Sir Roger Moore, Actor, Author and UNICEF Ambassador, Dead at 89

The family of Sir Roger Moore announced that their father had died after a short but brave battle with cancer. He was 89.

Sir Roger Moore, best known for his film portrayal of James Bond and his television portrayal of The Saint, was also the author of several good books, including One Lucky Bastard: Tales From Tinseltown and My Word is My Bond,

The books, like Sir Roger himself, were witty, amusing, intelligent, and self-deprecating.

He shall be missed.

     
Note: You can click on the above to enlarge.

Happy 89th Birthday To Sir Roger Moore

Happy 89th birthday to Sir Roger Moore.

Moore, who portrayed James Bond on the big screen and Simon Templar, aka The Saint, on TV, has also written several books, including his autobiography, My Word is My Bond.

You can read about Sir Roger Moore via the below link:

http://www.biography.com/people/roger-moore-9413743

Note: And Happy 75th birthday to another gentleman of the old school, my former Philadelphia Inquirer editor and friend, Frank Wilson. You can visit his popular blog, Books, Inq, at http://booksinq.blogspot.com

‘The Saint’ Rises Again At Paramount As Possible New Franchise

Anita Busch at Deadline.com offers a piece on the possibility that Paramount may launch a series of films based on Leslie Charteris's great character, Simon Templar, aka, The Saint.

I did not much care for the Val Kilmer-Saint film in the 1990s, but I loved the 1960s TV series with Roger Moore (seen in the above photo) as Templar.

Unlike the film, the TV series was faithful to Charteris's stories and the author liked Moore as Templar.

I hope the film producers lean more towards the old TV series and Charteris' character and stories rather than the Kilmer film.

You can read the Deadline.com piece via the below link:

http://deadline.com/2016/06/the-saint-new-paramount-movie-1201769894/

You can also read an earlier post on The Saint via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2016/01/the-saint-seasons-1-2-on-dvd.html

'The Saint: The Complete Series" Starring Roger Moore Released On DVD

I did not care for Roger Moore's light and comic portrayal of James Bond, but as a teenager in the 1060s I was very fond of his portrayal of Leslie Charteris' Simon Templar, otherwise known as "The Saint."

The below announcement was released by www.shoutfactory.com:

When sinners strike, call on THE SAINT!

Modern-day Robin Hood. Wealthy man of mystery. Debonair rogue. Call Simon Templar what you will, but never cross THE SAINT. A timeless figure of adventure since his creation by Leslie Charteris in 1928, The Saint has thrilled adventure aficionados with his exploits in a variety of media, including novels, movies, and radio—but nowhere was the dashing Mr. Templar more indelibly realized than in his 1960s television series, presented here in one outstanding collection: The Saint - The Complete Series.

Starring the perfectly-cast Roger Moore as Simon Templar, The Saint was a benchmark in the lifespan of the character, and a stepping stone to Moore taking on the role of an even more well-known man of action later in his career. Featuring thrilling acts of derring-do, beautiful places (and people), and a sly wit, this complete set of all episodes from The Saint are a heavenly addition to your collection.

With guest star appearances by Oliver Reed (Tommy, Gladiator), Academy Award-winning actress Julie Christie (Darling, Doctor Zhivago), Donald Sutherland (The Dirty Dozen), Edward Woodward (TV's "The Equalizer"), a bevy of Bondian beauties (Goldfinger's Honor Blackman and Shirley Eaton, as well as Lois "Miss Moneypenny" Maxwell), and many more.

Whether you're a longtime fan or a newcomer to the series, it's time to say "Halo!" to The Saint.

Bonus Features

• Audio Commentary On Select Episodes
• Behind The Scenes With Sir Roger Moore As Director   

Happy 87th Birthday To Sir Roger Moore

Happy 87th birthday to British actor Sir Roger Moore.

The former star of seven James Bond films and The Saint and The Persuaders on TV is also the author of a new memoir called One Lucky Bastard: Tales From Tinseltown. 

As I noted on this site before, I don't care for Sir Roger Moore's lighthearted portrayal of Ian Fleming's iconic character James Bond, but as a teenager I very much enjoyed him as Leslie Charteris' character Simon Templar in The Saint on TV. I also liked him in The Persuaders.

According to Biography.com, Sir Roger Moore was born on October 14, 1927, in London, England.

You can learn more about Sir Roger Moore via the below link:

http://www.biography.com/people/roger-moore-9413743

You can also watch Moore as the cool Simon Templar and the cool intro to The Saint, with Edwin Astley's cool theme song, via the below link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIEblgU_z50

The Best Of The Saint

Allan Massie at the British newspaper the Telegraph offers a piece on the return of the "Saint," Leslie Charteris' fictional character.

Nostalgia, nostalgia, there’s nothing like nostalgia. This, or something like it, will be the reaction of many elderly , or indeed middle-aged, folk to the news that Hodder is bringing Simon Templar, alias “The Saint”, back to life, or at least back into print. Admittedly, the Saint was himself middle-aged, even if also ageless, when we first read him as schoolboys, or when Roger Moore played him with effortless charm on television.

He belongs to the Twenties, to the gentlemen-adventurers who went about biffing baddies and righting wrongs in light-hearted but also ruthless manner. There is a touch of Wodehouse’s Psmith in his persiflage, a touch too of Margery Allingham’s Albert Campion (at least as Campion appeared in Allingham’s early novels). But it is in the company of Sapper’s Bulldog Drummond and Dornford Yates’s Jonathan Mansel and Richard Chandos that he really belongs.

...The Saint is wholly preposterous; that is part of the charm. His creator, Leslie Charteris, must have known this but, at least in the early books, he delighted in his creation, and wrote with an infectious exuberance, often wittily.

You can read rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9668777/The-absurd-irresistible-Simon-Templar-lives-on.html

Hodder & Stoughton, publisher of The Best of the Saint, Volume 1, offers a a selection of the very best of the Saint stories from the early years and an introduced by Ken Follett.

'I am the Saint - you may have heard of me. Just a twentieth-century privateer. In my small way I try to put right a few of the things that are wrong with this cock-eyed world' Simon Templar, aka the Saint.

On the side of the law and yet outside it, the Saint, exciting, debonair and very slightly disreputable, lives for adventure. Here he is at his ebullient best, spreading terror among London's drug dealers, rescuing a lady crook from distress and much, much more.

Leslie Charteris was born in Singapore and moved to England in 1919. He left Cambridge University early when his first novel was accepted for publication. He wrote novels about the Saint throughout his life becoming, alongside Agatha Christie and Ian Fleming, one of the 20th century's most prolific and popular authors.

Note: I'm a fan of the Saint. Although I'm not fond of Roger Moore's portrayal of James Bond, I grew up in the 1960's watching Moore as the Saint on TV. I later saw the older films with George Sanders as the Saint and read the Leslie Charteris' novels. 

Roger Moore and his son are producing a new TV series on the Saint with a young actor portraying Simon Templar. You can read about Moore and the new series via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/02/roger-moore-patron-saint-of-smooth.html