In Defense of Sir Roger Moore....

Over the weekend, the British tabloid the Daily Mail, carried this article in which they claimed that Sir Roger Moore had sneered at the idea of Luther actor Idris Elba playing James Bond in an interview given to a French magazine Paris Match. 

The exact translation of the above is as follows ‘“A few years ago, I said that Cuba Gooding Jr. would make an excellent Bond, but it was a joke! Although James may have been played by a Scot, a Welshman and an Irishman. I think he should be 'English-English', nevertheless, it's an interesting idea, but unrealistic."

This was interpreted by some as Sir Roger disapproving of a black man playing the famous super spy. The perennially volatile social media, reacted strongly to these alleged comments, but quite soon Sir Roger took to Twitter to clarify that he has said nothing of a kind and that his words were mistranslated.

The news media also carried the story, a Google search yielded more than 200 news items. Thankfully most covered the fact that Sir Roger had refuted allegations of racism and the articles were appropriately headlined, as expected there were a few who played mischief with words.

A charge such as racism is one of the worst charges that can be leveled against any individual, one would hope that concrete proof of multiple acts and statements are the basis for such assertions and not merely a couple of sentences whose very authenticity is challenged. 

But there may be some who are still not convinced and have doubts in the minds, so let’s look at Sir Roger’s life before we judge him. 

This is a man who has dedicated a large part of his life to charity as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. Sir Roger has been a fervent advocate for children as traveled to various countries with missions supported by UNICEF. His main goal has been to highlight the importance of education, health care, sanitation and clean water for young children and raise donations that can help improve conditions. For details about all Sir Roger's activities at UNICEF, please follow this link at the UNICEF official website. 

Moore was also involved with PETA during his campaign against foie gras. Here he narrated a documentary which depicted the barbaric force feeding of ducks that causes enlargement of their liver which is used to produce foie gras. This documentary and the campaign proved effective in persuading stores in the UK such as Selfridges to drop foie gras from their shelves. It is important to note that Sir Roger personally financed the campaign.

The following account will also throw light on Sir Roger as an individual. A couple of years ago I traveled to Udaipur for a holiday, Udaipur as most 007 aficionados will know is the one of the locations where James Bond film Octopussy was shot. I had made it my mission to accumulate as much information as I could possibly muster about events surrounding the shooting of the film. As luck would have it I ran into this rather elderly tour guide who happened to be on the sets at the time of the shoot. His face lit up as he described excitement and anticipation when the Bond film was being shot in the streets of his city. He had lost count of the number of times he had watched the 007 blockbuster Moonraker in the cinema hall and it was a most surreal experience for him to watch his favorite star Roger Moore in person standing just a few feet away from him. We all know that the streets of any busy city can get crowded and chaotic on especially weekdays, hence a small constabulary force was deployed to prevent people from trespassing into the sets and disruption of the shoot. These police constables were armed with bamboo sticks also known as lathis that were used a deterrent for potential trespasser. But the excitement to experience every moment of the proceedings and get closer to their favorite star would often get the better of onlookers and some would accidentally overstepping their boundaries while others blatantly tried to cross over. It was at this point that the constables would get in action and strike any of these potential offenders with their lathis sometimes on their knees which not only could be very painful but could cause a very serious and perhaps permanent damage. Moore was perhaps the only one who realized this rather unnecessary application of force. He walked over the crowds and requested the constables to restrain themselves. They never ever struck bystanders or on lookers again. As the elderly guide wisely pointed out “It is these random acts of kindness that really tell about the heart of a person. He was the star of the film, he was guarded, he didn't have to even concern himself about us, and yet he did and came out of his way to help and protect us. He used his power for good. We have had many film shoots here but and quite often onlookers get pushed and shoved around by overzealous guards. Very seldom do we have a situation where anybody in the crew cared about the well-being of onlookers and this was the main star of the picture”

It takes a man of great sensitivity to feel the pain of others and Sir Roger clearly felt that. It takes a man of great compassion who out of choice travels to places where there may be danger to one’s person for the betterment of the less fortunate.

Let’s have a look at the past record of the Daily Mail. Last October the papers carried a story claiming that Sir Roger has groped his costar on the sets of the 007 film For Your Eyes Only, a few weeks back they printed this clarification and apology in an obscure corner of the paper. Hopefully the Daily Mail will retract this story as well and will do so on the front page and with greater immediacy.

As 007, Sir Roger vanquished many of his deadly enemies with perceptive application of contraptions provided gadget master Q. However the dishonest news media is turning out to be more dangerous that any of those onscreen villains. A simple way to combat these real life villains is the apt usage of that little gadget called the of the video camera. Every interview can be shot by somebody in Sir Roger’s team. This will ensure that everything is on the record and in the event that anything is misrepresented, the unedited version can be released on YouTube and all controversies will be summarily put to rest.

In conclusion, we have decades of selfless work that has potentially influenced the lives of millions all over the world versus a solitary sentence whose veracity has been challenged. Is there any further defense required? Hopefully good sense will prevail and we will forget that this unfortunate grievous misrepresentation ever took place.

Here’s wishing one of my favorite actors of all times a healthy, happy and prosperous life ahead!