Roger Moore shows off his star on the Hollywood walk of fame

Whew, there sure has been a ton of Roger Moore related stories floating around these days; mostly because of the release of his new memoirs, My Word is My Bond. The latest from “jocular” Bond is that he does not like the new, more violent Bond.

According to an interview with Reuters, “I am happy to have done it, but I’m sad that it has turned so violent. That’s keeping up with the times, it’s what cinema-goers seem to want and it’s proved by the box-office figures,” Moore told Reuters.

Moore, recalled being appalled at the violence in A View to a Kill, “That wasn’t Bond,” he said. In his book, Moore writes of his distaste for guns, ever since he was shot in the leg by a friend with a BB gun as a teenager.

While making The Man With the Golden Gun, director Guy Hamilton wanted Bond to be tougher and had him threaten to break Maud Adams’ character’s arm to get information, he writes. “That sort of characterization didn’t sit well with me, but Guy was keen to make my Bond a little more ruthless.

“I suggested my Bond would have charmed the information out of her by bedding her first. My Bond was a lover and a giggler, but I went along with Guy,” the British actor wrote.

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At the ‘Story Of James Bond’ Ian Fleming tribute at the London Palladium, Roger Moore was reunited on stage with 8 former Bond Girls including Maryam D’Abo, Madeleine Smith, Shirley Eaton, Zena Marshall, Eunice Gayson, Tania Mallett, Caroline Munro and Joanna Lumley. The Sun has a great photo of the event, as seen below:

Roger Moore and 8 Former Bond Girls

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Sean Connery's Biography: Being a Scot

Despite being the far more popular James Bond, it seems that the reading public much prefers Roger Moore’s memoir’s over Sean Connery’s. In the weeks since its release, “Being a Scott” has only sold a meager 5,000 copies in the UK.

Scotland on Sunday writes, “It was billed as the Scottish publishing event of the decade, but Sir Sean Connery’s book of musings on the nation has fallen flatter than a badly shaken Martini. Scotland on Sunday can reveal that the Bond star’s book Being A Scot has sold a “dire” 5,000 copies in the UK, despite receiving saturation coverage in the press and taking top billing at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Worse still, the most famous living Scot looks set to suffer the indignity of being comprehensively outgunned in sales by Roger Moore, who succeeded him in the role of 007 and released his own autobiography last week.

It has also emerged that Connery’s book was last week being outsold by an astonishing 14-to-one by the decidedly unglamorous memoirs of TV chef Clarissa Dickson Wright.

Literary data experts Nielsen BookScan confirmed that total sales of the tome were 4,620 last Friday and had dwindled to fewer than 500 copies a week.

Connery’s book, which was co-written with film-maker Murray Grigor, features childhood reminiscences and comment about Scottish culture and politics and avoids insights into his private life and film career.

A spokesman for publishers Michael O’Mara, who released Moore’s book, My Word Is My Bond, on Thursday, laughed out loud when he heard Connery’s sales figures and said he was “very confident” Moore’s title would outsell Being A Scot.

Graham Rye, the editor of the James Bond magazine, 007, made a similar prediction.”Roger Moore’s book will ultimately sell more than Sean’s because it is a more accessible read and is full of fun and amusing showbusiness anecdotes.

“Sean’s book is far more highbrow and educational. It was a very honourable idea, but I don’t know if it was a particularly marketable idea.

“The general book-buying public were after an intimate biography about Sean Connery the man.

“If he had produced that sort of book then I’m sure it would have flown off the shelves.”

Rye added that he was disappointed by “unforgivable” picture caption errors in Being A Scot. A picture of Connery in the 1970s sci-fi epic Zardoz is billed as an early James Bond shot and a family outing to see a Nat King Cole film in 1951 is wrongly labelled as an Edinburgh premiere of From Russia With Love.
One publishing industry insider said: “Connery’s sales are absolutely abysmal.”

To read more, please visit the source: Scotland on Sunday.

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