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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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:
"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.
Roger Moore was highlighted in the main feature area of the UK version of the BBC's home page today. This prime spotlight was in connection with the BBC Radio 4 show that Roger narrates, and is well worth the listen!
Leslie Charteris -- A Saintly Centennial Listen Online
Roger Moore celebrates the life of Leslie Charteris, the creator of The Saint, one of the longest-running characters in detective fiction.
BBC Radio 4 has posted a RealAudio stream of Leslie Charteris: A Saintly Centennial. The link will only be available for seven days: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/ram/tue1130.ram
You will need to download the latest RealPlayer from Real.com in order to listen to Barbra Paskin's radio tribute to Leslie Charteris as narrated by Roger Moore.
Don't forget to tune in tomorrow for Barbra Paskin's tribute to 100 years of Leslie Charteris with Roger Moore narrating. The live show is at 11:30am tomorrow, London time, with on-demand replays available for seven days after the initial broadcast.
Roger Moore, who starred as Simon Templar in the original TV series, celebrates the centenary of the birth of popular fiction writer Leslie Charteris, famous for his adventures featuring the character better known as The Saint. The programme includes rare interview footage of Charteris along with contributions from his family, actor Ian Ogilvy and Charteris biographer Ian Dickerson.
There has been some recent issues with BBC Radio 4's RealAudio play back, and during testing today, this is the message that was being displayed:
We are experiencing severe technical problems, and regret that many programmes are unavailable. We are working to restore normal service. See station websites for alternative links.
We'll keep you posted as to the lastest links and news about this great show.
Mike Reid, famous for his role as Frank Butcher on the Eastenders, and not-so-famous for being Roger Moore's stunt double on The Saint, passed away on July 29th. Look for Mike in various scenes of The Saint as the much taller Simon Templar doing the really dangerous work!
Mike Reid, 'the great storyteller' and comedian, dies at the age of 67
Mike Reid, the actor and master of the politically incorrect joke, died yesterday, aged 67.
His agent, David Hahn, told the BBC that the stand-up comic was in Marbella, Spain, where he owned a villa, when he suffered a fatal heart attack while apparently in good health.
"Mike was in fine fettle. Only a couple of weeks ago we were having dinner and Mike went to see his consultant that day, had a full medical and they gave him a clean bill of health."
Reid played Frank Butcher in the BBC soap opera EastEnders and starred in the British gangster film, Snatch. Born in Hackney, London, he began his career as a stuntman, working on films such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Spartacus, as well as on The Saint as a stunt double for Roger Moore.
Rising to fame on London's comedy circuit, Reid worked as a stand-up comedian in the 1960s in clubs and cruise liners. His big break came in the seventies in a popular television series, The Comedians, that consisted of short slots by mature comedians.
Reid had a daughter by his first marriage and two sons by his second wife, Shirley Collins. Last night, Mr Hahn said of Reid's wife: "Mike was her life."
The entertainer Russ Abbot said Reid was a great story-teller who had a great sense of comic timing. "There are certain comedians who do one-liners, but Mike was a story-teller and a great deliverer," he said.
Reid's close friend and fellow comedian Frank Carson, speaking in Spain, said his death was "absolutely devastating".
Burl Barer reports a few more details about the upcoming BBC Radio 4 special by Barbra Paskin on the author of The Saint, Leslie Charteris.
Leslie Charteris – A Saintly Centennial Tuesday, July 31, 2007 11:30am - 12:00noon BBC Radio 4
This year marks the centenary of the birth of popular fiction writer Leslie Charteris, best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of Simon Templar, alias The Saint. In this special programme, actor and Saint portrayer Roger Moore explores the life and legacy of Charteris and reveals a world of adventure, torment, insecurity, failed marriages and enormous success as a thriller writer.
The adventures of The Saint have appeared continuously since 1928, making Simon Templar the longest-running character in contemporary detective fiction. But there was more to Charteris's literary acuity than The Saint alone. He was fluent in several languages; he had a monthly column in the epicurial delight, Gourmet magazine; and he devised a pictorial sign language which he called "Paleneo" and wrote a book about it. He was also one of the earliest members of Mensa.
Despite his film-star looks, with a hint of exoticism, Charteris suffered from a long-standing insecurity about his appearance, arising from his mixed racial origin. In later years he dated some of Hollywood's most beautiful women, among them Marlene Dietrich and Jean Harlow.
It wasn't until 1963, when Lou Grade cast Roger Moore and filmed the first television series of The Saint, that Charteris at last felt he'd received the final seal of approbation that had eluded him for 30 years.
Among those exploring the world and psyche of Charteris are Dan Bodenheimer, who runs the official Saint website; Burl Barer, author of The History Of The Saint; and Charteris's biographer Ian Dickerson.
Barbara Peterson has created a five-page synopsis of The Fiction-Makers, one of the Saint movies starring Roger Moore as Simon Templar. This movie was orginally aired as a two-part episode in 1967. The synopsis is fully illustrated with screen-shots from the recent DVD release.
The secret organization that The Saint goes up against in The Fiction-Makers is the Secret World Order For Revenge and Destruction, also known as S.W.O.R.D.
The goal of Volcano Seven is to pay tribute to "caper" films and TV shows. The debut of Volcano Seven starts with The Fiction-Makers synopsis, and there is sure to be more to follow in the near future!
The Lipstick Chronicles (where the Book Tarts talk love, laughter, laundry and the mysteries of writing life) has just published a nice essay by William Simon on Black and White Heroes that has provoked a lot of excitement and response. The basic premise is that in the days of old, heroes were heroes and you could tell them from the bad guys without too much effort. Nowadays, in an effort to be dark and realistic, all the good guys are much darker shades of grey and not that much different than the evil that they are fighting.
This will be a bigger issue when the Saint returns to TV in the near future on TNT. How will a modern-day Saint still retain the gentleman touch and yet still be able to relate to the new darker side of the underworld with the good humor and aplomb we have come to know and love?
William's essay ends with:
Back to the point, look around today and we have no heroes on television. We have sociopathic psychos with badges who ram guns down people's throats and yell "Suck THIS, pal!", and they are usually some sort of recovering addict, be it alcohol/drugs, sex, or gambling. We have characters who kill as easily as they sneeze. Stealing is perfectly acceptable, as long as no one gets caught. No damsel needs rescuing, and if she does it's usually a setup to try and kill the protagonist. It is entertaining for him to slap/hit/threaten her, usually while screaming her marked resemblance to a female canine at the top of his lungs. Lie, cheat, steal, hurt, no matter; it's okay, the end justifies the means. Results are what count, not the methods to achieve them, and if you don't believe that, take a close look at the Business World today.
Heroes should be above the crowd; polished but not effete, superior but not snide, capable but not arrogant, strong but not uncaring.
Special.
Today, we have no Bogart, or Gable, or Cooper. We don't have a Gardner, a Bacall, a Hepburn.
From: Bill Krzastek Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 23:12:24 -0400 Subject: ST1's Trip To Canada Part 2
Hello to All,
Welcome to Part 2 of "ST1"s trip to Canada. While at the Fleetwood Country Cruize-In at London, Ontario, ST1 was visited by another legend, Mr. George Barris, the "King of the Kustomizers". Mr. Barris is known worldwide for the many custom, film, and TV cars he designed and built since the 1950's such as the TV Batmobile, Munsters Coach, the Ala Kart, and dozens of others. Several of Mr. Barris's creations were on display but even he was interested in seeing "ST1", the Roger Moore "Saint" Volvo.
