moore was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work on television and in film. Attending the ceremony were family, friends, and Richard Kiel , with whom he had acted in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker . Moore's star was the 2,350th star installed, and is appropriately located at 7007 Hollywood Boulevard.[ 110] On 28 October 2008, the French government appointed Moore a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres .[ 111] On 21 November 2012 Moore was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire for his outstanding contributions to the British film and television industry for over 50 years, in particular film and television productions in Hertfordshire.[ 112] After his death, the Roger Moore Stage was opened at Pinewood Studios at a ceremony held in October 2017 to celebrate his life and work.[ 113] His wife and family were in attendance along with Bond producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli .[ 113] In the 2018 film My Dinner with Hervé , Moore was portrayed by actor Mark Umbers . For his charity work 2012: UNICEF's UK Lifetime Achievement Award[ 114] 2007: Dag Hammarskjöld Inspiration Award (UNICEF)[ 115] 2004: UNICEF's Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award[ 116] 2003: German Federal Cross of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz) for his UNICEF work[ 60] : 275 [ 117] 2003: Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) 1999: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) Sherlock Holmes in New York is a 1976 American made-for-television mystery film about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson , played by Roger Moore and Patrick Macnee respectively.[ 1] Plot The great detective Sherlock Holmes and his trusted companion Dr. John Watson travel to New York City to investigate a recent threat made by Professor James Moriarty . During their investigation, Holmes and Watson are reunited with their old acquaintance Irene Adler , now a popular music-hall singer, who reveals that Moriarty has kidnapped her young son Scott. Moriarty has also left a note for Holmes informing him that he will be approached by the police soon for aid in a crime, and should he not refuse – Moriarty also informing him that he should provide no reason for his refusal – the boy will die. Holmes is subsequently contacted by the NYPD regarding the recent apparent theft of the international gold exchange at the New York bank, with the entire vault of gold bars having vanished seemingly overnight, the theft only secret until a planned transaction between Italy and Germany in three days' time. To protect the child, Holmes refuses the case, but a chance comment by Watson inspires Holmes to shift his attention to finding Scott to remove the blackmail card. While Watson departs with Irene disguised as Holmes to draw away the agent Moriarty has assigned to watch him, Holmes determines that Scott was tricked into cooperating with the kidnapping as an apparent joke, allowing him to find the kidnapper. Investigating the vaults, and quickly ruling as impossible the actual removal of many tonnes of gold via a narrow tunnel in the time available, Holmes swiftly determines what has taken place; based on the speed of the lift's descent, it should take them 45 seconds to reach the vaults, but they stopped after only 42 seconds. From this, Holmes deduces that Moriarty had an empty, duplicate vault built a few meters above the real one, subsequently planting iron bars to stop the lift reaching the real vault. While everyone puzzled over how the bars of gold were stolen from the false vault, Moriarty would actually be stealing them from the real one below. In a final confrontation in New York's underground, Moriarty escapes. The case is solved. As Holmes and Adler say their goodbyes, Adler comments that her son has a keen intellect and a certain knack for solving puzzles, implying that Holmes may be his father. The two nevertheless part ways with Adler giving Holmes a picture of her son to keep. Cast Roger Moore as Sherlock Holmes Patrick Macnee as Doctor John Watson John Huston as Professor James Moriarty Charlotte Rampling as Irene Adler Gig Young as Mortimer McGrew David Huddleston as NYPD Inspector Lafferty Signe Hasso as Fraulein Reichenbach Leon Ames as Daniel Furman John Abbott as Heller Jackie Coogan as Haymarket Hotel Proprietor William Benedict as Telegraph Office Manager Paul Sorensen as Man In Checkered Suit John Steadman as Stage Doorman Geoffrey Moore as Scott Adler Charles Durning as Inspector (uncredited) Production When initially approached to portray Sherlock Holmes , Roger Moore was uninterested.[ 1] After reading the script, he decided to go ahead having found it "funny and original."[ 1] He was attracted to how different the role was than other projects with which he had been involved. But what I most like about playing Holmes is that there is more dialogue then I ever had in 120 Saint episodes and two Bond films.[ 1] Casting John Huston as Professor James Moriarty allowed for an homage to his classic film, The Maltese Falcon by having a reproduction of the film's jeweled Falcon on Moriarty's desk.[ 2] Patrick Macnee was cast as Dr. John Watson and played him in the same bumbling fashion as Nigel Bruce had decades earlier .[ 3] Macnee went on to play a more intelligent representation of the character in two television films opposite Christopher Lee as Holmes, Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady and Incident at Victoria Falls .[ 3] Moore's real-life son Geoffrey portrayed Scott Adler. Home media Soundtrack The film was scored by Richard Rodney Bennett , marking his first work for American television; Leonard Rosenman conducted. On 9 October 2006, Intrada Records released the music on a limited edition CD alongside Georges Delerue 's score for The Pick-up Artist . For Your Eyes Only is a 1981 spy film , the twelfth film in the James Bond franchise produced by Eon Productions , and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond . The film also co-stars Carole Bouquet , Chaim Topol , Lynn-Holly Johnson and Julian Glover , and marked the feature directorial debut of John Glen , who had served as a film editor and second unit director on previous films in the series. The film was written by Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson . Although the script is principally based on two Ian Fleming short stories, "For Your Eyes Only " and "Risico ", some elements of the plot were also inspired by the novels Live and Let Die , Goldfinger and On Her Majesty's Secret Service . The film follows Bond as he attempts to locate a missile command system while becoming tangled in a web of deception spun by rival Greek smugglers along with Melina Havelock, a woman seeking to avenge the murder of her parents. After the science-fiction-focused Moonraker , the producers wanted a return to the style of the early Bond films and the works of 007 creator Fleming. For Your Eyes Only followed a grittier, more realistic approach and a narrative theme of revenge and its consequences, rather than the fantasy narrative of Moonraker . Filming took place from September 1980 to February 1981, and locations included Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom, while underwater footage was shot in the Bahamas . Sheena Easton performed the title theme song. For Your Eyes Only was released in the UK on 24 June 1981 and in the US two days later; it received a mixed critical reception. The film's reputation has improved over time, with reviewers praising the more serious tone in comparison to previous entries in the series, with others saying