That Epic Story About Roger Moore and the Kid at the Airport Who Thought He Was James Bond Is True!
British actor Sir Roger Moore is most famous the world over for portraying James Bond through the 1970s and 80s, but less known is his interactions with fans, and one boy in particular who’s encounter with the famed “007” was a lovely memory he kept dear.
Moore played the iconic British Cold War spy over seven films from 1973 to 1985, but he also played an independent spy troubleshooter named Simon Templer in a long-running British TV action series, “The Saint.” The TV series broadcast from 1962 to 1969 made Moore an international star and helped create his sophisticated, suave, wisecracking personae that he carried over into the Bond franchise and his Hollywood stardom.
All too often when people encounter a star they find the experience less than satisfying. And, while you can sympathize to a degree with a star who is beset by fans everywhere they go — and one must realize how exhausting that could be — it’s a shame that many actors, athletes and other stars just can’t seem to put their ire on hold long enough just to be pleasant to fans, especially young ones.
Indeed, after starring in U.S. TV’s famed western “Maverick” and moving on to “The Saint” and then the Bond series, Moore was internationally famous from 1960 until his passing in 2017, giving him nearly 50 years of high-profile fame. That is a long, long time to have interactions with fans.
Yet, upon his passing in 2017, nearly every tribute to his life and career noted that Moore was one of the industry’s true gentlemen. Stories of his kindness and easygoing demeanor abounded at the time, with headlines such as “The Man with the Golden Heart,” and “The Sultan of Self-Deprecation,” and “One of Nature’s True Gentlemen.”
But one story in particular rose to the top of everyone’s news about Moore’s passing that truly highlighted Roger Moore, the man and the star.
It was a pair of anecdotes about when TV screenwriter Marc Haynes first met Moore when the former was a 7-year-old boy back in 1983, and the time when he was in his thirties that he met the James Bond star for a second time.
Haynes, who grew up from that shy 7-year-old boy to become a TV scriptwriter, told the story about when he first met the famed actor in an airport departures lounge in France, the CBC reported in 2017.
The TV professional said he was with his grandfather at the time, walking through Nice international airport, officially known as the Nice Côte d’Azur Airport, when he spied the spy waiting for a flight. The boy convinced his grandfather to go over and ask for Moore’s autograph on a scrap of paper, a duty that Moore was only too happy to oblige.
“He went over, perfectly pleasant, and said, ‘My grandson says you’re famous. Could you please sign this?’ And he gave him the boarding ticket,” Haynes said of his grandfather’s interaction with the 007 star.
But Haynes added that when he got the scrap of paper, it said someone’s name on it that he didn’t understand.
“Roger Moore signed the ticket and he gave it back to me. And it was only as we were walking away that I read the back, and he signed it, ‘To Marc, Best wishes. Sincerely, Roger Moore.’ I couldn’t work out what the name was. The name I’d been expecting was James Bond and that wasn’t on the ticket. So I said to my grandfather, ‘I think he signed the wrong name!’ My grandfather went straight back there,” Haynes said.
Haynes noted that at 7, he simply didn’t grasp that James Bond was just a character on a movie screen and that Roger Moore was an actor hired out to pretend to be the super spy.
So, Haynes and his grandfather went back over to Moore and explained the problem.
That’s when Moore did something both unexpected and exceedingly kind.
“Moore looked up and he signaled over to me. I’d sort of hung back a little bit, and he cautioned me over, and as I came over, he leant down and he took it very slowly, and he said, ‘I have to sign Roger Moore because if I put my name James Bond then Blofeld would know I was here,'” the actor said invoking the name of Bond’s dreaded enemy, Blofeld.
“And of course, everything fell into place for me. Of course, this was James Bond, and he’d just essentially given me a secret mission, which was not to reveal that he was in the airport,” Haynes explained.
“I’m 7 years old and I’m saving James Bond from certain death. My grandfather basically said to me, ‘Did you get it all sorted out?’ And in the words of a 7-year-old, I effectively said it was a case of mistaken identity,” he said thrilling to the memory.
But that was just part one of the tale. Haynes also met Moore after the actor retired from acting and working as a UNICEF ambassador for children. Moore visited the TV station Haynes was working at to film a segment for his ambassadorship and during their brief second meeting, Haynes quickly related that childhood story and thanked Moore for being so kind back then.
But, showing what a wonderful man Moore was, as he was leaving, he gave Haynes one last heartwarming gift.
“When he was leaving to go to his car,” Haynes said wrapping up his story, “I was standing in a corridor by the green room, seeing him off. And as he walked down the corridor, he stopped, and he paused, and he turned to me, and once again leant into me with a low voice, and said: ‘I do remember when I met you in Nice, but I didn’t say anything in case any of the cameramen were working for Blofeld.'”
“I mean, just a perfect gentleman. To be wowed by him at 7 is one thing. To be wowed by him at 30? I mean, what a pleasure and a privilege,” Haynes concluded.
It’s always such a treat to find out that a star is such an easy personality with children and fans.
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