Sir Roger Moore to unveil a plaque in his honour at Elstree, UK

Sir Roger Moore has taken up the invitation to unveil a plaque in his honour in Borehamwood & Elstree, UK.

Moore, who has accepted, said he was really chuffed that the council has chosen him.

It will be the first time Roger has returned to the town since he guest starred on The Muppet Show at what was then the ATV Studio in 1980.

Roger shot to world fame in the Elstree Studios produced TV series The Saint from 1962 to 1969.

Now aged 78, Roger was not the first or the last to play the famous detective at the studio. George Sanders portrayed the suave detective in the 1939 film The Saint in London and Ian Ogilvy played the role in1978 in the short-lived series Return of The Saint, which oddly enough was the production on which Simon Cowell began his career as a lowly runner.

The original Saint series in 1962 was commissioned by Lew Grade who agreed a budget of £30,000 for each hour-long, black and white episode.

The author Leslie Charteris wanted Cary Grant for the role but this proved impossible. Grade asked Patrick McGoohan but he declined citing the fact that there was too much flirting with the ladies in the scripts.

Patrick, of course, enjoyed international success in the MGM Borehamwood-made Danger Man and The Prisoner series shot in the same decade.

Roger had started as an extra in films and had enjoyed some TV success as Ivanhoe and in Maverick, so was offered the role. The series was a hit in the UK but when Lew tried to sell it in America the big US networks described it as too British and boring.

Lew then sold it to local TV stations throughout America and it developed a cult following. In 1965 NBC were looking for a last minute schedule filler and picked up the series and it became an immediate success.

The first 71 episodes had been shot in black and white but the yanks insisted on colour so the final 47 were shot in that format, with each episode taking between ten to 14 days.

The first episode in 1962 had guest starred Shirley Eaton and future guests included Warren Mitchell, Honor Blackman, Patrick Troughton, Julie Christie and Oliver Reed.

The producers originally wanted the Saint to drive one of the new E-Type Jaguars but the company declined to loan one, saying that they did not need extra publicity.

The next choice was a white Volvo P1800 sports coupe, which became famous around the world. I recently corresponded with the gentleman who has restored the car to its former glory.

After The Saint finished, Roger stayed at Elstree to make the feature films Crossplot and one of his favourites The Man Who Haunted Himself.

However, he enjoyed even greater fame as James Bond in several films, from Live and Let Die in 1973 to A View to a Kill in 1985.

The plaque unveiling will take place when Roger visits from his home in Switzerland later this year.

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