British actor Roger Moore, who earned international fame playing secret agent James Bond, demised on Tuesday. Aged 89, actors family family publiced his death on his official Twitter account. His 12 years as James Bond, the British agent , made Moore a millionaire and a heartthrob the world over.
“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,” his three children announced in a statement on the Twitter account.
Moore’s big breakthrough as an actor came in 1962, when he won the part of The Saint in a popular television series of the same name. In 1973 came the coveted part of James Bond, writer Ian Fleming’s action man spy 007, who held cinemagoers across the world in thrall. The Bond films were said to have provided Moore $22 million.
After handing over the role of Bond to Timothy Dalton, Moore went into semi-retirement, living a millionaire’s life and travelling between his homes in Los Angeles, Switzerland and the south of France.
In 1991, he became an ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund. Moore is survived by his fourth wife, Scandinavian socialite Kristina “Kiki” Tholstrup, whom he tied knot in 2002.