[msb-alumni] Sean Connery, the charismatic Scottish actor who rose to international superstardom as suave, fearless secret agent James Bond, dies at 90 on October 30, 2020 articles
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BlankSean Connery, the charismatic Scottish actor who rose to international
superstardom as
suave, fearless secret agent James Bond, dies at 90 on October 30, 2020 articles
LONDON (AP) -- Sean Connery, the charismatic Scottish actor who rose to
international
superstardom as suave, fearless secret agent James Bond and then abandoned the
role to carve
out an equally successful, Oscar-winning career playing a variety of leading
and character
roles, has died. He was 90. Bond producers EON Productions confirmed his death.
Producers
Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said they were devastated by the news.
"He was and
shall always be remembered as the original James Bond whose indelible entrance
into cinema
history began when he announced those unforgettable words: "The names Bond...
James Bond,"
they said in a statement Saturday.
The producers said Connerys gritty and witty portrayal of the sexy and
charismatic secret
agent was largely responsible for the success of the series.
Connery's son Jason said his father died peacefully in his sleep overnight in
the Bahamas
where he lived, having been unwell for some time. "A sad day for all who knew
and loved my
dad and a sad loss for all people around the world who enjoyed the wonderful
gift he had as
an actor," Jason Connery told the BBC.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was heartbroken at the news.
"Our nation
today mourns one of her best loved sons," she said.
A commanding screen presence for some 40 years, Connery was in his early 30s
and little
known when he starred in the first Bond thriller, 1962's "Dr. No," based on the
Ian Fleming
novel. Condemned as immoral by the Vatican and the Kremlin, but screened at
the White House
for Bond fan John F. Kennedy, Dr. No was a box office hit and helped Bond
become a franchise
that long outlasted its Cold War origins.
For decades, with actors from Connery to Daniel Craig in the leading role,
filmgoers have
loved the outrageous stunts, vicious villains and likable, roguish hero who
enjoyed a life
of carousing, fast cars, gadgety weapons, elegant clothes and vodka martinis
(always shaken,
not stirred).
For many, Connery was the definitive James Bonds, his characters introduction
among the most
famous in movie history: He is seated at the blackjack table of an upscale
casino, seen
first from the side and the back. After he wins a couple of hands against a
glamorous young
woman, she asks for more money to gamble.
"I admire your courage, Miss, uh ..." we hear him tell her as the camera shows
his hands
removing a cigarette from a slender case.
She introduces herself as "Trench, Sylvia Trench," tells him she admires his
luck and asks
his name.
His reply remains a catchphrase decades later. "Bond," he says, his face
finally revealed as
he lights a cigarette. "James Bond."
United Artists couldnt wait to make more Bond movies, with ever more elaborate
stunts and
gadgets, along with more exotic locales and more prominent co-stars, among them
Lotte Lenya
and Jill St. John.
Connery continued as Bond in "From Russia With Love," "Goldfinger,"
"Thunderball," "You Only
Live Twice" and "Diamonds Are Forever," often performing his own stunts.
"Diamonds Are Forever" came out in 1971 and by then Connery had grown weary of
playing 007
and feared he wasnt being taken seriously despite his dramatic performances in
Alfred
Hitchcocks "Marnie" and Sidney Lumets "The Hill."
"I'd been an actor since I was 25, but the image the press put out was that I
just fell into
this tuxedo and started mixing vodka martinis," he once complained.
When he walked away at age 41, Hollywood insiders predicted Connery would soon
be washed up.
Who would hire a balding, middle-aged actor with a funny accent?
Connery fooled them all, playing a wide range of characters and proving equally
adept at
comedy, adventure or drama.
And age only heightened the appeal of his dark stare and rugged brogue; he set
a celebrity
record of sorts when at age 59 he was named People magazines "Sexiest Man
Alive."
He won the affection of fans of the Indiana Jones franchise when he played
Indys father
opposite Harrison Ford in the third picture, 1989's "Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade."
He turned in a poignant portrayal of an aging Robin Hood opposite Audrey
Hepburn in "Robin
and Marian" in 1976 and, 15 years later, was King Richard to Kevin Costners
Robin Hood in
"Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves."
He was the lovable English con man who joined Michael Caine in swindling tribal
people
everywhere in "The Man Who Would Be King" and the bold Russian submarine
commander in "The
Hunt for Red October."
He delivered a charming performance as a reclusive writer who mentors a teenage
prodigy in
2000's "Finding Forrester."
He won his Oscar for supporting actor in 1987 for his portrayal of a tough
Chicago cop who
joins Elliot Ness' crime-fighters in "The Untouchables."
By then he was at peace with James Bond, and when he arrived onstage at the
Oscar ceremony
he declared, "The name's Connery. Sean Connery."
He kept his promise not to play Bond again until 1983, when he was lured back
by an offbeat
script about a middle-aged 007. Based on the only Fleming story that hadnt been
nailed down
by the film empire Broccoli and Saltzman created, Connery took the role and
helped produce
the film.
