Roger Moore Movies
The only child of a London policeman, Roger Moore started out working as a film extra to support his first love, painting, but soon found he preferred acting, and so enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He began his film, radio and stage career just after World War II (his early credits are often confused with American actor Roger Moore, a minor Columbia contractee of the 1940s), and also performed with a military entertainment unit.Though in childhood Moore had been mercilessly teased by friends and family alike for being fat, by the time he was ready to start his career, he had become an exceptionally handsome man with a toned, well-muscled body. Signed on the basis of his good looks to an MGM contract in 1954, Moore began making appearances in American films, none of which amounted to much dramatically; his biggest success of the 1950s was as star of the British-filmed TV series Ivanhoe. Signed by Warner Bros. Television for the 1959 adventure weekly The Alaskans, Moore became the latest of a long line of James Garner surrogates on Maverick, appearing during the 1960-1961 season as cousin Beau. After a few years making European films, Moore was chosen to play Simon Templar in the TV-series version of Leslie Charteris' The Saint (an earlier attempt at a Saint series with David Niven had fallen through). Moore remained with the series from 1963-1967, occasionally directing a few episodes (he was never completely comfortable as simply an actor, forever claiming that he was merely getting by on his face and physique). After another British TV series, 1971's The Persuaders, Moore was selected to replace Sean Connery in the James Bond films. His initial Bond effort was 1973's Live and Let Die, but the consensus (in which the actor heartily concurred) was that Moore didn't truly "grow" into the character until 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me.
Few of Moore's non-Bond movie appearances of the 1970s and 1980s were notably successful, save for an amusing part as a Jewish mama's boy who thinks he's Bond in Burt Reynolds' Cannonball Run (1981). Moore's last 007 film was 1985's A View to a Kill. In 1991, he was made a special representative of UNICEF, an organization with which he'd been active since the 1960s. Relegated mainly to a series of flops through the 1990s, Moore appeared in such efforts as The Quest (1996) and Spice World (1997) and gained most of his exposure that decade as a television talk show and documentary host. In early May of 2003, fans were dismayed to hear that Moore collapsed onstage during a Broadway performance of The Play That I Wrote. Rushed to a nearby hospital afer insisting on finishing his performance in the small role, reports noted that Moore's subsequent recovery seemed to be coming along smoothly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Two of the British film industry's most potent comic talents appear in One Wild Oat. Robertson Hare heads the cast as distinguished barrister Humphrey Proudfoot, whose daughter Cherrie (June Sylvaine) is about to marry. Unfortunately, Cherrie's fiancé is Fred Gilbey (Andrew Crawford), the son of notorious philanderer Alfred Gilbey (Stanley Holloway). Fearing that Fred intends to follow in Alfred's footsteps (so to speak), Proudfoot does his best to undermine the romance. Gilbey turns the tables by threatening to reveal Proudfoot's own past indiscretions (including one that Gilbey has completely fabricated). It is up to the wives of the two old antagonists to solve matters and pave the way for a happy ending. One Wild Oat was co-adapted by Vernon Sylvaine from his own stage farce. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robertson Hare, Stanley Holloway, (more)
Loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's Paradise Revisited, MGM's The Last Time I Saw Paris is a star-studded soap opera, luxuriously lensed by director Richard Brooks. In his last film as an MGM contractee, Van Johnson plays reporter Charles Wills, who while covering the VE Day celebrations in Paris, meets and falls in love with the gorgeous Helen Ellsworth (Elizabeth Taylor). Soon afterward, Charles and Helen are married. Charles supports his wife with a low-paying wire service job, devoting his evenings to writing a novel. After numerous rejections, Charles is more than willing to give up writing and live off the revenue of a Texas oil well in which he'd invested. As he squanders his newfound riches on creature comforts, he loses his literary ambitions and, slowly but surely, the love and devotion of his wife. His self-destructive behavior is halted only by a devastating tragedy. Donna Reed costars as Charles sister-in-law Marion, who carries a torch for him throughout the picture, and Eva Gabor contributes a supporting role. Since lapsing into public domain in 1982, The Last Time I Saw Paris has become a cable-TV and video-store fixture, though print quality varies sharply. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Taylor, Van Johnson, (more)
