Roger Moore, former James Bond actor, passes away at age 89

Roger Moore, the British actor who gained worldwide fame for portraying the secret agent James Bond, passed away on Tuesday, May 23, at the age of 89. His family announced the news on the official Twitter page of the actor. According to Reuters, 12 years of playing James Bond, the British secret agent with an insatiable appetite for danger and sex, made Roger Moore wealthy and a beloved figure among women. His three children wrote in a brief statement on the actor's official Twitter page: 'With the heaviest of hearts, we announce the passing of our loving father, Sir Roger Moore, who died after a brave battle with cancer in Switzerland.' Roger Moore, the son of a London police officer, crafted an image of a semi-aristocratic or upper-class man on screen while hiding his shyness in ordinary life. Moreover, he had mentioned that he was very afraid of performing the sexual scenes that were a significant part of the Bond films. Moore's first major success came in 1962 when he starred as the lead character in the popular television series 'The Saint,' where he played a polite Englishman who encountered several women and saved them from poverty and hardship. In 1973, he made his first appearance in the James Bond films, playing the secret agent 007 based on Ian Fleming's spy stories. It is said that he earned about $22 million from his roles in the Bond films. He moved to avoid paying taxes in the United States. In a 1989 interview, Roger Moore stated: 'I think everyone should be free to live wherever they want and do whatever they want with their money, and the British government, which causes talents to go abroad due to tax issues, is to blame.' After handing over the role of James Bond to Timothy Dalton, he almost retired and lived like a millionaire in his three homes in Los Angeles, Switzerland, and southern France. In 1991, Roger Moore was appointed as one of the ambassadors for the United Nations Children's Fund. Roger Moore's widow, his fourth wife, Christina Tholstrup, is a prominent woman from Scandinavia whom he married in 2002.