The result was "Never Say Never Again," a title suggested by his wife,
Micheline Roquebrune.
Even as the 007 films made him a millionaire, Connery tried often to separate
his own
personality from that of Bond.
"I'm obviously not Bond," he once said. "And Bond is obviously not a human
being. Fleming
invented him after the war, when people were hungry for luxury, gourmet
touches, exotic
settings. Those were the things the English loved to read about following the
privations of
the war."
The real Sean Connery had a troubled first marriage and a history of comments
justifying
domestic violence. In 1962, he married Diane Cilento, an actress best known for
her role as
Molly in "Tom Jones." They had a son, Jason, who also became an actor, but the
union proved
tempestuous and ended in 1974.
Its impact lasted long after. Cilento would allege that he had physically
abused her and
Connery defended his behavior in interviews. In 1965, he told Playboy magazine
that he "did
not find anything particularly wrong about hitting a woman although I dont
recommend doing
it in the same way that you'd hit a man. An openhanded slap is justified if all
other
alternatives fail and there has been plenty of warning."
When Barbara Walter brought up those remarks in a 1987 interview, he said his
opinion hadnt
changed because "sometimes women just wont leave things alone."
Connery was widely criticized, but still received numerous honors, including
being chosen as
commander (the same rank as Bond) of Frances Order of Arts and Literature and a
Kennedy
Center honoree in 1999. The following year Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed him a
British
knight. In 2005 he was chosen for a lifetime achievement award by the American
Film
Institute.
Thomas Sean Connery was born Aug. 25, 1930, in Edinburgh, Scotland, the first
of two sons of
a long-distance truck driver and a domestic worker. He left school at age 13
during World
War II to help support his family.
"I was a milkman, laborer, steel bender, cement mixer virtually anything," he
once said.
Weary of day labor, he joined the British navy and was medically discharged
after three
years. The ailment: stomach ulcers.
Back in Edinburgh, he lifted weights to build his body and compete in the Mr.
Universe
contest. He came in third, and briefly considered becoming a professional
soccer player, but
chose acting because he reasoned his career would last longer.
He got his first big break singing and dancing to "There is Nothing Like a
Dame" in "South
Pacific" on the London stage and in a road production before going on to act in
repertory,
television and B movies. He went to Hollywood for two early films, Disneys
"Darby OGill" and
the "Little People" and "Tarzans Greatest Adventure."
When he decided to become an actor, he was told that Thomas Sean Connery
wouldnt fit on a
theater marquee so he dropped his first name.
Then came the audition that changed his life. American producers Albert Cubby
Broccoli and
Harry Saltzman had bought the film rights to a string of post-World War II spy
adventure
novels by Fleming.
Connery was not their first choice for "Dr. No." The producers had looked to
Cary Grant,
but decided they wanted an actor would commit to a series.
The producers also realized they couldnt afford a big-name star because United
Artists had
limited their film budget to $1 million a picture, so they started interviewing
more obscure
British performers.
Among them was the 6-foot-2 Connery. Without a screen test, Broccoli and
Saltzman chose the
actor, citing his dark, cruel good looks, a perfect match for the way Fleming
described
Bond.
When Connery started earning big money, he established his base at a villa in
Marbella on
the Spanish coast. He described it as "my sanitarium, where I recover from the
madness of
the film world." It also helped him avoid the overwhelming income tax he would
have paid
had he remained a resident of Britain.
As his acting roles diminished when he reached his 70s, Connery spent much of
his time at
his tax-free home at Lynford Cay in the Bahamas. He played golf almost every
morning, often
with his wife. He announced in 2007 that he had retired when he turned down the
chance to
appear in another Indiana Jones movie.
"I thought long and hard about it, and if anything could have pulled me out of
retirement it
would have been an `Indiana Jones' film," he said. "But in the end, retirement
is just too
damned much fun."
******
Bond. Best Bond. To many, his 007 was No. 1. . T. Rees Shapiro. Sean Connery,
the
Scottish-born actor who was film's first - and for many viewers, the only -
"Bond, James
Bond," and whose charismatic swagger enlivened dozens of other movies including
his
Oscar-winning performance in "The Untouchables," died at his home in Lyford
Cay, the
Bahamas. He was 90. The death was announced by Eon Productions, producers of
the James Bond
films, on the company's website. His publicist, Nancy Seltzer, said he died
either late
Friday or early Saturday morning. The cause was not disclosed. In a career
spanning more
than five decades, Mr. Connery developed a screen magnetism that combined the
seductive
charm of his honey-thick Scottish brogue with an alluring physical presence. He
was
strikingly cocksure - brimming with authority and impudence - and appealed to
audiences in
even the most ludicrous of star vehicles. "Connery looks absolutely confident
in himself as
a man," the film critic Pauline Kael once wrote. "Women want to meet him, and
men want to be
him. I don't know any man since Cary Grant that men have wanted to be so much.
