When I was first introduced to James Bond I didn’t see Connery movies. My first Bond was the laughably bad Moonraker. Then I got to see the Spy Who Loved Me and my personal favorite For Your Eyes Only. These are all Bond films featuring the exceptionally talented Sir Roger Moore who died May 23, 2017, two days ago. Moore was calm, cool, collected, and a real talent in any role he played. I’ll always know him for James Bond though.

In the Nickelodeon and later Disney television show Doug, the epononomyus main character laments the change of actor and or format for his universe’s Bond-like figure Smash Adams.

Unlike Doug I had no laments for the actor and format change. While Connery and later Craig did excellent jobs of bringing the character from Ian Fleming’s novels alive, Roger Moore played an accessible but non milquetoast Bond. He was kinder to the Bond Girls. He never hit them or acted in a misogynist, degrading fashion like Connery’s portrayal of Bond had him do. No. Moore’s Bond was friendly, calm, cool, and humorous.

Roger Moore’s Bond provided espionage and detective fiction action with some levity. Much levity that was needed during the Cold War that in his ficticious universe he kept chilled as cold as one of his Vesper Martinis. Rest In Peace, Sir Roger. And thanks for the James Bond I shall always know and love.