Luisa Mattioli

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 since the Klondike series frequently recycled Maverick scripts, changing only the names and locales. 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 entitled "The Rivals". 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.

Roger Moore was born on 14 October 1927 in Stockwell, London. He was the only child of George Alfred Moore, a policeman (PC168E based in Bow Street, London), and Lillian "Lily" (Pope). His mother was born in Calcutta, India, to an English family. He attended Battersea Grammar School, but was evacuated to Holsworthy, Devon, during World War II, and attended Launceston College in Cornwall. He was further educated at Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

Moore had some early uncredited appearances in Perfect Strangers (1945), Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), Gaiety George (1946) Piccadilly Incident (1946) and Trottie True (1949) appearing alongside an uncredited Christopher Lee (both actors cast by Brian Desmond Hurst as stage-door Johnnies).

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; 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, during which he allegedly suffered domestic abuse.

He had a small role in TV in A House in the Square (1949) then had uncredited parts in films including Paper Orchid (1949), Trottie True (1949) and The Interrupted Journey (1949). He was in Drawing-Room Detective on TV and appeared in the films One Wild Oat (1951) and Honeymoon Deferred (1951).

In the early 1950s, Moore worked as a model, appearing in print advertisements for knitwear (earning him the nickname "The Big Knit"), and a wide range of other products such as toothpaste, an element that many critics have used as typifying his lightweight credentials as an actor.

In 1952, Moore met the Welsh singer Dorothy Squires, who was 12 years his senior, and Van Steyn and Moore divorced the following year. Squires and Moore were married in New York. They lived in Bexley, Kent, after their marriage.

Moore travelled to the United States and began to work in television. He was in adaptations of Julius Caesar (1953) and Black Chiffon (1953) and in two episodes of Robert Montgomery Presents (1953). He also appeared in the TV movie The Clay of Kings (1953). Then in March 1954 MGM signed him to a long term contract.

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. 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.

Moore freelanced for a time, appearing in episodes of Ford Star Jubilee (1956), Lux Video Theatre (1957) and Matinee Theatre' (1957).

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 due 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. Christopher Lee and John Schlesinger were among the show's guest stars, and series regulars included Robert Brown (who in the 1980s would play 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."

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'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 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 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.

In 1961, while filming The Rape of the Sabine Women in Italy, Moore left Squires for the Italian Actress Luisa Mattioli. 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. Squires also smashed windows at a house in France where Moore and Mattioli were living, and unsuccessfully sued actor Kenneth More for libel, as More had introduced Moore and Mattioli at a charity event as "Mr Roger Moore and his wife". Moore and Mattioli lived together until 1969, when Squires finally granted him a divorce, after they had been separated for seven years. At Moore 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.

The Saint ran from 1962 for six series and 118 episodes. Moore grew increasingly tired of the role, and was keen to branch out.

Moore had three children with Mattioli: actress-daughter Deborah (born 1963) and two sons, Geoffrey and Christian. Geoffrey is also an actor, and appeared alongside his father in the 1976 film Sherlock Holmes in New York. In later life, he co-founded Hush Restaurant in Mayfair, London, with Jamie Barber. Geoffrey and his wife Loulou have two daughters. Moore's younger son, Christian, is a film Producer.

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, 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. After George Lazenby was cast in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Connery played Bond again in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Moore did not consider the possibility until it seemed clear that Connery had stepped down as Bond for good. At that point, 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).

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 a wider versatility than the role of Simon Templar had allowed. 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."

Moore was vocal in his defence of his tax exile status, saying that in the 1970s, he had been urged by his "accountants, agents, and lawyers" that moving abroad was essential because "you would never be able to save enough to ensure that you had any sort of livelihood if you didn't work" as a result of the punitive taxation rates imposed on unearned income. 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".

Moore took over the role of Bond from Sean Connery in 1972, made his first appearance as 007 in Live and Let Die (1973), and went on to portray the spy in six more films until his retirement from the role in 1985. Appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1991, Moore 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 work in television and in film. In 2008, the French government appointed Moore a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Moore's book about the filming of Live and Let Die, based on his diaries, titled Roger Moore as James Bond: Roger Moore's Own Account of Filming Live and Let Die, was published in London in 1973, by Pan Books. The book includes an acknowledgment to Sean Connery, with whom Moore was friends for many years: "I would also like to thank Sean Connery – with whom it would not have been possible."

Moore made his second Bond, 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 are Britt Ekland, Herve Villechaize, and Maud Adams, who later starred in Octopussy, and A View to a Kill, subsequent Bond films with Roger Moore playing the lead.

He then made a comedy That Lucky Touch (1975) which was a box office disaster.

For American TV Moore played the title role in Sherlock Holmes in New York (1976) then was back as Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), a massive success. With Barbara Bach, and Richard Kiel in his first appearance as the huge, but not brainy, villain Jaws.

In their tempestuous relationship, Squires smashed a guitar over his head, and after learning of his affair with the Italian Actress Luisa Mattioli, who 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'." 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. The numerous legal cases launched by Squires led her to be declared a vexatious litigant in 1987. Moore paid Squires's hospital bills after her cancer treatment in 1996, and upon her death in 1998.

Moore became a tax exile from the United Kingdom in 1978, originally to Switzerland, and divided his year between his three homes: an apartment in Monte Carlo, Monaco; a chalet in Crans-Montana, Switzerland; and a home in the south of France. 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. 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."