He made more
than 60 films - most of them in the leading role. The Bond series aside, only a
handful drew
critical acclaim: "The Untouchables," "The Man Who Would Be King," "The Hill,"
"The Offence"
and "The Russia House. Many were flubs such as "Zardoz" and "The League of
Extraordinary
Gentlemen. A great many were audience pleasers such as "The Hunt for Red
October" and
"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. As a young man, Mr. Connery was roguishly
handsome,
with dark features and a 6-foot-2 bodybuilder's physique. A onetime contender
for Mr.
Universe, he had a sex appeal tinged with the rough edge of his working-class
upbringing in
Edinburgh. He had been a coffin polisher and swimsuit model before a quick rise
to movie
stardom in the most popular spy franchise of all time. In his novels, Ian
Fleming created
Bond as an impossibly suave British secret agent. The sybaritic Bond was an ace
with women,
a master of intricate weaponry and the double entendre, a cultured vinophile
(who preferred
martinis - shaken, not stirred) and a violent thug who wore bespoke tuxedos.
Starting with
"Dr. No" in 1962 and continuing in six more Bond films that spanned more than
two decades,
Mr. Connery had an ability to convey an unvarnished toughness and
self-assurance that
captivated moviegoers. "All I did," Mr. Connery once said, "was add a sense of
humor that
was lacking in Fleming's novels and a quality of effortlessness. As played by
Mr. Connery,
Bond dispatched the enemy without sentiment and displayed a calm wit when
sparring with
evildoers bent on world destruction. "Do you lose as gracefully as you win? a
villain once
asked Bond. "I don't know, I've never lost," Mr. Connery said. Mr. Connery, who
harbored an
admittedly brutish side to his personality, brought verve to the role. "Bond
was meant to be
a classy character and Connery was not - he was working class and that kind of
gave him an
abrasive edge," British-born film critic and historian David Thomson said in an
interview.
"Bond was English and Connery was Scottish, and the Scots hold the English in
contempt and
that brought a very important energy to his approach. This barely concealed
menace brought a
compelling depth to many of his best-remembered films, notably his
Oscar-winning supporting
role as gritty Irish street cop Jim Malone in Brian De Palma's Prohibition-era
drama "The
Untouchables" (1987). Kevin Costner played lawman Eliot Ness, and Robert De
Niro was
gangster Al Capone. Mr. Connery said he was drawn to the part for its
"contrast. "I like it
when an actor looks one thing and conveys something else, perhaps something
diametrically
opposite," he told the New York Times in 1987. "With Malone, I tried to show at
the
beginning he could be a real pain . . . so that you wouldn't think he could be
concerned
with such things as Ness's feelings or Ness's family, and then show he was
someone else
underneath, capable of real relationships. Mr. Connery had first shown promise
in a 1957 BBC
television role, playing a punch-drunk prizefighter in "Requiem for a
Heavyweight. Under
Sidney Lumet's direction, he drew critical praise as an unjustly persecuted
British soldier
in a North African military prison in "The Hill" (1965), appearing opposite
Michael
Redgrave, Harry Andrews and Ian Bannen. Mr. Connery dived wholly into the role
of a brutal
British police detective in Lumet's "The Offence" (1973), opposite Trevor
Howard and Bannen.
He also was a rabble-rousing coal miner in Martin Ritt's "The Molly Maguires"
(1970), a role
that a Time magazine movie critic lauded by calling him "one of the screen's
most underrated
stars, an actor of tightly controlled power and technical accomplishment. Mr.
Connery said
he was drawn to parts that displayed humor. One of the best examples was John
Huston's film
adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King" (1975). Mr. Connery
and Michael
Caine played British soldiers who stumble onto the riches of a tribal kingdom
and try to
execute a massive con by pretending that Mr. Connery is a demigod. These films
tended to be
the exception in Mr. Connery's prolific rsum, which was littered with dozens of
lesser
assignments. He played the frustrated husband of Tippi Hedren in Alfred
Hitchcock's bland
psychodrama "Marnie" (1964); a bare-chested, ponytailed gunslinger of the
future in "Zardoz"
(1974); and a trenchcoat-wearing adventurer in the graphic novel adaptation
"The League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen" (2003). He gave over-the-top performances in
over-the-top films
such as "Highlander" (1986), in which he plays an immortal swordsman; "The Hunt
for Red
October" (1990), as a Russian nuclear submarine commander; and "The Rock"
(1996), as an
ex-con who helps disrupt a terrorist plot. Mr. Connery also enlivened the most
commercial of
films, such as "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989), starring Harrison
Ford as a
whip-cracking archaeologist and Mr. Connery as the adventurer's comically
disapproving
father. Mr. Connery's high profile allowed him to command huge salaries. He was
a
multimillionaire and often donated his movie payments to the Scottish
International
Education Trust, an organization he helped start that offers grants primarily
to young
artists. As "Dr. No" director Terence Young once said, "There are only two
great stars in my
recollection who have not been changed by great massive success: Sean Connery
and Lassie,
and both of them Scottish. Thomas Sean Connery was born Aug. 25, 1930, in
Edinburgh, where
his father was a truck driver and his mother was a maid. He grew up in an
industrial
neighborhood where he recalled that the dueling aromas of a rubber factory and
brewery hung
over the streets. He dropped out of school at 12 and joined the British navy
four years
later. He said he was discharged before completing his enlistment because of
stomach ulcers.