it was the best of Moore's films after "The Spy Who Loved Me". The film was a financial success, generating $195.3 million worldwide. For Your Eyes Only was the final Bond film to be distributed solely by United Artists ; the company was absorbed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer soon after this film's release. It was followed by Octopussy in 1983. Plot The British information-gathering vessel St Georges , which holds the Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator (ATAC), the system used by the Ministry of Defence to co-ordinate the Royal Navy 's fleet of Polaris submarines, is sunk after accidentally trawling an old naval mine in the Ionian Sea . The British ask marine archaeologist Sir Timothy Havelock to secretly locate the St Georges . However, he and his wife are then murdered on their yacht (Triana ) by Cuban hitman Hector Gonzales. Havelock's daughter Melina witnesses the murders, and vows revenge. The head of the KGB , General Gogol , also has learned of the fate of the St Georges and has notified his contact in Greece. MI6 agent James Bond is ordered by the Minister of Defence , Sir Frederick Gray , and MI6 Chief of Staff Bill Tanner to retrieve the ATAC before the Soviets do so, for the transmitter could order attacks by the submarines' Polaris ballistic missiles . Bond goes to Spain to learn who hired Gonzales. While spying on Gonzales's villa , Bond is captured by his men, but escapes as a crossbow bolt kills Gonzales. The assassin was Melina, who escapes with Bond. Aided by Bond, Q uses a computerised technology called Identigraph to identify the man Bond saw paying off Gonzales as Emile Leopold Locque and goes to Locque's possible base in Cortina , Italy. There, Bond meets his contact, Luigi Ferrara, and a well-connected Greek business magnate and intelligence informant, Aris Kristatos, who reveals that Locque is employed by Milos Columbo, known as "the Dove" in the Greek underworld, Kristatos's former resistance partner during the Second World War . After Bond goes with Kristatos's protégée , figure skater Bibi Dahl, to a biathlon course, a group of three men, which includes East German biathlete Eric Kriegler, chases Bond, trying to kill him. Bond escapes and goes with Ferrara to bid Bibi farewell in an ice rink, where he fends off another attempt on his life by three men in ice hockey gear. Ferrara is killed in Bond's car, with a dove pin in his hand. Bond then travels to Corfu in pursuit of Columbo. There, at the casino, Bond meets Kristatos and asks how to meet Columbo, not knowing that Columbo's men are secretly recording their conversation. After Columbo and his mistress, Countess Lisl von Schlaf, argue, Bond offers to escort her home with Kristatos's car and driver. The two spend the night together and the next morning, Lisl and Bond are ambushed on the beach and Lisl is killed by Locque, who mows her down in a beach buggy before speeding away. Bond is captured by Columbo's men before Locque can kill him; Columbo then tells Bond that Locque was actually hired by Kristatos, who is working for the KGB to retrieve the ATAC. Bond accompanies Columbo and his crew on a raid on one of Kristatos's opium -processing warehouses in Albania , where Bond uncovers naval mines similar to the one that sank the St Georges , suggesting that it was not an accident. After the base is destroyed, Bond chases Locque and kills him by shoving his car off a cliff while he is trapped inside. Afterwards, Bond meets Melina, and they recover the ATAC from the wreckage of the St Georges , but Kristatos is waiting for them when they surface and takes the ATAC. The two escape an assassination attempt and discover Kristatos's rendezvous point when Melina's parrot, Max, repeats the phrase "ATAC to St Cyril's". Aided by Columbo and his men, Bond and Melina break into St Cyril's, an abandoned mountaintop monastery. Bond scales the peak and dispatches Apostis, a henchman of Kristatos. As Columbo confronts Kristatos, Bond kills Kriegler. Bond retrieves the ATAC system and stops Melina from killing Kristatos after he surrenders. Kristatos prepares to kill Bond with a hidden flick knife , but is killed by a knife thrown by Columbo; Gogol arrives by helicopter to collect the ATAC, but Bond throws it off the cliff, maintaining the relatively peaceful status quo, and Gogol departs in amused understanding. Bond and Melina later spend a romantic evening aboard her father's yacht while Melina's parrot fields a call from MI6 and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher . Cast Roger Moore as James Bond , MI6 agent 007, who is sent to retrieve a stolen "ATAC" system that could be misused for controlling British submarines. Carole Bouquet as Melina Havelock , the daughter of marine archaeologists who are murdered while tracking down the ATAC's whereabouts. Bouquet had auditioned for the role of Holly Goodhead in Moonraker , but was unsuccessful.[ 4] Chaim Topol as Milos Columbo , Kristatos's enemy and former smuggling partner. He convinces Bond to side with him. Named after Gioacchino Colombo , the Ferrari engine designer, specifically Ferrari 125 , which Fleming admired.[ 5] Topol suggested the pistachios as a trademark of the character, which are used in the warehouse assault scene to orient Columbo's men on where to shoot.[ 6] Lynn-Holly Johnson as Bibi Dahl, an ice-skating prodigy who has a crush on Bond; she is training with the financial support of Kristatos. Johnson was an ice skater before turning to acting, and achieved second place at the novice level of the 1974 United States Figure Skating Championships .[ 7] Michael Wilson explained that she was written as "a character that antagonised Bond."[ 8] Julian Glover as Aristotle Kristatos , a former war hero turned smuggler. Initially shown as an ally, later as the main villain, planning to expand his fortune by selling the ATAC to the KGB. Glover had been shortlisted as a possible Bond for Live and Let Die , eventually losing out to Moore.[ 4] Cassandra Harris as Lisl, The Countess Von Schlaf, Columbo's mistress. At the time of filming Harris was married to future Bond actor Pierce Brosnan , and the couple lunched with the film's producer Albert R. Broccoli during filming.[ 4] Michael Gothard as Emile Leopold Locque, a Belgian hired assassin known by his octagonal-rimmed glasses. He turns out to be an associate of Kristatos. Jill Bennett as Jacoba Brink, Bibi's skating coach. Jack Hedley as Sir Timothy Havelock, Melina's father and a marine archaeologist hired by the British Secret Service to secretly locate the wreck of St. Georges . Walter Gotell as General Anatoly Gogol , head of the KGB. James Villiers as Bill Tanner , MI6 Chief of Staff. The role of Tanner first appeared on film in The Man with the Golden Gun , although in an un-credited capacity. Villiers presumed he would play the role of M in subsequent films and was disappointed not to be asked; the producers thought him too young for the role and wanted an actor in his 70s.[ 9] Desmond Llewelyn as Q , the head of MI6's technical department. John Moreno as Luigi Ferrara , 007's MI6 contact in northern Italy. Geoffrey Keen as Sir Frederick Gray (credited as Minister of Defence ), a politician in the British government. The role, along with Bill Tanner as Chief of Staff, was used to brief Bond in place of M , following the death of Bernard Lee .[ 10] Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny , M's secretary. John Wyman as Erich Kriegler, an East German Olympic class biathlete . He is revealed to be Kristatos's second in-command and a KGB contact. John Hollis plays the bald villain in a wheelchair,[ 11] voiced by Peter Marinker.