The Saint's Blog devoted to news and rumors about The Saint and Leslie Charteris. Simon Templar, alias The Saint, was played by Roger Moore in the 1960's TV show featuring the Volvo 1800.
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Monday, April 01, 2013
First Look at the new Saint: Promo Trailer
Deadline Hollywood has posted the exclusive first footage of Adam Rayner as Simon Templar, alias The Saint!
Adam Rayner and Eliza Dushku look absolutely fantastic in the trailer promo for the new TV series that is based on Leslie Charteris’ Saint franchise.
The backdoor pilot was directed by Simon West from a script by Jesse Alexander. Brad Krevoy’s film and TV production company MPCA is behind the project, which will be screened at MIPTV next week, with MPCA’s Francisco Gonzalez handling international sales.
Deadline reports that there is interest in the series from U.S. networks.
Now watch the trailer here, and see if you can spot all the amazing co-stars such as James Remar, Enrique Murciano, Thomas Kretschmann, Greg Grunberg, Sir Roger Moore, and Ian Ogilvy!
The news that Roger Moore is not only co-producing the new 2013 incarnation of The Saint, but that he will also be playing a role on-screen made headlines this week. Many fans are extremely pleased to hear that the most famous Simon Templar of all, Roger Moore himself, will be guiding Adam Rayner's character both on and off the show!
Roger Moore as The Saint with Volvo 1800S
The known cast and crew list is growing as details emerge from the first week of shooting. The filming went really great this week, and the show is now taking a short break for the holidays, and will resume the shoot in San Diego just after the New Year.
If you take a close look at the list, you'll notice Thomas Kretschmann is slated to play the role of Rayt Marius. This name should be quite familiar to fans of Leslie Charteris' books, as Rayt Marius appears in the 1930 novel, The Last Hero, and again in the following book, Knight Templar. He's also mentioned in 1932's, Getaway, and his final appearance in print was in The Misfortunes of Mr. Teal, in the novella, "The Simon Templar Foundation", 1934. This is really great news, as it means that the Producers are doing their homework and reading the books, something that is sure to pay off in making this new show more Saintly!
Brad Krevoy, Executive Producer, MPCA Production Company
Roman Viaris, Executive Producer
James Townsend, Executive Producer
Roger Moore, co-Producer
Geoffrey Moore, co-Producer
Lulu Moore, co-Producer
Louisa Macdonald, co-Producer
Jim Martin, co-Producer
Alexandre Coscas, co-Producer
1st Assistant Director, Nick Satriano
2nd Assistant Director, Jayson Merrill
2nd Assistant Director, Doug Plasse
Eric Jarboe, Producer
Lina Wong, Producer
Kyle Clark, Producer
Paul Sommers, Director of Photography
Kurt Jones, A Camera
Eric Leach, B Camera
Sound Mixer, Glenn Berkovitz
Uly Domaion, Focus Puller
Jason Salonen, Gaffer
Jack L. Zeman, Still Photographer
Josh Hakian, Special Effects Coordinator
Ian Dickerson, Creative Consultant
Bill MacDonald, Creative Consultant
Josh Hakian, Stunts and Special Effects
Fred Fuchs, Production
Emanuel Millar, Make-up and Hair
Mick Davis, Writer
Larry Zanoff, Armourer
Mandy Sherman, Casting Director, Sherman/Knight
Sari Knight, Casting Director, Sherman/Knight
Morgan Redfield Smith, Casting Assistant
Michael MacDermott, Product Placement
Francisco J. González, International Sales
Silverscreen Pictures
And, while Burl Barer is not part of the cast and crew, he is continuing the novelizations of The Saint under license of the Leslie Charteris estate, and it is hoped that he will be involved if any TV Tie-in editions become available.
Last Friday, the news broke on the latest television incarnation of Leslie Charteris' famous sleuth, Simon Templar, alias The Saint. There have been many rumors about a new show since the 1997 Val Kilmer movie, with such stars as James Purefoy and Dougray Scott attached to them. After years of perseverance, it appears that the efforts have finally paid off and a new TV show of The Saint will start filming in January 2013.
