I Want to Know Moore (My Word Is My Bond: The Autobiography - Roger Moore)

Member Name: samueltyler

Product:	My Word Is My Bond: The Autobiography - Roger Moore
Date:	11/03/09 (147 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny stories, relaxed writing style

Disadvantages: Old fashioned, very light

Want to know who is the best Bond? Wonder no more as here's the definitive list:

Connery,
Craig,
Dalton,
Lazenby,
Moore,
Brosnan

Case closed.

As you can see Roger Moore is pretty low down and is probably not the favourite Bond even in his own household. For every 'Live and Let Die' there was 'Octopussy', he singlehandedly made Bond into 'The Saint' on the big screen. Only Brosnan's awful scripts prevent Moore from coming bottom and earning M's wooden spoon. Perhaps I am being too harsh? Many people liked Moore's light hearted Bond films and prefer them to the darker tones of recent efforts. I decided when offered the chance to read Moore's new autobiography 'My Word is my Bond' to see if it could make me change my opinion.

In 2008 Roger Moore turned 80 and this is a ripe age for releasing a biography. 'My Word is my Bond' is a chronological look at Moore's life from his upbringing during WW2, his early days as an actor, 'The Saint', 'The Persuaders', Bond, and UNICEF. Interspersed between these jobs are several marriages and a whole load of absolutely awful films. With a light-hearted approach Moore set out to entertain the reader as well as inform them of his life.

With many of the people he knew no longer with us the opportunity to delve deep into Hollywood scandal is open for Moore. However, this never happens for a number of reasons and is one reason that the book is disappointing. Firstly, Moore comes across as an old fashioned 'lovey' who will not talk ill of anyone. This kind of undermines the point of an autobiography imo. Secondly, his career had him brushing up with many famous people, but most of them were older and not particularly radical. Finally, I am not sure how deep this book went, in fact, I felt that it was incredibly shallow.

Throughout the book Moore paints himself as a decent man and as a UNICEF ambassador and Knight I am sure that he is. However, like most people he has darker times in his life that he is not proud of. Rather than go into any detail about them he skims over the events. Some good examples include; his three divorces and his willingness to work in South Africa during the apartheid. Having been in film and TV for decades Moore writes like he is out of touch (not surprising for an 80 year old man). The Apartheid issue for one is very dubious, "we were helping the people" - whatever. The most poignant elements of the book are easily the UNICEF sections towards the end and he uses his celebrity to drum up funds. However, am I the only one a little bemused about him writing how he went from a hospital full of limbless children to the yacht of a ruler for a delicious meal? It seems that Moore has become closeted within a life of success and excess.

This is fair enough as he has been famous forever. However, to sell me on the idea of a truthful biog you have to give me something to believe. The best thing is to provide some controversy and tell us something we do not know - that way we do not question the stuff you are hiding. Moore provides nothing but hints at divorce etc. No person can be as white as Moore paints himself to be so I spent the entire book disbelieving.

Despite all these misgivings it became clear that this was not ever meant to be a deep autobiography. Instead, it is supposed to be an old fashioned one in the vein of David Niven. If you are looking for a light hearted book that tells funny stories about the actors from the 50s to the 80s then this is a good book. It's clear that Moore is up for a laugh and that he made friends throughout his life very easily. With the likes of Sinatra, Elton John, Niven, Cary Grant and many others mentioned in the book you start to enjoy the excessive name dropping. Moore writes in a very personable and warm style as if talking to a friend rattling off little vignettes as if at a dinner party. This does lead to issues in structure as the book is packed to the gills with stories and they sometimes become too much as you lose the thread of Moore's life.

Your enjoyment of Moore's 'My Word is my Bond' will depend on what you expect from an autobiography. Modern misery based literature will have us reading books about child abuse and depressing lives. This is not the case here as Moore provides a solidly old fashioned style of biog that has many funny stories. Overall, I would have liked a little more structure to the book so that I could discover more about the man. What I did learn is that he writes a funny tale and for that I enjoyed the book.

Author: Roger Moore
Year: 2008
Price: amazon uk - £8.80
play.com - £11.99

Summary: A book of anecdotes rather than a biog