FAREWELL ROGER MOORE: the playboy Bond with the best eyebrows in the business…

We all have a best James Bond. It depends on when you were born, though? With Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig in the role of James Bond, plus the return of Sean Connery to the role in “Never Say Never Again” and the 1967 all-star Bond spoof “Casino” Royale with David Niven as James Bond… and we have visited Bond through the ages and asked the ultimate question… who is your favourite Bond?

#Roger Moore, who died Tuesday at the age of 89, specialized in playing roguish, sophisticated characters who had fun while saving the day and, of course, getting the girl. Roger Moore has finally left his Martini, gun’s and bikini-clad girls. He was a rogue, gambler, gentleman, and super spy… He was always entertaining.

The family of former James Bond star Roger Moore says he has died aged 89 from “a short but brave battle with cancer”.

“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,” the family statement said.

Sir Roger Moore played 007 from 1973 until 1985. He made his debut in “Live and Let Die,” and last appeared in “A View to a Kill.”

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Moore first became famous to television audiences when he appeared in the late 50s in the offbeat western, “Maverick,” as the English raised cousin of Bret and Bart, Beau Maverick. His character, it is alleged, had been shipped across the pond by “Pappy” for the crime of doing something heroic during the Civil War. He returned to the American West cured of such pretensions, but still always winding up on the right side of things.

Roger Moore in Maverick (1957)

The next two TV shows Moore starred intended to typecast him. In “The Saint” he played a criminal who stole from other criminals, staying one step ahead of Inspector Claude Teal who was unimpressed by his selection of victims.

Roger Moore and Kenneth J. Warren in The Saint (1962)

In “The Persuaders” Moore was a titled English lord who found himself paired with a decidedly plebian American played by Tony Curtis, traveling the world, solving crimes and righting wrongs. Both characters played to Moore’s good looks and boyish charms.

Moore was often described his range as an actor as “everything from ‘raises left eyebrow’ to ‘raises right eyebrow’”.

Unlike his predecessor, More played the British super spy with a little bit of self-awareness, sometimes smirking at the camera as he prepared to deal with dangerous situations…

Terry O’Neill / Getty Images

Archive Photos / Getty Images

Moore fights with Richard Kiel, as Jaws, who bites through a board in a scene from “The Spy Who Loved Me,” released in 1977.

Terry O’Neill / Getty Images

Moore chases Herve Villechaize while Britt Ekland huddles against the wall with a sheet wrapped around her in a scene from “The Man With The Golden Gun,” released in 1974.

Moore chases Herve Villechaize while Britt Ekland huddles against the wall with a sheet wrapped around her in a scene from “The Man With The Golden Gun,” released in 1974.

It’s hard to imagine any of today’s leading men appraising their own talents in such wry terms, but it’s hard to imagine Moore becoming a leading man – and in due course, an unimpeachable national treasure – at any other point in history than he did.

It hardly needs to be said that Moore is best remembered for his time playing James Bond, in seven films between 1973 and 1985.

He’s rarely held up as the definitive 007, which is neither here or there. What’s certain is the character wouldn’t have survived the 1970s and 1980s without him.

After the fraught post-war years, and with a newly flowering ease about what it meant to be British in the world, Sean Connery’s severe take on the secret agent had run its course, while George Lazenby’s barely left the blocks.

From the world, throughout the years, goodbye, Roger Moore, have a fond farewell and  hope you’re having a ball