Therefore with much fanfare and trumpeting, it's time to meet the new Saint!
Adam Rayner as Simon Templar, alias The Saint
Adam is English, just as most people expect Simon Templar to be. The Saint has always been English at the heart, with a well-travelled cosmopolitan history that blends him into a true man of the world.
Adam Rayner most recently starred as the lead role in the TV series, Hunted, and is also known for his work on Doctor Who, Making Waves, and Hawthorne.
He has a wealth of TV shows and movies to watch, as Leslie Charteris first authored the Saint in 1928, and it has been in constant rotation ever since.
Eliza Dushku as Patricia Holm Playing Simon Templar's on-again-off-again love interest and partner in crime, Dushku's role of Patricia Holm will hopefully recapture some of the years of history between the two.
Eliza Patricia Dushku is probably most famous for her appearances on the TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and she did play the role of the teenage daughter in the classic spy thriller, True Lies.
Production Team:
Roger Moore, co-Producer, the original Simon Templar of the 1960s
Geoffrey Moore, co-Producer
Lulu Moore, co-Producer
Louisa Macdonald, co-Producer
Simon West, Director
Jesse Alexander, Screenwriter & Executive Producer, best known for his work on Lost
Brad Krevoy, Executive Producer, MPCA Production Company
Roman Viaris, Executive Producer
Fred Fuchs, Production
Silverscreen Pictures
Mandy Sherman, Casting, Sherman/Knight
Sari Knight, Casting, Sherman/Knight
Michael MacDermott, Product Placement
Francisco J. González, International Sales
Ian Dickerson, Creative Consultant
No network are attached to this project as of yet. The plan is to shoot the pilot and shop it around.
Production is slated to kick-off this Friday, December 14 in Los Angeles, London and Toronto. Filming to be scheduled in 2013 in Los Angeles and San Diego, with other locations to follow as the series progresses.
As first reported here in December of 2007, James Purefoy is finally at last all set to play the new Simon Templar in the forthcoming TV series of The Saint. We may have jumped the gun a bit back in 2007, but we weren't wrong -- just early!
James Purefoy has written an introduction to Ian Dickerson's The Saint on TV, in which he talks about his forthcoming role as Simon Templar. Shooting is reported to be slated to start in July 2011 in New Orleans.
The newest version of The Saint is being produced by Cajun Pictures who've acquired a pilot script written by William J. MacDonald and Burl Barer.
James Purefoy, who will play the new Saint, was screen tested for the role of James Bond in 1995 for Goldeneye, and throughout 2004 and 2005 Purefoy's name was rumoured as a possible candidate to replace Brosnan as agent 007 in future James Bond films. These rumors surfaced again before the 2006 film, Casino Royale.
In December 2007, James Purefoy was first rumored to have been cast in the role of Simon Templar alias The Saint, and that was put on-hold due to production issues and his role in The Philanthropist. In 2011, it appears that Purefoy is coming back to the role of The Saint!
I am told The Saint will film in July in New Orleans. I’m booked there from mid-July. More news as I get it.
That's about as much as we've heard in quite a while -- the new producers of the forthcoming TV show of The Saint have been extremely quiet, and while we've heard some un-verified rumors about the stars, locations, and scripts; this quote from Sir Roger himself is about as official as it gets for now! More news as we get it.
We're sad to hear that famed actor, Tony Curtis, passed away yesterday. According to reports, Curtis died at his Las Vegas home on September 29, 2010, of an apparent cardiac arrest.
Tony Curtis co-starred with Roger Moore in the TV series The Persuaders! which was based on The Saint episode titled "The Ex-King of Diamonds". The interesting dynamic between the suave Englishman Simon Templar played by Roger Moore and a crass Texas oilman (played by Stuart Damon) was a great combination that Robert S. Baker and Lew Grade extended to a new series starring Tony Curtis in the role of the texan, while keeping Roger Moore as The Saint series came to an end. The Persuaders also featured a number of other parties to The Saint, including many supporting cast members, many of the same writers, and the same director.
