Updated May 24, 2017 00:58:48

Photo: Roger Moore plays the title role of secret service agent 007, James Bond, in 1972. (AP, file)

British actor Sir Roger Moore, who won international fame playing secret agent James Bond, has died aged 89, his family says.

In a post on the actor's official Twitter account, the family said he had died in Switzerland of cancer.

His 12 years as James Bond, the British agent with a voracious appetite for danger and sex, made Moore a millionaire as well as a heartthrob the world over.

"It is with a heavy heart that we must announce our loving father, Sir Roger Moore, has passed away today in Switzerland after a short but brave battle with cancer," his three children announced in the Twitter statement.

Sir Roger starred in seven James Bond films between 1973 and 1985 and was the longest serving Bond so far.

His star was added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008.

The son of a London policeman, Sir Roger once said the upper-crust image he portrayed both on and off the screen was a carefully nurtured cover for his shyness and timidity.

He also said he was terrified of playing the sex scenes which were a key part of the Bond movies.

"I couldn't walk into a restaurant on my own for 20 or 30 years," he once said, saying that all changed when he found fame in the role.

"[But] that's not really me. Timid me would rather stay home and have a sandwich."

In reality, he was terrified by the stunts he had to perform as James Bond, and would steel himself before facing the cameras in the sex scenes with a mixture of Valium and beer.

Sir Roger's big breakthrough as an actor came in 1962, when he won the part of "The Saint" in a popular television series of the same name.

In this role, he honed his image of the urbane Englishman with a stream of damsels to rescue from distress.

Living a millionaire's life

Photo: The actor's family said he died in Switzerland of cancer. (Reuters: Eric Gaillard)

In 1973 came the coveted part of James Bond, writer Ian Fleming's action man spy 007, which captivated cinemagoers across the world.

The Bond films were said to have earned Sir Roger 14 million pounds ($29 million).

He moved to the United States to avoid paying his taxes.

"I don't see why a chap shouldn't do what he likes and live where he wants on his money, and the British government, which allows talent to go abroad because of taxation, has only itself to blame," he said in an interview in 1989.

After handing over the role of Bond to Timothy Dalton, Moore went into semi-retirement, living a millionaire's life and travelling between his homes in Los Angeles, Switzerland and the south of France.

In 1991, he became an ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF, a role he held until his death.

"With the passing of Sir Roger Moore, the world has lost one of its great champions for children — and the entire UNICEF family has lost a great friend," the agency's executive director Anthony Lake said in a statement.

"In his most famous roles as an actor, Sir Roger was the epitome of cool sophistication; but in his work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, he was a passionate — and highly persuasive — advocate for children."

Sir Roger is survived by his fourth wife, Scandinavian socialite Kristina "Kiki" Tholstrup, whom he married in 2002, and by his three children from an earlier marriage, Deborah, Geoffrey and Christian.

Reuters

Topics: actor, arts-and-entertainment, death, film-movies, united-kingdom

First posted May 23, 2017 23:36:55