As a veteran, he gained entry to a vocational program in Edinburgh and trained
to be a
furniture polisher. In between jobs buffing tables and pianos, he worked as an
undertaker's
assistant nailing coffins at a funeral parlor. In his off time, he participated
in a
weightlifting club and with his sculpted physique posed as a life model at an
art school. A
friend persuaded Mr. Connery to compete in the 1953 Mr. Universe bodybuilding
contest in
London. Having won a bronze medal in the tall men's division, he saw an
audition call for
actors with a touring company of "South Pacific. Motivated to impress the
show's producers,
he landed a part in the musical's he-man chorus by performing handsprings. "No
one else
could do them," he said. On the advice of a castmate, Mr. Connery began an
autodidactic
education to improve his acting. He read plays by William Shakespeare and
studied acting
technique by reviewing texts by Konstanin Stanislavsky. Mr. Connery also set
about taming
his Scottish burr. It was said to be so thick that other cast members in "South
Pacific"
thought he was speaking Polish. He bought a tape recorder and devoted hours to
practicing
his diction, but the remnants of his accent eventually became his trademark.
His good looks
helped propel his career from supporting screen roles to a leading part
opposite Lana Turner
in the World War II melodrama "Another Time, Another Place" (1958). It was Mr.
Connery's
portrayal of Count Alexis Vronsky in a 1961 BBC adaptation of Tolstoy's "Anna
Karenina"
(opposite Claire Bloom in the title role) that piqued the interest of Harry
Saltzman and
Albert "Cubby" Broccoli. The producers had secured the film rights to Fleming's
Bond books
and were searching for an actor to star in their low-budget production of "Dr.
No. At first,
casting Mr. Connery in the Bond role seemed a risky choice. They considered
many established
names for the part, including Richard Burton and Redgrave, before inviting Mr.
Connery to
read scripts. The producers had no choice - the movie's $1 million budget
called for someone
cheap but promising. The role of Bond came with a $16,500 salary. "It was the
sheer
self-confidence he exuded," Broccoli told the New York Times in 1964. "I've
never seen a
surer guy. Every time he made a point he hit the desk with that great fist of
his, or
slapped his thigh. It wasn't just an act, either. When he left we watched him
through the
window as he walked down the street. He walked like the most arrogant
son-of-a-gun you've
ever seen. . . . 'That's our Bond,' I said. Mr. Connery returned as Bond in
"From Russia
With Love" (1963), "Goldfinger" (1964), "Thunderball" (1965), "You Only Live
Twice" (1967)
and "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971). The world was overcome with "Bondmania" in
the 1960s.
Johnny Rivers's pop tune "Secret Agent Man" played incessantly on the radio. A
Bond-inspired
cologne promised a secret aromatic weapon of desire. Mr. Connery said he tired
of the fuss.
"The first two or three were fun," he once said. "Jumping out of planes was
entertaining,
although it was tough on my hairpiece. After "Diamonds," he swore he'd never
return to the
screen as Bond. Other actors came in his place, including George Lazenby, Roger
Moore and
Timothy Dalton. Later revivals of the franchise have starred Pierce Brosnan
and, most
recently, Daniel Craig. Despite his vow, Mr. Connery reprised the role a final
time in 1983.
A remake of "Thunderball," the movie was called - in a nod to the actor's
broken promise -
"Never Say Never Again. He also gave finely tuned performances as a murder
suspect in the
1974 adaptation of Agatha Christie's ensemble mystery "Murder on the Orient
Express"; as an
aging bow-wielding hooded hero in "Robin and Marian" (1976) opposite Audrey
Hepburn; as a
criminal mastermind in "The Great Train Robbery" (1978); as a monk who
investigates a murder
in "The Name of the Rose" (1986); and as a publisher recruited by British
intelligence to
spy on Russia in "The Russia House" (1990), based on the John le Carre novel.
Off screen,
Mr. Connery could be combative and litigious with producers over fees, but he
also used his
reputation as a bankable star to help struggling projects directed by friends.