Tony was a good friend of Roger Moore's, and was on-hand via conference call when Roger received a blue plaque at Elstree Studios in October 2006.
"He was a fine actor ... I shall miss him," said British actor Roger Moore, who starred alongside Curtis in TV's "The Persuaders."
"He was great fun to work with, a great sense of humour and wonderful ad libs," Moore told Sky News. "We had the best of times."
Roger has also posted the following on his website, "Hearing the news about Tony deeply saddened me today. He was a great friend and a great co-star, and I will forever remember the laughs and fun we shared on The Persuaders and the friendship which endured ever after. His legacy is huge as was his star. I will miss my friend. My thoughts are with Jill and his children at this sad, sad time and I send them much love."
Never previously released and compiled from the original master tapes, this four-CD set comprises the varied themes and incidental scores for the colour editions of The Saint, containing over 200 pieces of music and songs which were especially composed for the series.
Composer Edwin Astley's distinctive take on Leslie Charteris famous literary character – and his familiar musical motif – leads into danger across the world for gentleman adventurer Simon Templar.
In Geneva, he is approached by a young lady to rescue her defecting father from the soviets. In Wales, he finds death stalking the misty countryside in the form of a giant ant. In Vienna, he aids a young woman found standing over a murdered prince with a gun in her hand. In Amsterdam, he acts as bodyguard for the transportation of a priceless diamond. In Britain, he is hired to join a group of mercenaries masquerading as an army unit.
Two feature-length tales see him tangling with the bizarre SWORD organisation which has sprung from the pages of a thriller novel as well as seeking revenge for the victim of a Mafia killing while on a visit to Naples. Added to this are songs and tunes to fit the flamenco dances and calypsos of bars in South American and the West Indies, as well as the night clubs, hippy parties and pop scene of swinging Sixties London.
Including extensive liner notes from archive television historian Andrew Pixley, this set is an essential purchase for all ITC aficionados.
A Saintly CD Collection -- Network has recently released a beautiful and complete soundtrack collection of The Saint. The four disc CD audio collection features original music and cues from the color episodes of the Roger Moore series as well as the two films. It also included notes by esteemed TV historian Andrew Pixley. You can order it directly from Network if you're in the UK, or if you're in the USA you can order it from Screen Archives Entertainment. This 4-CD set is also at Amazon (UK).
Sir Roger George Moore KBE was born October 14, 1927 in Stockwell, London (sometimes referred to by Moore in interviews as Saint Ockwell). Roger is the only child of George Moore, a policeman, and Lillian "Lily" (née Pope), a housewife.
Roger Moore played Simon Templar in 118 episodes of The Saint TV series from 1961–1969.
A defining moment in the career of the film producer Robert S Baker, who has died aged 93, was the day he met Leslie Charteris, the author of a series of novels featuring the gentleman thief Simon Templar, alias the Saint. It was 1961 and Baker, in conjuction with the producer Monty Berman, had already made dozens of British B-movies of varying quality, including several films in the Hammer horror tradition, the most commercially successful being Jack the Ripper (1959), which the pair also directed.
Charteris had been seeking a tele-vision deal for the Saint for some time, but nobody had managed to persuade him that they would do the stories justice. As Baker acknowledged: "He protected the Saint like a bulldog – and many offers had fallen flat on their face." But thanks to a recommendation from John Paddy Carstairs, who had struck up a friendship with Charteris when he directed The Saint in London (1939) for RKO Pictures, the writer agreed in principle to give Baker and Berman the rights for a series.
The deal was clinched after Lew Grade of Associated Television agreed to allow a healthy budget of £30,000 an episode and to shoot the series on film rather than the cheaper teleciné, which would make it easier to sell to the US. In fact the series was eventually sold to 63 countries and reaped a profit in excess of £350m.
