James Bond fans have the chance to snap up 007 memorabilia this week as Sir Roger Moore’s personal collection is up for auction.
His family have donated the items which include dinner suits made for A View To A Kill and Octopussy and posters from some of the late actor’s seven outings as Bond.
Ahead of Wednesday’s sale in London, NADINE LINGE reveals 15 facts you never knew about Moore.
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- Born on October 14, 1927, Moore originally started out as an apprentice at an animation studio before getting fired for losing some footage.
- He got his first acting job when his policeman father investigated a robbery at the home of a film director, who cast Moore as an extra in 1945 film Caesar And Cleopatra.
- Moore was in the same class at drama school as Lois Maxwell, left, who would go on to play Miss Moneypenny in the Bond flicks.
- Despite playing the gun-wielding spy, he suffered from hoplophobia – a fear of firearms – after being accidentally shot with an air rifle aged 14.
- Moore only rated himself fourth best Bond, putting Sean Connery and Daniel Craig top and himself behind George Lazenby.
- The star reportedly had it written into his contract he would receive an unlimited supply of Montecristo cigars while on set.
- He never performed stunts and refused to run on screen as he felt he looked awkward, employing a double for those scenes.
- Moore said his most embarrassing Bond moment was keeping socks on in bed with Jane Seymour in Live And Let Die, adding: “It doesn’t do to have freezing toes in a love scene.”
- When he retired as 007 in 1985 after A View To A Kill he was 57 and the oldest actor to play the role. He said he disliked love scenes with women young enough to be his daughter.
- The star was married four times. He is said to have cheated on first wife Doorn Van Steyn with Dorothy Squires, who would become his second wife, and then left her for third wife Luisa Mattioli.
- He then left Mattioli, phoning to announce he was in a relationship with her close friend Kristina “Kiki” Tholstrup. They wed in 2002 and were still together when he died from cancer in 2017, aged 89.
- Also famous for TV’s The Saint, Moore rarely worked post-Bond. He became a tax exile living in the south of France, Switzerland and Monaco, where he is buried.
- But he earned a knighthood in 2003 for his efforts as a Unicef ambassador and was also a fierce campaigner for animal rights.
- Moore said his favourite 007 film was The Spy Who Loved Me.
- He claimed he invented the Magnum ice cream after saying he wished Walls would put a choc ice on a stick.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
