How Roger Moore went from shy to celluloid smooth

As part of a stage tour that sees him sharing anecdotes from his long and eyebrow-raisingly colourful career, Roger Moore, 89, recently landed at the Southbank Centre in London to discuss “Being a Man”. One of the subjects on the agenda is the “pressure of masculine identity in the 21st century”. So I ask the multimillionaire Sir Roger, who played James Bond more than any other actor and seduced more women in the role than Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig, what pressure has he felt on his “masculine identity” in the 21st century. There’s a pause, followed by a laugh, and the words, in his luxuriant baritone: “Well, I’ve never really thought about it.”

Moore has spoken in the past about how his first wife, Doorn van Steyn, threw a teapot at him and his second wife, Dorothy Squires, broke a guitar over his head. But, he tells me that he hates confrontation. “I’m not argumentative, I loathe tension. I would rather walk away than become involved in a shouting match.” He has, however, had four marriages. How does he square that with his talk of being easy-going? What, if anything, has he learnt about how to behave as a man from his wives? “Well, I don’t think I learnt too much, otherwise I wouldn’t have been married four times,” he says. “What I have learnt, I always jokingly say, is that you should have the last word, which is, ‘Yes, dear’.”

And would his wives agree that he doesn’t like confrontation? “Absolutely,” he gives a hearty laugh. “Absolutely.” He was and remains a great fan of David Cameron. What, I ask, does he make of the world’s current power brokers, Donald Trump (with the accusations of sexism) and Vladimir Putin (not ashamed of sporting his naked stomach for the cameras). Moore is wary of being drawn, but about Trump, he says: “I don’t think [he] comes over as a macho sexist man,” while, of Putin’s tough-guy posing, he says: “I think it’s rather nicer to think that your leaders, or the people in power are healthy, that they’re not going to keel over any second.” Our conversation turns to the high points and regrets of his career. His greatest regret, he says, is not being asked to play Lawrence of Arabia. And the high point? “A film called The Man Who Haunted Himself. The only chance I was given to act, to play something that really wasn’t me,” he says with feeling. As to whom he thinks should be the next Bond, does he have money on Tom Hiddleston or Aidan Turner? “It could be a toss-up between either of them. I don’t know whether Daniel Craig will come back. I would hope he does. I would just like him to come back — and get $100 million (Dh367 million).”