From Roger Moore With Love (12A)
Directed by Jack Cocker

FROM working-class south London lad to Hollywood film star and the most renowned spy in the world, James Bond, this riveting documentary charts the transformation and unlikely rise to fame of Sir Roger Moore. 

Directed by Jack Cocker, it provides an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at this charismatic star who was born and lived in Stockwell and whose father was a policeman. 

The film features never before seen letters, photographs and star-studded home film footage along with exclusive interviews with his three children, Deborah, Geoffrey and Christian (the sons are his spitting image) who provide a fascinating insight into life with a global icon who they knew just as Dad. 

At first it seems as though it is Moore narrating his own life story but the surprising reveal is a genius choice for narrator, though Rob Brydon may disagree. It is pithy and witty and the delivery is pure Moore, right down to the twinkle in his eye. 

The documentary explores his four marriages, and in particular the second to singer Dorothy Squires, who was 12 years older than him and helped launch his Hollywood career by introducing him to her extensive contacts there. She refused to divorce him for years when he ran off with Italian actress Louisa Mattioli feeling cheated on several levels.  

It also shows, just as Archibald Leach from Bristol became Cary Grant, exactly how this working-class boy, who modelled knitting patterns, reinvented himself as the posh-speaking, debonair, charming, funny and stylish Roger Moore. 

What it doesn’t mention are his politics (he was a lifelong Tory supporter) or how his working-class roots were barely spoken of again, unlike his close friend Sir Michael Caine, and the fact he left Britain to become a tax exile in Switzerland is only referenced in passing. It does however explore his work with Unicef to which his friend and neighbour Audrey Hepburn introduced him.  

Frank interviews with his A-list friends and colleagues such as Dame Joan Collins, Christopher Walken, Jane Seymour and former 007 Pierce Brosnan paint an insightful picture of the man, although Caine is conspicuous by his absence. 

You are taken on an intoxicating ride through the golden age of cinema and witness how Moore redefined Bond in his seven films. 

“A man becomes what he dreams. He dreamt well,” states Brosnan.

In cinemas December 13.