[ 12] The character appears in the pre-credits sequence and is both unnamed and uncredited. The character contains a number of characteristics of Ernst Stavro Blofeld ,[ 11] but could not be identified as such because of the legal reasons surrounding the Thunderball controversy with Kevin McClory claiming sole rights to the Blofeld character, a claim disputed by Eon.[ 13] Bob Simmons , who previously portrayed Bond in the gun barrel sequences in the first three films and SPECTRE agent Colonel Jacques Bouvar in Thunderball , cameos as another villain as Gonzales's henchman who falls victim to Bond's exploding Lotus .[ 9] Victor Tourjansky, the assistant director, has his third cameo in the Bond films as a drinking tourist;[ 14] he is credited as part of the Ski Team for Stunts. Charles Dance appears as Claus, Locque's right-hand man in the ski slope sequence, who is later killed by one of Columbo's frogmen while holding Bond at gunpoint after the beach chase where Locque kills Lisl. Janet Brown plays Margaret Thatcher , the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who appears in the closing scene alongside John Wells as her husband, Denis Thatcher .[ 15] Production We had gone as far as we could into space. We needed a change of some sort, back to the grass roots of Bond. We wanted to make the new film more of a thriller than a romp, without losing sight of what made Bond famous—its humour. — John Glen[ 16] Ian Fleming wrote the original story "For Your Eyes Only " as an episode of a cancelled James Bond television series at CBS in 1958.[ 8] Eon Productions originally intended to produce For Your Eyes Only after The Spy Who Loved Me .[ 17] [ 18] However, after the success of Star Wars in 1977 the producers decided to produce Moonraker instead.[ 19] Moonraker was successful yet was very expensive to produce, and shortly afterwards United Artists suffered a major financial flop with Michael Cimino 's Heaven's Gate . This, along with the early 1980s recession , required For Your Eyes Only to have a lower budget. For Your Eyes Only marked a change in the make up of the production crew. The previous series directors Terence Young , Guy Hamilton , Lewis Gilbert and Peter Hunt were unable to direct because the studio could not afford to hire them, and John Glen was promoted from his duties as a film editor to director, a position he would occupy for four subsequent films.[ 8] [ 20] Glen brought on much of his second-unit direction team from The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker , including cinematographer Alan Hume .[ 8] The transition in directors and lower budget resulted in a harder-edged directorial style, with less emphasis on gadgetry and large action sequences in huge arenas as was favoured by Gilbert in the previous two films.[ 21] Emphasis was placed on tension, plot and character in addition to a return to Bond's more serious roots,[ 22] whilst For Your Eyes Only "showed a clear attempt to activate some lapsed and inactive parts of the Bond mythology."[ 23] The film was also a deliberate effort to bring the series more back to reality, following the success of Moonraker in 1979.[ 24] As co-writer Michael G. Wilson pointed out, "If we went through the path of Moonraker things would just get more outlandish, so we needed to get back to basics".[ 20] To that end, the story that emerged was simpler, not one in which the world was at risk, but returning the series to that of a Cold War thriller;[ 20] Bond would also rely more on his wits than gadgets to survive.[ 25] Glen decided to symbolically represent it with a scene where Bond's Lotus blows itself up and forces 007 to rely on Melina's more humble Citroën 2CV .[ 20] Since Ken Adam was busy with Pennies from Heaven , Peter Lamont , who had worked in the art department since Goldfinger , was promoted to production designer. Following a suggestion of Glen, Lamont created realistic scenery, instead of the elaborate set pieces for which the series had been known.[ 20] Elizabeth Waller , an Emmy-winning costume designer with years of BBC experience, was brought on to design Bond's wardrobe.[ 26] Writing Before the project was postponed in favour of Moonraker , Tom Mankiewicz had written a storyline and Christopher Wood submitted a first draft in January 1978. However, their screenplay did not influence the final film.[ 17] [ 18] Richard Maibaum was once again the scriptwriter for the story, assisted by Michael G. Wilson.[ 27] According to Wilson, the ideas from stories could have come from anyone as the outlines were worked out in committee that could include Broccoli, Maibaum, Wilson and stunt coordinators .[ 28] Much of the inspiration for the stories for the film came from two Ian Fleming short stories from the collection For Your Eyes Only : Risico and For Your Eyes Only .[ 29] Another set-piece from the novel of Live and Let Die —the keelhauling —which was unused in the film of the same name, was also inserted into the plot.[ 28] Other ideas from Fleming were also used in For Your Eyes Only , such as the Identigraph which comes from the novel Goldfinger , where it was originally called the "Identicast".[ 30] These elements from Fleming's stories were mixed with a Cold War story centred on the MacGuffin of the ATAC.[ 27] An initial treatment for this film was submitted by Ronald Hardy , an English novelist and screenwriter, in 1979. Hardy's treatment included the involvement of a character named Julia Havelock whose parents were assassinated by a man named Gonzales.[ 31] The pre-title sequence of For Your Eyes Only has been described as either "out-of place and disappointing"[ 27] or "roaringly enjoyable".[ 32] The scene was shot to introduce a potential new Bond to audiences, thus linking the new actor to elements from previous Bond films[ 28] (see casting , below). The sequence begins with Bond laying flowers at the grave of his wife Tracy Bond , before a Universal Exports helicopter picks him up for an emergency. Control of the helicopter is taken over by remote control by a bald man in a grey Nehru jacket with a white cat. This character is unnamed in either the film or the credits, although he looks and sounds like Ernst Stavro Blofeld as played by Donald Pleasence or Telly Savalas .[ 27] Director John Glen referred to the identity of the villain obliquely: "We just let people use their imaginations and draw their own conclusions ... It's a legal thing".[ 4] Originally the character was going to be explicitly identified as Blofeld, but was deliberately not named due to copyright restrictions with Kevin McClory , who owned the film rights to Thunderball , which supposedly includes the character Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the organisation SPECTRE , and other material associated with the development of Thunderball .[ 8] [ 33] Eon disputed McClory's ownership of the Blofeld character, but decided not to use him again: the scene was "a deliberate statement by Broccoli of his lack of need to use the character."[ 13] Maibaum later said "We tried to return to the earlier films with For Your Eyes Only but we didn't have Sean to make it real. And I was very disappointed with the way the love story was handled. The whole idea was that the great lover James Bond can't get to first base with this woman because she was so obsessed with avenging her parents' death. Nothing was ever done with it. It was as if the director didn't feel there was a love story there at all."