Here we have Roger George Moore, the third actor to play James Bond if you only count the official Eon Productions movies. If you count them all, he is the fifth - and curiously both those other productions were adaptations of "Casino Royale", the two Bonds being Barry Nelson and David Niven.
As we found out yesterday, the Eon Productions canon started with Sean Connery in "Dr. No" (1962) and he continued until "Diamonds are Forever" (1971), with one exception, "On Her Majesty`s Secret Service" (1969), which starred George Lazenby.
Roger Moore was born on the 14th of October 1927, so when he made his first Bond film, "Live and Let Die" (1973) he was forty four years old. He was already well known as a television actor, for he had played "Ivanhoe" in the British television series in 1958-59, then replaced James Garner in the American television series "Maverick", and then played Simon Templar (aka "The Saint") for seven years, between 1962 and 1969. After that he was partnered up with Tony Curtis in "The Persuaders" (1971-1972).
There is something very important about Roger Moore, as he holds the honour of appearing as James Bond more than any other actor, seven times - "Live and Let Die" (1973), "The Man With The Golden Gun" (1974), "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977), "Moonraker" (1979)., "For Your Eyes Only" (1981), "Octopussy" (1983), and "A View To A Kill" (1985).
In the middle of these another non Eon Production version of James Bond was released, starring Sean Connery, and that was "Never Say Never Again" (1983).
After James Bond, Roger Moore continued to make films and television. His last performance came in a series called "Car S.O.S." in 2016. He died at his home in Switzerland in 2017, and was buried in Monaco.
He also appears on the Vlinder set of matchbox covers, which are rather fun as with them you can trace his career through "Ivanhoe" and into "The Saint". You may be interested to know that "The Saint" also appears as part of Monty Gum`s "T.V. Shows", the second series.
Our card, however, is his first cartophilic appearance as James Bond.
This is "Moonraker", a space epic, from the novel,which was written in 1955.. It involves a space shuttle hijack, which James Bond is sent to investigate. He finds the owner, Hugo Drax, is making a nerve gas that will kill humans but not affect animals. He also has a sub-plot romance with one of his scientists, who is actually working secretly for the CIA. They both end up masquerading as shuttle pilots, and manage to make the secret space station appear on radar, so it can be targeted. Then there is a huge battle, in which Hugo Drax is killed and the secret space station is totally destroyed.
Our card of the day for today is actually a sticker, hence the plain back, and the fact that if you look closely around the red border you can see a line where you peel the inner sticker from within the frame.
There were ninety nine cards, with blue borders, and a mixture of film stills and cast portraits, and twenty two stickers.
In America, the packets cost 20 cents each, though it does not say this on the packet, only on the counter sales box, and each included "10 Movie Photo Cards, 1 Sticker, I Stick Bubble Gum".
They were also sold by O-Pee-Chee in Canada, and though the packets look similar, they are bi-lingual (English and French), as are the cards, and it does not state on the packet how many cards there were inside, all it says is "Bubble Gum With Cards & Sticker - Gomme Balloune Avec Cartes et Collant". In addition they were sold for just fifteen cents a pack, and this is printed on each packet.
We also know there is a Spanish version, though it is very rare.