He accepted
the role of King Agamemnon in "Time Bandits" (1981) when he learned that the
director, Monty
Python veteran Terry Gilliam, was having trouble securing financing. At times,
Mr. Connery's
private life erupted into public view. Actress Diane Cilento, whom he wed in
1962, described
him in her memoir as a misogynist who was psychologically and physically
threatening. She
accused Mr. Connery of beating her, but he denied it. He was trailed by
comments he made to
Playboy magazine in 1965 saying it was acceptable to hit a woman to keep her in
line. He
later apologized for the remark. After his divorce from Cilento, Mr. Connery
married
French-Moroccan artist Micheline Roquebrune in 1975. In addition to his wife,
survivors
include a son from his first marriage, actor Jason Connery; a stepson he
adopted, Stephane
Connery; a brother; and several grandchildren. Mr. Connery's British knighthood
was granted
in 2000 by Queen Elizabeth, reportedly after a two-year delay because of his
support of
Scottish independence. To his fans, Mr. Connery was the only actor worthy of
donning the
Bond tuxedo. As his career progressed, however, he fiercely defended his
independence from
the role that launched him to superstardom. "I would never deny that Bond made
me, and I'll
be everlastingly grateful to him," Mr. Connery told the Times in 1964. "But
that doesn't
make me a Bond-slave. I can cut the shackles free any time I want to. And they
aren't made
of steel chains any longer, either, but smoothest silk.
******
'Original' Bond, Connery dies in his sleep at 90 Star defined spy role for
generation of
moviegoers By Bryan Alexander USA TODAY
Goodnight, Mr. Bond. Villain Auric Goldfinger uttered that line in the 1964
James Bond
classic "Goldfinger," before leaving Sean Connery's Bond to die a certain
death. The suave
007 managed to escape, of course, playing Bond seven times after debuting as
the first
big-screen Bond in 1962's "Dr. No. The Oscar-winning Connery has died at age
90, according
to Bond producers Eon Productions, who confirmed his death, first reported by
BBC. Connery's
son Jason said his father died peacefully in his sleep overnight in the
Bahamas. "A sad day
for all who knew and loved my dad and a sad loss for all people around the
world who enjoyed
the wonderful gift he had as an actor," he told the BBC. "He was and shall
always be
remembered as the original James Bond whose indelible entrance into cinema
history began
when he announced those unforgettable words 'The name's Bond, James Bond,'"
producers
Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said in a statement. Connery's
representatives did
not immediately return USA TODAY's request for comment. Away from Bond, Connery
received the
breadth of roles and acting accolades for which he yearned. Connery played the
immortal Juan
Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez in 1986's "Highlander" and 1991's "Highlander II:
The
Quickening," the only character besides Bond he played in more than one film.
He was
savagely shot-up as Irish-American officer Jim Malone working for Kevin
Costner's Eliot Ness
in 1987's "The Untouchables. The role earned Connery a best supporting actor
Oscar at age
57. "Patience truly is a virtue," Connery said during his acceptance speech.
Directors were
willing to make story trade-offs to bring him on board a project. Spielberg
cast Connery,
then 58, to play Indiana Jones' cantankerous father alongside Harrison Ford in
1989's
"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In 1990, he maintained his barely
disguised Scottish
accent as a Russian submarine captain trying to defect to the United States in
"The Hunt for
Red October. Connery was proclaimed People's Sexiest Man Alive at 59 in 1989.
When he was
knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in July 2000, he declared it "one of the
proudest days of my
life. The Bond influence remained even as the roles became less frequent, such
as Allan
Quatermain, head of a group of Victorian-era superheroes in 2003's "The League
of
Extraordinary Gentlemen. Even voicing an animated character in his final role,
as a
veterinarian in the 2012 Scottish film "Sir Billi," brought out a slew of Bond
references.
"Connery did have that great career he wanted beyond the scope of Bond," said
Bill Desowitz,
author of "James Bond Unmasked. "But for many, Sean Connery will be remembered
as 007.
That's his enduring legacy.
******
Sean Connery, Who Was 'Bond, James Bond,' and Much More, Is Dead at 90. By
Aljean Harmetz.
To legions of fans who have watched a parade of actors play Agent 007, none
played the part
as magnetically or as indelibly as Mr. Connery. Sean Connery, the irascible
Scot from the
slums of Edinburgh who found international fame as Hollywood's original James
Bond, dismayed
his fans by walking away from the Bond franchise and went on to have a long and
fruitful
career as a respected actor and an always bankable star, has died in Nassau,
the Bahamas. He
was 90.. His death, in his sleep either late Friday or early Saturday, was
confirmed by his
family. 'Bond, James Bond' was the character's familiar self-introduction, and
to legions of
fans who have watched a parade of actors play the role -- otherwise known as
Agent 007 on
Her Majesty's Secret Service -- none uttered the words or played the part as
magnetically or
as indelibly as Mr. Connery. Tall, dark and dashing, he embodied the novelist
Ian Fleming's
suave and resourceful secret agent in the first five Bond films and seven over
all,
vanquishing diabolical villains and voluptuous women alike beginning with 'Dr.
No' in 1962.
As a more violent, moody and dangerous man than the James Bond in Fleming's
books, Mr.
