Who Originally Created The Saint?

The Saint, or Simon Templar, was the creation of novelist Leslie Charteris. Charteris described his hero as "a roaring adventurer who loves a fight…a pirate or a philanthropist as the occasion demands." He conceived him as a sort of lightweight James Bond, and appropriately enough the character was played by Roger Moore, the original and most debonair James Bond actor. That was in 1962; the series continued until 1969, changing from black and white to colour in 1966. Though ostensibly an action series, with plenty of exotic Bond-style fighting with jewel thieves, blackmailers of beautiful society women (who always fell in love with the Saint) and the like, it was basically played for laughs. (this is also true of the Roger Moore Bond films, of course.) In 1978 a remake was made starring Ian Ogilvy; this was played more as straightforward action drama, and did not quite achieve the popularity of the original.

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