- 1955
Lana Turner stars as Diane in this opulent costume drama. Set in 16th century France, the film finds the gorgeous Diane de Pottiers rising to a position of absolute power through her manipulation of the men in her life. Those men include King Francis I (Pedro Armendariz), Prince Henri (Roger Moore) and Diane's husband, the Count de Breze (Torin Thatcher). Diane's principal foe is the scheming Catherine de Medici (Marisa Pavan), who for the first time in her life has met her match in Our Heroine. Christopher Isherwood's screenplay is literate to a fault, though the film could have used a few more action highlights. The tepid box-office receipts of Diane hastened the end of Lana Turner's long association with MGM. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Pedro Armendáriz, (more)
- 1955
Interrupted Melody is the inspirational filmed biography of world-renowned Australian soprano Marjorie Lawrence. Eleanor Parker plays Ms. Farrell, while her vocal renditions, ranging from selections from Madame Butterfly to MGM's own Over the Rainbow, were dubbed by Eileen Farrell, who would be with the Met from 1960-1966. The story traces Marjorie's long, hard road to the top, her success on two continents, and her turbulent marriage to American doctor Thomas King. While touring South America, Lawrence is stricken with polio, which not only abruptly ends her career but briefly robs her of the will to live. The rest of the film is devoted to Ms. Lawrence's emergence from depression and her triumphant comeback. William Ludwig and Sonya Levien shared an Academy Award for their cinemadaptation of Marjorie Lawrence's autobiography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Eleanor Parker, (more)
- 1955
Director Robert Z. Leonard brought his 31-year association with MGM to a rousing close with The King's Thief. Set in England during the reign of Charles II (drolly portrayed by George Sanders), the film stars Edmund Purdom as Michael Dermott, who sets about to steal the crown jewels on behalf of his king. The current possessor of the gems is the wicked duke of Brampton, played with relish by a cast-against-type David Niven. Ann Blyth is a decorative heroine, while one of Michael Dermott's cohorts is played by a young, muscular Roger Moore. The plot of The King's Thief, purportedly based on fact, is merely an excuse for the nonstop swashbuckling of star Edmund Purdom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom, (more)
Created by Roy Huggins and debuting September 22, 1957 on ABC, the weekly, hour-long Maverick started out as a relatively straightforward western series with a slight twist: The main characters were professional gamblers rather than lawmen or gunslingers. James Garner and Jack Kelly starred respectively as Bret and Bart, the Maverick brothers, who traveled throughout the west in search of poker games and other such lucrative pursuits. Though both of the Mavericks were fairly adept at fisticuffs, they tended to avoid violence and confrontation (a good thing too, since neither brother could by any stretch of the imagination be described as a "fast gun"), preferring to use their wits and the words to wriggle out of jams--and, conversely, to win over the pretty girls they met along the way. Originally, the episodes were evenly divided between the two brothers, with Bret or Bart alternately handling the plotlines, sometimes teaming up when the going got rough. By the end of the first season, however, James Garner had emerged as the more popular of the two stars--and as a bonus, Garner was possessed of a deft comic touch that such scriptwriters as Marion Hargrove and such directors as Douglas Heyes were quick to capitalize upon. As a result, the stories became more humorous and satirical in nature, with star, writers and directors unafraid to emphasize the more cowardly and larcenous aspects of Bret Maverick's character. One of the series' most endearing motifs was Bret's habit of relying upon the pearls of wisdom passed down to him by his grey-haired "Pappy"--who, when he finally appeared on camera, was portrayed by a heavily made up James Garner. By season three, the pattern of Maverick was fairly well set, with Jack Kelly handling the more serious and action-oriented episodes (which became fewer and farther between) and Garner doing the funny stuff. In keeping with the tongue-in-cheek nature of the series, the writers had a field day spoofing such rival western shows as Gunsmoke and Bonanza, and even such non-westerns as Dragnet. In addition, there were the occasional westernized adaptations of "the classics", notably Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals. After James Garner left the series over a contract dispute in 1960, Maverick's home studio Warner Bros. tried out a brace of potential replacements. During season four, future "James Bond" Roger Moore was introduced as Bret and Bart's British cousin Beau Maverick; and later that same season, Robert Colbert showed up as the hitherto