Acting legend and James Bond star Sir Roger Moore has died at the age of 89.

The actor’s family announced the news of Moore’s death on Tuesday morning in a tweet from his official Twitter account. Moore died in Switzerland after battling cancer.

The English actor was born on October 14, 1927 in Stockwell, London. Moore served in the Royal Army before attending drama school and beginning a career as an actor. Moore acted in a handful of MGM films at the start of his career, from Interrupted Melody to The King’s Thief, and later found success on the small screen in Maverick and The Saint.

But Moore is best known for being the third actor to step into the shoes of James Bond, and the longest actor to play the iconic character. Moore played 007 for 12 years, beginning with Live and Let Die in 1973 and gave his final performance as Bond in 1985’s A View to Kill.

In Mark Edlitz’ How To Be a Superhero book from 2015 (via io9), Moore reflected on playing Bond. He revealed that the key for playing 007 for him was that Bond never liked killing. “He didn’t particularly enjoy killing but took pride in doing his job well,” Moore said. “That was the key to the role as far as I was concerned.”

Back in 2014 the actor told The Guardian that he didn’t mind being forever remembered as the iconic secret agent. “Being eternally known as Bond has no downside,” Moore told the site. “People often call me ‘Mr Bond’ when we’re out and I don’t mind a bit. Why would I?"

Moore is survived by his wife Kristina Tholstrup and his three children.

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