Leslie Charteris was an English Asian born in Singapore and wrote many stories about the English adventurer known as the Saint taken from his initials. He also used the name Sebastian Tombs again using the letters ST. His first saint story was published in 1928. He later formed the saint club to raise money to help the children in the East End of London of which I am a life member.
On visiting the studios whilst the series was being recorded he got on well with Roger Moore he was not always happy with the scripts which he had no control over.
As for the series I believe that Roger was the ideal choice for the Saint although the Saint was portrayed as whiter than white which was not how Leslie Charteris pictured him and I believe the slight American accent in the B & W first series was to make it more acceptable to the American market.
However having said that I recommend the series and currently is being shown on TV. Also I would suggest that if possible fans should try to get hold of the books to meet the real Saint They are mainly out of Print but can sometimes be found on auction sites, in 2008 two volumes entitled The Best of the Saint were released with a forward by Roger Moore.
Many actors have played the Saint but to date non as good as Roger.