unrevealed third Maverick brother, Brent. But by the time the series entered its fifth and final season, the only Maverick on screen was old reliable Bart, who starred in the handful of episodes that were filmed to fill out what had essentially become a portfolio of reruns from the James Garner days. The final episode of Maverick was telecast on July 8, 1962; however, the property would be revived on TV in 1979 as Young Maverick, with Charles Frank playing cousin Ben Maverick, and in 1981 as Bret Maverick, with James Garner reviving his original role. And in 1994, Garner shared billing with Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster in a delightful theatrical-feature version of Maverick, which nostalgically showcased a number of familiar western actors in cameo roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
In another of scriptwriter Marion Hargrove's "westernizations" of classic literary material, this episode is based on 18th century British playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan's drawing-room comedy "The Rivals". In the original 1775 play, two young men, Jack Absolute and Ensign Beverly, exchange identities so that the wealthier Jack can win the heart of heroine Lydia Languish, who would otherwise reject him because of his wealth. In the Maverick version, Bret Maverick (James Garner is the "Beverly" counterpart, trading places with British playboy Jack Vandergelt (played by future Maverick costar Roger Moore), who pines for the beautiful Lydia Linley (Pat Crowley). The supporting cast includes Neil Hamilton (Batman's "Commissioner Gordon") as Jack's irascible father, who shows up at precisely the wrong time; Barbara Jo Allen (aka "Vera Vague" of radio fame) as language-mangling Mrs. Mallaver, the Maverick equivalent of the original play's imperishable Mrs. Malaprop; and Dan Tobin as Mrs. Mallaver's would-be suitor Lucius Benson ("Lucius O'Trigger" in the Sheridan play). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Scotland Yard inspector Benson (played by future "James Bond" Roger Moore) seems determined to monitor every movement made by Lady Gwendolyn Avon (Hazel Court). Benson informs his superiors that he is convinced that Lady Gwendolyn plans to smuggle a valuable emerald necklace out of the country, and then sell it so she won't have to pay the taxes on it. The story takes an unexpected turn when the necklace is stolen by a "person or persons unknown." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Whatever the "miracle" is in this story, set back in the 19th century, it tends to be buried underneath the multiple romances of the heroine Teresa (Carroll Baker), a woman who leaves the convent to find one specific man. Teresa falls in love with Michael (Roger Moore) a dashing Englishman in the British army that is fighting Napoleon in Spain. She opts for leaving the cloister to find her love. Meanwhile, during her absence, a statue of the Virgin Mary comes to life and takes her place in the convent, hence the "miracle" of the title. Along her journey, Teresa meets and eventually marries a handsome gypsy (Vittorio Gassman) who comes to an unhappy end. Widowed and grieving, young Teresa next becomes enamored of a bullfighter (Gustavo Rojo) whose luck in the ring ends tragically one day. At this point, it would seem the cloister was a better offer, but Teresa continues in her journey to find Michael. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carroll Baker, Roger Moore, (more)
- 1959
The fourth season of Maverick gets under way minus the series' popular star James Garner, who'd vacated the role of frontier gambler Bret Maverick after a contract dispute with Warner Bros.. Garner's costar Jack Kelly is still on hand as Bret's brother Bart Maverick, along with a newcomer to these parts: future "James Bond" Roger Moore in the role of Bart's British cousin Beau Maverick, the "white sheep" of the Maverick clan. No sooner has Beau arrived in the American West than he agrees--for a price, of course--to pose as Freddie Bogner (Robert Casper, scion of a wealthy and aristocratic European family. But the $4000 that Beau is to collect for this assignment may not be worth the danger involved when he is kidnapped by an ill-tempered gent with a long-standing grudge against the real Freddie. Featured in the cast is Max Baer Jr., still two years away from TV immortality as Jethro Bodine on The Beverly Hillbillies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
This episode marks an early directorial effort by Robert Altman, who also wrote the script. After befriending prospector Eben Bolt (Tim Graham), Beau (Roger Moore) is accused of being a horse thief and sentenced to hang. It turns out that Beau has been mistaken for Eben's partner Benson January (Owen Bush), who's been "dehorsing the countryside". Handling Beau's courtroom defense is a hick lawyer who acts a lot like another Warner Bros. western hero, Tom "Sugarfoot" Brewster--as well he may, since the character is played by Sugarfoot leading man Will Hutchins. Unfortunately, the lawyer's courtroom tactics prove distressingly clumsy, and Beau stands a good chance of being guest of honor at a "necktie party". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
