Last Man Standing: Tales from Tinseltown
£8.60£9.50 (-9%)
In a career that spanned over seven decades, Roger Moore was at the very heart of the show-business scene.
We all knew him as an actor who starred in films that made him famous the world over, but he was also a tremendous prankster, joker and raconteur – in fact, he was well known as one of the nicest guys in the business, and someone who was always up for some fun.
In this fabulous collection of true stories from his stellar career, Roger lifts the lid on the movie business, from Hollywood to Pinewood. It features outrageous tales from his own life and career as well as those told to him by a host of stars and filmmakers, including Tony Curtis, Sean Connery, Michael Caine, David Niven, Frank Sinatra, Gregory Peck, John Mills, Peter Sellers, Michael Winner, Cubby Broccoli and many more.
Wonderfully entertaining, laugh-out-loud funny and told with his characteristic wit and good humour, Last Man Standing is vintage Moore at his very best.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Michael O'Mara (31 May 2018) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 272 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 9781782439516 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1782439516 |
| Dimensions | 12.9 x 2.6 x 19.8 cm |
by Mark West
I will start by saying that I’m a huge fan of Sir Roger and his autobiography, “My Word Is My Bond”, is one of my all-time favourite reads so when I found out about this book, shortly after seeing him in “An Evening With…” last year, I pre-ordered it straight away. Subtitled “Tales From Tinseltown”, it does exactly what it says, with Sir Roger (assisted by Gareth Owen) relating anecdotes that have either happened to him, or that have happened to friends of his (and he has a lot of friends). Told in his inimitable style, it sets out the tone in the introduction when he mentions that there might be bad language (there is) as he received a letter from an old lady who read his autobiography and wrote to complain, saying she’d “never watch one of my films again. I have to admit that the immediate halving of my fan base is something that has weighed heavily on my mind ever since”. The book is broken into eight chapters that relate to specific areas and filled with numerous black & white photos and two colour sections (though the second colour set falls unfortunately in the middle of some Victor Spinetti anecdotes so we go from the life and times of Sir Roger to a black & white shot of Victor in his underpants). The photographs, in general, are all behind the scenes and candid, featuring Sir Roger laughing in most of them and it’s lovely to see him clowning around. There are little sprinklings of memoirs throughout the piece and the tone does sometimes become a little melancholic, especially as the book progresses and his old, dear friends pass away though it’s generally laugh out loud funny and always enjoyable. Aside from the print being too big (the book therefore looks bigger than it actually is), this is a great and entertaining read and I’d very much recommend it, though I’d also steer you towards his autobiography. Great fun.
by Sean
I read this book as its a follow-up from his first book My Word is my Bond and as ever its full of funny stories from the film industry both in London and Hollywood.
I definitely enjoyed reading it and loved the stories as well. I will definitely be rereading it again soon. Best wishes Sean
by SirChutney
I’m a huge fan of Sir Roger who not only enjoyed a lengthy and successful career in show business but has worked as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF following on from him hanging up his PPK back in the mid 1980s. Its probably fair to say that he has become a popular and well respected national treasure as he ages gracefully.
When I grew up in the 1970s and 80s Moore was a huge star; in between making the Bond movies (which I grew up watching) he also made some excellent actions movies, specially designed to watch with your Dad: Gold, Sea Wolves, North Sea Hijack, Wild Geese and Cannonball Run for example, not to mention TV series such as The Saint and my personal favourite, The Persuaders.
In his third outing as an author “Tales from Tinseltown” its clear that his off screen life was almost as interesting as what happened to him while on set. The book lives up to its title (sub-title: Last Man Standing; a quote from Frank Sinatra, ‘Who’s going to be left to turn the light off?’, Roger hopes it will be him) as its essentially Rodge relaying decades worth of anecdotes to Gareth Owen. He’s never nasty or malicious when he name checks practically every movie star from the 1950s onwards. The tales are all relayed in a lighthearted manner, along with some candid photographs. These snaps highlight Rodge modelling high fashion over the decades along with him clowning around: my personal favourite is Peter Sellers painting Rogers toenails for some forgotten reason.
The book itself is split into eight chapters:
1) The Fun – and Feisty – Leading Ladies
2) The Pinewood Years
3) Stage-struck
4) On-set Tales
5) The Good Guys (and a Few Rascals)
6) The Rat Pack
7) The Creative Geniuses
8) The Producers
From time to time Sir Roger adds a few thoughts which didn’t make it into his autobiography and the mood dips as he reminisces about friends who have died, gone to “that great cutting room in the sky” as he says but on the whole is an upbeat entertaining giggle from beginning to end. I also like the fact that Roger knows that he’s been lucky for three reasons: the secrets of his success? … he looked
‘like a hero … can remember lines and … work cheaply’.
Thankfully, Moore is very much still standing and that is something which we should be very grateful indeed; highly recommended.