Roger Moore Collapses (8th May, 2003)

James Bond actor Roger Moore has reportedly been taken to hospital in New York after collapsing on stage during a show.

The 75-year-old actor was singing and dancing during a performance of The Play What I Wrote on Broadway when he collapsed, a British newspaper has reported.

He is being treated in a Manhattan hospital for respiratory problems, and said to be in a stable condition.

Audiences first though the collapse was part of the actor's routine, but soon realised it was a genuine health scare, the Sun newspaper said.

The show's stars, Right Size comics Sean Foley and Hamish McColl, told the Lyceum Theatre audience the show would be taking a short break after Moore is said to have told McColl: "I think I've fainted, old boy."

Moore was said to have received "a huge cheer" when he returned to the stage, dressed in lederhosen, for the last part of his performance.

The actor managed to complete the last ten minutes, and still dressed in his lederhosen costume, was then taken by paramedics to the St Luke's and Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan, the Sun said.

Hamish McColl and Sean Foley pay homage to Morecambe and Wise
A hospital spokeswoman reportedly said doctors were looking at him and that his condition was stable.

A London-based spokesperson for Moore told BBC News Online on Thursday morning she had been unable to get any further details about his condition.

Moore was playing a cameo role in the show, written by Foley and McColl and directed by Kenneth Branagh. He is the latest of several stars to do the guest spot in New York, after Liam Neeson, Kevin Kline, Alan Alda and Jeff Goldblum.

The play, which started in London in 2001, is an homage to the double act comedy of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise.

Roger Moore took over the role of 007 agent James Bond in 1973 in the film Live and Let Die, after becoming a cult star playing the suave hero Simon Templar in the TV series The Saint.

In recent years he has campaigned on behalf of the United Nations' children's charity Unicef.

BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/showbiz/3009741.stm
(8th May, 2003)