[ 34] Casting Roger Moore had originally signed a three-film contract with Eon Productions, which covered his first three appearances (Live and Let Die in 1973, The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974 and The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977). Subsequent to this, the actor negotiated contracts on a film-by-film basis starting with Moonraker in 1979.[ 28] Uncertainty surrounding his involvement in For Your Eyes Only , considering his age, led to other actors being considered to take over. The candidates included Lewis Collins , known in the UK for his portrayal of Bodie in The Professionals ; Ian Ogilvy , known for his role as Simon Templar in Return of the Saint ; Michael Billington , who previously appeared in The Spy Who Loved Me as Agent XXX's ill-fated lover Sergei Barzov;[ a] and Michael Jayston , who had appeared as Quiller in the television series Quiller .[ b] [ c] Timothy Dalton was strongly considered for the role, but he disliked the direction the series was taking at the time, and he withdrew himself from contention.[ d] Bernard Lee died of cancer on 16 January 1981, after filming began on For Your Eyes Only , but before he could film his scenes as M , the head of MI6, as he had done in the previous eleven films of the series. Out of respect, no new actor was hired to assume the role as Broccoli refused to have the character recast and, instead, the script was re-written so that the character is said to be on leave, letting Chief of Staff Bill Tanner take over the role as acting head of MI6 and briefing Bond alongside the Minister of Defence.[ 45] This is only the second time M has been omitted from a Bond production, the first being the 1954 TV adaptation of Casino Royale . Ironically, the original "For Your Eyes Only" short story dealt with Bond being given a personal mission by M, one of the few times in the Fleming canon that 007 did his superior a direct favour. Chaim Topol was cast following a suggestion by Broccoli's wife Dana, while Julian Glover joined the cast as the producers felt he was stylish—Glover was even considered to play Bond at some point, but Michael G. Wilson stated that "when we first thought of him he was too young, and by the time of For Your Eyes Only he was too old".[ 20] Italian actress Ornella Muti was considered for the movie, but she turned down the lead role (later given to Carole Bouquet ) because her costume designer, Wayne Finkelman , was not hired by the production.[ 46] Carole Bouquet was a suggestion of United Artists publicist Jerry Juroe, and after Glen and Broccoli saw her in That Obscure Object of Desire , they went to Rome to invite Bouquet for the role of Melina.[ 47] Filming The Citroën 2CV used in the film Production of For Your Eyes Only began on 2 September 1980 in the North Sea , with three days shooting exterior scenes with the St Georges .[ 20] [ 48] Although the previous film had been shot almost entirely outside of the United Kingdom, the new Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher 's tax cuts allowed the shoot to return to Britain.[ 8] The interiors were shot later in Pinewood Studios , as well as the ship's explosion, which was done with a miniature in Pinewood's tank on the 007 Stage .[ 49] On 15 September principal photography started on Corfu at the Villa Sylva at Kanoni, above Corfu Town ,[ 24] which acted as the location of the Spanish villa. Many of the local houses were painted white for scenographic reasons.[ 50] Glen opted to use the local slopes and olive trees for the chase scene between Melina's Citroën 2CV and Gonzales's men driving Peugeot 504s .[ 47] The scene was shot across twelve days, with stunt driver Rémy Julienne —who would remain in the series up until GoldenEye —driving the Citroën.[ 51] Four 2CVs were used, with modifications for the stunts—all had more powerful flat-four engines , and one received a special revolving plate on its roof so it could rotate once it got turned upside down.[ 52] [ 53] [ 54] In October filming moved to other Greek locations, including Meteora and the Achilleion .[ 55] In November, the main unit moved to England, which included interior work in Pinewood, while the second unit shot underwater scenes in the Bahamas . On 1 January 1981, production moved to Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy, where filming wrapped in February.[ 20] Filming locations in Cortina included the historic Grand Hotel Miramonti .[ 56] Since it was not snowing in Cortina d'Ampezzo by the time of filming, the producers had to pay for trucks to bring snow from nearby mountains, which was then dumped in the city's streets.[ 57] Many of the underwater scenes, especially involving close-ups of Bond and Melina, were faked on a dry soundstage . A combination of lighting effects, slow-motion photography, wind and bubbles added in post-production, gave the illusion of the actors being underwater.[ 24] Actress Carole Bouquet reportedly had a pre-existing health condition that prevented her from performing underwater stunt work.[ 20] Aquatic scenes were done by a team led by Al Giddings, who had previously worked on The Deep , and filmed in either Pinewood's tank on the 007 Stage or an underwater set built in the Bahamas. Production designer Peter Lamont and his team developed two working props for the submarine Neptune, as well as a mock-up with a fake bottom.[ 58] Roger Moore was reluctant to film the scene of Bond kicking a car, with Locque inside, over the edge of a cliff, saying that it "was Bond-like, but not Roger Moore Bond-like."[ 20] Michael G. Wilson later said that Moore had to be persuaded to be more ruthless than he felt comfortable.[ 4] Wilson also added that he and Richard Maibaum, along with John Glen, toyed with other ideas surrounding that scene, but ultimately everyone, even Moore, agreed to do the scene as originally written.[ 20] The Monastery of the Holy Trinity in Meteora served as a location For the Meteora shoots, a Greek bishop was paid to allow filming in the monasteries, but the uninformed Eastern Orthodox monks were mostly critical of production rolling in their installations. After a trial in the Greek Supreme Court , it was decided that the monks' only property were the interiors—the exteriors and surrounding landscapes were from the local government. In protest, the monks remained shut inside the monasteries during the shooting,[ 20] [ 50] and tried to sabotage production as much as possible, hanging their washing out of their windows[ 9] and covering the principal monastery with plastic bunting and flags to spoil the shots, and placing oil drums to prevent the film crew from landing helicopters. The production team solved the problem with back lighting, matte paintings and building both a similar scenographic monastery on a nearby unoccupied rock, and a monastery set in Pinewood.[ 48] Roger Moore said he had a great fear of heights, and to do the climbing in Greece, he resorted to moderate drinking to calm his nerves.[ 20] Later in that same sequence, Rick Sylvester , a stuntman who had previously performed the pre-credits ski jump in The Spy Who Loved Me , undertook the stunt of Bond falling off the side of the cliff.[ 59] The stunt was dangerous, since the sudden rope jerk at the bottom could be fatal. Special effects supervisor Derek Meddings developed a system that would dampen the stop, but Sylvester recalled that his nerves nearly got the better of him: "From where we were [shooting], you could see the local cemetery; and the box [to stop my fall] looked like a casket. You didn't need to be an English major to connect the dots." The stunt went off without a problem.[ 20] Bond cameraman and professional skier Willy Bogner Jr. was promoted to director of a second unit involving ski footage.