Connery was the top box-office star in both Britain and the United States in
1965 after the
success of 'From Russia With Love' (1963), 'Goldfinger' (1964) and
'Thunderball' (1965). But
he grew tired of playing Bond after the fifth film in the series, 'You Only
Live Twice'
(1967), and was replaced by George Lazenby, a little-known Australian actor and
model, in
'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' (1969). Mr. Connery was lured back for one
more Bond
movie, 'Diamonds Are Forever' (1971), only by the offer of $1 million as an
advance against
12 percent of the movie's gross revenues. Roger Moore took over for 'Live and
Let Die'
(1973) and continued to play the part for another 12 years. George Lazenby's
career never
took off. James Bond has been played by Daniel Craig since 2006. Mr. Connery
would revisit
the character one more time a decade later, in the elegiac 'Never Say Never
Again' (1983),
in which he wittily played a rueful Bond feeling the anxieties of middle age.
But he had
made clear long before then that he was not going to let himself be typecast.
He searched
out roles that allowed him to stretch as an actor even during his Bond years,
among them as
a widower obsessed with a woman who is a compulsive thief in Alfred Hitchcock's
'Marnie'
(1964) and as a raging, amoral poet in the satire 'A Fine Madness' (1966). His
first
post-Bond performance was as a burned-out London police detective who beats a
suspect to
death in 'The Offence' (1972), the third of five movies he made for the
celebrated director
Sidney Lumet. The others were 'The Hill' in 1965, 'The Anderson Tapes' in 1971,
'Murder on
the Orient Express' in 1974 and 'Family Business' in 1989. 'Nonprofessionals
just didn't
realize what superb high-comedy acting that Bond role was,' Mr. Lumet once
said. 'It was
like what they used to say about Cary Grant. 'Oh,' they'd say, 'he's just got
charm. Well,
first of all, charm is actually not all that easy a quality to come by. And
what they
overlooked in both Cary Grant and Sean was their enormous skill. A Graceful
Transformation
In the 1970s and '80s, Mr. Connery gracefully transformed himself into one of
the grand old
men of the movies. If his trained killer in the futuristic fantasy 'Zardoz'
(1974), his
Barbary pirate in 'The Wind and the Lion' (1975) or his middle-aged Robin Hood
in 'Robin and
Marian' (1976) did not erase the memory of his James Bond, they certainly
blurred the image.
Mr. Connery won a best-actor award from the British Academy of Film and
Television Arts for
'The Name of the Rose' (1986), based on the Umberto Eco novel, in which he
played a
crime-solving medieval monk, and the Academy Award as best supporting actor for
his
performance as an honest cop on the corrupt Chicago police force in 'The
Untouchables'
(1987). Mr. Connery taught himself to understand that character -- Jim Malone,
a cynical,
streetwise police officer whose only goal is to be alive at the end of his
shift -- by
noting the other characters' attitudes toward him. After reading Malone's
scenes, he told
The Times in 1987, he read the scenes in which his character did not appear.
'That way,' he
said, 'I get to know what the character is aware of and, more importantly, what
he is not
aware of. The trap that bad actors fall into is playing information they don't
have. Even
before his acting ability was apparent, the 6-foot-2 Mr. Connery had a
remarkable physical
presence, onscreen and off. Lana Turner picked him to play the war
correspondent with whom
she tumbles into bed in the forgettable 1958 melodrama 'Another Time, Another
Place. He
earned his chance as Bond when the producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman
watched him
walk. 'We signed him without a screen test,' Mr. Saltzman said. Mr. Connery's
magnetism did
not fade as he grew older. In 1989, when he was 59 years old and had long since
discarded
his James Bond toupee, People magazine anointed him the 'Sexiest Man Alive. His
response was
to growl that not many men are sexy when they're dead. 'The Man Who Would Be
King' (1975),
directed by John Huston, in which Mr. Connery played a British soldier who sets
out to loot
a country and is mistaken for a god, was among the highlights of his second
act. When Mr.
Huston had first tried to finance a movie based on Rudyard Kipling's short
story of the same
name 20 years earlier, he intended the role of Danny Dravot, the exuberant
rogue who fatally
begins to believe in his own grandeur, for Clark Gable, the undisputed king of
Hollywood
during the 1930s and '40s. (The role of his companion Peachy Carnehan, played
by Michael
Caine, was originally intended for Humphrey Bogart.) Mr. Connery was, Pauline
Kael of The
New Yorker wrote, 'a far better Danny than Gable would ever have been. She
continued: 'With
the glorious exceptions of Brando and Olivier, there's no screen actor I'd
rather watch than
Sean Connery. His vitality may make him the most richly masculine of all
English-speaking
actors. Few actors, she added, 'are as un-self-consciously silly as Connery is
willing to
be -- as he enjoys being. If he enjoyed being silly on the screen, Mr. Connery
was darker
and more complex when the arc lights were turned off. Always afraid of being
cheated, he
audited the books of almost all of his movies and sued anyone he thought was
taking
advantage of him, from his business manager to the producers of the Bond films.
