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The idea behind The
Persuaders! was to put together two hero figures,
one British, one American. Both very wealthy, but diametrically
opposed - a bit like the relationship Spencer Tracy
and Clark Gable had in "Boom Town". When they
meet the sparks fly but they have this mutual respect
for each other. We did a Saint episode with encompassed
that principle, pretty much as a pilot. It seemed to
work. Lew liked the idea and went off to the States
to sell it there. Lew being the supersalesman he is
came back and said he's sold it. The way I became completely
involvedwas this: Lew phoned me and I asked where he
was. "I'm in California, son. I want to see you
in the morning." I said I didn't think I could
get there. "No, I'm coming back", he said.
"I want to see you in the morning in my office
at Marble Arch." "All right, I'll be there
about 10 in the morning.""No, no. The plane
lands at seven. I'll see you there at eight. Still yawning
gently I walked into Lew's office at eight the next
morning. "Roger", he said, "you're going
to do another TV series." "But I've promised
myself I wouldn't do another TV series." He waved
his arms like he was selling me a tea set in Petticoat
Lane. |
"I know what you said.
But you've got to do this one." "Why?". "Because
I've sold it." "What - with me?". "That's
right.". So we looked at one another and he said: "The
country needs the money, you know." I said: "Oh".
"Well, think of your Queen. Don't you care about your
Queen?" At home with Lew we discussed possible Americans
who could play the role. He flung a few names at me and
I suggested Tony Curtis. He didn't think he could get him.
Curtis didn't do television. Lady Grade, Cathy, who knows
precisely how to handle him, said: "Of course you can
get him. You can do anything." Two days later Lew rang
and said he'd got Tony Curtis. The next move was to go to
California and have preliminary talks about the storyline
with Tony. I had only met him once or twice at the odd cocktail
party and when we called at his house - script editor Terry
Nation, producer Bob Baker, Lew and myself - Lew reminded
me that Tony was at the height of his anti-smoking campaign.
As a virtual chain-smoker I realised there was going to
be a slight obstacle here. In we went and settled down to
talk. After about five minutes I said to Tony: "Look,
to each is own. You don't smoke; I do. Do you mind?"
He said: "Sure, go ahead . It's your life." Then
he looked around and said: "Where's the ashtray that
we had?" And there in this enormous house of about
500 rooms they eventuelly unearthed an ashtray for me. We
had a good meeting and at the end of it Tony gave me a book
on cigarette smoking and lung cancer! I never opened the
book, but on the cover was this particularly nasty picture
of a cancer-ridden lung. Carrying that cute thought in my
mind I caught a plane to the Bahamas to catch up with Luisa
and the children on holiday. The first day I spent wallowing
in the sun with Luisa and the kids. As we walked back from
the beach I started shaking. I had some kind of virus and
spent 36 hours in bed. Then I recovered, felt quite normal
and was back on the beach again. Suddenly I coughed, and
noticed there was blood. I didn't say anything to Luisa
but I spent the whole day at it, disappearing into the water
and coughing up blood.
That night I took a useless
sleeping pill and lay there thinking. The only picture before
my mind's eye was the cover of the book Tony Curtis had
given me. In the morning I rang Gene Barrett, a friend of
mine who was one of the vice-presidents of the corporation
that owns Paradise Island. I said: "Gene, get me a
doctor. I think I'm very ill. Don't bring him to the Ocean
Club where we're staying. Get him to one of the other hotels
and I'll see him there." So at nine o'clock I told
Luisa I was going to buy the Sunday papers and went over
to the other hotel. He examined me and said it was a sinus
infection. I was so relieved. I told him he was the greatest
doctor in the world and started walking to the door. And
I stopped. I realised he was putting me on. I said: "Look,
I was pretty frightened and you think I still am. You're
trying to softpedal it. You suspect cancer don't you?"
For the next 15 minutes he tried to assure me I was the
healthiest specimen he'd seen for a long time. He gave me
antibiotics to clear up the sinus condition and dropped
in on me every day to reassure me. From that time I haven't
smoked a cigarette. When I consider the number of times
I have tried to give up smoking. When all I needed was a
great shock. I was so grateful not to have cancer. I am
convinced it was a sign from some other power to give up
smoking before it was too late. I have never wanted to smoke
a cigarette again. Cigars, yes - but that's only puffing.
Cigarettes are something else. I'll be grateful forever
to Tony and my sinuses. Naturally, I have done well financially
out of my acting career. But I have no intention of making
a song and dance about it. I have always hated people who
make a lot of noise about the fact that they have 15 mink
coats, five Rolls Royce and six houses. My feeling is that
there are so many people in the world with little or nothing
that it must be galling for them to see the wealthy flaunting
their wealth.
The best way I can sum it
up is to tell the story of the trapped sparrow. He was caught
in the bottom of a hedge and dying of starvation. A bull
came along and left its calling card. The little sparrow
could just reach it with its beak and gain some sustenance.
