How many Saint novels have you read/bought? Have you watched other than Roger's versions of The Saint? What did you think of our Roger as the Saint compared to his literary counterpart and other actors in this role?

I've seen other actors in the role of Simon Templar in movies that have been on tv: Louis Hayward, George Sanders, and in my opinion, the worse one I ever  saw - Hugh Sinclair. They were all way off the mark, and the role fit Roger so well, it was  as if it  was written with him in mind. That was the impression I got  too, while reading some of the novels several years ago.

Val Kilmer? No way!

Ian Ogilvy in "Return Of The Saint" on tv certainly looked a little like Roger, but there the similarities end, though he did make a decent effort, but lacked that certain something that Roger had.

Sunny wrote:How many Saint novels have you read/bought?

Not many...Our local library only has a limited number of books on any subject.  :smt005

Have you watched other than Roger's versions of The Saint?

Only Val Kilmer. He didnt impress me.  :smt012

In some of The Saint stories didn't Simon have a female friend who helped him? I believe she figured in several books. Is that correct?

If so, do you think she should have featured in the tv series with Roger?

Amber, you just gave me an idea for a separate topic about Patricia Holm, the Saint's girlfriend from the novels: simplymoore-post-340.html#340

You know, I have thought on the subject of this lady a while back, asking myself the same question - why they decided not to use the character in the series. The only answer I could come up with was because the Saint was a sex symbol, and getting him engaged or married would have been taking some of that appeal away from the character. Instead, they gave him a new lady to date in every episode.

Opinions?

Sunny wrote:How many Saint novels have you read/bought? Have you watched other than Roger's versions of The Saint? What did you think of our Roger as the Saint compared to his literary counterpart and other actors in this role?

Hmmm...I've read them all. Many, many times.

It's heresy I know but for me Roger is simply someone who played the Saint. The best Saint by far is the literary Saint, though I must profess to a certain fondness for Ian Ogilvy's portrayal, probably because I grew up watching it...

Hoppy

Hoppy, I can understand where you are coming from. It's very difficult to be partial to other actors in a role you like if you are used to one person in particular playing it. I heard many good things about Ian Ogilvy.

I never got to watch any other TV actors but Roger in The Saint. Haven't seen Val Kilmer either. But I am thinking of renting that movie just for "educational" purposes. I have several George Sanders movies on a VHS. Of all movie Saints, he is the only one I find close enough to the character in the novels. (I saw ALL 30's and 40's movie Saint versions!) He was charming, classy looking and had spunk. Too bad he went 'nuts' and commited suicide.

As for the books, I have a few in my collection and read many, but not all. The library in the bigger nearby town has quite a few Saint novels, surprise-surprise, but our small town library has very little and their ordering policies are so strict, my chin fell to the floor when I read their ordering requirements. So I'll stick with the neighbouring town's library and borrow a few more books from them.

Do you have a favourite Saint novel? Something you might recommend to order?

Generally the early ones eg. The Saint's Getaway, The Last Hero, The Avenging Saint, The Saint Plays with Fire, The Saint in Miami

Do you think that the tv adaptations of The Saint stuck closely to the books original stories?

No. Partly because of the casting; Roger was in no way the Saint of the early books, but his portrayal helped shape the Saint of the latter books

Roger with Leslie Charteris.

Is it true that Mr Charteris was not exactly overjoyed that Roger was cast as Simon Templar?

He wasn't enamoured at first, but then he wasn't enamoured by the show in general. But as time went on he appreciated both the show and Roger's portrayal.

Hoppy Uniatz wrote:He wasn't enamoured at first, but then he wasn't enamoured by the show in general. But as time went on he appreciated both the show and Roger's portrayal.

I find this very easy to understand. Most writers have their own mental image of their characters, and when they have to give a blessing for a movie or a TV series made from their books and actors have to be chosen to play the characters, it is a very hard ordeal for a writer to go through. And it takes time, even if the casting is successful, to get used to this new face in the role. One can't blame Leslie Charteris for this initial feelings.

I think that the show's writers did justice to the books though, I have read a few that were made into episodes, and was impressed with how close they managed to follow the original stories. And unlike some screen adaptations of various novels, when after reading the book and then watching the movie and vice versa, you feel cheated because the actor onscreen looks and acts nothing like the person described in the book, it is easy to picture Roger Moore when reading the original novels (except for the decade difference - 30's vs 60's  :smt003 )

The only thing I couldn't quite understand was that at one time LC spoke of Cary Grant as his "perfect" actor for the role of Simon Templar. Maybe I am just not a Cary Grant fan and that makes it hard for me to invision him as the Saint.  :smt102

Yeah I know what you mean. But the Cary Grant comment dates back to the 40s when both he and Charteris were busy in Hollywood and the world was a very different place.