James Bond actor Roger Moore dies

Longest-serving James Bond star died aged 89
in Switzerland after a short battle with cancer.

Roger Moore, the longest-serving movie star to play the
 iconic British spy James Bond, has died in Switzerland 
aged 89 on Tuesday after a brief bout with cancer.

His family confirmed on Twitter "that our father, Sir 
Roger Moore, passed away today".


"We are all devastated," the message said.

Born in London, Moore, the only child of a policeman, 
studied painting before enrolling in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

He played a few small roles in theatre and films before
 his mandatory army duty, then moved to Hollywood in the
1950s.

In 1954, he appeared opposite Elizabeth Taylor in The
 Last Time I Saw Paris and with Eleanor Parker in 
Interrupted Melody the following year.

Three years later, he made his first Bond film Live
 and Let Die.

He would make six more: The Man With the Golden Gun,
 'The Spy Who Loved Me, Octopussy, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only and A View to a Kill over the next 12 years.

And while the Bond of the Ian Fleming novels that the 
films were based on was generally described as being in
 his 30s, Moore would stay with the role until he was 57.

He continued to work regularly in films after handing over
Bond to Timothy Dalton, but never with the same success.

His post-Bond films included such forgettable efforts as
 The Quest with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Spice World with the Spice Girls.


UNICEF part

In 1991, Moore became a goodwill ambassador for 
UNICEF, having been introduced to the role by the late
 actress Audrey Hepburn. As Hepburn had, he threw much of his energy into the task.

"I felt small, insignificant and rather ashamed that I had
traveled so much making films and ignored what was 
going on around me," he said in describing how the work 
had affected him.

Moore received the Dag Hammarskjold Inspiration Award 
for his work with UNICEF and was named a commander in
France's National Order of Arts and Letters in 2008, an 
award he said was worth "more than an Oscar."

That same year he published an autobiography, "My Word 
Is My Bond", which included details about his work on the Bond films, his friendship with Hepburn, his encounters with Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor and other stars, and his health struggles - including a bout with prostate cancer, which he beat.