This gave it the strenght to break away from the bush and
fly to the top of a tree. Delighted to be free it whistled
its head off. Then a little boy with a catapult came along.
Being attracted by the whistling he looked up, saw the bird
and killed him with a stone. The moral is: if you get to
the top by bull, don't sing about it. At one stage of "having
possessions" I went through a stupid phase of gambling.
Worse, it was a classical case. It wasn't the winning I
enjoyed, it was the masochistic pleasure of losing.
| Once I went
through a long phase at the studios where every day
I tied up the switchboard, ringing several bookmakers
at once. It wasn't enough to back one, two or even three
horses in a race. I was covering most of the field.
At dog racing it was worse still. I backed every dog,
every race. Just to be sure I had something to come
back in "winnings" after every race. The big
drain though was chemmy and craps - American dice. Craps
have an appeal for me even now. Those dice really talk
to you. I had one good friend, a casino owner who against
his own interests put the block on my gambling. When
I arrived at his club he would say I could draw as many
chips as I liked - "only it's not your money. If
you win I won't cash your chips and if you lose I won't
take your cheque". Probably a greater sense of
domestic settling helped me, but I finally kicked the
compulsion and when I gamble now it's no longer a sickness.
A game of poker with my friends is about my mark these
days. One item that must come under the heading of "possessions"
is clothes. I must concede a weakness for my new suits,
new shirts, new everything. One of my business interest
was with a clothing firm and I have been on world-wide
selling tours with Luisa to promote it. |
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One valuable side issue is
that it has enlarged my shere of friends and acquaintances.
In show business one tends to have only friends connected
with the stage. Since the clothing firm I've been able to
meet people from an entirely different world. I don't seriously
foresee a time when I'll give up acting to become a supersalesman
or a business tycoon but it just so happens I'm now involved
with another clothing firm - and I'm looking forward to
seeing if it's a talent that will keep me in my old age.
I would like to sit back
and watch The Persuaders! become as big a hit as
The Saint. It's a marvellous experience working with
Tony - he's taught me a great deal. For the first time in
10 years I am working with a partner and the liaison has
to bee good to make the series work. It's like playing tennis
on a muddy pitch. Unless you've got something firm as a
surface the ball doesn't bounce. In a partnership like ours
you both have to be firm enough to bounce off each other.
This is good for both of us. And he, like me, gets a lot
of fun out of taking a scene and making it come to life.
There were a few knocking stories that said the honeymoon
between Tony and myself was over and we were squabbling.
This was untrue. It probably started as a rumour when the
original title The Friendly Persuaders was changed
to The Persuaders! "Oh, so Moore and Curtis
are no longer friendly", they said. In fact, the title
change was taken on legal advice because it was so like
the film title Friendly Persuasion. So what do I
add up to? I have had one of the luckiest lives in the world.
The right people have usually turned up at the right time.
And thank God I have had the ability to send up most things
most of the time. Myself in particular. In my own way I
am a religious man, altough it's a rare day you'll find
me inside a church. I am bound by no religious creed. It
seems insane to me that many of the various religious groups
believe that they are the only people going to heaven. If
there is a mortal sin then Joe Graham summed it up: not
responding to the opportunities that your talent afford
you. I believe in afterlife and reincarnation. Some people
are on higher planes than other - but they are not necessarily
academics - but these "higher" people do have
wisdom. And gaining wisdom is what life is all about. Slowly,
as we collectively gain knowledge, all of us move towards
some form of perfection which is beyond our understanding.
At the moment, anyway.
On a more contemporary and
mundane level, I approve of the Permissive Society, as long
as people learn from the mistakes. I sometimes wonder if
we are learning. That's one reason why I don't like the
trend towards pornograhic entertainment. Films should be
made to entertain people, to meke them enjoy life, not to
coerce them into becoming obsessed with one aspect of it.
I don't think you'll ever see Roger Moore doing a "full
frontal" on film. I cannot see myself going against
my own brand of moral thinking. This may sound a bit prudish,
but I also vigorously disapprove of programmes like Till
Death Us Do Part. To throw words like nigger, coon and
kyke out from the screen as though it is funny is distasteful
to me. Words like than can hurt, and they add up to the
bigotry of the world. I would be much happier if bigotry
was treated not as a comedy. I have personal fears about
the state of the world. It seems to me to be bordering on
the point of insanity and self-destruction. But because
I am an optimist I hope there is enough influence given
to the wiser amongst us to see us all through the clearer
thinking. Memories are too short. Three generations have
been born since the horror of Hiroshima. To them it is only
something in the history books. Intolerance is something
I can't stand and bigotry in a person puts me off them for
ever. But I can thruthfully say that the people I have disliked
working with can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Why shouldn't we enjoy ourselves? We're in one of the funniest
professions in the world. And do you know something? I'm
one of its best comedians.
© Independent Publications
Limited 1972