[ 57] Bogner designed the ski chase on the bobsleigh track of Cortina d'Ampezzo hoping to surpass his work in both On Her Majesty's Secret Service and The Spy Who Loved Me .[ 20] To allow better filming, Bogner developed both a system where he was attached to a bobsleigh , allowing to film the vehicle or behind it,[ 59] and a set of skis that allowed him to ski forwards and backwards to get the best shots.[ 24] In February 1981, on the final day of filming the bobsleigh chase, one of the stuntmen driving a sleigh, 23-year-old Paolo Rigon, was killed when he became trapped under the bob. The incident, which took place a week after the FIBT World Championships 1981 where USA-1 bobsled driver James Morgan was killed in a crash during the four-man sled competition, resulted in the shortening of the track for future FIBT events.[ 9] The pre-credits sequence used the churchyard of the Church of St Giles, Stoke Poges , Buckinghamshire as a cemetery, while the helicopter scenes were filmed at the abandoned Beckton Gas Works in London.[ 55] The gas works were also the location for some of Stanley Kubrick 's film, Full Metal Jacket (1987).[ 60] Director John Glen gained the idea for the remote-controlled helicopter after seeing a child playing with an RC car .[ 20] Since flying a helicopter through a warehouse was thought to be too dangerous, the scene was shot using forced perspective . A smaller mock-up was built by Derek Meddings ' team closer to the camera that the stunt pilot Marc Wolff flew behind and this made it seem as if the helicopter was entering the warehouse. The footage inside the building was shot on location, though with a life-sized helicopter model which stood over a rail. Stuntman Martin Grace was a stand-in as Bond when the agent is dangling outside the flying helicopter, while Roger Moore himself was used in the scenes inside the model.[ 47] [ 61] The helicopter G-BAKS , an Agusta-Bell 206B JetRanger II, crashed in fog on 14 November 1997, killing the pilot at Cocking, West Sussex ; it was built on 28 December 1972 for Galliford Construction .[ 62] Music Main article: For Your Eyes Only (soundtrack) The score of For Your Eyes Only was written by Bill Conti , who retained some John Barry -influenced brass elements in the score, but also added elements of dance and funk music.[ 63] While one reviewer observed that "Bill Conti's score is a constant source of annoyance",[ 64] another claimed that "In the end, For Your Eyes Only stands as one of the best James Bond film scores of the 1980s."[ 63] The title song , written by Conti and Michael Leeson, was sung by Sheena Easton , who was the only title song artist to perform it on screen in a Bond film,[ 30] as designer Maurice Binder liked Easton's appearance and decided to add her to the opening credits.[ 65] The producers of the film hired Debbie Harry to sing Conti and Leeson's song, but she quit when the producers refused to allow her band Blondie to write and perform an original song for the film.[ 66] Blondie's rejected song, titled "For Your Eyes Only," can be found on their 1982 album, The Hunter .[ 67] Release and reception For Your Eyes Only was premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 24 June 1981 ,[ 68] setting an all-time opening-day record for any film at any cinema in the UK with a gross of £14,998[ 69] (£72,611 in 2023 pounds[ 70] ).[ 69] The film entered general release in the UK the same day. It went on to gross £10.4 million in the UK.[ 71] For Your Eyes Only had its North American premiere in Canada and the US on Friday 26 June, at approximately 1,100 cinemas.[ 69] The film grossed $54.8 million in the US and Canada[ 72] (equivalent to $101.5 million at 2011 ticket prices[ 73] or $194 million in 2025 dollars,[ 74] adjusted for general inflation), and $195.3 million worldwide,[ 75] becoming the second highest grossing Bond film after its predecessor, Moonraker .[ 72] This was the last James Bond film to be solely released by United Artists , as by this time its owner, Transamerica Corporation , finalised the sale of the company to MGM. Following the MGM and United Artists merger, later runs including future entries were released under "MGM/UA Distribution Co". The promotional cinema poster for the film featured a woman holding a crossbow ; she was photographed from behind, and her outfit left the bottom half of her buttocks exposed. The effect was achieved by having the model wear a pair of bikini bottoms backwards, so that the part seen on her backside is the front of the suit.[ 76] The poster caused some furor—largely in the US—with The Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times considering the poster so unsuitable they edited out everything above the knee,[ 77] whilst The Pittsburgh Press editors painted a pair of shorts over the legs.[ 78] There was significant speculation as to the identity of the model before photographer Morgan Kane identified her as Joyce Bartle.[ 77] A number of items of merchandising were issued to coincide with the film, including a 007 digital watch and a copy of Melina's Citroën 2CV by Corgi Toys .[ 76] Citroën itself produced a special "007" edition of the 2CV, which even had decorative bullet holes on the door.[ 79] Marvel Comics also did a comic book adaptation (see section below).[ 76] Television For Your Eyes Only had its US television premiere during The ABC Sunday Night Movie on November 13, 1983.[ 80] It delivered a 16.3 household rating, a 26% audience share, and nearly 25 million viewers in Nielsen Media Research results, and finished as the 37th ranked program of the week. It was the first James Bond movie premiere on ABC to finish in third place in its time period instead of in second or first place since the two night premiere of On Her Majesty's Secret Service in February 1976; however, it also ran against stiff competition including the network premiere of Airplane! on NBC (18.9 rating, 29 share) and the first part of the highly rated CBS miniseries Chiefs (25.1 rating, 36 share).[ 81] A For Your Eyes Only repeat on January 27, 1985, had stronger results, with a 19.4 rating and 28 share.[ 82] Contemporary reviews Derek Malcolm in The Guardian disliked the film, saying it was "too long ... and pretty boring between the stunts", although he admitted that the stunts were of a high quality.[ 83] According to Malcolm, Bond "inhabits a fantasy-land of more or less bloodless violence, groinless sex and naivety masked as superior sophistication", with Moore playing him as if in a "nicely lubricated daze".[ 83] Although Malcolm tipped the film for international box office success, he observed that he "can't quite see why the series has lasted so long and so strong in people's affections."[ 83] Writing in The Observer , Philip French commented that "not for the first time the pre-credits sequence is the best thing about the film."[ 84] French was dismissive of Moore's Bond, saying that Bond was "impersonated by Moore" and referred to Moore's advancing years.[ 84] David Robinson , writing in The Times bemoaned the fact that the "dramatic bits between the set pieces don't count for much." Like other critics at the time his praise was more directed towards the stunt crews; they were "better than ever in this one."[ 85] The film critic for the magazine Time Out was brief and pithy: "no plot and poor dialogue, and Moore really is old enough to be the uncle of those girls."[ 86] For the US press, Gary Arnold in The Washington Post thought the film was "undeniably easy on the eyes", and further added "maybe too easy to prevent the mind from wandering and the lids from drooping."