For the lead role, Grade suggested Patrick McGoohan, who had been a great success as the secret agent John Drake in Danger Man (1960-61). But Baker and Berman felt McGoohan lacked the lightness of touch that the character of Templar needed, and opted for 34-year-old Roger Moore, who had taken the title roles in the TV series Ivanhoe (1958-59) and Maverick (1959-61).
Moore starred in 118 episodes of The Saint (1962-69). Return of the Saint (1978-79) revived the suave and witty character, this time embodied by Ian Ogilvy, and was reprised in a few different guises over the years, with Baker profiting from holding the rights.
Baker was born in London and became interested in photography from an early age, winning several competitions. When the second world war broke out, he joined the Royal Artillery in north Africa during the El Alamein campaign. He then got himself transferred to the Army Film and Photographic Unit, becoming a combat cameraman in Italy, Belgium and Germany. During that time he met Berman, who was also filming battles.
After the war, the pair set up Tempean Films, their first production being A Date with a Dream (1948), a modest comedy about a wartime concert party's reunion. It starred Terry-Thomas and Jeannie Carson, with Norman Wisdom making his screen debut in a small role.
The company was soon turning out second features at a rate of about four a year to fill up programmes during the 1950s, most of them directed briskly by John Gilling or Henry Cass, and starring what seemed like a Who's Who of washed-up American actors, including Forrest Tucker, Mark Stevens, Alex Nicol, Scott Brady, Arthur Kennedy, Rory Calhoun, Rod Cameron, Dale Robertson and Larry Parks.
Then, from 1958, the duo moved into slightly more mainstream territory with Sea of Sand, a familiar north African war adventure, directed by Guy Green and starring Richard Attenborough; The Siege of Sidney Street (1960), which vividly recreated the London of 1911; and The Treasure of Monte Cristo (1961). The latter two were directed by Baker and Berman, along with the period swashbuckling adventure The Hellfire Club (1961), which was written by Jimmy Sangster and featured Peter Cushing, both regular Hammer habitués.
In fact, Baker and Berman, inspired by the success of Hammer, made their own gothic horror movies. However, these were released in two versions, one for the UK and US markets with their strict censorship and ratings systems, and another for the more liberal, continental European and Japanese markets, where audiences enjoyed extra blood and sex.
They had that aplenty in Blood of the Vampire (1958), with Donald Wolfit hamming it up as Dr Callistratus, who has returned to life to run a lunatic asylum after being executed, and Jack the Ripper, both films written by Sangster. The poverty and filth of 19th-century Edinburgh is well evoked in the atmospheric The Flesh and The Fiends (1960), with Cushing as Doctor Knox, and Donald Pleasence and George Rose as the grave-robbers Burke and Hare. After Gideon's Way (1964-66), a workmanlike police drama series based on the John Creasy books, with John Gregson as the Scotland Yard detective, Berman branched off to produce and write several of his own television series.
Baker and Moore then formed Bamore, a company that produced The Persuaders (1971-72), starring Moore and Tony Curtis as wealthy playboy adventurers, and the film Crossplot (1969), a swingin' London thriller with Moore finding himself in a psychedelic disco, a vintage car race and a helicopter chase. Baker and Moore had a long association, with the actor describing his friend as "one of the kindest men I have ever had the privilege of working with".
The Best of The Saint by Leslie Charteris is now available for order from Amazon! This two-volume tome will be released on December 11, 2008.
It's been 80 years since the adventures of Simon Templar first debuted in print and Hodder & Stoughton are celebrating this anniversary by publishing two anthologies of the best of the Saint's adventures.
