James Bond Died

James Bond Died

Yesterday was a sad day as I reported Roger Moore passed away. I must admit, I am really surprised at how many different people are taking it. I just had a close friend send me a text a few minutes ago that simply read, "James Bond Died".

Then two minutes later, they texted again, and simply said, "Roger Moore." I texted them back and sent them a link to my coverage of Roger Moore's passing, which can be in yesterday's story seen below this post.

I spoke with another friend yesterday who said, "I can't believe Roger Moore died? He was such an icon of our childhood." I never really thought about it that way before, but I agree, and I think for everybody who grew up watching Roger Moore play James Bond, this is so true. I kind of feel like when Roger Moore died yesterday, a small part of all of us died along with him.

I remember thinking to myself yesterday, "Wow, that's weird Roger Moore passed away before Sean Connery, since he was obviously the younger of the James Bond actors. He must be younger since he played Bond after Connery. I wonder how much younger he is?" A quick Google search revealed Roger Moore was four years older than Sean Connery!?!?!?!?!? WHAT!?!?? If you look at the photo above of Sir Roger Moore with Sir Sean Connery, Roger looks at least 10 years younger, yet in reality, he was 4 years older than Connery!?!! 

Roger Was The Best Bond 

I have also been noticing since Roger Moore passed away, many people suggest Roger Moore was the best Bond Actor, which I have heard some people say before. It is a fact both Sean Connery and Roger Moore both played James Bond 7 times each. If I recall correctly, Sean Connery played him 8 times, if you include "Never Say Never". In the past I have written extensively about the link between James Bond and Rolex, which you can explore in my 13 part series titled, "The James Bond Rolex Story: The Complete History Of James Bond Watches."

I think some of the reasons people say Roger Moore was the best Bond, is they grew up watching him on the big screen, thus he is their archetype for a real-life 'super man'. From an informal consensus perspective, I think most peoples favorite Bond actor is probably the first one they watched in a movie. Personally, I enjoyed all the James Bond actors, but I was never really crazy about Timothy Dalton.

Another interesting point Roger Moore pointed out, when discussing the success of the James Bond franchise, is that peoples enjoyment of Bond, is similar to children watching their favorite same cartoons over and over again. Same with repetitive James Bond movies. The Star Wars franchise has become the same way...at the end of the day, deep down inside, these franchises likely appeal to our inner child...

Bonding Over Bond

I remember a story my uncle Chris once told me about how his father took him to the movies to see the first James Bond movie, Dr. No in 1962, when my uncle was 12 years old. I remember seeing Star Wars when I was 10 years old, and I remember how strong of a impact it had on my imagination, as I was old enough to understand what was going on, but young enough to suspend any disbelief. This combination was amazing, and had a very strong positive impact on my imagination. 

I also remember the first James Bond movie, I saw in the movie theater, which was The Spy Who Loved Me, when I was 13. I also remember seeing Moonraker in theaters in 1979. I remember wanting to be like Jame Bond...I am pretty sure I also remember seeing Live & Let Die in movie theaters, because I distinctively remember the highly iconic Rolex Submariner with the spinning sharp bezel that helped Bond escape.

Back to the story about my uncle Chris and his father. They watched Dr. No as part of a double feature at the Grenada Theater on a Wednesday evening in 1962, and Chris' father said: "Son, this movie you are about to watch is about how an ideal man should be!" Essentially, my uncle bonded with his father over watching Dr. No and discussing the details after the movie, about how cool Sean Connery's James Bond character was. 

If you think about the James Bond characters over the years, they really are kind of like a real life archetypical Superman in the sense they are hyper-competent. In other words, they are always extremely super-smart, successful, handsome, cultured, well groomed, and dressed, and bad guys always try to kill them, but instead James Bond ends up killing the bad guys. James Bond also always ends up getting all the beautiful women around him. James Bond is the ultimate Alpha male.

In the final analysis though, it really all boils down to competence. In other words, James Bond really is the ideal man, in the sense he is simple a model for the ideal hyper-competent man that all men are hardwired to appreciate, respect and aspire to deep down inside. The thing about Superman, is he is not supposed to die, is he? Methinks that is why there has been such a strong emotional response to James Bond Roger Moore dying. It turns out, he was a super man, who was real, and was not immortal. 

I don't think I ever watched the entire cult-classic movie named "Trainspotting", but I think I remember a scene where two of the characters are high, and they are watching Sean Connery in a James Bond film, and one turns to the other and one says with a really thick Scottish accent, "That Sean Connery—he's a masculine actor!!!!" I could't find the clip, but this one featuring Ewan McGregor also references Sean Connery in a funny way. I think that part of the storyline in Trainspotting was that they were obsessed with Sean Connery, thus the reference to the movie "Untouchables", which Sean Connery starred in. My curiosity is getting the best of me, so I am going to have to watch Trainspotting in the future:

It's kinda funny (as T. Walker Lloyd would say), they mention Georgie Best in the beginning of the Trainspotting movie clip above, who once famously said:
"I spend a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I squandered." 
George Best, incase you are not familiar, was a professional footballer (soccer) who played as winger for Manchester United. Georgie was a really funny dude, known for his witty quips. He also famously once said, 
"In 1969 I have up women and alcohol—it was the worst 20 minutes of my life." 
He also said:
"I've stopped drinking, but only while I am asleep.', as well as: "I used to go missing a lot...Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss World."
Back to Bond: My point is Roger Moore, was really kind of the opposite of Sean Connery in many ways. Sean was a masculine actor, and Roger was a beautiful man, as we see in the photo below from the 1974 James Bond  movie, The Man With The Golden Gun, which showcases Swedish beauty, Britt Ekland. Britt Ekland Tweeted the following on Roger Moore's passing yesterday:

My Bond is gone, am filled with great sadness. Roger was the epitome of Bond, witty, sofisticated, elegant, funny. Rip

— Britt Ekland (@BrittEkland) May 23, 2017

"I Will Miss Him"

-Sir Sean Connery 

Sir Sean Connery paid tribute to fellow James Bond actor, Roger Moore and said:

"I was very sad to hear of Roger's passing. We had a an unusually long relationship by Hollywood standards, that was filled with jokes and laughter. I will miss him."

Pierce Brosnan, who also played 007 paid tribute to the Roger Moore on Facebook when he wrote:

Fellow James Bond actor, Timothy Dalton tweeted the following:

I knew Roger as a kind and generous man. He was a wonderfully engaging and successful actor. My thoughts are with his family. Timothy Dalton

— James Bond (@007) May 24, 2017

Daniel Craig, posted the following tweet on twitter, in which he simply and elegantly said, "Nobody Does It Better — Daniel"

I am devastated to learn of Roger Moore’s passing. The first leading role I ever had as a Bond girl was such a new and frightening world and Roger held my hand and guided me through every process. He taught me about work ethic and humility. He was so funny, kind and thoughtful to everyone around him and in that Roger taught me what a movie star really was and should be. Through his lifelong work with UNICEF he showed me the true meaning of being a humanitarian and giving back. He was my Bond. - Jane Seymour

A post shared by Jane Seymour (@janeseymour) on May 23, 2017 at 7:46am PDT

Last but not least, fellow James Bond Actor, George Lazenby said:

"I liked Roger, he was an genuine fellow, a really good guy."

On a side note, I have an interesting Rolex history corollary to share with you. The James Bond Movie Franchise began in London in 1962, when Sean Connery starred as Bond in Dr. No. Since then, there have only been 6 men in total to play James Bond. Rolex was founded in London in 1905, and since then, there have only been 6 men in total who ran Rolex.