[ 87] Arnold was also critical of the large set pieces, calling them "more ponderous than sensational" and that there was "no equivalent of the classic action highlights that can be recalled readily from From Russia with Love or You Only Live Twice or The Spy Who Loved Me or Moonraker . This is a Bond waiting for something inspired to push it over the top."[ 87] The New York Times critic Vincent Canby said that "For Your Eyes Only is not the best of the series by a long shot" although he did say that the film is "slick entertainment" with a tone that is "consistently comic even when the material is not."[ 88] Jack Kroll in Newsweek dismissed the film, saying it was "an anthology of action episodes held together by the thinnest of plot lines", although he did concede that these set pieces are "terrific in their exhilaratingly absurd energy."[ 89] For Time magazine, Richard Corliss concentrated on the stunts, saying the team "have devised some splendid optional features for For Your Eyes Only " whilst also commenting on Roger Moore, saying that his "mannequin good looks and waxed-fruit insouciance" show him to be "the best-oiled cog in this perpetual motion machine."[ 90] Jay Scott of The Globe and Mail included it on his list of the year's worst films,[ 91] calling it "repellant"[ 92] and "ambitiously bad".[ 91] French filmmaker Robert Bresson admired the film: "It filled me with wonder because of its cinematographic writing ... if I could have seen it twice in a row and again the next day, I would have done."[ 93] [ 94] Elsewhere Bresson said he also loved the film's ski chase.[ 95] Retrospective reviews Opinion on For Your Eyes Only has improved over time, with a 69% 'fresh' rating from Rotten Tomatoes ,[ 96] being ranked eleventh among the 24 Bond films.[ 97] Ian Nathan of Empire gives the film only two of a possible five stars, observing that the film "still ranks as one of the most forgettable Bonds on record."[ 98] In 2006, IGN chose For Your Eyes Only as the sixth-best Bond film, claiming it is "a good old-fashioned espionage tale",[ 99] a placement shared by Norman Wilner of MSN , who considered it "the one Moore film that seems to reach back to Connery's heyday",[ 100] and Entertainment Weekly chose it as the tenth best in 2008, saying it was a "return to low-tech, low-key Bond [with] ... some of the best stunts since the early days".[ 101] In October 2008 Time Out re-issued a review of For Your Eyes Only and observed that the film is "admirable in intent" but that it "feels a little spare", largely because the plot has been "divested of the bells and whistles that hallmark the franchise".[ 64] James Berardinelli wrote that the film was "a solid adventure, although it could have been better",[ 102] while Danny Peary thought "There are exciting moments, but most of it is standard Bond fare," going on to describe For Your Eyes Only as "an attempt to mix spectacle with [the] tough, believable storylines of early Bond films ... [it] is enjoyable while you're watching it. Afterward, it's one of the most forgettable of the Bond series."[ 103] Raymond Benson , the author of nine Bond novels, thought For Your Eyes Only was Roger Moore's best Bond film.[ 104] Although Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly ranks Carole Bouquet playing Melina as the "worst babe" of the seven Roger Moore James Bond films,[ 105] his colleague, Joshua Rich disagreed, putting her tenth in the overall 10 Best Bond Girls listing from the 21 films released up to that point.[ 106] Entertainment Weekly also ranked Lynn-Holly Johnson as Bibi Dahl as ninth on their list of the 10 worst Bond girls from the 21 films that had been released.[ 107] After 20 films had been released, IGN ranked Bouquet as fifth in their 'top 10 Bond Babes' list,[ 108] and The Times thought she was sixth on their list of the Top 10 most fashionable Bond girls after 21 films had been released.[ 109] Live and Let Die is a 1973 spy film , the eighth film in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions , the first to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond , and the third in the series directed by Guy Hamilton . It was produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli and written by Tom Mankiewicz . It is based on Ian Fleming 's 1954 novel . The storyline involves a drug lord in Harlem , New York City, known as Mr. Big, who plans to distribute two tons of heroin for free to put rival drug lords out of business and then become a monopoly supplier. Mr. Big is revealed to be the alter ego of Dr. Kananga, a corrupt Caribbean dictator who rules San Monique, a fictional island where opium poppies are secretly farmed. Bond is investigating the deaths of three British agents, leading him to Kananga, and he is soon trapped in a world of gangsters and voodoo as he fights to put a stop to Kananga's scheme. Released during the height of the blaxploitation era in American cinema , Live and Let Die depicts many of the genre's archetypes and clichés, including derogatory racial epithets ("honky "), black gangsters, and pimpmobiles .[ 3] It departs from the former plots of the Bond films about megalomaniacal supervillains, and instead focuses on drug trafficking , a common theme of blaxploitation films of the period. It is set in African American cultural centres such as Harlem and New Orleans , as well as Caribbean islands. It was also the first Bond film featuring an African American Bond girl romantically involved with 007, Rosie Carver , who is portrayed by Gloria Hendry . It was a box-office success and received generally positive reviews from critics. Its title song , written by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by their band Wings , was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song . Live and Let Die was followed by The Man with the Golden Gun the following year in 1974. Plot Three MI6 agents are killed under mysterious circumstances within 24 hours in the United Nations headquarters in New York City , in New Orleans , and the small Caribbean nation of San Monique, while monitoring the operations of the island's dictator, Dr. Kananga. James Bond, Agent 007, is sent to New York to investigate. Kananga is also in New York, visiting the United Nations. After Bond arrives, his driver is assassinated by Whisper, one of Kananga's men, while driving Bond to Felix Leiter of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Bond is nearly killed in the ensuing car crash. Glastron speedboats in the Louisiana boat chase. The boat chase scene was filmed in the Bayou Des Allemands. The killer's licence plate leads Bond to Harlem , where he meets Mr. Big, a mob boss who runs a chain of restaurants throughout the United States, but Bond and the CIA do not understand why the most powerful black gangster in New York works with an unimportant island's leader. Bond meets Solitaire , a tarot reader who has the power of the Obeah and can see both the future and remote events in the present. Mr. Big demands that his henchmen kill Bond, but Bond overpowers them and escapes with the help of CIA agent Strutter. Bond flies to San Monique, where he meets Rosie Carver, a local CIA agent. They meet up with Bond's ally Quarrel Jr. , who takes them by boat near Solitaire's home. When Bond suspects Rosie of being a double agent for Kananga, Rosie tries to escape but is killed remotely by Kananga. Bond then uses a stacked deck of tarot cards that show only "The Lovers " to trick Solitaire into thinking that fate is meant for them; Bond then seduces her. Having lost her virginity and thus her ability to foretell the future, Solitaire realises she will be killed by Kananga, so she agrees to co-operate with Bond. The next day, Bond and Solitaire discover that Kananga has large poppy fields hidden from view. Bond