Mr. Barris has a website where he interviews people and talks about their cars. He chose "ST1" to be part of this and in the attached photos, we see Mr. Barris interviewing me (and vice-versa) about the car. During the interview, I found out that Mr. Barris has a connection to Roger Moore: turns out that Mr. Barris built a car for Sir Roger's first Bond film "Live and Let Die" and had actually met Mr. Moore during filming. "A real gentleman" is how Mr. Barris described Sir Roger.
Also on hand was Tony Davey, restorer of "ST1" who had flown over from England for the show. Tony is seen being interviewed by Mr. Barris in one of the photos. Plus, Irv Gordon, owner of the 2+ million mile Volvo can be seen in the backround of the first photo being interviewed from the folks from Old Cars Television. Small world indeed.
From: Bill Krzastek Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 09:19:48 -0400 Subject: ST1's Trip To Canada Part 1
Hello to All,
What an amazing weekend in London, Ontario at Steve Plunkett's Country Cruize-In. Not only did we have a great time but over $150,000 was raised for charity. We are glad that "ST1" was chosen to help participate in this "Saintly" endeavor. While at the show, I had the opportunity to meet and greet many fans of "The Saint" and Sir Roger Moore. It always surprises me to hear that people come to the show to specifically see "ST1" when there are so many other attractions. One family had each of their 5 family members take turns behind the wheel for photos! It's nice to know that this car meant so much to so many people.
We were interviewed several times about the car and it's history but two interviews really stand out: the first was by Rick Walker of Old Autos Television. In the photos that follow, we decided it would be fun to try to recreate the original publicity photos of Sir Roger and "ST1". I posed for the boot shot then persuaded Rick to please take over for the others. As you can see, the photos definitely improved by my absence!
In Part 2, we have a very special interviewer so... "Watch for the car of The Saint, it will return".
Some of the Roger Moore TV series has been published on DVD in Finland as three special DVD box sets.
The Saint was known as Pyhimys in Finland, and there were comic books and paperback editions of many of The Saint books by Leslie Charteris.
Pyhimys Vol. 1 is an 8-disc Box set, Pyhimys Vol. 2 is a 4-disc Box set, and Pyhimys Vol. 3 is a 2-disc Box set of the two Roger Moore Saint movies: Vendetta for The Saint and The Fiction-Makers.
Barbra Paskin, a British yet Hollywood-based, journalist has been commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to create a radio show celebrating the 100th year of Leslie Charteris. Barbra, who is most recently noted for her fine biography of Dudley Moore, is an excited Saint fan who has been looking forward to making a show like this for many years. As noted on LeslieCharteris.com, she's a life-long Charteris fan who grew up enraptured with Simon Templar. Her brother Simon (not actually named after Simon Templar), from earliest memory, has always called himself 'ST' and signs all his personal letters with a stick symbol and a halo.
The 30-minute show is in production at the moment and will feature contributions from such notables as Roger Moore, Ian Ogilvy, Patricia Charteris, Dan Bodenheimer, Ian Dickerson, and Burl Barer. More details, including a broadcast date and time, will be posted here as and when we know them.
Book and Magazine Collector's June 2007 issue features, "Leslie Charteris: 100 Years of The Creator of The Saint."
The long 13-page article was written by Norman Wright, begins on page 36 of the issue. The article discusses Charteris' creation of the Saint and is printed in full color with some marvelous illustrations of Roger Moore, George Sanders, Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, Louis Hayward, magazine appearances, various dustjackets, and paperback editions.
A three-page annotated bibliography of the British editions is included, along with some current pricing guidelines within the UK; the highest price is, of course, for a British first Ward Lock edition of Meet The Tiger with dustjacket, at over £3000+ ($6000+)!
The issue went on sale May 10, 2007.
While thanking Book and Magazine Collector for doing a piece on The Saint and Leslie Charteris, Ian Dickerson has also posted a number of factual content errors to the news page of LeslieCharteris.com for you to enjoy -- see how many of them you found yourself!
Coming in at number six is The Saint's Volvo 1800 as driven by Roger Moore in the classic 1960s TV show, The Saint:
6. Volvo P1800 - The Saint Something fast, sporty and flashy was needed to match the style of the mysterious Simon Templar, first played by Roger Moore in the '60s. In the end, the Volvo P1800 was chosen over a similar Jaguar E-Type because of its sleek look and power (and, well, because Jaguar didn't want to supply one). Aside from a few cosmetic changes to the bumper, license plate and trim, the Volvo car remained unchanged during filming. Therefore, the car's elongated hood, rounded headlights and wide front grille remained unmistakable throughout the show's run.
The exotic P1800 contributed to the smoothness Moore's character exuded, as he was often seen zipping through city streets in the two-door speedster.
Cool fact: Roger Moore liked the P1800 so much that he bought one for himself.
According to Roger Moore, his son Geoffrey will not be playing The Saint in the upcoming TV series on TNT. The following question came up in Roger's monthly column on his website, and as you can see by his answer the casting for Simon Templar is still wide open:
QUESTION: Hello Sir Roger, Any idea how the new Saint project is coming along? Is your son still attached to it? As the Saint?
ANSWER: My son Geoffrey co-owns the rights will Bill Macdonald. He will produce, not star. It's nudging along, but like everything else in this business, it takes an age to get things going. So time, patience and determination are the watch words...
The Saint by Leslie Charteris was first written in English and published in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada for all those English-speaking readers around the world. Due to The Saint's popularity, most of The Saint stories were translated into a number of languages, including: French, Hebrew, Spanish, German, Dutch, Japanese, Greek, Portuguese, Polish, Chinese, Italian, Afrikaans, Czech, Swedish, Turkish, Danish, Hungarian, Serbo-Kroat, Arabic, Norwegian, Finnish, Braille, and perhaps even others!
The success of the Roger Moore series led to a number of TV-tie-in editions in Spanish, Polish, English, and Hebrew, to name a few. When the Val Kilmer Saint movie came out, the Burl Barer novelization of the film was translated into quite a number of languages and might possibly be the most-translated title of all The Saint stories, next to The Saint in New York.
Another interesting fact is that some of the "translations" were never published in English at all. The French translator wrote many stores from radio scripts and comic strips, and while some of these novels were translated into Dutch, and perhaps other languages, they have never been translated back to English.
More details and cover scans are available at The Saint Around The World page of this website (www.saint.org), and your help is greatly appreciated in finding additional languages and book cover artwork.
The question on everyone's mind is, who will star as Simon Templar in the new series of The Saint on TNT?
Roger Moore's son, Geoffrey Moore is co-producing the show with Producer William J. MacDonald, and while there was some initial speculation that Geoffrey might take the role on himself, it appears that they are still casting for the role.
Who will be The Saint? Who do you think would make a great Saint for 2007? Please comment below!
From Bill Krzastek, owner of one of the white Volvo 1800's used in The Saint with Roger Moore:
Hello to all,
Just wanted to let everyone know that "ST1", the 1967 Volvo 1800S from "The Saint" television series has been invited back to the Carlisle Import Festival this coming May. The car will again be part of the "Invitational Display" and will be located inside Building "Y" which means you will be able to see it and take photos no matter the weather! I willl also be bringing my display items including new photographs of Sir Roger Moore with "ST1".
This really is unprecedented as this is the first time that a vehicle has been selected to be part of the "Invitational" two years in a row! Of course, we all know that "ST1" is a special automobile!
I look forward to seeing everyone at Carlisle and I have attached the online brochure of the event (which includes "ST1"!)
