Roger Moore's back on big screen in "The Quest"
By Bob Thomas for Canoe Network, 2nd May 1996

Roger Moore came to the decision when he would call for dinner reservations and maitre d's started responding: "Roger who? Would you spell it, please?"

Double-O-Seven had fallen to obscurity purgatory.

"I realize that my value to UNICEF is that I am well known," said the star of seven James Bond films. "When I started hearing that on the telephone, I said, 'Uh-oh, I'd better make another movie.' "

So he did. He co-stars with Jean-Claude Van Damme in The Quest, which the Belgian muscleman also directed. Moore plays a former British navy officer turned pirate and con man who sponsors Van Damme in a tournament of the best fighters of countries around the world.

Van Damme personally delivered a script to Moore at his home in Gstaad, Switzerland. Moore agreed to the film, partly because he wouldn't be called on for the action stuff.

"That was the beauty of it," Moore commented smugly. "Also, not playing the hero, I realized I did not have to be there every day. I was doing what I had always envied in every film I've done."

Roger Moore became well-known in the 1950s, appearing in such movies as The Last Time I Saw Paris and Diane.

When the big studios ended their contract lists, Moore moved smoothly into TV, appearing in such series as The Saint. In 1973, he took over from Sean Connery as 007 in Live And Let Die. He made six more of the Bond action flicks until checking out with A View To A Kill in 1985.

Moore, a vigorous 68, lives in Monaco and Switzerland and spends much of the year travelling throughout the world as Special Representative for UNICEF, the United Nations children's fund. He credits Audrey Hepburn with enlisting him.

Moore campaigns against iodine deficiency in the world.

"What is iodine deficiency?" Moore asked rhetorically. "It's the cause of, most physically, goiters - also other problems such as stillbirths and miscarriages. Almost one-third of the world's population suffers from it. It's quite simple to rectify, but it costs money.

"It's not a subject that grabs people very much, but I have to talk about it as one of my duties."

Are there more Moore films in the future?

He replied: "Maybe some misguided producer will see The Quest and say, 'Oh, he's still alive! We must use him!'

"I have a couple of projects that are simmering. One is a remake of a French film which is almost ready. All we need is to find a leading lady old enough to look as if she would be interested in being kissed by me."

© Canoe Network 1996-2005

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