and Solitaire escape by boat and fly to New Orleans. There, Bond is captured by Mr. Big, who removes a prosthetic face and reveals himself to be Kananga. He has been producing heroin and is protecting the poppy fields by exploiting the San Monique locals' fear of the occult and the voodoo priest Baron Samedi. As Mr. Big, Kananga plans to distribute the heroin free of charge at his restaurants, which will increase the number of addicts. He intends to bankrupt other drug dealers with his giveaway, then charge high prices for his heroin later in order to capitalise on the huge drug dependencies he has cultivated. Furious at Solitaire for having sex with Bond and losing her ability to read tarot cards, Kananga turns her over to Baron Samedi to be sacrificed. Kananga's henchmen, one-armed Tee Hee and tweed-jacketed Adam, leave Bond to be eaten by crocodilia at his farm in the Deep South backwoods. Bond uses the backs of the reptiles to escape to safety. After setting their drug laboratory on fire, he steals a speedboat and escapes, pursued by Kananga's men under Adam's order, and later Sheriff J.W. Pepper and the Louisiana State Police . Most pursuers get wrecked or left behind, and Adam is killed in a boat crash by Bond. Bond travels to San Monique and with the help of Quarrel Jr. sets timed explosives throughout the poppy fields. He rescues Solitaire from the voodoo sacrifice just as the explosives destroy the fields, and whilst fighting Samedi, Bond punches him and he falls into a coffin of venomous snakes. Bond and Solitaire escape below ground into Kananga's lair. Kananga captures them both and proceeds to lower them into a shark tank. However, Bond escapes and forces Kananga to swallow a compressed-gas pellet used in shark guns, causing him to inflate and explode. Leiter puts Bond and Solitaire on a train leaving for New York. Tee Hee sneaks aboard and attempts to kill Bond, but Bond cuts the wires of his prosthetic arm and throws him out the window. As the film ends, a laughing Samedi is revealed to be riding on the front of the train. Cast Promotional image of the cast of Live and Let Die . From left: Julius Harris, Jane Seymour, Geoffrey Holder, Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto and Earl Jolly Brown Roger Moore as James Bond – 007 , a British MI6 agent who is sent on a mission to investigate the murder of three fellow agents. Yaphet Kotto as Dr. Kananga / Mr. Big , a corrupt Caribbean Prime Minister who doubles as a drug lord. Jane Seymour as Solitaire , Kananga's psychic and Bond's love interest.[ 4] Clifton James as Sheriff J.W. Pepper , an uncouth Louisiana sheriff. Julius W. Harris as Tee Hee Johnson , Kananga's primary henchman who wears a pincer-tipped prosthetic arm. Geoffrey Holder as Baron Samedi , Kananga's henchman who has ties to the Voodoo occult. David Hedison as Felix Leiter , Bond's CIA colleague who is also investigating Mr. Big. Gloria Hendry as Rosie Carver , a junior CIA agent in San Monique, secretly working for Kananga. Bernard Lee as M , the Head of the Secret Intelligence Service Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny , M's secretary. Tommy Lane as Adam, one of Dr. Kananga's henchmen who pursues 007 through the Louisiana Bayou. Earl Jolly Brown as Whisper, Kananga's henchman who only whispers. Roy Stewart as Quarrel Jr. , Bond's ally in San Monique and son of Quarrel from Dr. No . Lon Satton as Harry Strutter, a CIA agent who assists Bond in New York. Arnold Williams as Cab Driver 1, a jokey New York taxi driver and one of Kananga's men. Ruth Kempf as Mrs. Bell, a student pilot who gets caught up in Bond's escaping from Kananga's men. Joie Chitwood as Charlie, a CIA agent. Madeline Smith as Miss Caruso ("Beautiful Girl"), an Italian agent whom Bond briefly romances at the beginning of the film. Michael Ebbin as Dambala, one of Kananga's henchmen in San Monique and a voodoo priest who taunts and kills his victims with a snake. Kubi Chaza as Sales Girl, a cashier at the Oh Cult Voodoo Shop in New York, and informant for Kananga. B. J. Arnau as a cabaret singer, who performs a rendition of the movie's theme at a Fillet of Soul restaurant. Production Writing While filming Diamonds Are Forever , Live and Let Die was chosen as the next Ian Fleming novel to be adapted because the screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz had thought it would be daring to use black villains, as the Black Panthers and other racial movements were active at this time.[ 5] Guy Hamilton was again chosen to direct and, since he was a jazz fan, Mankiewicz suggested he film in New Orleans. Hamilton did not want to use Mardi Gras since Thunderball (1965) featured Junkanoo , a similar festivity, so after more discussions with the writer and location scouting with helicopters, he decided to use two well-known features of the city, the jazz funerals and the canals.[ 5] [ 6] To develop a better feel of how Voodoo was practised, Saltzman and Broccoli escorted Hamilton, Mankiewicz, and production designer Syd Cain to scout New Orleans further and then the islands of the West Indies. Haiti was an important destination of the tour[ 7] and not only did Fleming connect it with the religion,[ 8] there were many practitioners available to witness. Despite viewing actual Voodoo demonstrations, it was decided not to film in Haiti because of political unrest in the country at that time. Instead, they chose to film in Jamaica .[ 7] "Trespassers Will Be Eaten" – Gate to Jamaica Safari Village in Falmouth , Jamaica, film location of the crocodile farm /drug lab (photo taken in 1974) While searching for locations in Jamaica, the crew discovered a crocodile farm in Falmouth owned by Ross Kananga , after passing a sign warning that "trespassers will be eaten". The crocodile farm was put into the script and also inspired Mankiewicz to name the film's villain after Kananga.[ 5] Richard Maibaum later claimed he was asked to write the film but declined because he was too busy. He disliked the completed film, saying, "to process drugs in the middle of the jungle is not a Bond caper."[ 9] Casting Broccoli and Saltzman tried to convince Sean Connery to return as James Bond, but he declined.[ 5] At the same time, United Artists considered Steve McQueen and Paul Newman for the role. According to Burt Reynolds , Broccoli subsequently approached him for the role, but Reynolds felt Bond should be played by a British actor and turned the offer down.[ 10] Among the actors to test for the part of Bond were Julian Glover (who would portray Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only (1981)), John Gavin , Jeremy Brett , Simon Oates , John Ronane , and William Gaunt . The frontrunner for the role was Michael Billington . Broccoli met Anthony Hopkins to discuss the role, but Hopkins did not think he was right for it.[ 11] Dick Van Dyke was also approached but he declined the role, citing his ability to perform a convincing British accent.[ 12] Meanwhile, United Artists was still pushing to cast an American to play Bond, but Broccoli insisted that the part should be played by a British actor and put forward Roger Moore. Moore, who had been considered for the role in Dr. No (1962) and On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), was ultimately hired.[ 6] After Moore was chosen, Billington remained on the top of the list in the event that Moore declined to come back for the next film. Billington played a brief role in the pre-credit sequence of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Moore tried not to imitate either Connery's or his own prior performance as Simon Templar in The Saint , and Mankiewicz fitted the screenplay into Moore's persona by giving more comedic scenes and a light-hearted approach to Bond.