Best Regards, Bill Krzastek
From the Carlisle Import Kit/Replicar Nationals brochure: The focus of the import side of the show this year will be on our friends from Sweden... Volvo. Translated to English, Volvo means "I roll." This Scandinavian favorite will be coming to Carlisle in droves. The Volvo Club of America will be hosting their East Coast meet at the Import-Kit/Replicar Nationals this year. Additionally, Volvo Cars of North America is bringing six of their antique Volvos from their superb collection. They'll be bringing a 1927 Jakob, Volvo's first car; 1956 P1900 - only 67 ever built; a 1953 PV444, once owned by Colin Powell; a 1953 PV444 pickup truck; a '55 PV444 and a 1961 P210 hearse. In the spirit of the Volvo spotlight, "The Saint" car will return to Carlisle. This '67 Volvo 1800S, was originally owned by Sir Roger Moore, and driven by him on the show of the same name.
Roger Moore is Simon Templar, Collector's Box I Selected episodes from The Saint TV series starring Roger Moore are now available on DVD in Germany. The first set contains 8 discs, encoded in Region 2 format. The first set was originally released on April 21, 2006 and it has sold well enough to bring out a second set.
Studio: Koch Media Deutschland GmbH - DVD Running Time: 1170 Minutes Format: Dolby, HiFi Sound, PAL Languages: English, German Region: Region 2 Viewing Format: 4:3 Number of Disks: 8
You can buy the German DVD Set 1 from Amazon.de today.
Roger Moore is Simon Templar, Collector's Box II The second set will be released on April 27, 2007. It will contain 16 colour (2 of them never before shown in Germany - with subtitles) and 6 b/w uncut episodes.
As extras the second box set will have the documentaries, "The Saint Steps In... To Television," and "The Saint Steps In... To Colour," as well as an audio commentary for "The Ex-King of Diamonds." The total number of DVD discs in the box is 7.
Studio: Koch Media Deutschland GmbH - DVD Running Time: 900 Minutes Format: Dolby, HiFi Sound, PAL Languages: English, German Region: Region 2 Viewing Format: 4:3 Number of Disks: 7
There will only be these two DVD box sets in German, and many thanks to Martin Metzler of SimonTemplar.de for writing the booklets for both sets and informing us of these important foreign language releases.
The Saint on TV page has been updated to include a number of the original plot summaries that were supplied by ITC to publicize the Roger Moore TV series of The Saint.
Volvo Design Chief Steve Matten has not rested on his laurels after bringing the XC60 Concept into the world. Steve has been working on the next S60, and these first renderings by our neighbours Auto Motor & Sport from Sweden look very promising indeed. Perhaps even sharp enough for The Saint to drive in the new TV series on TNT? The Saint has a long tradition with Volvo, what with Roger Moore driving the Volvo P1800 and Val Kilmer's red C70 coupe!
Up for auction on eBay is Director Roy (Ward) Baker's original script for the 1964 "The Saint" episode starring Roger Moore entitled "The Good Medicine". One of the guest stars in this episode is Jean Marsh. A very interesting piece of memorabilia from the show. Mr. Baker auctioned his scripts from "The Saint" a few years ago, and the seller purchased this one from Nigel Williams Rare Books in London with the intention of using it as part of an aborted book project. The seller really doesn't want to part with it, but they could use the money. The seller had originally intended to donate the script to Boston University, which houses Saint creator Leslie Charteris archives. Perhaps the new owner would consider doing this.
This script features Mr. Baker's notes and sketches for set designs, as well as the addresses of each of the principal actors. It is kept in an original brown folder with the title of the episode.
Bonhams Auction House in England had an auction of Sale 15337 - The Angels Star Collection of Film & TV Costumes on March 6th, 2007 in Knightsbridge.
Lot No: 4 was of a brown pinstripe jacket as used by Roger Moore in The Saint, 1962-1969.
Roger Moore from The Saint, 1962-1969 A brown pinstripe jacket,of wool with satin effect lining, having brown plastic buttons, labelled inside pocket "Howard Trent (inc A.R Wall & Sons), Bespoke Tailors, 213 High Street, Bromley, RAV 1778", inscribed in blue ink in an unknown hand "R.MOORE R", having further label inside inscribed "R.MOORE 1968 11th AUG"
The estimate was from £1,200 to 1,500 and it appears that it might still be available.
Noted Saintly author, Burl Barer, has posted some interesting news about his part in the new series of The Saint on TNT. This show is really going to be great, and follow in the footsteps of Roger Moore, Ian Ogilvy, and Simon Dutton.
If I have anything to say about it, and supposedly I do, the new SAINT TV project for TNT will retain the flavor of Charteris' original.
The Roger Moore series that began in 1962 used the "glob trotting celebrity" character found in Charteris later short stories, and due to the restrictive TV codes of the time, Charteris lamented that the Saint on TV bore as much similarity to his creation as Winnie the Pooh did to Captain Blood.
Times have changed -- restrictions have relaxed. Soooo...this version of The Saint will be the more dangerous and picaresque adventurer, having way too much fun as he takes on recalcitrant and contumacious oppressors while bedding the requisite bevy of beauties -- including the mercurial and romantic Ms Patricia Holm. As all Saint fans know, Simon Templar parks his shoes in numerous international locales, but Holm is where he hangs his hat -- or halo.
Bill Macdonald asked me to serve as "consultant" to the project, and has honestly taken my suggestions to heart (and page). The show should be really cool, faithful to the character, and won't have Charteris getting what he termed Graveyard Torque from spinning in his metaphoric grave. What I like best about the project, of course, is that I'm supposedly getting paid for my wit and wisdom. As with any TV or film project - or publishing for that matter -- I will be 100% convinced when the check clears the bank. As Bill has never deceived me in the past, I trust it will all come out in the wash, even if the spin cycle makes me crazy.
Glenn Hauman of ComicMix has news about a new TNT series in development:
The Saint? Again?
Simon Templar debuted in 1928 and Leslie Charteris continued writing about him until1960 when he began using ghosts to help him. Movies, TV, comic books, radio, pulps, slicks over and over in various countries...This is one durable dude.
My favorite Charteris story dates back to when George Sanders was playing the Saint at the RKO B-movie unit. Charteris bombarded the suits with letters insisting that they try getting Cary Grant for the part. Grant was by then an enormous international star...and he was going to do a series of B movie? Doubtful.
When Sanders left his younger and more vulnerable brother Tom took over. Fifteen years later Tom was aboard a bus taking him to a body pile where indigent alcoholics went to die. He didn't make it. He died en route.
The Saint may not be Tarzan or Superman or Sherlock Holmes...but he's certainly a creation who adapts well to each generation.
TNT has a new series in development that could be of interest to us all:
The Saint – a new one hour series based on the Leslie Chateris classic character – the famous Simon Templar. From executive producer William J. MacDonald and producer Jorge Zamacona. The Saint was featured in movies dating back to the late 1930s (starring the great George Sanders) and the British television series from the 1960s starring Roger Moore. I can hear the theme song now...
Variety reports that William J. MacDonald will be producing a new series of The Saint for TNT.
Two other one-hour projects emerged in the upfront, presided over by Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks, and Michael Wright, senior VP of original programming for TNT and TBS: "The Saint," from the exec producer William J. McDonald ("Rome"), a remake of the 1960s British series that starred Roger Moore as a debonair international thief; and "A.D." (working title), a family drama from Angelo Pizzo and David Anspaugh ("Hoosiers," "Rudy").
Gorilla Sushi is holding Roger Moore to account for the death of fashionable men's hats.
