James Bond, ‘The Saint’ Actor Roger Moore Dead at 89

Roger Moore with costar Barbara Bach on the set of the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me
Courtesy of Everett
Roger Moore with costar Barbara Bach on the set of the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Moore passed away Tuesday after a short fight with cancer.

Sir Roger Moore, famous for starring as Agent 007 in seven James Bond movies, has died at age 89, his official Twitter feed announced Tuesday morning.

“It is with a heavy heart that we must announce our loving father, Sir Roger Moore, has passed away today in Switzerland after a short but brave battle with cancer,” the message read. “The love with which he was surrounded in his final days was so great it cannot be quantified in words alone.”

The complete message is below.

The British actor is, of course, best known for playing James Bond starting with 1973’s Live and Let Die, followed by 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).

But before he hit big-screen stardom as Bond, Moore had his start in a number of television series in the UK and America, most notably Maverick (1959-61), where he played Beauregarde Maverick when star James Garner left due to a contract dispute and, more famously, The Saint (1962-69), the mystery spy series in which he played Simon Templar. It’s been reported that Moore was offered the role of James Bond during his run on The Saint but had to turn it down due to his series commitment. But he ended up in Bond’s shoes eventually, and the rest was cinematic history.