[ 5] Mankiewicz had thought of turning Solitaire into a Black woman, and Diana Ross was his first choice.[ 3] [ 13] Broccoli and Saltzman decided to stick to Fleming's description of a white woman and, after considering Catherine Deneuve , cast Jane Seymour , who was in the television series The Onedin Line .[ 5] After Solitaire was cast with a white actress, the character of Rosie Carver was switched to be a black woman and cast with Gloria Hendry .[ 14] Yaphet Kotto was cast while doing another film for United Artists , Across 110th Street (1972).[ 5] Kotto reported one of the things he liked in the role was Kananga's interest in the occult , "feeling like he can control past, present and future".[ 6] Mankiewicz created the character Sheriff J. W. Pepper to add comic relief. Clifton James reprised the role in The Man with the Golden Gun the following year.[ 5] Live and Let Die is also the first of two films featuring David Hedison as Felix Leiter , who reprised the role in Licence to Kill (1989). Hedison had said "I was sure that would be my first and last" appearance as the character, before being cast again.[ 15] Madeline Smith , who played Miss Caruso, sharing Bond's bed in the film's opening, was recommended for the part by Roger Moore after he had appeared with her on television. Smith said that Moore was polite and pleasant to work with, but she felt very uncomfortable being clad in only blue bikini panties while Moore's wife was on set overseeing the scene.[ 16] Live and Let Die was the only Bond film until Casino Royale (2006) not to feature the character Q , portrayed by Desmond Llewelyn . He was then appearing in the television series Follyfoot , but was written out of three episodes to appear in the film.[ 17] By then, Saltzman and Broccoli decided not to include the character, feeling that "too much was being made of the films' gadgets", and decided to downplay this aspect of the series,[ 18] much to Llewelyn's annoyance.[ 17] Bernard Lee considered not reprising his role as M due to the death of his wife Gladys Merredew , and was nearly recast with Kenneth More . However, he ultimately returned to the role.[ 19] Lois Maxwell had only been included in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) during filming as a late addition, as she had asked for a pay increase.[ 20] [ 21] For Live and Let Die , she returned for the same fee, but due to a technical error, the filming of her scenes in Bond's home at the start extended to two days, costing the production more than if they had paid the increase she requested. Moore later wrote that Maxwell celebrated the double-pay-day by purchasing a fur coat.[ 22] Filming Principal photography began on 13 October 1972 in New Orleans, Louisiana.[ 23] For a while, only the second unit was shooting after Moore was diagnosed with kidney stones . Hamilton initially wanted to film in Haiti , which the fictional San Monique was modeled after, but could not because of the political instability under the regime of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier .[ 7] In November, the production moved to Jamaica, which represented San Monique. In December, production was divided between interiors in Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath and location shooting in Harlem in New York City.[ 5] [ 24] [ 25] The producers were reportedly required to pay protection money to a local Harlem gang to ensure the crew's safety. When the money ran out, they were forced to leave.[ 16] Some exteriors were in fact shot on the Upper East Side of Manhattan as a result of the difficulties of using real Harlem locations. The street chase was shot at FDR Drive .[ 26] Ross Kananga suggested the stunt of Bond jumping on crocodiles, and was enlisted by the producers to perform it.[ 3] The scene took five attempts to complete. In one attempt, the last crocodile caught Kananga's heel and tore his trousers.[ 5] The production had trouble with snakes during the voodoo ceremony scene in Jamaica. The script supervisor was so afraid that she refused to be on set with them, an actor fainted while filming a scene where he is killed by a snake, Jane Seymour became terrified as a snake was held up to her face, and Geoffrey Holder only agreed to fall into the snake-filled casket because Princess Alexandra was visiting the set.[ 27] Despite being told by the prop supervisor that the snakes had all been defanged, Holder told Moore that it did not feel like they had.[ 27] During filming, Seymour was tied up to a stake while a dancer was to approach her with a snake. The snake bit him and he dropped it, drawing everyone's attention to him. Meanwhile the snake headed for Seymour, who was saved by the film's snake handler grabbing it when inches from Seymour's feet.[ 5] The boat chase was filmed in Louisiana around the Irish Bayou area, with some interruption caused by flooding.[ 6] 26 boats were built by the Glastron boat company for the film. 17 were destroyed during rehearsals.[ 28] The speedboat jump scene over the bayou, filmed with the assistance of a specially-constructed ramp, unintentionally set a Guinness World Record at the time with 110 feet (34 m) cleared.[ 29] The waves created by the impact caused the following boat to flip over.[ 5] The escape in a double-decker bus was filmed using a modified former London bus that had its top deck removed and remounted on rollers so it would slide off on impact with the low bridge. The top deck was bolted in position for all other filming. The stunts involving the bus were performed by Maurice Patchett, a London Transport bus driving instructor.[ 3] Salvador Dalí was approached in 1973 to design a Surrealist tarot deck for the film. However, his fee was too expensive for the film budget.[ 30] At the end, the deck used in the film was designed by Fergus Hall .[ 31] Dalí kept working at the deck and released it in 1984. Music Harold Dejan 's Olympia Brass Band Main article: Live and Let Die (soundtrack) John Barry , who had worked on the previous seven films, was unavailable during production as he was working on the stage musical Billy .[ 32] Broccoli and Saltzman instead asked Paul McCartney to write the theme song. Saltzman, mindful of his decision not to produce A Hard Day's Night (1964), was especially eager to work with McCartney.[ 33] Most of their $25,000 music budget went to McCartney's fee. The remainder was not enough to hire a composer of Barry's stature. They settled on George Martin , who had been the Beatles producer, to score the film.[ 34] "Live and Let Die ", written by McCartney along with his wife Linda and performed by their group Wings , was the first true rock and roll song used to open a Bond film, and became a major success in the UK (where it reached number nine in the charts) and the US (where it reached number two, for three weeks). It was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost to "The Way We Were ". Saltzman and Broccoli hired B. J. Arnau to record and perform the title song, not realising McCartney intended to perform it. Arnau's version was featured in the film, when the singer performs it in a night club that Bond visits.[ 35] In the pre-titles sequence, the Olympia Brass Band performed a funeral march observed by an MI6 agent. The first musical piece at the beginning of the funeral march is "Just a Closer Walk with Thee ". The trumpeter Alvin Alcorn portrayed the knife-wielding assassin. After the agent is fatally stabbed, the band starts playing the more lively "New Second Line" (also known as "Joe Avery's Piece"), created by Milton Batiste .[ 36]