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Roger Moore was the smoothest and suavest of James Bond actors, never shaken or stirred, although one particular love scene tested him like no other.
You can see the strain on his face in the classic closing scene from his fourth outing as 007 in Moonraker – and it definitely wasn’t method acting.
The 1979 film attempted to cash in on the new space-craze that had been ignited by Star Wars and was the most expensive Bond film.
Lois Chiles played Lois Chiles played one of the Bond girls with one of the most provocative names of the franchise, CIA operative Dr Holly Goodhead.
But for Moore there was nothing good about the famous scene.
Chiles spoke of their time together following the Bond legend’s death in 2017.
She said: “He never acted the star. He’d always include me in dinners and drinks with his family after filming. We filmed in glorious locations, in Paris, Venice and Rio de Janeiro, and most of my scenes were with Roger, including a couple of love scenes.
“Even in those, Roger would be joking to keep the mood light. It was never drudgery with Roger.”
The actor was famous in the industry for never complaining and always trying to make work as easy as possible for cast and crew, but Moonraker tested him greatly.
Moore had already battled through two trying scenes. When Bond gets trapped in a spinning zero-gravity simulator in villain Drax’s lair, the actor’s face was bruised rather badly due to the intense blasts of air used to replicate the effects of spinning.
And then, when Bond’s tricked-out gondola failed to turn into a hovercraft on the first four attempts, each time the actor was dumped into the Venetian canals, to the entertainment of watching tourists and despair of the crew who had to dry Moore off and restyle and dress him over and over.
After all that, the climactic sex scene should have been a bit of fun, surely?
In fact, being stuck inside another zero-gravity simulator to replicate the effects of being in a pod, high above the Earth’s atmosphere, was a punishing experience.
Moore later called it “the hardest scene of my career” and explained the unbearable pressure on all his blood vessels in his face: “I was hanging there, with all the blood rushing into my nose and eyes.”
And he spoke hilariously of Bond sex scenes again on his final one-man tour of the UK.
Moore said: “Those love scenes were usually done when the studios were freezing cold. So you’d say to the leading lady, ‘Keep your socks on, darling.’ And socks in bed are never romantic.
“Plus, when you’re shooting there’s all the crew on the rails above you, looking down going, ‘Go on, give her one Roger!’”
