He was the lead of the original series, and here’s where to find Roger Moore’s cameo in 1997’s The Saint movie. Long before he took over from Sean Connery as James Bond, Moore was a major TV star. He briefly replaced James Garner in the lead of classic western series Maverick in 1960, before taking on the part of Simon Templer in The Saint. The show was an adaptation of the novels by Leslie Charteris and followed Moore’s Templar, a mysterious Englishman who goes around righting wrongs or taking on criminals or the corrupt.
The Saint established Moore as a star, including his trademarks like a raised eyebrow or dry quips. The series ran from 1962 to 1969, starting as more a mystery thriller before switching from black and white to color, where it shifted to being a spy caper.
After the series ended, Moore became Bond starting with Live And Let Die, while The Saint was revived a few times. Ian Ogilvy took for the short-lived Return Of The Saint during the 1970s, while the most recent iteration was 2017 TV movie The Saint. Moore himself made a cameo in the latter, which sadly, proved to be his final acting role before his passing.
While Bond is easily his most famous role, Simon Templar is fondly remembered by fans of the actor too. Val Kilmer took on the part for 1997’s The Saint, which somewhat reimagined Templar as a high-tech thief with a fondness for needlessly elaborate disguises. The film received a lukewarm response overall, but while it was a modest success, it failed to spawn a sequel. While Roger Moore doesn’t physically appear in 1997’s The Saint alongside the movie’s star Val Kilmer, his very recognizable voice is heard on Templar’s car radio during the final scene.
Moore’s newscaster reveals Templar used the villain’s accounts to donate $3 billion to various charitable causes, in addition to establishing a foundation for cold-fusion technology. Moore’s cameo is a nice nod to the original series without being too on the nose. While it never came to pass, Moore was reportedly set to produce a movie based on The Saint during the 1980s, with Pierce Brosnan in line to play the lead. Of course, Brosnan himself was once set to play James Bond in 1987’s The Living Daylights, before contractual ties to TV series Remington Steele forced him to drop out.
Had he played Templar in a Saint movie first, this may have hurt his chances of eventually playing 007 in GoldenEye. The property is set to be revived again, with Regé-Jean Page set to play The Saint for an upcoming reboot directed by Dexter Fletcher. The movie obviously won’t feature a cameo from Roger Moore like in the 1997 movie, but hopefully, it will honor and update the series he made iconic.