Robert S. Baker, 1916 – Sept. 30, 2009, British film and television producer, has died from cancer at the age of 93.
What can be more exciting that Roger Moore and Val Kilmer as lead men playing the “famous Simon Templar” in Leslie Charteris’s “The Saint”? The show and all of its renditions is Baker’s cornerstone for fame. The long-running mystery spy thriller aired trans-Atlanta in primetime and proved popular beyond just the UK and the US eventually showing in over 60 countries. With almost 120 episodes, “The Saint” is exceeded only by “The Avengers” as the most productive show of its genre produced in the UK.
Some might say that if the series hadn’t existed, then perhaps there never would have been a Roger Moore as James Bond in the 007 movies or, at least, Moore as “Bond” would not have been the same. Roger Moore was actually offered the 007 role at least twice during the filming of “The Saint” but had to turn it down. Undoubtedly, “The Saint” would have to have a training ground for Moore to eventually take on Bond. Ironically, the two roles of Templar and Bond were so intertwined that they actually wrote it into an early “Saint” episode, having Templar be mistaken for James Bond.
In 1997, “The Saint” was remade with Val Kilmer and it has been announced that it will be remade for television by BrightLight Pictures with Scottish actor Dougray Scott lined up to play Simon Templar.
A quote from Roger Moore was posted up on the Leslie Charteris Fan website:
“My friend Bob was one of the kindest men I have ever had the privilege of knowing and working with. I little realized when Bob and I first met back in 1961 how our lives were destined to become a long and happy association. That of course was when I arrived back in England to shoot what I then thought would be just twenty-six episodes of the Saint. It became over a hundred episodes, in the course of which Bob and I became partners in the production company which went on to produce “The Persuaders” and also a feature film for UA, Crossplot…I shall miss my dapper friend and business partner tremendously. I am sure that he is now reunited with his beloved wife, Alma, who died many years ago from cancer, the same dreaded disease that has finally taken Bob…His daughters, Marilyn, Geraldine and their children have my deepest condolences.”
