RIP James Bond - Roger Moore First Bond to Die

[Olinser]

RIP Roger Moore, the first Bond to pass on.

His movies were campy and fairly ridiculous, but still hilarious.

[Khedrac]

The first offical film Bond perhaps, but far from the first Bond - David Niven dies in 1983 and played one of many Bonds in the original Casino Royale (and made a very good job of it...)

Bob Holness (died 2012) played James Bond in a radio production of Moonraker.

etc.

So yes, the sad loss of a great actor (even if a lot of his films were ridiculous in a way not originally intended) but hardly the first "Bond" to die.

The there was always the great Basildon Bond - anyone else remember this character of Russ Abbot's?

[Rogar Demonblud]

I'm kind of surprised Lazanby isn't dead, since you never hear about him any more.

[factotum]

I'm kind of surprised Lazanby isn't dead, since you never hear about him any more.

He's actually considerably younger (born 1939) than Connery (1930) or Moore (1927), so it's not that surprising he's still around. He was only 29 when he appeared in On Her Majesty's Secret Service! His acting career largely stalled after he declined to appear in any more Bond movies.

Anyway, on topic: sad news. Roger Moore's Bond may have been a bit comedy relief, and the man himself surely wasn't the best actor ever seen, but all that can be forgiven for the over-the-top silliness that is "Live and Let Die". RIP, Mr. Moore.

[Pronounceable]

Well ****. Didn't notice how old these peeps are nowadays. Sadness.

[tomandtish]

Well ****. Didn't notice how old these peeps are nowadays. Sadness.

Yeah, Moore was 89 AND battling cancer. So it's sad, but not surprising. 89 is a decent run.

Heh. I just finished watching him in The Cannonball Run, where he plays someone PRETENDING to be Roger Moore, who is then in character as Bond. Classic!

[t209]

Dang, :smallfrown: just happened to hear about that this morning.

[Aedilred]

Well ****. Didn't notice how old these peeps are nowadays. Sadness.

On the other hand I was somewhat surprised to learn that he was only 89. He was looking creaky even by the time of his last Bond film and whenever he appeared on a TV show or the like over the last few years he's looked about 150.


The first offical film Bond perhaps, but far from the first Bond - David Niven dies in 1983 and played one of many Bonds in the original Casino Royale (and made a very good job of it...)
I too came here prepared to reference Casino Royale... but I believe it was Peter Sellers who was the first "Bond" to die, in 1980.

Two other Bonds from that film have also died in addition to Niven and Sellers (Daliah Lavi and Terence Cooper).

The film was atrocious, but Sellers and Niven were decent enough in it I suppose.

[Darth Ultron]

Sad to see him go.

He was my ''first Bond''. As a kid in the '80's his Bond movies were always on TV (and that is analog broadcast TV) for some reason. Guess they were cheap for UHF stations? In any case, I got to watch all the movies, several times.

And I remember him from ''Western Sundays'', when Channel 61 played Westerns all day. One of the shows they played was the old Maverick TV show...with Roger as a Maverick cousin or something from England.

And he did great comedy in Cannonball Run too.

[Rodin]

Live and Let Die was my first Bond movie, seen on TV as a kid. Always been a big fan of the Moore-era films, far more than any of the more modern ones. Moore and Connery are the only "real" Bonds for me - the rest are just imitators.

In case anyone is interested, Hulu currently has For Your Eyes Only, A View to a Kill, and Moonraker. They've also got various other Bond films, seemingly at random. USA only I'm afraid.