Before he became Bond on the big screen, the dapper Moore had charmed his way through a number of lightweight TV roles that included the kid-targeted 1958 ITV series Ivanhoe, which was widely syndicated in the U.S. and around the world, the Warner Bros. retread western The Alaskans, and perhaps most significantly, the Warner Bros. western series Maverick, where Moore played the English-educated Beau Maverick, who more or less replaced James Garner’s Bret Maverick in the 1961 season.
The devil-may-care charm that Moore displayed in Maverick led to the actor’s defining television role in The Saint, the ITC mystery thriller that ran for six seasons and 118 episodes (including airing on NBC from 1967-1969). Among the many adventure dramas on U.K TV, only The Avengers, another fan favorite series, could match The Saint’s longevity during the 1960s.
The nature of the roles that Roger Moore played and the seemingly effortless nature of his performances both tend to obscure the actor’s very real gifts, but like Errol Flynn, another vastly underrated performer, Moore could exude charm at will and move across the screen with subtle grace. He should be remembered for his rare talents as well as for his considerable body of humanitarian work as a UNICEF Ambassador.