I've been watching the 007 marathon they had on Starz ("007 in '07"), and the thing that strikes me most from the earlier episodes (most notably the opening gunshot scene), and I realized that the hat in the opening gunshot barrel vanished when Roger Moore took over as Bond.
So I'm blaming Roger Moore's term as James Bond, and his dislike for hats (he never wore a hat as The Saint, either) for killing the entire hat industry.
From Louis Hayward, to George Sanders, to Hugh Sinclair, to Felix Marten, to Jean Marais, along to Roger Moore, then Ian Ogilvy, and finally on to Val Kilmer, The Saint has appeared in a large number of movies. In fact Simon Templar, alias The Saint, by Leslie Charteris was recently named the #2 spy movie hero of all-time, just behind James Bond.
The page on this site about The Saint in movies and films has been updated to include a large number of movie posters.
If you know of any other versions of the movie posters, especially if you have any in your own private collection, we'd be very interesting in seeing them.
A couple of these posters are available in reprint form from the moviegoods.com website.
The Saint, starring Roger Moore, is back on BBC America.
Broadcast Schedule (All times Eastern): Monday, January 22, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 10 The Man Who Liked Lions Tuesday, January 23, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 11 The Better Mousetrap Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 12 Little Girl Lost Thursday, January 25, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 13 The Paper Chase Friday, January 26, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 14 Flight Plan Monday, January 29, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 15 The Fast Women Tuesday, January 30, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 16 Escape Route Wednesday, January 31, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 17 The Persistent Patriots Thursday, February 1, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 18 The Death Game Friday, February 2, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 19 The Art Collectors Monday, February 5, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 20 To Kill a Saint Tuesday, February 6, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 21 The Counterfeit Countess Wednesday, February 7, 2007 at 3:00 AM: Ep. 3 The Convenient Monster Wednesday, February 7, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 22 Simon and Delilah Thursday, February 8, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 23 Island of Chance Friday, February 9, 2007 at 4:00 PM: Ep. 24 The Gadget Lovers
If anyone has news about where else The Saint or The Return of The Saint is playing in the world, please use the comment feature below.
Roger Moore has been taking and answering questions on his website for a couple of years now. He is now soliciting questions for January 2007. If you have questions about the upcoming Saint TV show, now is the time to get the facts.
The current issue (#8) of CinemaRetro has an article about Roger Moore and his recent honor at Elstree Studios.
This is the second time Roger Moore has appeared in CinemaRetro. In issue #2, Cinema Retro was invited to spend a day with Sir Roger as he attended a charity banquet with show business royalty, followed by a public screening of "The Man Who Haunted Himself". Get an inside look at a day in the life of this living legend.
Bill Krzastek, the owner of a 1967 Volvo 1800 used in the Roger Moore TV series, The Saint, writes:
Hello to All and Happy New Year! This past year, Motor Trend Classic magazine and Executive Editor, Matt Stone, borrowed "ST1" and published an article on the car and it's history in "The Saint" TV series. I'm happy to say that the article (with lots of excellent photos) is now online. Please use this link to see it. I hope you enjoy it! Best Regards to All, Bill
The extras have been confirmed on the forthcoming DVD box set of Return of the Saint from Network, which is due in the shops on January 29th. Alongside all 24 episodes of the show are:
• The Saint Steps In... to the 70s - Narrated by Sir Roger Moore, this is a unique and exclusive documentary on the making of the series which features contributions from Ian Ogilvy, producer Robert S. Baker and others involved with the production of the series.
• Four exclusive commentaries featuring Ian Ogilvy, producer Robert S. Baker, production manager Malcolm Christopher and writer John Goldsmith
• The Saint and the Brave Goose – feature-length version of the Collision Course two-parter which is presented in its episodic format on discs four and five.
• Episodic Image gallery with music suite
• Title sequence storyboard gallery
• Return of The Saint Script Archive - Presented here in PDF format are original scripts (plus some changes and meeting notes) for Return of the Saint. These PDFs can only be viewed on suitable software on a PC/Mac and cannot be viewed on your DVD player. The scripts are: Appointment in Florence, Assault Force, The Debt Collectors, The Diplomat’s Daughter, Hot Run, Nightmare Man, The Obono Affair, The Poppy Chain, Tower Bridge is Falling Down and Vicious Circle. Also included is Prince of Darkness – an unproduced script in which the Saint fights vampires.
• Promotional image gallery
• Memorabilia image gallery
• Generic Return of the Saint trailer
• European opening titles featuring vocal theme "Taking it Easy" by Oliver Onions
• Previously unseen rushes from the title sequence (mute)
• Commercial Break Bumpers
• Textless material (mute)
• The Saint at Elstree featurette - A plaque honouring Roger Moore is unveiled at Elstree Studios in December 2006
• Return of The Saint annuals in PDF format (1979 & 1980)
• PDF of original colour publicity brochure
• PDF of original Look In and TV Times articles
The Return of The Saint DVD Setfrom Network is now available for pre-order from Amazon UK for release on January 29, 2007.
For those of you wondering what kind of an actor Roger Moore's son Geoffrey will be, see if you can get your hands on a copy of Fire, Ice, and Dynamite. This movie starred both Roger Moore and Geoffrey Moore. I haven't actually viewed the film myself, and I'm looking to hear from the Saint fans out there about what they think about the chances that Geoffrey might take on the role of The Saint in 2007.
Jason MacIsaac has written an extensive review and plot synopsis that truly defies explanation. It's part of his site dedicated to Jabootu, the muse of bad movie creativity. There are a great number of screenshots and a complete description and review of Fire, Ice, and Dynamite.
Star Car Hire has an entire fleet of famous replica TV & Movie vehicles based throughout the UK & Ireland that are guaranteed to put you or your company in the spotlight.
The Saint television show, starring Roger Moore and his Saintly white Volvo P1800, was a big hit in the 1960s. Now you can hire this stunning replica in the UK and relive those 60s memories. The car is located in South East England, and please call 0845 017 5017 for a quote or visit their About Us page for more information.
If you own a Star Car and would like to get listed on starcarhire.co.uk please email them at info@starcarhire.co.uk
The best bit of news for me this year and for many other Saint Volvo fans was the unexpected release of the 1/18 scale Volvo 1800S coupe in white/cream by Revell during November. It's a model us Volvo fans have been waiting for, for a very long time, so it came as a bit of a surprise to me that Revell beat everyone to release it. If you haven't ordered one then pop along to Suffolk Die-Cast Models who are stocking it at their website and on ebay, they do overseas orders as well as the UK mainland plus they are a trusted website.
The people who run Suffolk Models namely Mark and Caroline are nice and friendly and will help you with your orders, so give them a try before using other retailers--you can also phone their shop sales if you feel uneasy about ordering over the net. The Volvo model is made of metal and both doors open; also the bonnet comes in white/cream or red, and I have a feeling its going to sell a lot of the white/cream version quickly. Don't be fooled by the low price of £19.99 as it's a really good detailed model and many of us would have paid a lot more for this.
The model is based on the rare B20 version of the Volvo 1800S of which only 1,693 were produced between Aug 1968 and Aug 1969. There is a B20 emblem on the front grill, and from the details in the engine compartment you can see the dual Stromberg carburetor set-up with the large single air filter. The next year, Volvo moved to the 1800E with electronic fuel injection.
Revell 1:18 scale diecast Volvo 1800S in cream/white
A complete display box of The Saint collectors cards from 1966 sold recently on eBay for $1275. These cards were made by Somportex in Denmark and sold mainly in Great Britain. These display boxes with Roger Moore on the cover are very rare, and it's even harder to find them full of unopened packages of the cards! Congratulations goes out to the winner of this fine item. I don't think I've ever seen the "prizes paper" that was included as part of the winning bid.
Television Heaven has a great article entitled, Baker and Berman: A Saintly Combination within their Saint section that is well worth reading. It covers the great partnership between Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman on the production of The Saint TV series starring Roger Moore.
The link to The Saint came by way of John Paddy Carstairs, who directed the filming of The Saint in London in 1939. Carstairs eventually became very friendly with Leslie Charteris and years later it was he who suggested the idea of a TV series to Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman.
eBay has been the consistant best source for buying Saint items worldwide for a long time. To make it easier to find and bid on the latest new Saint items on eBay I have created an eBay Saint RSS feed. This feed searches for all items that have the words The Saint or Le Saint and also have at least one mention of Roger Moore, Ian Ogilvy, Leslie Charteris, George Sanders, or the Volvo 1800. It also leaves out all VHS and DVD listings as they are really numerous! The listings are sorted by newest items first, so the most recent additions will always be at the top.
This can be used in a couple different ways:
You can go directly to the RSS feed and connect it to your My Yahoo, Google, or MSN Home page using the tools in the side menu of the Feedburner feed. eBay Saint RSS feed.
You can subscribe to e-mail updates via the FeedBlitz form below:
The television series, "The Return of The Saint" starring Ian Ogilvy will be released on region 2 DVD on January 29th 2007 by Network (the same company that just did the excellent Roger Moore sets. Extras, including interviews and commentary, are in the process of being produced, with further details forthcoming.
This DVD set will include all 24 episodes of The Return of the Saint.
Think of any cult/fantasy television show of the 1960s or '70s and the chances are that they were created by ITC, the company owned by legendary media tycoon Lew Grade. For the first time in one book, the incredible stories behind the making of these enduringly popular shows are told by the actors, directors and creators involved in bringing them to the small screen. Robert Sellers' stellar list of almost fifty interviewees includes such international stars as Sir Roger Moore, Tony Curtis and Robert Vaughn; legendary animators Sylvia and Gerry Anderson; Jane Henson, widow of Muppets creator Jim Henson; Oscar nominated director Franco Zeffirelli; and cult stars such as Peter Wyngarde and Ian Ogilvy. Arranged in eight chronological sections, "Cult TV: The Golden Age of ITC" contains a wealth of anecdotes and detail that will delight fans of these remarkable series and cult television in general. The book is introduced with a foreword from former "James Bond" and "The Saint" star, Sir Roger Moore and contains an afterword by Gerry Anderson.
Elstree Film and Television Studios has posted some further information and pictures about Roger Moore's plaque presentation event. Sir Roger Moore returned to Elstree Studios on Tuesday to see a plaque unveiled in his honour, 35 years after his career took off as the face of The Saint.
In an article in the China Daily, Roger Moore says the Daniel Craig is "absolutely super" in the role of James Bond in the new movie, Casino Royale. In the same article, Roger Moore hints at a remake of The Saint which might involve both Roger and his son Geoffrey Moore.
BEIJING, Nov. 2 -- Sir Roger Moore has backed the new James Bond Daniel Craig, saying he will be "absolutely super" in the role of the secret agent.
Sir Roger, who played Bond during the 1970s and 1980s, was unveiling a plaque at the Elstree film and television studios yesterday.
He said: "I am fed up with everybody attacking poor Daniel Craig, I am sure he is going to be absolutely super."
Sir Roger was unveiling the plaque to mark the six years he spent filming at Elstree when he played Simon Templar in the hit TV series The Saint.
He said: "I spent eight to nine years of my life literally working every day from crack of dawn till sunset, sometimes through the late nights. "It`s good to be back."
Sir Roger was joined by some members of the cast and crew of The Saint, and hinted there may be a remake in the pipeline, thanks to his son.
He added: "I think my son may be remaking it in the very near future and he might even give me a part."
Roger Moore was honored with a plaque by the Town Council, in association with the British film Institute at Elstree film and television studios on October 31, 2006.
He joins a very distinguished list made up of Alfred Hitchcock, George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg, Vivien Leigh, Simon Cowell, Richard Todd, John Mills, Trevor Howard, Stanley Kubrick, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Dame Margaret Rutherford, Peter Cushing, Charles Lawton, Dame Anna Neagle, Herbert Wilcox, and Alistair Sims.
Roger's official site has three pages (1, 2, 3) about the event with lots of pictures and stories. I espicially enjoyed listening to the sound clips from the event. Tony Curtis even called in and had some very nice things to say about working with Roger Moore on The Persuaders.
For all of you Saint fans out there with website or blogs of your own. Please link to this site at http://www.saint.org/ to promote the latest news about The Saint and Leslie Charteris. It's important for all those interested in Roger Moore as Simon Templar, the Volvo connection, or the Val Kilmer movie to find the latest news in a quick and timely manner!
Many thanks for your support, and remember to link today!
<a href="http://www.saint.org/">The Saint and Leslie Charteris News</a>
On October 31st Sir Roger Moore unveiled a plaque at Elstree Studios to commemorate his time working there on The Saint and subsequent feature films. Keeping him company at the presentation were a number of his former colleagues who worked with him on the show such as producer Robert S. Baker, Johnny Goodman, Malcolm Christopher, Dave Prowse, June Randall, Burt Kwok and many others.
Visit the official website of Leslie Charteris to see more pictures from the event, including a few good ones of Roger signing the hood of the Saint's Volvo 1800.
Bill Cawthon has written a great article about the history of The Saint's Volvo that features a couple of nice pictures of early models.
One of the interesting things that is discussed in the article is that after Leslie Charteris sold the television rights to Producer Robert Baker and Lew Grade of ITC their first visualization of Simon Templar on TV was of Patrick McGoohan driving a Jaguar E-Type. When the producers went to Jaguar they were turned down as Jaguar felt they had enough exposure and could not keep up with the demand as it was. Therefore they ended up with the other hot car introduced at the Geneva Auto Show in March 1961 by buying one at full price from a London Volvo dealer. Luckily, as the show took off , Volvo kept the show well stocked with fresh 1800's as the years went buy. Older cars were cut apart for interior shots, crashed, and otherwise used by Roger Moore as his personal vehicle of choice.
Retro To Go reports that a new Saint mug personally designed by Sir Roger Moore is now available for order from Whatever It Takes. All proceeds go to charity, so not only are your doing your part, you also get a really cool retro mug of The Saint.
The charity that The Saint and Roger Moore is supported is called 21st Century Leaders, which sells high-quality "merchandise with meaning" with all profits going to help poverty and protection of the environment. Their latest batch of merchandise is mugs and Sir Roger is just one of the many famous people contributing a mug. Other notables include David Bowie, Giorgio Armani, Nicole Kidman and George Clooney.
These cult TV retro mugs are available to pre-order now for November delivery, priced at a reasonable £9.99. Please visit their product page to purchase one today.
Retro, an Argentinean Cable TV Channel, is broadcasting The Saint and The Persuaders on Saturday nights. Starting at 9:00 (BA,+0300), Roger Moore and Tony Curtis episodes are followed by another famous English series: The Fugitive. Only available on Cablevision and Multicanal TV Station. Viva Simon Templar!
There is news of a new movie based on The Persuaders television show which starred Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. The original Persuaders TV show was piloted in The Saint episode, "The Ex-King of Diamonds" and featured many of the same co-stars, production teams, and writers as The Saint TV show.
