'Diet Coke is now my vice': Sir Roger Moore on Bond, diabetes and booze

It is almost three decades since Roger Moore gave up his licence to kill and handed back his Walther PPK. Yet when the star walks into a restaurant he is often greeted warmly as Mr Bond.

Moore will celebrate his 87th birthday next month and for all his achievements he will always be best known for playing Ian Fleming's 007.

His record of having appeared in more Bond films than any other actor - seven between 1973-1985 - will probably never be surpassed. He is also the oldest actor to have played the secret agent.

Some actors get terribly precious about being typecast but Moore, who has a new memoir out, says: "I don't mind a bit. Why would I?"

Bond made Moore a multimillionaire and he divides his time between a chalet in Switzerland and homes in Monaco and the south of France. The blue eyes still sparkle but Moore confesses that unlike the ageless Bond time is catching up with him.

He has survived prostate cancer and also had a pacemaker fitted after collapsing on stage. He recently suffered a bout of pneumonia and these days wears a hearing aid.

Nine months ago he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and was forced to make drastic changes to his lifestyle, including no more of those legendary shaken-but-not-stirred martinis.

"No more sugar, no alcohol," Moore says wistfully. "Diet Coke is now my vice. Medicine has always fascinated me and I'm a hypochondriac. It's not that I wake up every morning and think I'm dying. At my age I know I am."

He has also put on a few pounds since his prime and confesses: "I still have some of Bond's suits in my wardrobe but they don't fit now. During the 007 days I was so thin that if I turned sideways you could mark me absent. Thankfully I never had to squeeze into the trunks Daniel Craig wore."

Moore's new book is called Last Man Standing, a reference to his longevity and the passing of so many of his show business chums.

He says: "The saddest thing about ageing is that most of my friends are now in the other room. I miss David Niven the most. I still can't watch his films without shedding a tear. There's a bust of him in my study, given to me by his son."

He still keeps in touch with Christopher Lee, 92, who played the villain Scaramanga in The Man With The Golden Gun.

Moore has mostly retired from acting but his unmistakable tones are undiminished by age and he is still in demand for voice-over work. He also appears in a one-man show, reminiscing about a career on both small and big screens and takes to the road in a few weeks' time.

Moore was born in Stockwell, South London, in 1927 and had ambitions to become a doctor. But he became fascinated by acting and before doing his national service he studied at Rada.

One of his classmates was Lois Maxwell, who was to play Miss Moneypenny alongside him in the Bond films.

Before he got his big break signing a seven-year contract with MGM in 1954 he worked as a model.

None of his early roles were particularly memorable but Moore, goodlooking, suave and 6ft 1in, was an obvious leading man.

On television he played Ivanhoe, then made his name as Simon Templar in an adaptation of The Saint novels by Leslie Charteris.

As a warm-up for Bond it was perfect and his credentials as an action hero were further boosted when he starred alongside Tony Curtis in The Persuaders.

From the mid-1960s Moore was being tipped to succeed Sean Connery as the next James Bond but the role initially went to George Lazenby, who lasted just one film.

By the time a deal was struck for Live And Let Die in 1973 Moore was 45.

Following in the footsteps of Connery was a tall order but Moore decided to play Bond very differently with more humour. In The Spy Who Loved Me he is seen emerging from the sea in an underwater car, opening the window and throwing out a fish.

During filming Cubby Broccoli, who produced the films, demanded to know: "How the hell can you be dropping a fish when the car is waterproof?"

Moore replied: "Cubby, it's a movie."

He says his favourite oneliner was in The Man With The Golden Gun when he points a pistol at a gun-maker's crotch and warns: "Speak now or forever hold your piece."

Both scenes were typical of the actor's laid-back approach to playing 007 and the Connery versus Moore debate continues to divide Bond fans.

In 2004 Moore was voted "best Bond" in an Academy Awards poll but Spitting Image satirised him as the actor who raised his eyebrows to convey every emotion.

Moore, who is a big fan of current Bond incarnation Daniel Craig, counts himself fortunate to have landed such a plum role, which he gave up only two years shy of his 60th birthday.

In typical self-deprecating fashion the actor, who was knighted in 2003, says: "During my early years I was told that to succeed you need personality, talent and luck in equal measures. I contest that.

"For me it has been 99 per cent luck. It's no good being talented and not being in the right place at the right time. When I took the part of Bond I thought this really is a bit of fun."

Away from the screen Moore's private life also attracted plenty of attention and he has tied the marital knot four times.

He left his first wife, ice skater Doorn van Steyn, for actress Dorothy Squires, who was 12 years his senior. While filming in Italy in 1961 he abandoned Squires for Italian starlet Luisa Mattioli.

Moore has admitted that his relationships were often tempestuous, describing his partners as "lovely ladies with bad taste in men". In an interview two years ago he claimed he suffered domestic violence at the hands of van Steyn and Squires but said he has finally found peace with his fourth wife.

Moore and Kristina Tholstrup, 74, whom he married in 2002, were neighbours in France. After 25 years of marriage he left Mattioli, the mother of his three children, for the Swede. His decision to end the relationship, later paying out £10million in a divorce deal, came after a period of self-reflection when he was battling prostate cancer.

Moore says: "It was the toughest decision of my life."

But much like his acting career he has no regrets. Of his fourth marriage he says: "In Kristina I had found my soul mate. I knew that this wonderful woman could make me live again and would bring the happiest years of my life. It's a tranquil relationship and there are no arguments. I lead a life of bliss."

Last Man Standing: Tales From Tinseltown is published by Michael O'Mara (£20 )on September 4. Tour dates see roger-moore.com.