Roger Moore may be gone, but he'll never be forgotten.

Roger Moore Live and Let Die
EON Productions
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This morning, I learned that Sir Roger Moore, one of the few men to get to play the iconic spy James Bond had passed away. He was 89 years old. I was filled with great sadness because Moore was my first James Bond, and my favorite. I remember being a Freshman in high school and slowly getting into the James Bond films. I was overwhelmed at the amount of films that were available at the time. I decided to just jump in based on which film I had heard had a great villain.

My first James Bond movie was 1979 Bond film Moonraker. I chose this because I thought the villain, Jaws, was cool. Moonraker was, by all accounts, not a great movie. James Bond shooting lasers and going into space was hokey, even by 1979 standards. But still, the man playing Bond, Roger Moore, still brought a great performance to the character. Unlike the legendary Sean Connery, Moore didn't seem to take himself as seriously as Connery. And that helped a lot, considering the the Bond films that Moore starred in are among the most goofy.

One of my favorite Bond films, for all of it's ridiculousness, is The Man with the Golden Gun. The movie was all sorts of campy with its decision to have the main villain (played by Christopher Lee) have a third nipple, and make it a plot point. This third-nippled villain also had a dwarf side-kick because of course he did. This movie holds a special place in my heart because it was the first Bond film that I actually enjoyed and understood the appeal of the character that is James Bond.

I managed to make my way through all of Moore's Bond movies and I really enjoy them the most. It's also really fun to say the title Octopussy because I'm forever 12 years old. Moore also had a lot of great villains throughout his films. Any Bond who gets to take on Christopher Lee and Christopher Walken automatically gets cool points.

I'm not hear to argue that Roger Moore is the best James Bond, but I am here to simply say that he was my favorite. His movies represent one of my favorite eras of cinema and he will be sorely missed by everyone who has ever enjoyed a Bond film.

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