Pierce Brosnan: Roger Moore was my hero

Pierce Brosnan has hailed Sir Roger Moore his “hero''. In an essay penned for Variety magazine, he wrote, “Only on reflection do I see how much of an influence Roger Moore had on me as a young Irish immigrant lad from the banks of the River Boyne. I guess the combination of Bond and the Saint ignited a flame for fame in my heart of innocent wonder. I wanted to be up there. Roger as the Saint made me believe in his world. And before I knew it, the man who was the Saint transformed into James Bond, an even greater hero to me as a boy.'' He added, “Having by now fully immersed myself in the magic of movies, and with my appetite for more informed and character-driven work in films, I guess I slowly dreamt of being an actor as I watched their work, which never really seemed like work to me. Of course, I was only 12 years old. Only now after 40 years as an actor do I know the hard road it takes to be one. It's only now, after all these years, that I know he was a hero.”