Sean Connery made sure that martinis are only shaken and not stirred. But the Scot wasn't just James Bond.
Great mourning for Sean Connery (1930-2020). The acting legend died on October 31st at the age of 90. His son Jason Connery (57) announced that his famous father "fell asleep peacefully" in his adopted home in the Bahamas. One role made Connery world famous: James Bond. And as 007, it can't be topped – this result was only provided by a radio survey in Great Britain in the summer. The native Scot was voted the best James Bond actor of all time with 14,000 votes. But Bond was both a blessing and a curse for him.
His way to becoming a James Bond icon
Before Thomas Sean Connery matured into the first and for many still the best James Bond actor in 1962, Mime, who was born in Edinburgh in 1930, could well be described as a professional wanderer. Born of poor circumstances, he initially contributed to the family fund as a milkman and later as a lifeguard. After a short interlude in the Royal Navy, he toiled as an excavator driver, horse-drawn carriage driver and furniture polisher. But Connery also acted as a nude model, who was increasingly making a name for himself as a bodybuilder in the "Mister Universe" competitions.
It was that background that ultimately brought Connery into the acting profession. In the 50s he met Michael Caine (87), with whom he had a close friendship. Except for a few smaller roles, it was initially not enough, Connery's hour did not strike until 1962. As an absolutely unknown actor, he landed the role in the first film adaptation of Ian Fleming's novels called "James Bond Chasing Dr. No" – the rest is history. The then 32-year-old became a star overnight and was to portray the double-zero agent in six other films.
In "Say Never Never" (1983) at the proud age of 53. "If the books were successful, they would make an unknown actor famous. We would never have been able to tie a big star to the whole series," said Barbara Broccoli (60), daughter of the original Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli (1909 -1996), the cast of Connery as original Bond. The plan worked. The hype around 007 does not always seem to have been safe for the Scot. Connery once said to the Guardian, "I've always hated that damn James Bond. I'd love to kill him."
An Oscar for "The Incorruptible"
Even if he never got his strong accent under control, Connery demonstrated his versatility as an actor especially in his later years after "Bond". 1985, for example, when the only Scottish leading actor on the set of "Highlander – There Can Only Be One" mimed the Spaniard Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez. It was similar in 1990 when he played a Russian submarine captain in "The Hunt for Red October". Only one year after "Highlander", however, he slipped into a monk's robe in order to solve a mysterious murder in a monastery in the film adaptation of Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose".
Sean Connery won the only Oscar of his career for his performance in "The Untouchables" (1987) as best supporting actor. The film also earned him a Golden Globe.
In 1989 then his – next to "James Bond" – perhaps the most memorable role: As the father of the whip-wielding archaeologist with the cult hat in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". Seldom has a cinematic father-son team had a better chemistry than that of the two superstars Connery and Harrison Ford (78) – even though the two could never be father and son in real life. Ford is only twelve measly years younger, after all.
His last film
Especially in his older days Connery really wanted to know again: In "The Rock – Rock of Decision" (1996) he shot his way through terrorist hordes on Alcatraz alongside Nicolas Cage (56) and in "Mit Schirm, Charme und Melone "(1998) he was cast as a villain for a change. His last appearance in a movie was in 2003 in "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", in which Connery was allowed to live it out again. He had retired from the limelight for several years and was officially retired from acting.
In 2000, Sean Connery was ennobled and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II (94). He appeared at the ceremony in a tartan skirt. "It's a great honor for Scotland and the proudest day of my life for me," said Connery at the time. Since then he has been allowed to wear a "Sir" in front of his name. Since 1975 he was married to Micheline Roquebrune (born 1929) for the second time.
Jason Connery said on the anniversary of his father's death it was "a sad day for everyone who knew and loved my father, and a sad loss for everyone around the world who enjoyed the wonderful gift of his acting." Thanks to his films, Sean Connery will never be forgotten.