HE'S so successful with women, you could be forgiven for assuming James Bond is a ladies' man on and off the screen.

But veteran 007 actor Sir Roger Moore has revealed the real womaniser on set was 3ft 11in actor Herve Villechaize, describing him as a "sex maniac".

4 Herve Villechaize pictured with Maud Adams and Britt Ekland in a promotional shot for The Man with the Golden Gun Credit: Alamy

4 Roger Moore with Villechaize in the 1974 Bond film Credit: Alamy

Speaking at London's Southbank Centre, the veteran actor claimed Villechaize - who played evil henchman Nick Nack in the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun - slept with 35 women while filming in the Far East, including prostitutes.

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Moore, 89, said: "He was a very small man and he used to touch me and I used to say, 'Don't touch me. You are diseased'.

"I wasn't being cruel about his size, it was just that he was a sex maniac. He had a lust for ladies, unnatural.

"When we were in Hong Kong he would find girls in girly clubs and go with a flashlight, 'You, you, not you'."

4 Villechaize committed suicide at his Hollywood home in 1993 Credit: Rex Features

4 Sir Roger Moore, pictured, was speaking at London's Southbank Centre Credit: Fame Flynet

Paris-born Villechaize committed suicide in 1993, shooting himself in his Hollywood back garden at the age of 50 after leaving a note saying he was despondent over longtime health problems.

The twice-divorced star who later played the part of Tattoo in the hit 70s TV series Fantasy Island suffered chronic pain due to his height and underdeveloped lungs.

Sir Roger also told the Southbank audience he wouldn't rule out taking a cameo role in any future Bond film to "expand the family coffers" while naming Sean Connery and Daniel Craig as the best actors to play the iconic agent.

He said: "I think that Sean was obviously the great Bond.

"He was obviously the right person, he brought the right personality to the performance, otherwise Bond would not have gone on past the first six that he did. He was a tremendous Bond.

"Today, I think we're very lucky to have Daniel Craig because he is quite extraordinary, I always say that Sean looked like a killer – but Daniel Craig would finish it off.

"When I saw Casino Royale, I thought that Daniel Craig did more action in the first seven minutes than I did in seven movies."

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