Our story of the month: december 2003

An appointment with Sir Roger...

By Lucy Cavendish, Evening Standard - 17 November 2003

The girl at the reception of the Sheraton Park Hilton hotel in Knightsbridge has no idea who Roger Moore is. "You are looking for a Mr Moore," she says, "who used to be Mr Bond. Is that correct?" After the 10th time of me explaining the difference between Mr Moore and his fictitious alter-ego, the first of whom is supposed to be meeting me at this hotel, I give up. Maybe Roger Moore isn't going to do an interview. He rarely does.

Then I hear a low, discreet cough and I turn round to see Roger Moore standing behind me grinning and sweating and waving all at the same time. He is so unmistakable, stylish in his grey suit and pink tie. He's James Bond, The Saint, The Persuader, just with many more years heaped on him.

It turns out that life as 76-year-old Roger Moore is all a bit chaotic. He has just come off an aeroplane from Vancouver. "I've been everywhere," he says, running his hands through his thinning but carefully dyed hair. "I've been in Vietnam and Cambodia. Shall I tell you why?" But, just as he is about to answer, his tall, darkhaired actress daughter Deborah appears, wanting to talk to her father about the charity she's involved with.

There is going to be a celebrity banquet and Moore will be guest of honour. "It's called The Passage, Dad," she says. "I know it's called The Passage, Deborah dear," says Moore, barely moving anything but his mouth like a ventriloquist's dummy, he's that stretched and taught. "It helps the homeless get off the streets," she says. "Good thing, too," says Moore. "In my day there were barely any homeless. I shall read out the Streets of London at the charity do." "You're not going to sing it, are you, Dad?" asks Deborah.

"Dad!" says Deborah again, sharply. Roger Moore pretends to look hurt again but, inside, he's probably delighted. He's got to that age when everyone will humour him. Then again, he's hardly in his dotage. "That's because I'm fortunate," he says. "I'm well looked after." He means by his fourth wife, Kristina Tholstrup. He's obviously very happy with her. (...)

Later, he tells me that Kristina Tholstrup is his lifeline. "We spend six weeks a year in Monaco and six weeks in Switzerland and the rest of the time we are travelling because of my work for Unicef." This is why they have been in Hanoi, to help the lives of children there. "When I was playing James Bond it was the best job in the world. I mean it was hard work, all that filming and travelling and tedium on set, but I earned a lot of money and it was not a taxing job. I just had to say, 'Shaken, not stirred'.

(...)

Roger Moore says he loves [Kristina] because she is "organised", "serene", "loving" and "calm". "I have a difficult life. I rely on Kristina totally. When we are travelling for my job she is the one who packs. Kristina takes care of all that." It all sounds very pre-women's lib. Not that Moore questions this type of devotion. "It has never occurred to me," he says. "I was an only child. My parents adored me and I had a very happy childhood, so maybe I just sort of expect to be loved." Then again, I suppose his wife and exwife get great benefits by being with Moore. The son of a Streatham policeman, he has gone on to amass a £20 million-plus fortune.

(...)

"She was there when I collapsed on stage in New York in May," he says. "I was in The Play What I Wrote. It was my 34th appearance - Kristina went to every one - and I was having a marvellous time and then, clunk, I collapsed backwards. I remember thinking, 'What is that clunking noise? Why am I horizontal on the stage?' I thought maybe I had tripped. Then I saw the curtain come down and Kristina looking very pale. I said, 'I'm fine. Let's keep going,' but Kristina insisted that I was taken to hospital. It was very ER." It turns out that Moore needed a pacemaker to regulate the electrical impulses to his heart but he was out within 24 hours. Now he says he feels fine. "They change the battery every five to six years and it's all very simple," he says. But if he's had cancer and a heart scare, why doesn't he slow down and stop travelling so much?

"That's what Kristina says," he says. "That's what I say!" says Deborah. "He overworks. He cannot bear to sit still and yet he's a total hypochondriac. He takes hundreds of vitamins a day. He says, 'Oh God, I've got a wicklow!' and runs off to the doctor." "But there's longevity in my family," says Moore. "My father didn't die until he was 93!" Unfortunately, both his parents died before they could see their son honoured first with a CBE and now a knighthood. Moore is very proud of his honours. "My parents would have been so delighted," he says. "Deborah says she thinks they know." "Of course they do," says Deborah.

"I can't believe some people turn it down," says Moore. "I never turn anything down." With that in mind, he's about to appear alongside Prunella Scales and Jane Horrocks in the Christmas Tesco advert. Why did he do it? "I'd do anything with Prunella Scales," he says.

(...)

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