*Post written by James Wethington, library assistant of the University Archives and Special Collections.

Roger Moore starring as James Bond, Agent 007.

Located inside of Jeanne Suhrenreich (MSS 118) is a little glimpse of movie history. It is a Moonraker movie poster from 1978, starring Roger Moore as James Bond. As you might have heard, he passed away on Tuesday, May 23rd. His most recognized role was as Agent 007, James Bond in the 1970’s and 1980’s (Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, n.d.). Moore starred in television shows and numerous films. Before becoming the world’s most famous agent, Moore starred in “The Saint” as Simon Templar, in a British television series, from 1962 to 1969; moreover, Moore starred in Interrupted Melody in 1955 and The Cannonball Run in 1981. He was knighted in 2003 (Gates, 2017).

Moonraker premiered in the summer of 1979 (Internet Movie Database, n.d.). This was Roger Moore’s fourth Bond film out of seven films. The main plot shows Agent 007 returning to the screen silver to battle Hugo Drax, protecting Earth from annulation. The film is loosely based on Ian Fleming’s 1955 novel, Moonraker (Wikipedia, 2017). At Rice Library, some of Ian Fleming’s novels and movie adaptations are available for rental.

Did you know?

• Moonraker was the highest grossing Bond film ($210.3 million) since its inception in 1962 until Goldeneye in 1995 ($355 million) (Internet Movie Database, n.d., Wikipedia, 2017a, Wikipedia 2017b).
• For Your Eyes Only was originally the next film; however, after the release of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977), Moonraker was filmed to piggyback off George Lucas’ success (Internet Movie Database, n.d.)
• Moonraker “… holds the world record for having the largest number of zero gravity wires in one scene” (Buckland, 2016).

References

Buckland, D. M. (2016). Collection editions: James Bond. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=bb3oCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica (n.d.). James Bond. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/James-Bond

Gates, A. (2017, May 23). Roger Moore, who played James Bond 007 times, dies at 89. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/movies/roger-moore-dead-james-bond.html?_r=0

Internet Movie Database (n.d.). Moonraker. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079574/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Wikipedia. (2017, May 24). Moonraker. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonraker_(film)

Wikipedia. (2017, May 24). Goldeneye. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldenEye