Today, October 14, 2022, it will be Sir Roger Moore’s 95th birthday. The British actor has played James Bond on the big screen for 12 years, and has made in seven films the role of the international spy. But there was also a huge part of the character that he just couldn’t handle.
Moore spoke to the BBC in 2017 about his days on Bond and opened up about the one thing he didn’t like about the series.
He said, “I regret that heroes in general are photographed with guns in hand. To tell the truth, I have always hated the gun and what they represent.”
Of course, guns have been an essential part of 007’s arsenal since the first Bond movie, Dr No, in 1962.
However, this dependence on this type of weapon was a point of contention for Moore. Not surprisingly, considering that a malfunction in the gun left him shocked.
Moore spoke candidly about the horrific script during the commentary track on the 1985 film A View To a Kill.
The star revealed that he volunteered for a refresher training course in the army to perfect his performance as a military-trained spy. During the course, he was required to handle some firearms.
Unbeknownst to the staff, Moore was given a pistol that had a dead-end mechanism. So when the actor pulled the trigger of the gun, the gun in his hand exploded.
Fortunately, Moore was left unscathed, but the burning had a lasting effect on him.
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Moore explained that his hatred of the movie came mostly from the violence involved. In particular, he criticized a sinister scene involving Christopher Walken’s villain, Max Zorin, wielding an Uzi submachine gun and maniacally shooting a group of people.
These experiences were the latest in a long list of obsessions that Moore had with guns, too.
In his memoir, My Word Is My Bond, the actor stated that he was shot in the leg as a teenager.
The shot was relatively harmless, fired from a ball-bearing (BB) pistol, but it appears to have hit the star enough to stick with it for life.
Despite Moore’s disdain for guns and the fact that James Bond used them a lot, he’s admitted that he’s loved being recognized as a 007 over the years.
“Being always known as Bond has no downside,” he told The Guardian in 2014. “People often call me ‘Mr. Bond’ when we’re out and I don’t mind a bit. Why would I do that?”
He added, “I still have some Bond suits in my closet but they just don’t fit me now. During my 007 days I was so skinny that if I swerved sideways, you could make me quit. Luckily I’ve never had to squeeze trunks worn by Daniel Craig—it takes a lot of Hard work to look like this.”
Moore passed away on May 23, 2017, after suffering from lung and liver cancer. He died at his home in Crans-Montana surrounded by his family.
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