Sir Roger Moore urges fans to quit smoking at Empire Awards

15-Mar-2006 • Actor News

Sir Roger Moore and Tony Curtis urged movie fans to give up smoking during their appearance at last night's British Empire film awards. Former James Bond actor star Moore insists he owes his life to Curtis, who encouraged him to follow his example and kick the deadly habit in the 1970s - reports StarPulse.

Moore, 78, says, "When we began shooting Tony gave me a book on how to stop smoking. I didn't read it. I just looked at the picture on the back of an X-ray of a lung with a red spot on it. The red spot was cancer. The next day I coughed up blood while smoking a cigarette, and I haven't smoked since."

Curtis adds, "That was 35 years ago, and we wouldn't be here now if one of us was a smoker."

Sir Roger Moore presents Tony Curtis with his award.

EmpireOnline have published the speech Sir Roger gave when introducing the lifetime achievement award to Curtis.

Roger Moore: Thank you very much. What can I say? I'm delighted to be here. And I was even more delighted when I was asked if I would come along and accept the Empire Life Achievement Award (laughter). I wrote the speech, I went to Dougie Hayward, I had a new suit made, I worked out the people I was going to thank; my mother, my father, my agent, my bank manager, you know, I had half the people. And then they called me and said they'd found somebody older. Well, I was a little miffed I must add, but I was then ecstatic that I heard that he was an old friend, for forty years, somebody I worked with - oh, and they also asked me not to say his name. All that I can tell you is that he has played with some of the most beautiful women in the world. And then his wife caught him - that was wife number one, and then number two and number three and number four and so on. Walter Matthau told me that they'd been in drama classes together and a few years later while Walter was still struggling to get his toe through a stage door on Broadway and his classmate had gone to Hollywood, made a couple of movies. And one day, Walter was wakling down the street in the Bronx and a limo pulled up on the other side of the street and out jumped his classmate shouting: "Hey buddy, it's me! It's me Walter, I f**ked Yvonne De Carlo!" (laughter) Ladies and gentlemen, a tribute.

Tony Curtis: Thank you. This is such a moving experience. I've been in films for 52 years. I've been in over 140 movies and the wonderful series I did with my good friend Sir Roger. When I met him he wasn't Sir Roger. He was Lady Roger. (laughter) But times have changed. It's a thrill for me, a thrill to be here, amongst the people that I have seen tonight. That Harry Potter cast, it drove me nuts: I've been watching those kids since they were kids. All of you - just making movies is such a wonderful experience for all of us. That's what we share all of us, that's what makes us brothers and sisters. We're comrades. We watched 'em load up the camera. We watched the prop man bringing in what he has to. We drink coffee on the set. We gossip, read the trade papers, go in our dressing room, go for walks, fall in love. All of these experiences mean so much to all of us here. It has nothing to do with age. It's got nothing to do with anything. We are part of each other. (Voice wobbles, looks genuinely emotional) We share the same profession. Thank you very much.