This new movie appears to be coming out in the summer of 2007 and will star Ben Stiller and Steve Coogan as two wealthy playboys from different backgrounds. The original series paired a Texan Oilman with a British Aristocrat. I'm not sure what updating this new Stiller/Coogan vehicle will impart.
Sir Roger Moore will be appearing on the Paul O'Grady show in the UK this coming Wednesday, 1st November. Channel Four have asked me to set out some Saint questions for roger to answer. Whether they put these questions forward to Roger is another matter -- fans of the Saint's Roger Moore era missed out the last time he appeared on the show so hopefully this time around they can watch the show.
The sad news this week that actor Peter Barkworth has passed away at age 77 sent me on surfing on an interesting wave today. Peter was most famous for his British television role of international banker Mark Telford in Telford's Change, however I remembered him from his days with ITC on such shows at The Avengers and Doctor Who. I was also pretty sure that he must have been on The Saint at least once, as there was a lot of cross-over in those heady days of the 1960’s spy shows.
In looking for the Barkworth connection to The Saint on TV, I found an absolutely remarkable site. It features every single actor who played in The Avengers, and sorts them by their connection to other TV shows. In looking at their list for The Saint, I find that Peter did not actually appear in either Return of The Saint, or the Roger Moore Saint... and thus ending my ride. Wipe out!
This is a very young Roger Moore talking about The Saint in an early black and white television interview. This is part one of the interview in which Roger talks about The Saint.
This is part two of the interview, and features a very funny blooper at the end.
For fans of The Saint, starring Roger Moore, who are looking for very similar TV shows to watch, check out The Baron! The Baron was written by John Creasey, and is a gentleman thief with a strong morale code just like Simon Templar. The TV show was produced by the same company as the Roger Moore series, at the same time, in the same studio, and stars many of the same actors and actresses!
This TV show is a little different than Creasey's Barron books, in that John Mannering, alias The Baron, is an American cattle baron who runs an antique store and sometimes helps out the British Secret Service -- just to make him for respectable for the 1960's television audience.
Having been unsuccessfully touted for the part of 007 by his father, it seems Roger Moore's son Geoffrey, right, is set to reprise another of his dad's top roles.
Restaurateur Geoffrey, 40, who was championed by his old man as the "ideal" successor to Pierce Brosnan before Daniel Craig landed the part, has bought the rights to cult TV series The Saint, in which his father played Simon Templar in the Sixties.
It is understood that Moore junior, who did some minor acting part in his youth, could take on the guise of Templar in the future.
Roger, 78, who has long insisted his son is "much more talented" than himself, says: "The rights have been optioned by various companies and are now with Geoffrey and his business partner. Watch this space."
This is a short article from Contact Music (A similar story was also published today by "Daily Expresss"):
ROGER MOORE's son is set to reprise his father's role in hit 1960s TV series THE SAINT. The former JAMES BOND star told producers GEOFFREY MOORE would be a perfect replacement for PIERCE BROSNAN as 007, but they decided to cast gritty British actor DANIEL CRAIG instead. And 40-year-old Geoffrey is now in the running to play SIMON TEMPLAR, and is "much more talented than me", according to his dad. Roger says, "The rights have been optioned by various companies and are now with Geoffrey and his business partner. Watch this space."
This month, September 2006, new sets of The Persuders as well as special edition The Saint DVD's are due to be released in the UK, as DVD Active have announced. Beautiful cover artwork and many special features which include: audio commentaries, interviews and much more. The Persuaders DVD Box Set is due to come out September 18th, while The Saint 18 disc The Complete Monochrome Series is due to be released September 25th.
Visit the Simply Moore Forums for more discussion about these releases and additional artwork.
What happened to the Saint's car? An article posted from The Times entitled, "The Cars Are The Stars," tells an interesting story about the Volvo as well as a few other famous autos of television.
The article goes on to note that, "Sir Roger Moore is due to visit Elstree Studios in October to be the recipient of one of the town council's commemorative plaques recognising the six years he spent at the studio in the 1960s starring in the hugely successful television series The Saint."
Within the last week, Return of the Saint star, Ian Ogilvy has had two books published: Measle and the Slithergoul is now out in the UK from Oxford University Press, and in the US today sees the publication of Measle and the Dragodon in paperback by HarperTrophy.
Synopsis: Measle and the Slithergoul A blob of slime has broken out of the prison in which it has been kept for years. As it slithers in escape, it slurps up everything in its path. Nothing is safe. Especially not Measle Stubbs. For, the slippery stomach has gobbled up a gaggle of wrathmonks, and in doing so has ingested their dislike of Measle. Now the blob is after him. And nothing can stop it. Not Iggy Niggle. Not Nanny Flannel. Not Tinker the dog. But it has enjoyed eating them...Can Measle gulp down his fear and beat the Slitherghoul...before the Slitherghoul gulps him down?
Synopsis: Measle and the Dragodon This is the second exciting adventure story about Measle, following on from "Measle and the Wrathmonk". In this story Measle is up against not one Wrathmonk, but a whole gang of them. Measle and his dog, Tinker, also have to outwit numerous fairground creatures which come alive in a most alarming way, and the evil Dragodon and his dragon, Arcturion. Will Measle be in time to save his mum from the Dragodon's evil clutches? Can he triumph once again? The high-profile author - Ian Ogilvy is an actor best-known for his takeover of the role of the Saint from Roger Moore. It contains quirky black and white illustrations by Chris Mould that bring the story vividly to life.
In the recent season of the Mythbusters (season 3) there were two shows that featured some very familiar scenarios to fans of The Saint. In “Crimes and Myth-Demeanors part 1” the team busted all of the following movie myths while dressed in Val Kilmer black suits. Climbing through air ducts using magnets and suction cups; revealing laser alarms with powder; using Nightvision goggles to reveal laser alarms as in The Fiction-Makers; using another laser to point at the laser receiver; cutting and punching a perfect hole in glass a la Roger Moore; pressure sensor; and various Templar’ish safe-cracking techniques. The only myth that was plausible was a climbing up the outside of a 23-story building.
Episode 54: Crimes and Myth-Demeanors 1 The MythBusters put great movie heists to the test. Are Hollywood break-ins complete hocus pocus, or can you really crack the tightest security systems in the world with nothing more than tight-fitting black clothes and a great soundtrack? Adam and Jamie, with the help of a "surreptitious entry handbook," attempt to scale an air duct with hilarious results. The team then tries to tiptoe their way around a laser system before facing the mother of all safes. Premiere: July 12, 2006
Episode 59: Crimes and Myth-Demeanors 2 It's "lights, camera, action!" time again for the MythBusters, as they test more Hollywood heists. This time, our cat burglars Adam and Jamie go cold as they try to beat a heat-detecting alarm sensor. Then it's on to motion-detector alarms. They also attempt to crack a door guarded by fingerprint technology, and face a monster safe that can only be opened by — you guessed it — an underwater explosion. Premiere: Aug. 23, 2006
Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. It has grown over the years to be the largest encyclopedia in the world, and there are a few entries on Wikipedia devoted to The Saint and Leslie Charteris.
You can cast your vote for this site on Starpages as one of the best sites devoted to Roger Moore. I certainly don't think we'll catch up with James Wilson's The Roger Moore Years site; I just hope to make it to number 3 on the list, right behind Roger's official site! Cheers!
I was watching Deadlier Than The Male today and it struck me that this very well could have been a Saint movie in the 1960's with Roger Moore. It was filmed at Pinewood studios during the same time period, and has that distinct feel. It also features a Volvo 1800 hiding in the background of two different scenes.
Bulldog Drummond was written by Sapper around the same time that Charteris started up The Saint. He is very much in the same genre, and is part of my suggested reading list for fans of The Saint.