When scatterbrained millionairess Kiz Bouchet (Kathleen Crowley) insists that somebody is trying to murder her, Beau Maverick (Roger Moore) is convinced that the girl is out of her mind. But he soon comes to believe Kiz's story--and in so doing, he tries to thwart a scheme hatched by the girl's cousin (Peggy McCay) and a crooked doctor (Tristam Coffin) to cheat Kiz out of her inheritance. Devotees of humorist Mark Twain will get a chuckle out of the character name bestowed upon supporting actor Whit Bissell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
No sooner has he arrived at Fort Casper than Beau (Roger Moore) is framed for the murder of Indian brave Swift Rider (Miguel Landa). The actual killers were Marsh (John Zaccaro) and Lawson (Richard Coogan), a pair of crooked shopkeepers who have been systematically cheating Swift Rider's tribe, and are hoping to stir up a war between the Indians and the Army to cover their tracks. Locked up in the stockade, Beau is rescued by Chief Standing Bull (Robert Warwick)--but only so he can be married to Swift Rider's sister Pale Moon (Andra Martin, a marriage slated to end as quickly as it begins with Beau's swift and ignominious demise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
The popular tongue-in-cheek western series Maverick entered its fourth season one "Maverick" shy. James Garner, who'd risen to stardom in the role of self-protective frontier gambler Bret Maverick, had long been complaining about the relative pittance he was being paid for his efforts by home studio Warner Bros.. The proverbial back-breaking straw came in early 1960,when the studio suspended Garner without pay, claiming that a Hollywood writers' strike had prevented Warners from turning out any new Maverick scripts--though curiously, Garner's costar Jack Kelly remained on the payroll. Bound by his contract to remain on the series despite this cavalier treatment, Garner sued Warners for breach of contract, finally winning his case when it was proven that the studio had actually built up a healthy reserve of scripts during the strike (some of which were retreads of earlier scripts, pseudonymously created to one "W. Hermanos"!) The upshot of all this backstage intrigue was that Maverick began its fourth season with Jack Kelly as the sole star, playing his familiar role of Bart Maverick. During Garner's absence, the studio attempted to create a new star in the person of future "James Bond" Roger Moore, who is introduced in the season opener "A Bundle from Britain". Moore plays Bret and Bart's English cousin Beau Maverick, who is the "White Sheep" of the family because he was actually decorated for heroics in the Civil War! While Moore played his part admirably, he was no James Garner, and was quietly written out of the show in mid-season. And when it was clear that Garner was never coming back, Warners' brought in a hitherto unknown third Maverick brother, Brent Maverick, played by Robert Colbert. Introduced in the episode "The Forbidden City", Brent survived only three more episodes before he, too, was axed. All of this cast-shuffling had a deleterious effect on the series' ratings, which for the first time in two years dropped completely out of the Top Thirty. Even so, Maverick's fourth season still yielded quite a few golden moments, notably the episode "Hadley's Hunters", which contrives to include cameo appearances by virtually the entire Warners TV-western lineup: Clint Walker (Cheyenne), Will Hutchins (Sugarfoot), Ty Hardin (Bronco), and John Russell and Peter Brown (Lawman)--not to mention Edd Byrnes, then playing the comb-wielding "Kookie" on the studio's non-western series 77 Sunset Strip. Also making guest appearances this season are a pre-Beverly Hillbillies Max Baer Jr. in the aforementioned "A Bundle of Britain"; another Beverly Hillbillies stalwart, Buddy Ebsen, atypically cast as a cold-blooded murderer in "Last Stop: Oblivion"; future Addams Family patriarch John Astin in "The Town That Wasn't There"' and Alan Hale Jr., aka "The Skipper" of Gilligan's Island fame, in "Arizona Black Maria". Season Four of Maverick concludes with the series' only two-part episode, "The Devil's Necklace." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Kelly, Roger Moore, (more)
- 1960
Rachel Cade (Angie Dickinson), a dedicated American nurse working in the Belgian Congo, meets administrator Henri Derode (Peter Finch) during a native fertility dance. Guess what he tries to do? He doesn't, though, because Rachel falls in love with handsome downed RAF pilot Paul Wilton (Roger Moore). As Paul's wounds heal in the jungle hospital, he and Rachel manage to find quality time together. After he leaves, a pregnant Rachel turns to the previously rejected Henri for aid and comfort. After an hour or so of further melodramatic complications (including a native uprising), Rachel realizes that it was Henri she loved all along. A standard-issue soap opera from the Warner Bros. factory, The Sins of Rachel Cade was unobtrusively directed by the ubiquitous Gordon M. Douglas. Edward Anhalt adapted the screenplay from a novel by Charles E. Mercer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angie Dickinson, Peter Finch, (more)
