Roger Moore was born on 14 October 1927 in Stockwell, London. He was the only child of George Alfred Moore (1904–1997), a policeman (PC168E based in Bow Street, London), and Lillian “Lily” (Pope; 1904–1986). His mother was born in Calcutta, India, to an English family. He attended Battersea Grammar School, but was evacuated to Holsworthy in Devon during the Second World War, and attended Launceston College in Cornwall. He was further educated at Dr Challoner’s Grammar School in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

At 18, shortly after the end of the Second World War, Moore was conscripted for national service. On 21 September 1946, he was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps as a second lieutenant. He was given the service number 372394. He was an officer in the Combined Services Entertainment section, eventually becoming a captain commanding a small depot in West Germany. There he looked after entertainers for the armed forces passing through Hamburg.

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.

In his book Last Man Standing: Tales from Tinseltown, Moore states that his first television appearance was on 27 March 1949 in The Governess by Patrick Hamilton, a live broadcast (as usual in that era), in which he played the minor part of Bob Drew. Other actors in the show included Clive Morton and Betty Ann Davies. He had uncredited parts in films including Paper Orchid and The Interrupted Journey (both 1949). He was in Drawing-Room Detective on TV and appeared in the films One Wild Oat and Honeymoon Deferred (both 1951).

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 wedding.

In March 1954, MGM signed Moore to a long-term contract. He started his MGM contract with a small role in The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), flirting with Elizabeth Taylor. He appeared in Interrupted Melody, a biographical movie about opera singer Marjorie Lawrence’s recovery from polio, in which he was billed third under Glenn Ford and Eleanor Parker as Lawrence’s brother Cyril. That same year, he played a supporting role in the swashbuckler The King’s Thief starring Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom, David Niven and George Sanders.

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.

In the 1956 film Diane, Moore was billed third again, this time under Lana Turner and Pedro Armendariz, in a 16th-century period piece set in France with Moore playing Prince Henri, the future king. Moore was released from his MGM contract after two years following the film’s critical and commercial failure. In his own words, “At MGM, RGM [Roger George Moore] was NBG [no bloody good].”

After that, he spent a few years mainly doing one-shot parts in television series, including an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1959 titled “The Avon Emeralds”. He signed another long-term contract to a studio, this time to Warner Bros.

In 1959, he took the lead role in The Miracle, a version of the play Das Mirakel for Warner Bros. showcasing Carroll Baker as a nun. The part had been turned down by Dirk Bogarde. That same year, Moore was directed by Arthur Hiller in “The Angry Young Man”, an episode of the television series The Third Man starring Michael Rennie as criminal mastermind Harry Lime, the role portrayed by Orson Welles in the film version.

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’s 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.

Lew Grade cast Moore as Simon Templar in a new adaptation of The Saint, based on the novels by Leslie Charteris. Moore said in an interview in 1963 that he wanted to buy the rights to Leslie Charteris’s character and the trademarks. The television series was broadcast by ITV in the UK between 1962 and 1969, and its overseas success made Moore a household name. After the strong performance in the US of the first two series in first-run syndication, NBC picked up the show in 1966. By early 1967, Moore had achieved international stardom. The series established his suave, quipping style which he carried forward to James Bond, and also saw him exhibit his trademark raised eyebrow. Francis Blagburn in The Telegraph writes,

Owing 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 was enticed back to the role of Bond again for 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).

The Saint ran from 1962 for six series and 118 episodes. Moore went on to direct nine episodes of the later series, which moved into colour in 1967. Several episodes were edited together to form the films, The Saint and the Fiction Makers (1968) and Vendetta for the Saint (1969).

Moore was a long-term sufferer of kidney stones and as a result was briefly hospitalised during the making of Live and Let Die in 1973 and again whilst filming the 1979 film Moonraker.

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.”

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, Squires died 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.”