Amazon USA and Amazon UK both carry extensive collections of Bulldog Drummond books, tapes, posters, and DVDs.
And of course you mustn't forget the UK DVD releases--the black and white episodes of the Roger Moore series are due this month, with other shows liable to appear next year--both of which include documentaries on the making of the shows.
Network DVD, the makers of the new Saint DVD's have a very fine site for their Saint collection that features many snippits and a complete listing of what is on the DVD's.
Bill Krzastek is the proud owner of a 1967 Volvo 1800S that was used in The Saint TV series with Roger Moore. He has posted a number of pictures of it, and it is beautiful. Fully restored, it does indeed look like a giant-size Corgi Saint Volvo -- he just needs to build a giant Corgi box to put next to it! The story and pictures he has posted are great to see.
Please comment here and let me know of anything you've heard about the Saint in the new millennium. The Saint was in books in the 1920's, on film in the 30's, radio and film and books and magazines in the 40's and 50's. Roger Moore came along in the 1960's. Ian Ogilvy covered the 70's. Simon Dutton in the 80's, and Kilmer in the 90's. What's coming up in the 00's?
Using Blogger technology I have created The Saint's Blog at www.saint.org/blog to make it easier for multiple people to post news and rumors about The Saint and to allow all the Saint fans to comment on the posts! I think this will certainly be a lot easier to maintain than the manual text editing I have been doing since 1995 -- I apparently was blogging before it was even called blogging!
I will be converting all the news and rumors from 2004, 2005, and 2006 into this new blog format, and the rest of the news from previous years will remain in it's current archive and accessible.
The Saint 6-DVD Box Set #5 Simon Templar is THE SAINT - adored by women, feared by his adversaries and a constant thorn in the side of police forces everywhere. A smooth-talking adventurer, THE SAINT goes in where angels fear to tread. Always where the action is, he courts danger with a smile, but his charm can sometimes be a lethal weapon. His code of conduct, however, is unfailingly constant - suave, chivalrous & utterly heroic. Roger Moore returns as THE SAINT in the series that set new trends in television adventure. Produced by ITC, THE SAINT became one of the hottest action series of the decade, running 118 episodes until 1969. This special collector's edition presents the final episodes of THE SAINT in colour, including the two SAINT theatrical releases "The Fiction Makers" & "Vendetta For The Saint", complete, uncut & digitally remastered for the first time. With special features including Audio Commentaries with Sir Roger Moore, Executive Producer Robert S. Baker & Associate Producer Johnny Goodman, plus original ITC publicity, episode trailers, memorabilia & extensive photo galleries, this is the definitive edition of a cult tv classic. Special Features:
Exclusive Audio Commentaries featuring Sir Roger Moore & Executive Producer
Robert S.Baker on "The Ex-King of Diamonds"
Audio Commentary with Sir Roger Moore, Executive Producer Robert S. Baker & Associate Producer Johnny Goodman on "Vendetta For The Saint"
Insert re-print of original "Vendetta For The Saint" Publicity Brochure
Original episode trailers & Textless Material
Theatrical Trailers for "The Fiction Makers" and "Vendetta For The Saint"
Episode Introduction by Guest Star Peter Wyngarde to "The Gadic Collection"
Original Commercial Break Bumpers
Memorabillia & Original Script PDF's
Released: Tuesday, 07 March 2006 Actors: Roger Moore Audio: Dolby Digital Mono Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Fullscreen Transfer Format: 4:3 Category: Box Sets Region: 1,2,3,4,5,6 Format: DVD Year: 1966 Distributor: Shock Rating: PG Languages: English Running Time: 1150 mins
Bill Krzastek, the owner of one of the Volvo 1800s used in the Roger Moore TV series, The Saint, writes: Hello and Happy New Year to all of you. It has been a busy end of the year for "ST1". It arrived in Virginia in late September then shipped out to California for a few weeks of fun in the sun! While there, it was displayed on the Volvo stand at the Anaheim Auto Show for the unveiling of Volvo's new C70 Coupe/Convertible.
While in California, Matt Stone, executive editor of Motor Trend Classic, a new high-quality classic car magazine, borrowed "ST1" for an article and photo shoot. I just received an advance copy of the issue (January/February 2006) and it is just superb. The article is seven (7) pages with lots of photographs taken while under power through a tunnel (reminds me of the tunnel at Monaco) and still photos taken in the same warehouse where Clint Eastwood's film "Million Dollar Baby" was filmed. Please pick up a copy as you won't be disappointed. Matt also included a few period shots of "ST1" with Sir Roger Moore in the article as well as a brief history of "The Saint".
The Saint 6-DVD Box Set #4 Simon Templar is THE SAINT - adored by women, feared by his adversaries and a constant thorn in the side of police forces everywhere. A smooth-talking adventurer, THE SAINT goes in where angels fear to tread. Always where the action is, he courts danger with a smile, but his charm can sometimes be a lethal weapon. His code of conduct, however, is unfailingly constant - suave, chivalrous & utterly heroic. Roger Moore returns as THE SAINT in the series that set new trends in television adventure. Produced by ITC, THE SAINT became one of the hottest action series of the decade, running 118 episodes until 1969. Umbrella Entertainment presents the first 24 episodes from the original colour era of THE SAINT, complete, uncut & digitally remastered for the first time incuding exclusive Audio Commentaries with Sir Roger Moore. Executive Producer Bob Baker, Production Supervisor Peter Manley and Guest Star Annette Andre With Original Episode Trailers, extensive image and memorablia galleries and more, this is the defitive edition of a cult tv classic. Special Features:
Exclusive Audio Commentary With Sir Roger Moore, Executive Producer Robert S.
Baker And Production Supervisor Peter Manley On "escape Route"
Exclusive Audio Commentary With Guest Star Annette Andre On "the House On Dragon's Rock"
Audio Introduction By Guest Star Peter Wyngarde To "the Man Who Liked Lions"
Original Trailers For Each Episode
Insert Reprint Of Original Itc Publicity Brochure
Extentive Image And Memorabilia Galleries
Production Notes
Textless Material
And More...
Released: Friday, 22 July 2005 Actors: Roger Moore Audio: Dolby Digital Mono Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Fullscreen Transfer Format: 4:3 Category: Box Sets Region: 1,2,3,4,5,6 Format: DVD Year: 1965 Distributor: Shock Rating: PG Languages: English Running Time: 1200 mins
The official Roger Moore site recently posted: "There are moves afoot to make a new Saint TV movie. Inspector Teal will be central to it, and the characters will be very faithful to the original stories - it will actually be set in the 1930s, though with a contemporary twist bringing in an ageing Simon Templar. Who will play him I wonder?"
The official Leslie Charteris site then posted the following confirmation: "We can do is confirm that there are moves afoot. If it comes off in line with what Sir Roger's said and in line with some of the material we've seen, then we think Saint fans will be very, very happy but things such as this have a long way to go before they get in front of a camera and all it needs is some cocky American producer to pick up on Val Kilmer's recent comments that he'd like to return to the role for it all to go horribly wrong."
Crossplot starring Roger Moore was released on DVD today. You can order it from Amazon today.
SYNOPSIS Roger Moore stars in this action-packed thriller as a British ad executive whose relations with a model from Hungary involve him in a scandalous web of romance and death. Set in London in the 1960s, CROSSPLOT sees an ordinary businessman's life turned upside down by the deception of a beautiful woman. Moore's character manages to maintain a certain cool and suave demeanor throughout the most flustering of situations, and his style ranks up there with the likes of James Bond.
