James Bond actor Sir Roger Moore dies, aged 89

British actor Roger Moore, who shot to fame for his roles as James Bond and The Saint died in Switzerland on Tuesday. He was 89.

His children shared a release on Twitter on Tuesday evening India time.  “It is with a heavy heart that we must announce our loving father, Sir Roger Moore has passed away today in Switzerland after a short, but brave battle with cancer. The love with which he was surrounded in his final days was so great, it cannot be quantified in words alone,” the family said.

With the heaviest of hearts, we must share the awful news that our father, Sir Roger Moore, passed away today. We are all devastated. pic.twitter.com/6dhiA6dnVg

— Sir Roger Moore (@sirrogermoore) May 23, 2017

Apart from working in television and film, Moore was a brand ambassador for UNICEF – an achievement his family said was his ‘greatest accomplishment.’

“The affection our father felt whenever he walked on to a stage in front of a camera buoyed him hugely and kept him busy working into his 90^th year, through to his last appearance in November 2016 on stage at London’s Royal Festival Hall. The capacity crowd cheered him on and off stage, shaking the very foundation of the building just a short distance from where he was born,” the family shared.

Moore was the original choice to play the spy James Bond, but his commitment to the television show The Saint gave Sean Connery the chance to make the character a legend. Moore took over the role in 1973 with Live and Let Die and finished his Bond career with A View to A Kill in 1985, when he was aged 57.