SEAN CONNERY:
JAMES BOND AND SO MUCH MORE
By David Crow
Sir Sean Connery, the legendary actor who originated the role of James Bond, passed away October 31, 2020, at the age of 90.
Sean Connery was 32 when he first donned 007’s tuxedo in Dr. No (1962).
Born into the working class of Edinburgh, Scotland, Connery had humble origins before playing Bond.
In fact, 007 creator Ian Fleming did not want Connery, who he viewed as an “overgrown stuntman” and “ditch digger” to be cast as Bond.
But Connery won Fleming and everyone else over with a singular performance that he played a total of seven times.
Connery stepped away from Bond several times though, and proved himself to be a legitimate and impressive movie star...
...whether he played an aging Robin Hood opposite Audrey Hepburn or as the Moroccan rebel in The Wind and the Lion.
In 1975 he starred with old pal Michael Caine in John Huston’s The Man Who Would Be King, a film in which Connery played a British soldier who comes to think he is a god.
In 1988, Connery won an Oscar for playing Chicagoan copper Jim Malone in The Untouchables.
One year after the win and at the age of 59, Connery was declared the “Sexiest Man Alive” by People Magazine.
Sean Connery retired from acting in 2004, following disappointment with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and allegedly a bad experience with director Brett Ratner.
But his legacy lived on then and now from his beloved movies like Goldfinger to his overlooked gems like Sidney Lumet’s The Hill.