An alarm engineer who spends his spare time running Sir Roger Moore’s official website has paid tribute to his late friend, Hollywood legend Tony Curtis.

Alan Davidson, 52, became friends with Mr Curtis through his work with Sir Roger, whose website he runs from his home in Idle Road.

In 2006 he was invited to the Empire Film Awards as a guest of Sir Roger, where he swung a deal to be an art agent for Mr Curtis’s paintings.

In 2005 Mr Davidson, who had been masterminding a fan site for the classic television series The Persuaders for the previous three years, managed to get himself an interview with Mr Curtis, who played the part of Danny Wilde in the show alongside Sir Roger.

Mr Davidson said he had been shocked and saddened to hear of Mr Curtis’s death.

He said: “The last time I met him was in Harrods. He was doing a signing for his second autobiography about four or five months ago and he had brought a couple of original scripts from The Persuaders for me.

“He had a great sense of humour. I knew he had been poorly for about two years and I knew he was having trouble with his lungs, but of course you’re shocked when you hear.

“He was 85. He’s done a lot of things and he’s had a very full life.”

Mr Curtis, whose career spanned more than 60 years, died at the age of 85 after suffering a heart attack on Wednesday night.

Mr Davidson said Sir Roger had issued a statement through his website paying tribute to the Hollywood star. The statement read: “Hearing the news about Tony deeply saddened me today.

“He was a great friend and a great co-star, and I will forever remember the laughs and fun we shared on The Persuaders and the friendship which endured ever after.”

Mr Davidson plans to sell a limited edition of canvas prints of The Persuaders, authorised by Sir Roger, in memory of Mr Curtis. He is seeking artists to create the prints, which will be sold at whitby-art.co.uk.