- 1961
A blinding snowstorm outside of Denver forces Beau Maverick (Roger Moore) and his friend Judge Scott (Alan Baxter) to seek shelter in seedy hotel. Here Beau is attracted to the beautiful Sally Flood (Marlene Willis), only to be informed by Sally's aunt Martha (Jeanne Cooper) that the poor girl is insane. Beau is inclined to believe this when Sally begins prattling about "strange voices" in the night. . .until he begins hearing those strange voices as well. The actual sinister presence in this little melodrama is Aunt Molly's very good friend Chet Whitehead (played by Australian actor-director Michael Pate). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
An undistinguished, low-budget costume drama about a classical topic in Roman history, L'Enlevement des Sabines, by Richard Pottier, chronicles the problem of the men in early Rome. In fact, that is the problem -- there are only men in early Rome. Their leader is the son of the war god Mars and so the tendency is to fight first and ask questions later. But among the Sabine women who do not live so far away are some very attractive females. Needless to say, the Romans see the answer to their problem, though in the end the answer does avert a war between the two sites. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mylène Demongeot, Roger Moore, (more)
- 1961
Director Gordon M. Douglas specializes in comedy and action films, and here he puts the two genres together for a generally successful, well-acted chase drama. Two partners, Jim (Clint Walker) and Shawn (Roger Moore) have had the good fortune to find a gold fortune, but just after their strike, they end up in serious trouble. Word of their newfound status gets out to the wrong people, and before they have any time to cash in their chips and retire, they are running like the wind from a variety of money-grubbing marauders whose only goal in life is to return Jim and Shawn to their original impoverished state. As the chase heads toward a climactic moment, everything builds up to a convenient, if unconvincing conclusion. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Walker, Roger Moore, (more)
- 1967
The Saint was a long-running (1963-1969) British TV series based on characters created by Leslie Charteris. Roger Moore stars as Simon Templar, a handsome soldier-of-fortune of dubious principles and morals, but a handy man to have around whenever someone truly deserving is in distress. The Fiction Makers originated as a two-part Saint adventure, first telecast as episodes #104 and #105 in 1968 then released theatrically as a feature film. This time, Templar is assigned to protect famed novelist Amos Klein from vengeful gangsters. The assignment turns out to be a pleasurable one when "Amos Klein" is revealed to be a gorgeous woman (Sylvia Syms). The Fiction Makers was written by John Kruse and Harry W. Junkin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this spy adventure taken from the TV series The Saint, suave Simon Templar must stop a Sicilian Mafioso from succeeding on his personal vendetta. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Though Roger Moore was born in England and established himself as star of the British TV series The Saint, Crossplot represents Moore's very first British theatrical film. He stars as an advertising executive swept up in a plot to murder a visiting African statesman. Lensed in "swinging" London, the film is "mod" to an almost depressing degree, obscuring what is at base a solid espionage thriller. Moore ultimately thwarts the villains by decoding a message secreted in a crossword puzzle -- hence the film's title. A climactic shootout in Hyde Park tops this dry run for Roger Moore's subsequent stint as James Bond. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Moore, Martha Hyer, (more)
Basil Dearden's final film is a psychological thriller, adapted from an episode of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents television series. Roger Moore stars as wealthy business executive Harold Pelham, who becomes involved in a terrible car accident. While recovering from his injuries, his alter ego is unleashed and begins to live Pelham's life where he left off. When Pelham returns to his home and his job, he discovers his alter ego has not only undermined his business, but began an affair with a minor acquaintance and revitalized his previously unexciting sex life with his wife. This was Moore's final film before he took over the role of James Bond with Live and Let Die. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Moore, Hildegard Neil, (more)