Volume 1 is introduced by Ken Follett; this sparkling collection of the very best of the earlier stories:
The Man Who Was Clever
The Policeman with Wings
The Lawless Lady
The Inland Revenue
The Charitable Countess
The Star Producers
The Art of Alibi
The Simon Templar Foundation
The High Fence
The Ellusive Ellshaw
The Miracle Tea Party
The Affair of Hogsbotham
Sir Roger Moore, star of the Sixties TV series, introduces Volume 2 -- a collection of post-war stories of the following Saint adventures:
One of the most recognizable big-screen stars of the past half-century, Sir Roger Moore played the role of James Bond longer than any other actor. Beginning with the classic Live and Let Die, running through Moonraker and A View to a Kill, Moore brought his finely honed wit and wry charm to one of Hollywood's most beloved and long-lasting characters. Still, James Bond was only one in a lifetime of roles stretching back to Hollywood's studio era, and encompassing stardom in theater and television on both sides of the Atlantic. From The Saint to Maverick, Warner Brothers to MGM, Hollywood to London to extreme locations the world over, Roger Moore's story is one of the last of the classic Hollywood lives as yet untold.
Until now. From the dying days of the studio system and the birth of television, to the quips of Noël Coward and David Niven, to the bedroom scenes and outtakes from the Bond movies, Moore has seen and heard it all. Nothing is left out—especially the naughty bits. The "special effects" by which James Bond unzipped a dress with a magnet; the spectacular risks in The Spy Who Loved Me's opening scene; and Moore's preparation for facing down villains (he would imagine they all have halitosis): the stories in My Word is My Bond are priceless.
Throughout his career, Moore hobnobbed with the glamorous and powerful, counting Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Seymour, and Cary Grant among his contemporaries and friends. Included are stories of a foul-mouthed Milton Berle, a surly Richard Burton, and a kindhearted Richard Kiel, infamous as Bond enemy Jaws.
As much as it is Moore's own exceptional story, My Word is My Bond is a treasure trove of Hollywood history.
My Word Is My Bond: A Memoir is available in all these versions:
"The Saint" is marching back to television via a contemporary take on the Leslie Charteris' books, with James Purefoy in talks to topline as the debonair international thief Simon Templar.
Producers Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana, writer Jorge Zamacona, feature producer Bill Macdonald, Roger Moore -- who played Templar in the 1960s British series -- and his son Geoffrey Moore are all involved in the project.
Levinson is set to direct the two-hour TV movie/backdoor pilot, which will be produced independently and then shopped to the networks.The project is backed by Nehst Studios, a financing, production and distribution company that recently partnered with Lexicon Filmed Entertainment to share $250 million from private-equity sources to finance features, TV series and Web series.
Macdonald has been associated with "Saint" on and off for 17 years. In 1991, he acquired the rights to the books for producer Robert Evans. The two went on to produce the 1997 feature starring Val Kilmer as the dapper adventurer.
In 2004, Macdonald teamed with Zamacona and Roger and Geoffrey Moore to bring the "Saint" franchise to television. The four formed Templar Entertainment Group, through which they acquired the TV rights to Charteris' novels.The new "Saint" series was created by Zamacona, who penned the pilot script, and Macdonald.
The project was originally set up at TNT, which announced it as part of its 2007 development slate last March.TNT later passed on it, and the rights reverted to the producers. Macdonald and Zamacona might have gone the traditional route -- trying to find a new network home for the show -- if it hadn't been for the writers strike.With development activity in Hollywood screeching to a halt and Macdonald and Zamacona joining the picket lines, the producers began to mull producing the pilot and the potential series independently and seeking a network partner later.
They were well into raising financing for the project when the strike ended. "The strike changed our strategy because no one knew how long it was going to be, but producing the project independently gives us a lot more creative freedom," Macdonald said.During the strike, Zamacona approached Levinson and Fontana, who had given him his first writing job on "Homicide: Life on the Street." The two came on board to executive produce "Saint" with Macdonald, Zamacona and Geoffrey Moore, and Levinson agreed to direct.
"One of the things we lost a little bit of in the movie but want to bring to the TV series is that Simon Templar is very funny character with great lines and situation humor, and I don't think there is anybody better than Levinson to tackle that," Macdonald said.
