My Word is My Bond - RIP Roger Moore

My Favorite Bond

I'm really saddened to learn of Roger Moore's passing today. He was the first James Bond I ever watched, and to me he will always be THE James Bond. Handsome, debonair, funny, just completely likable. I will miss him.

I didn't realize that he'd written a memoir: My Word is My Bond. Of course it's going on my to-read list. And I just noticed that it's on sale for 99c - I wonder if that is in honor of his death.

Here's the blurb:

One of the most recognizable big-screen stars of the past half-century, Sir Roger Moore played the role of James Bond longer than any other actor. Beginning with the classic Live and Let Die, running through Moonraker and A View to a Kill, Moore brought his finely honed wit and wry charm to one of Hollywood's most beloved and long-lasting characters. Still, James Bond was only one in a lifetime of roles stretching back to Hollywood's studio era, and encompassing stardom in theater and television on both sides of the Atlantic. From The Saint to Maverick, Warner Brothers to MGM, Hollywood to London to extreme locations the world over, Roger Moore's story is one of the last of the classic Hollywood lives as yet untold.

Until now. From the dying days of the studio system and the birth of television, to the quips of Noël Coward and David Niven, to the bedroom scenes and outtakes from the Bond movies, Moore has seen and heard it all. Nothing is left out—especially the naughty bits. The "special effects" by which James Bond unzipped a dress with a magnet; the spectacular risks in The Spy Who Loved Me's opening scene; and Moore's preparation for facing down villains (he would imagine they all have halitosis): the stories in My Word is My Bond are priceless.

Throughout his career, Moore hobnobbed with the glamorous and powerful, counting Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Seymour, and Cary Grant among his contemporaries and friends. Included are stories of a foul-mouthed Milton Berle, a surly Richard Burton, and a kindhearted Richard Kiel, infamous as Bond enemy Jaws.

As much as it is Moore's own exceptional story, My Word is My Bond is a treasure trove of Hollywood history.

Goodbye, Mr. Bond. I expect you to live forever on screen and in our hearts.