Roger Moore's Real Name: Roger George Moore

Quick answer: Roger Moore's documented full name is Roger George Moore. A BBC obituary records that form and gives his birth date as October 14, 1927, in Stockwell, south London. The Associated Press also identifies him as a policeman's son from South London and as the actor who played James Bond in seven films (BBC; Associated Press).

Real name and early life

The BBC lists Roger George Moore, born October 14, 1927, in Stockwell, the son of a policeman. At 15 he entered art college and later apprenticed at an animation studio, from which he was sacked. His father, by then a detective sergeant, was called to investigate a robbery at the home of film director Brian Desmond Hurst and arranged an introduction; Moore was hired as an extra on Caesar and Cleopatra, and Hurst paid for him to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After National Service in the Army, where the BBC says he rose to the rank of captain, he found acting work scarce and was in demand as a model. The Associated Press likewise describes a slow start before his television success.

Career highlights

He made an early U.S. film appearance in The Last Time I Saw Paris and later appeared on television in Maverick, the AP says, before the breakthrough role of Simon Templar in The Saint, which the BBC says ran for seven years from 1962 and made him a star on both sides of the Atlantic. He then played James Bond in seven films from Live and Let Die (1973) to A View to a Kill (1985), taking the character in a more humorous direction than his predecessor Sean Connery. The AP notes that Moore himself often called Connery's Bond the definitive interpretation. He was also known for The Persuaders. Off screen he became a UNICEF goodwill ambassador in 1991, the BBC records; the AP says his knighthood was tied to that humanitarian work. The BBC gives a CBE in 1998 and a knighthood in 2003.

Death

His family announced that he died on May 23, 2017, at age 89, after "a short but brave battle with cancer." The BBC reported that he died in Switzerland and would have a private funeral in Monaco, in accordance with his wishes. The Associated Press, writing the same day, gave his age as 89 but did not state a place or cause in that account.

Name notes for searchers

Roger George Moore is the documented full name; he was known professionally as Roger Moore, and later as Sir Roger Moore. Searchers looking for the star of The Saint or for James Bond in Live and Let Die and the six films that followed are usually aiming at the same person.