The producers then went after Purefoy, who recently starred on the HBO/BBC series "Rome," which was co-created and executive produced by Macdonald.Casting is under way for the other key parts in the pilot: Inspector Claud Eustace Teal, the Interpol agent in charge of tracking Templar; Templar's romantic interest/assistant, Patricia Holm; and his enemy-turned-partner in crime, Baldwin Aleppo.
Filming on the two-hour telefilm, whose script was reworked after the strike, is expected to begin in April in Budapest, Hungary, New York and Puerto Rico.The project is funded for seasons to come, Nehst founder and chairman Larry Meistrich said.
"We are committed to financing the pilot and deficiting the potential series," he said.Added CEO Ari Friedman, "I think it's a really good time for a project like this, and we are confident we can find a home for it."The two-hour movie/backdoor pilot model was used successfully to launch an updated version of another classic action-adventure series, "Knight Rider," which is expected to be picked up to series by NBC after the movie scored big ratings last month."Saint" was packaged by CAA. Levinson is repped by ICM.
Roger Moore starred on, produced and directed several episodes of the original British "Saint," which ran on ITV from 1962-69 and in syndication in the U.S. from 1963-66 and as a summer series on NBC from 1967-69.
In the past 10 years, there have been two attempts by broadcast networks to remake the series. In 2000, UPN teamed with director John McTiernan and ATG, while ABC took a stab at the franchise in 2004 with writer Stephen Nathan and "American Idol" producer FremantleMedia North America, which owned the rights at the time.
Members of The Saint Club recently recieved the annual Saint Club Christmas Letter from Ian Dickerson with some news about a couple forthcoming publications:
Hodder & Stoughton will be publishing two Saint anthologies in the Autumn of 2008. Unoriginally entitled The Best of the Saint (volumes 1 and 2) they'll feature a selection of stories from across the Saint's career (including one which has never appeared in an English paperback before); each volume will also have an introduction from a notable Saint (or Saint fan) plus some additional material by me. Current plans are for each book to have a yellow jacket cover, along the lines of the old H&S style.
Next year will also see the publication of the definitive history of the Saint's television adventures. Currently and unoriginally entitled The Saint on TV, it's written by me (Ian Dickerson) and if you thought the story of the Saint on TV started with Roger Moore, well this book will show you otherwise. It starts in 1940s Hollywood and this book follows the Saint on TV right up to the present day and the new show in development.
Amongst other things it provides a unique episode guide to all three Saint TV series detailing plots, cast, crew, filming locations and critical reaction. It also comprehensively details what many of the cast and crew have been up to since they met the Saint. And perhaps of more interest to you lot, tells the full story behind The Saint in Manhattan and The Saint (with Simon Dutton) using exclusive interviews with many of the cast and crew involved on the productions to analyse what went wrong.
There's loads more in it but I'm not spilling all my beans here. If you want to know more about it, or the two reprints, keep checking www.lesliecharteris.com because that's where the latest news will be.
Sir Roger Moore was honored with a star on Hollywood's "Walk of Fame" last Thursday, October 11th, just three days ahead of his 80th birthday.
Roger Moore was present at a morning ceremony which saw the 2,350th star unveiled on Hollywood Boulevard. Moore's star is aptly located at 7007 Hollywood Blvd. The honor was for his work in such movies as the James Bond series from 1973 and 1985. Roger is the third Bond to be so honored, joining Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan on the prestigious walk.
Sir Roger George Moore, KBE (born 14 October 1927) is an English actor known for his suave and witty demeanour. He may be best known for portraying two British action heroes, Simon Templar in the television series The Saint from 1962 to 1969, and James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He has been a UNICEF ambassador since 1991.
Happy 80th Birthday Roger, and congratulations on the star!
We're sorry to hear that Lois Maxwell passed away in Australia on Saturday from cancer.
Lois Maxwell was probably best known to the world from her role as Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond films, but that was probably the smallest part she ever played. Saint fans might also remember that she guest-starred with Roger Moore in the October 7, 1966 episode of The Saint, entitled, Interlude in Venice.
