Roger Moore, who died Tuesday at age 89, is best remembered for starring in seven James Bond films — and for realizing that he couldn’t imitate Sean Connery’s matchless performances as the British secret agent.
It is to Moore’s credit that he figured out how to give Bond a humorous, wry twist. While Connery played the role as a Cold Warrior, faithful to the Ian Fleming novels, Moore’s witty one-liners steered the series into the changing era of detente in the 1970s and 1980s. Moore’s first three films, “Live and Let Die,” “The Man With the Golden Gun” and “The Spy Who Loved Me” are among the best of the 25 films in the series.
Moore understood the great irony of the role: A man can’t be a spy if everybody knows who he is. He played James Bond differently, and some purists disapproved. But a strong case can be made that his seven films cemented the popularity of the Bond series, proving that it could endure without Connery.