Moore starred in his final Bond film, A View to a Kill (1985). 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, having played the part for over 12 years. With 7 films Moore currently holds the record for playing Bond the most number of times in the Eon series but is tied with Sean Connery in number of times playing the character when counting Connery’s non-Eon appearance in Never Say Never Again (1983).

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. His character, Simon Templar, made a pitch for UNICEF near the end of The Revolution Racket, airing 5 November 1964. He was the voice of Father Christmas or ‘Santa’ in the 2004 UNICEF cartoon The Fly Who Loved Me.

Moore and Mattioli separated in 1993 after Moore developed feelings for a Swedish-born Danish socialite, Kristina “Kiki” Tholstrup. Moore later described his prostate cancer diagnosis in 1993 as “life-changing”, which led him to reassess his life and marriage. Mattioli and Tholstrup had long been friends, but Mattioli was scathing of her in the book she subsequently wrote about her relationship with Moore, Nothing Lasts Forever, describing how she felt betrayed by Tholstrup and discarded by Moore.

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 10pm 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. It was also popular in Britain, 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 The Persuaders! in 1995. Since then the series has been issued on DVD, while in France, where the series (entitled Amicalement Vôtre – “Yours Sincerely”) had always been popular, the DVD releases accompanied a monthly magazine of the same name.

Moore was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1999 New Year Honours and was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2003 Birthday Honours for charitable services, especially UNICEF and latterly Kiwanis International, which had dominated his public life for more than a decade. On being knighted, 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”.

In a nod to his 1960s TV show Moore had a vocal cameo in The Saint (1997) as a radio newsreader as Simon Templar drives away at the end of the film. In the year 2000, Moore played the role of a secret agent in the Christmas special Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings, shown on BBC One on Christmas Day. Filming all his scenes in the London Eye, his mission was to eliminate another agent whose file photo looks like Pierce Brosnan. In 2002 he had a small cameo role in the German police procedural series Tatort (episode 506: “Schatten” – “Shadow”, 28 July 2002) as a guest at the Bremen Sechs-Tagerennen.

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”.

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.

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 greater 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 had friendships with some of Denmark’s royal family; Prince Joachim and his then-wife Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg invited Moore and his wife Kiki to attend the christening of their youngest son, Prince Felix. In 2004 he attended the Wedding of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, and Mary Donaldson. On 24 May 2008, Moore and his wife attended the wedding of Prince Joachim to his French fiancée Marie Cavallier.

Despite his conservative politics, Moore retained membership of the entertainment and media trade union BECTU until his death, having joined as an apprentice animation technician before his acting career took off. At his death, he was the union’s longest-tenured member In 2007, Moore also gave his support to workers from the Cadbury chocolate factory at Keynsham who were protesting against the plant’s closure.

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.

On 28 October 2008, the French government appointed Moore a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. On 21 November 2012, Moore was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire for his outstanding contributions to the UK film and television industry for over 50 years, in particular film and television productions in Hertfordshire.

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 advertisements for the Post Office. 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. A slightly thinner faced Moore contributed to a charity song in 2017. Moore’s last on-screen performance was in 2017 a brief appearance near the end of the remake of ‘The Saint’.

In 2011, Moore gave his support to Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron regarding his policy on the European Union, stating:

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”.

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 St Peter and St Sigfrid’s 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.

In 2015, Moore criticised what he regarded as excessive political correctness within the film industry and felt that rewriting James Bond’s sexuality, gender or ethnicity would be a mistake, arguing “it is not about being homophobic or, for that matter, racist – it is simply about being true to the character.”

Moore’s family announced his death in Switzerland, on 23 May 2017 from liver cancer. He died at his home in Crans-Montana, in the presence of his family. Former 007 actors Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan & current 007 actor Daniel Craig paid tribute to him. Moore is buried in Monaco Cemetery.

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 Joan Collins, Michael Caine, Stephen Fry, Tim Rice and Stefanie Powers.

In the 2018 film My Dinner with Hervé, Moore was portrayed by actor Mark Umbers.