Sir Roger Moore, the British actor best known for playing James Bond in the 1970s and 80s, died on Tuesday, May 23. He was 89.
“It is with a heavy heart that we must announce our loving father, Sir Roger Moore, has passed away today in Switzerland after a short but brave battle with cancer,” Moore’s children, Deborah, Geoffrey and Christian, said in a statement on Twitter. “The love with which he was surrounded in his final days was so great it cannot be quantified in words alone.”
“We know our own love and admiration will be magnified many times over, across the world, by people who knew him for his films, his television shows and his passionate work for UNICEF which he considered to be his greatest achievement,” the statement continued. “The affection our father felt whenever he walked on to a stage or in front of a camera buoyed him hugely and kept him busy working into his 90th year.”
The family noted that Moore made his final public appearance last November on stage at London’s Royal Festival Hall. “The capacity crowd cheered him on and off stage, shaking the very foundations of the building just a short distance from where he was born,” Moore’s children said.
In addition to starring in seven Bond films such as Live and Let Die and The Spy Who Loved Me, the actor and humanitarian played major roles in several popular TV shows, including The Saint, Maverick and The Persuaders.
A private funeral for Moore will be held in Monaco, his children said in their statement. He is survived by his fourth wife, Kristina Tholstrup.