More successful was his fourth outing as Bond, Moonraker (1979). He followed it with an action film North Sea Hijack (1980) where Moore played a very un-Bond-like hero, opposite Anthony Perkins. The film was a box office disappointment.

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. In the latter he spoofs his fame by playing a millionaire so obsessed with Roger Moore that he had had plastic surgery to look like him. It featured an ensemble cast, including Jackie Chan, Burt Reynolds, Dean Martin, Dom DeLuise, Sammy Davis Jr, and Farrah Fawcett.

Moore returned to Bond for For Your Eyes Only (1981). Following this film he expressed a Desire to leave the role, and other actors—notably James Brolin—were tested, but Moore was eventually enticed back for Octopussy (1983).

He made a cameo as Chief Inspector Clouseau, posing as a famous movie star, in Curse of the Pink Panther] (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.

Moore made one last Bond, A View to a Kill (1985). Moore was the longest-serving James Bond actor, having spent 12 years in the role (from his debut in 1973, to his retirement from the role in 1985), having made seven of the Eon Production Bond films in a row. Moore 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. Moore is also tied with Sean Connery as the actor who played Bond in the most movies. They both appeared in seven.

In 1987, he hosted Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond.

Moore did not act on screen for five years after he stopped playing Bond; in 1990, he appeared in several films and in the writer-director Michael Feeney Callan's television series My Riviera and starred in the film Bed & Breakfast which was shot in 1989; and also had a large role in the 1996 film The Quest; in 1997, he starred as the Chief in Spice World. At the age of 73, he played a flamboyant homosexual man in Boat Trip (2002) with Cuba Gooding Jr.

Moore's friend Audrey Hepburn had impressed him with her work for UNICEF, and consequently he became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1991. He was the voice of Father Christmas or 'Santa' in the 2004 UNICEF cartoon The Fly Who Loved Me.

In 1993, Moore was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent successful treatment for the disease.

The series failed in the United States, where it had been sold to ABC, which Curtis put down to its showing at the Saturday 10 pm slot, but it was successful in Europe and Australia. 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. In Britain, it was also popular, although on its premiere on the ITV network, it was beaten in the ratings by repeats of Monty Python's Flying Circus on BBC One. Channel 4 repeated both The Avengers and The Persuaders! in 1995. Since then, The Persuaders! has been issued on DVD, while in France, where the series (entitled Amicalement Vôtre) had always been popular, the DVD releases accompanied a monthly magazine of the same name.

On 9 March 1999, Moore was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), and promoted to Knight Commander of the same Order (KBE) on 14 June 2003. The citation on the knighthood was for Moore's charity work, which dominated his public life for more than a decade. 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".

On politics, Moore stated he was a Conservative and thought that Conservatism is the way to run a country. The BBC listed Moore prior to the 2001 UK general election as a Celebrity backer of the British Conservative Party. In 2011, Moore gave his support to Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron regarding his policy on the European Union, stating:

In 2003, Moore collapsed on stage while appearing on Broadway, and was fitted with a pacemaker to treat a potentially deadly slow heartbeat. He was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2013. Some years before his final cancer illness, a tumour spot was found in the liver. Then, in 2017, during his cancer treatment period, he had a fall which badly injured the collarbone.

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.

Moore's autobiography My Word is My Bond (ISBN 0061673889) was published by Collins in the US, in November 2008 and by Michael O'Mara Books Ltd in the UK, on 2 October 2008 (ISBN 9781843173182).

In 2009, Moore appeared in an advertisement for the Post Office, he also played the role of a secret agent in the Victoria Wood Christmas Special on BBC1 show over the festive period in the same year. Filming all his scenes in the London Eye, his mission was to eliminate another agent whose file photo looks like Pierce Brosnan. In 2010, Moore 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, Moore 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 and, in November, guest-hosted Have I Got News for You. Moore's last on-screen performance was in 2013, a brief cameo as himself in Incompatibles, the first feature-length film of the then 21-year-old French Director Paolo Cedolin Petrini.

On 1 and 2 July 2011, Moore and his wife attended the wedding of Prince Albert of Monaco and Charlene Wittstock.

On 16 October 2012, Bond on Bond was published to tie in with the 50th anniversary of the James Bond films. The book, with many pictures, is based on Moore's own memories, thoughts, and anecdotes about all things 007, with some of the profits of the book going to UNICEF.

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 the English Church in Stockholm, on 8 September 2013.

In 2015, Moore was named one of GQ's 50 best-dressed British men. In 2015, Moore read Hans Christian Andersen's "The Princess and The Pea" for the children's fairy tales app GivingTales in aid of UNICEF, with other British celebrities, including Michael Caine, Ewan McGregor, Joan Collins, Stephen Fry, Joanna Lumley, David Walliams, Charlotte Rampling, Paul McKenna and Michael Ball.

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". Moore's children refused to speak to him for a period after the divorce, but they were later reconciled with their father. Mattioli refused to grant Moore a divorce until 2000, when a £10 million settlement was agreed. Moore subsequently married Tholstrup in 2002. 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". Moore also said that his marriage to Tholstrup was "a tranquil relationship, there are no arguments". Tholstrup had a daughter, Christina Knudsen, from a previous relationship; Knudsen 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 from cancer on 25 July 2016, at the age of 47; Moore posted on Twitter, "We are heartbroken" and "We were all with her, surrounding her with love, at the end".

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. His wife and family were in attendance along with Bond producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and guests at the event included Dame Joan Collins, Sir Michael Caine, Stephen Fry, Sir Tim Rice and Stefanie Powers.