In 1978 he
and Mr. Caine filed suit against Allied Artists, the distributor of 'The Man
Who Would Be
King,' over the way their share of the movie's receipts was calculated. (The
case was
settled out of court.) He was still at it in 2002, suing the producer Peter
Guber and
Mandalay Pictures for backing out of 'End Game,' a C.I.A. thriller in which Mr.
Connery was
to star. He later dropped the suit. The lasting resentment behind his many
lawsuits, which
he carried with him from his childhood, was also one of the keys to his success
as an actor.
A Challenging Childhood He was born Thomas Sean Connery on Aug. 25, 1930, and
his crib was
the bottom drawer of a dresser in a cold-water flat next door to a brewery. The
two toilets
in the hall were shared with three other families. His father, Joe, earned two
pounds a week
in a rubber factory. His mother, Effie, occasionally got work as a cleaning
woman. At the
age of 9, Thomas found an early-morning job delivering milk in a horse cart for
four hours
before he went to school. His brother, Neil, had been born in December 1938,
and the usual
meals of porridge and potatoes had to be stretched four ways. Once a week, if
the family had
a sixpence to spare, Thomas would walk to the public baths and swim 'just to
get clean. Like
the months that 12-year-old Charles Dickens spent working in a factory that
made shoe
blacking, Mr. Connery's deprived childhood informed the rest of his life. When
he was 63, he
told an interviewer that a bath was still 'something special. His anger was
never far below
the surface. What he called his 'violent side,' he told The Times, may have
been
'ammunitioned' by his childhood. (He sometimes acknowledged that side in
shocking ways. In a
1965 interview, he said, 'I don't think there is anything particularly wrong
about hitting a
woman'; asked about those words by Barbara Walters in 1987, he said, 'I haven't
changed my
opinion. He did eventually say he had been wrong, but not until many years
later.) The same
was true of his odd combination of penury and generosity. A passionate golfer
-- he
discovered the game about the same time he discovered James Bond -- he was the
only player
at the Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles who carried his own bag. Yet he gave
the million
dollars he earned on 'Diamonds Are Forever' to the Scottish International
Education Trust,
an organization he founded to help poor Scots get an education. When asked why
he was
willing to take second billing as a coal miner saboteur to Richard Harris's
company spy in
'The Molly Maguires' (1970), he said, 'They paid me a million dollars for it,
and, for that
kind of money, they can put a mule ahead of me. But he donated 50,000 pounds to
England's
National Youth Theater after he read that the theater needed money. An ardent
supporter of
Scottish nationalism, he also gave 5,000 pounds a month to the Scottish
National Party. As a
national referendum on independence approached in 2014, Mr. Connery wrote an
opinion article
for The New Statesman arguing in favor it. 'As a Scot and as someone with a
lifelong love
for both Scotland and the arts, I believe the opportunity of independence is
too good to
miss,' he wrote. 'Simply put -- there is no more creative act than creating a
new nation.
However, because his primary residence was not in Scotland, Mr. Connery was not
eligible to
vote. At the age of 13, Thomas Connery became a full-time milkman. Britain had
been at war
for four years, and any able-bodied boy could get a job. Three years later,
with the
soldiers coming home and work scarcer, he joined the Royal Navy. He signed up
for 12 years,
but was discharged at 19 after acquiring an ulcer. He had also acquired two
tattoos on his
right arm -- 'Mum and Dad' and 'Scotland Forever' -- and a small disability
grant, which he
used to learn furniture polishing. Then he went to work putting the finish on
coffins. In
his off hours he took up soccer (he played semiprofessionally) and
bodybuilding.
Bodybuilding led indirectly to acting. In 1953, he and a friend went to London
to compete in
the Mr. Universe contest. Mr. Connery got a minor award -- third place in the
tall man
division, according to most accounts -- but, more important, while there he
heard about
auditions for a touring production of the musical 'South Pacific. He was chosen
for the
chorus because he looked like a sailor and could do handstands. During the year
Mr. Connery
toured in 'South Pacific,' he lost much of a Scottish accent so impenetrable
that, he later
claimed, other actors at first thought he was Polish. His name was shortened to
Sean
Connery. And he found himself a mentor. An American actor in the cast, Robert
Henderson,
gave him a reading program that included all the plays of George Bernard Shaw,
Oscar Wilde
and Henrik Ibsen, along with the novels of Thomas Wolfe, Proust's 'Remembrance
of Things
Past' and Joyce's 'Ulysses. 'I spent my 'South Pacific' tour in every library
in Britain,
Ireland, Scotland and Wales,' Mr. Connery told The Houston Chronicle in 1992.
'And on the
nights we were dark, I'd see every play I could. But it's the books, the
reading, that can
change one's life. I'm the living evidence. The next few years were a blend of
small stage
and television roles. His lucky break came on March 31, 1957. Jack Palance was
to have
starred in Rod Serling's 'Requiem for a Heavyweight' on live television for the
BBC. Mr.
