This week we lost a film icon as Roger Moore became the first actor to play James Bond to pass away. While many of us will only know him from his films, one man has shared a remarkable story about meeting Roger Moore in person, twice. Following the death of Roger Moore, Marc Haynes from London related a heartwarming story about the time he got James Bond's autograph. Apparently, he saw Roger Moore in an airport as a child and was very confused when the actor signed the paper with a name other than James Bond.
In a post to Facebook, Marc Haynes said that he was about seven years old in 1983 when he and his grandfather were waiting for a plane at the airport in Nice. The boy told his grandfather he had just seen James Bond and asked if they could get his autograph. The grandfather apparently had no idea who the actor was, but being a dutiful grandfather, went over and asked. Moore happily signed the boarding pass, the boy, however, thought there had been a mistake because the autograph didn't say James Bond, but Roger Moore. Grandpa went back and explained the situation and Moore then explained to the boy that he had to sign his name as Roger Moore because otherwise "Blofeld might find out I was here."
That's not the end of the story, however. Many years later a now adult Marc Haynes was working as a scriptwriter for a UNICEF campaign that Roger Moore was a part of. Haynes told Moore the story of their previous meeting and while Moore claimed he didn't remember the encounter, they both had a good laugh over it. And then...
And then he did something so brilliant. After the filming, he walked past me in the corridor, heading out to his car - but as he got level, he paused, looked both ways, raised an eyebrow and in a hushed voice said, 'Of course I remember our meeting in Nice. But I didn't say anything in there, because those cameramen - any one of them could be working for Blofeld.'
This may be the greatest celebrity encounter story ever told. It's touching and hilarious all at once. As evidence of the entire thing, Marc Haynes has since posted an image of the autograph to Twitter.
It makes Roger Moore's passing all the sadder that we didn't just lose a great actor but a great person as well.
