Roger Moore died on Monday, May 23. He was 89. Though he'll be remembered for playing James Bond in 7 films and also having the lead role in the THE SAINT TV series, Roger wasn't a stranger to the PEPLUM genre. In fact, his very first role was appearing as an extra playing a Roman soldier in CAESAR & CLEOPATRA (1945). It's amazing that he was still Bond in the 1980s 40 years after his first film.
DIANE (1955)
A fresh-faced Roger is entangled in a love affair with Lana Turner. Good film!
THE KING'S THIEF (1955)
Roger co-starred with PEPLUM star Edmund Purdom (left)
ROMULUS & THE SABINES (1961)
Roger was Romulus in this comedy set during the first days of Rome. Scilla Gabel was one of his love interests (above). Roger looked the part but the PEPLUM genre wasn't his calling.
There was an episode in THE SAINT, where the anti-hero is into Ancienr Roman lifestyle. The episode is "The man who liked Lions". In this episode, he hosted a Roman themed party that featured Greco roman wrestling. Here's the clip:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q528oOHt7wA
ROMULUS AND THE SABINES was indeed one of the better Peplum comedies, a genre which was generally difficult to pull off successfully.
ReplyDeleteIn some countries the title used the R-word (Rape), which is in accordance with famous painting on this topic by Rubens, Poussin, and others.
Nooooo!Roger! I watched him every evening in The Saint here in Chile, I was a kid, he was (and still is) one of my heroes, as many children, I tried to be a Simon Templar look-alike (and I failed miserably because he is unique). Did you saw him in The Miracle?, The Persuaders? Romulus and the sabines?. This is like to be in a Greek temple full of impressive sculptures, and, when you turn to one side, a statue has dissapeared by the other, it's depressing, we are almost alone, only someone like The Saint, a Templar could overcome a situation like this.
ReplyDeleteRoger Moore was often in my native Sweden, for example while doing charity work. There was a huge gala here a few years ago and a long line of international celebrities filed past a crowd of hopeful bystanders to get into the gala arena. ONE of them stepped out to talk to people and sign autographs, and that was Roger Moore.
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