--- title: Roger Moore Dies at 89: How the Actor Became James Bond description: Moore, who has died at 89, told TIME in 1973 that playing 007 was like getting paid for "being a kid and living out your fantasies." canonical: https://time.com/4790346/roger-moore-history-james-bond/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-23T14:48:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:04:25.736Z article:section: History og:title: Roger Moore Dies at 89: How the Actor Became James Bond og:description: "I often stop in the middle of a day's work," Moore told TIME, "and say: 'Jesus Christ, they're really going to pay you for being a kid and living out your fantasies!'" og:url: https://time.com/4790346/roger-moore-history-james-bond/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e6d319fb1f23dee/6988ce748fd2ee26803572db/roger-moore-live-or-let-die-1973.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Roger Moore as James Bond in 1973 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Roger Moore Dies at 89: How the Actor Became James Bond twitter:description: "I often stop in the middle of a day's work," Moore told TIME, "and say: 'Jesus Christ, they're really going to pay you for being a kid and living out your fantasies!'" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e6d319fb1f23dee/6988ce748fd2ee26803572db/roger-moore-live-or-let-die-1973.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Roger Moore Became James Bond  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 23, 2017 2:48 PM UTC  Roger Moore as James Bond from the movie Live and Let Die, 1973. Roger Moore as James Bond from the movie Live and Let Die, 1973.Terry O'Neill—Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 23, 2017 2:48 PM UTC It’s rare that a person’s own name is not the only one in the headline on his obituary — but remembrances for Roger Moore, the actor who [has died at 89](http://time.com/4790347/roger-moore-dead/), will inevitably mention the name of the character for whom he was most famous: James Bond. Though he did not originate the role, he was always a little bit closer to the James Bond persona than was his primary predecessor, Sean Connery. “\[Author Ian\] Fleming saw Bond as himself,” producer Harry Saltzman [told TIME in 1973](http://time.com/vault/issue/1973-01-08/page/60/), “as a kind of disenfranchised member of the Establishment, Eton, Harrow and Cambridge. And Sean was none of those. Fleming would have been delighted with Roger, however. He is the classic Englishman. He looks good and he moves good.” So perhaps it’s no surprise that at the time, Moore seemed to have been building toward the role throughout his entire career. When he stepped into Bond’s shoes in _Live and Let Die_, TIME [took a look](http://time.com/vault/issue/1973-01-08/page/60/) at how he got there: --- > “” --- Years later, however, [Moore told TIME](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/11/09/sir-roger-moore-on-why-daniel-craig-is-the-best-james-bond-ever-and-what-007-role-hes-dying-to-play/) that there was another factor in his landing the part: While working on _The Saint_, he developed a gambling habit and wound up playing cards regularly with the Bond producers, so he was already friendly with them when it came time to find someone to take over the part. In the same interview, he expressed his belief that the Bond franchise would continue for decades to come — and that moviegoers would also watch and love the older films far into the future. Moore knew that by inhabiting 007 he had assured himself a place in fans’ hearts throughout his lifetime and, now, beyond. “For 50 years it’s gone on and people go back because it’s an old friend,” he said at the time. “Their fathers may have taken them to see it the first time, and then they take their grandfathers. And Christmas never seems to be Christmas without a Bond movie showing on a television screen somewhere.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4790346/roger-moore-history-james-bond/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4790346/roger-moore-history-james-bond/"},"headline":"How Roger Moore Became James Bond","datePublished":"2017-05-23T14:48:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:04:25.736Z","description":"\"I often stop in the middle of a day's work,\" Moore told TIME, \"and say: 'Jesus Christ, they're really going to pay you for being a kid and living out your fantasies!'\"","url":"https://time.com/4790346/roger-moore-history-james-bond/","keywords":["remembrance","movies","James Bond"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e6d319fb1f23dee/6988ce748fd2ee26803572db/roger-moore-live-or-let-die-1973.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e6d319fb1f23dee/6988ce748fd2ee26803572db/roger-moore-live-or-let-die-1973.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Roger Moore as James Bond in 1973","caption":"Roger Moore as James Bond from the movie Live and Let Die, 1973.","creditText":"Terry O'Neill—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4790346/roger-moore-history-james-bond/","name":"How Roger Moore Became James Bond"}}]}] ```