Sir Roger Moore on Life as 007
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This is a rush transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," November 7, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Famed actor and humanitarian Sir Roger Moore just released his memoir, "My Word is my Bond." FOX's Jonathan Hunt has the inside story.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}JONATHAN HUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The name's Moore. Roger Moore. For 12 years he delighted fans as James Bond and transformed the brooding spy into a character who shared many of his own personality traits.
ROGER MOORE, ACTOR/UNICEF GOOD WILL AMBASSADOR: So sweet (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
• Video: Watch the 'H & C' interview with James Bond, Roger Moore
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HUNT: Moore writes in his new autobiography that his Bond was a lover and giggler, and that his real life has always been one full of laughter, family, and friends.
Born the son of a policeman in the south of London, Moore began his career by chance as an extra on "Caesar and Cleopatra." The director saw the 17-year-old boy and knew he had the makings for stardom.
But his life journey would take him down another path before gracing the silver screen. After a short stint in the army, he spent several years auditioning and eventually found himself in Hollywood working for MGM and Warner Brothers, hobnobbing with stars like Elvis Presley, Debbie Reynolds, Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After a series of small parts, Moore was cast on four successful TV shows. These performances helped pave the way for his 12-year reign as 007.
R. MOORE: Is the homing device ready yet?
HUNT: His behind-the-scene Bond anecdotes are almost as entertaining as the movies themselves. He reminisces about wearing wool socks in bed with Jane Seymour, playing practical jokes on Desmond Llewellyn, his near brush with death on the set of "Live and Let Die," when the engine cut out during the boat chase, and he flew head first into a wall.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He also mentions funny facts about his costars. Richard Keel was scared of heights. Grace Jones loved heavy metal music. And Herve Villechaize liked to talk a big game with the ladies.
At the age of 58, Moore retired his martini glass and hung up his tuxedo. And while he still entertains the world with his movies, he's now healing the world as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, an organization his friend Audrey Hepburn introduced him to.
He travels with his wife, Kristina, helping those less fortunate, bringing laughter and joy along with him.
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COLMES: Joining us now, Sir Roger Moore.
Nice to meet you, sir. Thanks for being you.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}R. MOORE: Thank you.
COLMES: You and Jane Seymour wore socks?
R. MOORE: After you've been in Jamaica for a few months and get back into England and you get into bed on a cold stage, you need warm things on your feet.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}COLMES: It just ruined the whole image of the whole scene.
R. MOORE: We didn't have anything else.
COLMES: Right. Why did -- why did Sean Connery give up the role and how did it wind up with you?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}R. MOORE: Well, I think Sean was getting a little fed up with being Mr. Bond all the time and resented -- I think he truly resented being associated with Bond and nothing else. I, fortunately, had done a few things before I did Bond, and I was just grateful to be associated with something.
COLMES: You're very self-effacing. You talk about being on Broadway for one night.
R. MOORE: Yes, that was one of my big successes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}COLMES: One night on Broadway.
R. MOORE: Yes, we opened on September the 17th, 1953 and closed on September the 17, 1953. I didn't have time to unpack my makeup.
COLMES: Very funny. You also now -- you talk -- I love the scene in the book where you talk about Lana Turner taught you how to kiss, right?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}R. MOORE: Yes.
COLMES: Or maybe corrected a couple of things?
R. MOORE: No, she corrected a lot of things. I -- the film was called "Diane."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}COLMES: Right.
R. MOORE: And sadly, even though it was written by Christopher Isherwood, it was not a great movie, and it was amongst the last of the costume cycle in Hollywood.
Anyway, the film "Diane" was about Diane de Poitiers, played by Lana Turner. And I played Henri Deux, Henri Triste (ph), who was -- when she met him was a prince who was interested purely in wrestling and hunting.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She was taught that he was asked by his father, Francoise Prime, which is another story, I'll go to, to dance, to, quote, dainty (ph). And so when the king dies, and Prince Henry is about to become king, his father's having passed on, he says to her on a moonlit balcony, "You made me a prince. Now make me a king."
And then I dive down her throat, and she almost chokes. And she said -- in those days we didn't do that sort of thing in Hollywood. But she sort of pushed me back and said, "Roger, you're a great kisser, but when a lady gets to 35, you must be very careful of the neckline. So you put a lot of the passion without the pressure."
COLMES: Passion without the pressure.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}RICH LOWRY, GUEST CO-HOST: We'll remember that. Sir Roger, thanks so much for being with us.
Talk to us a little bit about why it was so important to you to play Bond, famously, with that twinkle in his eye.
R. MOORE: Well, firstly, I couldn't play it like Sean, because I'm not as tough as Sean.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Secondly, I didn't quite see him really being a spy. A man who's known in every bar in the world. Here comes James Bond. Martini, shaken not stirred. I mean, that's not a spy. So to me it was sort of a little bit of unreality.
LOWRY: And what do you think is the enduring appeal of that character just across the decades? If anything, he just gets more and more popular.
R. MOORE: Well, I think that through -- well, it's 47 years they've been making Bond films. The producers themselves, originally it was Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli, and now it's Barbara Broccoli, Cubby's daughter, and Mike Wilson, her half-brother.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}They have never cheated or stopped the audience from seeing all the money. The money goes up on the screen. It didn't go in my wallet, I told you. Some going to Daniel Craig, right?
But it is popular because it's like a bedtime story. Children want to hear the same story. You can change certain things, but it has to be the hero.
LOWRY: Yes, it's just great -- great entertainment. Very quickly, because we have to go...
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}R. MOORE: Oh!
LOWRY: I didn't mean to scare you. Don't be alarmed. What is your favorite James Bond line that you spoke in the movies?
R. MOORE: Oh, I think raising -- blurring the sights of a gun onto a gunsmith's groin and saying, "Speak now or forever hold your piece."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}COLMES: Your favorite Bond in the role (ph)?
R. MOORE: All of them.
COLMES: Very -- very diplomatic.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}LOWRY: Sir Roger, thanks so much.
R. MOORE: Thank you. Thank you.
LOWRY: We have to leave it there now.
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