Bond star Sir Roger Moore, who had known her for more than 60 years, spoke to the BBC about his friend and co-star:
I'd known Lois from the beginning of my acting career, we were both drama students at Rada in 1944 and 1945.
We first played opposite each other in Pride and Prejudice. I was Darcy, she was Elizabeth. She was a very fine actress with a great sense of humour.
I think it was a great disappointment to her that she had not been promoted to play M. She would have been a wonderful M.
Lois was wonderful, absolutely perfect casting. It was a great pity that after I moved out of Bond, that they didn't take her on to continue in the Timothy Dalton films.
She had a tremendous sense of humour. She used to sing dirty songs, from the Canadian women's army in which she'd served.
We'd done a number of episodes of The Saint and The Persuaders together, so over the past 60 years I'd seen a great deal of her. But unfortunately, not over the last couple of years.
She had a quite a wide range of parts before she went into the Bond franchise. I'm afraid she got sort of typecast as Miss Moneypenny, that's what producers do, unfortunately, they put people in categories, they don't seem to move people out of them.
At the National Movie Awards, I presented an award to [Bond producers] Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson. It's a pity the timing was so bad, we really could have given her a tribute then.
Occasionally, and for no reasonable reason, there is groundswell of interest in a particular random topic. Such is the case this week with The Wild Geese, a movie starring Saint Roger Moore in 1978. Amazon's review explains that, "Mixing action, humor, sentiment, and even a few righteous moral convictions, The Wild Geese is good, rousing fun."
Released theatrically 29 years ago in 1978 (even though the 2005 DVD release was promoted as the "30th Anniversary Edition"), The Wild Geese depicts the adventures of a group of British mercenaries hired by a shady multinational corporation to free the benevolent leader of an African nation held captive by a ruthless dictator. Led by the caustic, no-nonsense Col. Allen Faulkner (played by Richard Burton), these soldiers of fortune are all stout fellows out to earn a big payday and restore a good man to his rightful place of power.
Watch for a filming goof during the parachute jump. When they leave the plane, the soldiers are wearing helmets, but as soon as they land, in some cases even before collapsing their parachutes, they've switched to berets -- and no discarded helmets are visible on the ground.
The cast includes Richard Harris, Roger Moore, and a host of other fine veteran actors. The Wild Geese is a very enjoyable ride.
Photoshoot and trailer for German TV. Sir Roger Moore has taken part in a photoshoot and trailer for German television channel Das Vierte to promote "The Persuaders" and "The Saint" being shown on the network from 1st September 2007. The shoot took place in Monaco, where Sir Roger also gave a comprehensive interview which will be shown on the channel on 2nd September 2007. A German translation of the transcript is on the network's website. Source: MI6
To read the interview (in German) and see the 14 photos, please visit the web.de site. You can also read a very badly worded English translation of the Roger Moore interview using Google's automatic translation service.
Before Roger Moore became The Saint, he had a recurring role on the TV series, Maverick, starring either James Garner and Jack Kelly.
Now that Maverick is being re-run on TV in various countries, including Good Life in the US, watch for a young pre-Saint Roger Moore in 14 episodes from 1959 to 1961. Roger was a regular on the show beginning in 1960 (he had been in one episode, The Rivals before that), co-starring as Beauregard "Beau" Maverick, Bret and Bart Maverick’s cousin. His regular appearances were due to the fact that James Garner had left the show over a contract dispute.
Maverick was a clever show that used a lot of comedy to lighten up the action. There are many Saintly touches, in that the Maverick cousins are basically good people who will go outside the law to correct wrongs that need to be righted. The intelligent con games of outsmarting your rivals instead of beating them up will certainly appeal to Saint fans who want to see a young Roger Moore playing a Texas Templar.
Episode 80 on September 18, 1960, entitled Bundle from Britain, introduced Roger Moore as the "white sheep" of the family -- he had the misfortune of earning a medal in the Civil War, and Pappy had banished him to England for five years because no Maverick had ever been a hero.
. For now, you'll just have to watch 
