The actor Sir Roger Moore has died at 89 after “a short but brave battle with cancer,” according to his family and his agent.
Moore played the role of James Bond from 1973 to 1985 and was knighted in his home country of England in 2003.
He was the third of six actors who have played James Bond in the official silver screen franchise, beginning with 1973’s Live and Let Die. He starred in a total of seven Bond films over 12 years, ending with A View to a Kill in 1985.
Moore embraced the Bond legend for decades afterward; none of the other Bonds burnished the legend as lovingly as he did. He published four books about his time as Agent 007, all of them with a sense of humor — especially about stepping into the shoes that Sean Connery made famous.
In an early and never-filmed movie script, Moore read a line that stayed with him the rest of his life. “My attitude about death is, going into the next room, and it’s a room the rest of us can’t go into because we don’t have the key, but when we do get the key, we’ll go in there and we’ll see one another again.”
Roger Moore is survived by his wife, Kristina Tholstrup, and three children. He died Tuesday in Switzerland, according to his children.