Palance had triumphed in the same role the previous year on 'Playhouse 90. But
he canceled
at the last minute, and Mr. Connery inherited the role of the aging boxer
Mountain
McClintock. Although miscast, a reviewer for The Times of London wrote, he had
'shambling
and inarticulate charm. Within 24 hours, Mr. Connery had gotten his first movie
offers. A
string of B-movies followed, including 'Action of the Tiger' (1957), a thriller
starring Van
Johnson in which he had a small part, and 'Tarzan's Greatest Adventure' (1959),
in which he
played a villain out to destroy a village. He also played a private in the
all-star D-Day
saga 'The Longest Day' (1962) and a man enchanted into falling in love in
Disney's 'Darby
O'Gill and the Little People' (1959). 'In these early films,' observed the
novelist and
filmmaker Michael Crichton, who directed Mr. Connery in 'The Great Train
Robbery' (1979),
'Connery exudes a rich, dark animal presence that is almost overpowering. His
Count Vronsky
opposite Claire Bloom's Anna in a 1961 BBC television adaptation of Tolstoy's
'Anna
Karenina' caught the attention of the men who were about to produce 'Dr. No.
Both Mr.
Connery and the character he played were instant sensations. 'James Bond is
clearly here to
stay,' Variety wrote prophetically after 'Dr. No' opened. 'He will win no
Oscars but a lot
of enthusiastic followers. Mr. Connery and Diane Cilento, an actress he had met
when they
played lovers in a television version of Eugene O'Neill's 'Anna Christie' in
1957, were
married on Nov. 30, 1962. Their son, Jason, who would grow up to become an
actor, was born
six weeks later. The marriage lasted, more or less, until Mr. Connery met
Micheline
Roquebrune, a French artist and obsessive golfer, at a golf tournament in
Morocco in 1970.
She was married, he was married, and they both won medals. After their marriage
in 1975,
they lived in Marbella, Spain, mostly to avoid British income taxes but partly
because of
Marbella's 24 golf courses. By the time he returned to the role of James Bond
in 'Never Say
Never Again,' at Ms. Roquebrune's suggestion, Mr. Connery was in financial
trouble because
his former accountant had put the money he earned from the Bond films into
unsecured
property investments. Mr. Connery sued and won a $4.1 million judgment for
negligence in
1984, but told reporters, 'I don't foresee I'll get any money. 'I Don't Mind
Being Older
Almost from the time he left James Bond behind, Mr. Connery shifted from
gorgeous young man
to character star. 'The reason Burt Lancaster had a longer, more varied career
than Kirk
Douglas was that he refused to allow himself to be limited,' Mr. Connery told
The Times in
1987. 'He was more ready to play less romantic parts, and was more experimental
in his
choice of roles. And that's the way I've tried to be. I don't mind being older
or looking
stupid. Often willing to take roles in bad pictures if the money was good
enough, Mr.
Connery was the voice of a computer-generated dragon in 'Dragonheart' (1996)
and a villain
trying to unleash a weather catastrophe on London in the misfire film version
of the cult
British television series 'The Avengers' (1998). But he had more than his share
of
late-career triumphs as well. He relished his role as Harrison Ford's eccentric
father in
'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' (1989) -- even though Mr. Ford was only 12
years
younger than he was. The next year he played a Russian nuclear submarine
commander trying to
defect to the United States in the film of Tom Clancy's 'The Hunt for Red
October' and a
hard-drinking but na? ve British publisher recruited by British intelligence in
post-Cold
War Russia in 'The Russia House,' based on John le Carr? s novel. Mr. Connery's
last movie
was one of his lesser ones: 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' (2003), an
unsuccessful
screen adaptation of a clever comic-book series about a group of Victorian
heroes. In 2005,
he told an interviewer that he was done with acting, less because of his age
than because of
the 'idiots now making films in Hollywood. Five years later, he told another
interviewer: 'I
don't think I'll ever act again. I have so many wonderful memories, but those
days are over.
Except for some voice-over work, and despite occasional talk of possible new
projects, they
were. In addition to his wife and his son Jason, his survivors include a
stepson, Stephane,
and his brother. On July 5, 2000, Mr. Connery was knighted at the Palace of
Holyroodhouse in
Edinburgh by Queen Elizabeth II. It was a knighthood that had been vetoed for
two years by
officials angry at his outspoken support for the Scottish National Party and
his active role
in the passage of a referendum that created the first Scottish Parliament in
300 years. The
palace is less than a mile from the tenement in Fountainbridge where Mr.
Connery grew up. He
never removed the 'Scotland Forever' tattoo that he placed on his arm when he
was 18. Nor
was he ever tempted to deny his identity or turn himself into an English
gentleman. As he
told The Times in 1987, "My strength as an actor, I think, is that I've stayed
close to the
core of myself."
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