The Saint 6-DVD Box Set #3 Simon Templar is THE SAINT - adored by women, feared by his adversaries and a constant thorn in the side of police forces everywhere. A smooth-talking adventurer, THE SAINT goes in where angels fear to tread. Always where the action is, he courts danger with a smile, but his charm can sometimes be a lethal weapon. His code of conduct, however, is unfailingly constant ? suave, chivalrous & utterly heroic. Roger Moore returns as THE SAINT in the series that set new trends in television adventure. Produced by ITC, THE SAINT became one of the hottest action series of the decade, running 118 episodes until 1969. Umbrella Entertainment presents the final 23 episodes from the original black & white era of THE SAINT, all adapted from original stories by Leslie Charteris, complete, uncut & digitally remastered for the first time. Special Features:
Exclusive Audio Commentary With Sir Roger Moore.
Exclusive Audio Commentary With Guest Star Jane Merrow
Original Itc Pressbook (text Feature)
Talent Profiles
Production Notes
Isolated Music & Effects Tracks On Selected Episodes
Original Itc Story Information
Released: Monday, 17 January 2005 Actors: Roger Moore Audio: Dolby Digital Mono Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Fullscreen Transfer Format: 4:3 (Black and White) Category: Box Sets Region: 1,2,3,4,5,6 Format: DVD Year: 1964 Distributor: Shock Rating: PG Languages: English Running Time: 1150 mins
This month The Saint is avalaible in Spain a seven DVD pack with complete 5th season (plus 2 of 6th season) of the Roger Moore series. Extras: photos and TV trailers. Visit DVDenlard.com for more information and pictures.
Blurb: Suevia Films pondrá a la venta el próximo 25 de septiembre un pack de 7 dvds con 28 capítulos de la mítica serie El Santo protagonizada por Roger Moore . Todos los capítulos contenidos en este pack son de la época en que se emitieron en color.
The Saint 6-DVD Box Set #2 The next 24 episodes from the original black and white era of The Saint, all adapted from original stories by Leslie Charteris, complete, uncut and digitally remastered for the first time. Simon Templar is The Saint - adored by women, feared by his adversaries and a constant thorn in the side of police forces everywhere. A smooth-talking adventurer, The Saint goes in where angels fear to tread. Always where the action is, he courts danger with a smile, but his charm can sometimes be a lethal weapon. His code of conduct, however, is unfailingly constant - suave, chivalrous and utterly heroic. Special Features:
Exclusive audio commentary with Sir Roger Moore, Robert S. Baker and Johnny Goodman on "The Saint Plays With Fire"
Exclusive audio commentary with director Roy Ward Baker and guest star Sue Lloyd on "Luella"
Interview with Sir Roger Moore
Original ITC Pressbook (text feature)
Isolated music and effects tracks on selected episodes
Memorabilia
Original ITC story information
Production notes
Cast and crew profiles
Extensive image galleries
Released: Thursday, 22 July 2004 Actors: Roger Moore Audio: Dolby Digital Mono Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Fullscreen Transfer Format: 4:3 (Black and White) Category: Box Sets Region: 1,2,3,4,5,6 Format: DVD Year: 1963 Distributor: Shock Rating: PG Languages: English Running Time: 1200 mins
The Movie Channel has been showing Crossplot, the film Roger Moore made just after he played The Saint. The movie made with many Saint show regulars, including being written by Leigh Vance with additional scenes by John Kruse, and was produced by Saint producer Robert S. Baker.
The film is rarely shown, and is not available on VHS or DVD. Here is a brief summary of the plot: Roger Moore is an account executive for a advertising agency in the swinging setting of London 1960's mod living. An important account is up for renewal, and Roger finds himself committed to a new ad campaign with a mystery model whose photo somehow gets switched in with the models he was suggesting. He tracks her down, and begins the photo shoot, but things keep getting stranger and more mysterious. Attempts are made to murder the model, and Roger is framed when someone else ends up dead. He flees with the girl, the police and thugs in tow. The plot gets more complicated when it turns out that the girl had actually overheard a sinister plot, but that she didn't realize what it was about -- Roger has to jar her memory and then put all the pieces together in order to prove his innocence and thwart the gang during the Queen's birthday in Hyde Park.
The first 39 black and white episodes from the Roger Moore Saint TV series are being released in the UK today. This 10-disc DVD set is also in region two format, like the recent French editions. Order today from Amazon UK!
This set contains all the episodes from the 1962 season:
www.posters.co.uk has a number of photographs of Roger Moore available to purchase from their website. If you are interested, you can view some samples here. As an added bonus, you can send any of them as free e-cards from their site.
A&E has released the first season of black and white Roger Moore episodes on DVD. In 1962, Roger Moore arrived in a big way with the instant classic The Saint, which he played Simon Templar, an ex-con Robin Hood-type thief who steals from the rich... and keeps it for himself. Usually mistaken for a James Bond-like secret agent, Templar was more compassionate than Moore's unflappable alter ego and was less likely to use a gun or gadget to get out of a sticky situation. More often than not, Templar relied upon wits and his trusty white Volvo to escape a dilemma, and for six seasons he weaved effortlessly through caper after caper while heavily influencing later series The Avengers, The Man From U.N.C.L.E and Mission Impossible, not to mention loaning a riff or two to 007 himself. Includes all 12 first-season episodes. 3 DVDs. 1962/b&w/10 hrs/NR. Buy The Early Episodes Set 1 from A&E
We have reports that A&E will be issuing the black and white Roger Moore episodes on DVD this spring. The complete Megaset of the color episodes has been released already, and many fans have been waiting for the rest of the series. The A&E set will be different from the Australian sets. An A&E spokesperson writes, "Our version will differ from the Aussie version. The DVD will have the usual minimal features (photo gallery, text Bio) definitely not all the bells and whistles listed on the link from the Australian DVD. The set we are releasing is a 3-disc set containing the 12 B&W season 1 episodes, as compared to the 6 disc set in Australia."
The early black and white shows were based on the original Leslie Charteris stories, so they are consider by many to be even better than the color shows -- and we'll soon see for ourselves!
Umbrella Entertainment in Australia has already released the first 24 black and white episodes of the Roger Moore Saint series. Their website now reports that they will be releasing a second set on July 21st. Like the first six-DVD set, we expect this one to also be region-free.
Umbrella Entertainment presents the next 24 episodes from the original black and white era of THE SAINT, all adapted from original stories by Leslie Charteris, complete, uncut, and digitally remastered for the first time.
With special features including exclusive audio commentaries with Sir Roger Moore, Producer Robert S. Baker, Production Supervisor Johnny Goodman, Director Roy Ward Baker, and Guest Star Sue Lloyd, plus production notes, original publicity & extensive photo galleries featuring rarely seen images, this is the definitive edition of a cult TV classic.
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from Network is now available for pre-order from Amazon UK for release on January 29, 2007.
A&E has released the first season of black and white Roger Moore episodes on DVD. In 1962, Roger Moore arrived in a big way with the instant classic The Saint, which he played Simon Templar, an ex-con Robin Hood-type thief who steals from the rich... and keeps it for himself. Usually mistaken for a James Bond-like secret agent, Templar was more compassionate than Moore's unflappable alter ego and was less likely to use a gun or gadget to get out of a sticky situation. More often than not, Templar relied upon wits and his trusty white Volvo to escape a dilemma, and for six seasons he weaved effortlessly through caper after caper while heavily influencing later series The Avengers, The Man From U.N.C.L.E and Mission Impossible, not to mention loaning a riff or two to 007 himself.
