BY VALERIE KELLOGG
November 6, 2008
Roger Moore made seven James Bond films - more than any other actor who played 007. And he's lived to tell all in his new autobiography, "My Word Is My Bond" (Collins, $27.95). When Moore, 81, appears Saturday at Book Revue in Huntington to sign copies, he may not tell what he thinks of the newest Bond, Daniel Craig, who stars in the upcoming "Quantum of Solace." Moore writes in the book that when asked about subsequent Bond films, his answer is always the same: "Sorry, I've never seen them. That saves lying!" But he more than likely will talk about his career highlights as 007:
His first injury filming a Bond movie. While shooting the speedboat chase in New Orleans for 1973's "Live and Let Die," Moore cracked his front teeth and twisted his knee after accidentally steering into a wood boathouse. "There I was, a fearless 007, hobbling on a cane to my boat and then pretending to be indestructible for the cameras," he writes. "Who says I can't act?"
Bond, sweet Bond. Producers wanted Moore to "toughen up" his Bond for "The Man With the Golden Gun" (1974). "I think it's most evident in the scenes I had with Maud Adams, where I twisted her arm and threatened - rather coldly - to break it unless she told me what I wanted to know," Moore writes. Moore didn't like that, suggesting that his Bond would have charmed the information out of her. "My Bond was a lover and a giggler."
His favorite Bond film. "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977), about an evil plot to create an underwater world. Moore writes that it "suited my style and my persona."
Bad breath on "Moonraker" set. For his role in 1979's "Moonraker," Moore imagined that Jaws actor Richard Kiel had bad breath. "You'll see I looked mildly repulsed whenever I'm in a scene with a baddie," Moore says of the technique he had developed while making Bond films.
Those Bond gadgets didn't really work.
Remember when Bond uses his "magnetic watch" to unzip an Italian agent's dress in "Live and Let Die"? Thank a special effects technician for making it work, Moore writes, by fixing a metal wire inside the dress and to the back of her zipper, then placing his head inside her dress and gently pulling as Moore ran his watch down her back and he said the line: "Sheer magnetism."WHAT Roger Moore signs copies of his new autobiography, "My Word Is My Bond."
WHEN|WHERE 7 p.m. Saturday at Book Revue, 313 New York Ave., Huntington.
INFO Free, but you must buy a book
to get it signed; 631-271-1442 or bookrevue.com