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For many, Sean Connery was the real James Bond, the cold-hearted charismatic, the 007 spy who was the perfect incarnation of the Cold War spy giants.
He was shown on screen with an assassination license, moving like a hungry tiger in search of his prey, and there was no one vying with him for the role. By contrast, giant actor Roger Moore, who later played James Bond, only raised an eyebrow and made a clever comment with a smile.
While the hero of the James Bond character, Ian Fleming, was studying at Eton’s school for the British elite, Connery grew up in an environment completely devoid of fast cars, pretty women, vodka and martinis.
Humble origins
Thomas Sean Connery was born in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, Scotland, on August 25, 1930, the son of a factory worker and household cleaner.
His father’s family had immigrated from Ireland in the 19th century and his mother was of Gallic descent from the Isle of Skye in western Scotland.
The region Connery grew up in had been in decline for years. Tommy Connery’s family lived in one room, shared a bathroom with neighbors, and had no hot water.
He left school at age 13 without any qualifications, worked as a milk distributor, polishing coffins and on construction sites before joining the Royal Navy and three years later he was discharged with a stomach ulcer, and at that point in his arms got a tattoo: “Scotland forever” and “”. my mother and my father”.
In Edinburgh, he became known as “the man of steel” when he faced a gang of six who tried to steal his coat and failed in their attempt, but kept chasing him, so he attacked them alone and defeated them when Bond won in their films.
He made a living in any way he could. He drove trucks, acted as a lifeguard and posed as a model in front of students at the Edinburgh College of Fine Arts while spending his free time in the sport of bodybuilding.
Words don’t fulfill their true beauty
Artist Richard Demarco, who painted Connery as a student, described him by saying, “He was so beautiful that words couldn’t describe his beauty. He was like the god Adonis.”
Connery was such a talented footballer that he caught the attention of Manchester United manager Matt Busby, who offered him a contract worth 25 pounds a week.
His obsession with acting got the best of him while working at a local theater in unrelated acts. And since the footballer’s career does not last long, he chose to try his luck in the theater. He later said it was “one of my smartest steps.”
In 1953 he was in London in the context of the competition for the title of the most beautiful man in the world, so he heard that some of the contestants would be members of a choir in an American musical, and only a year later he was performing the role of Lieutenant Buzz Adams in the play presented by Larry Hagman on Broadway in New York and met with Fame and success.
American actor Robert Henderson encouraged Connery to educate himself by lending him the works of Ibsen, Shakespeare, and Bernard Shaw, and convinced Connery to take recitation lessons.
Connery made his minor role debut in the film “Lilac” in 1954 and also played roles on television shows, such as the gangster character in an episode of the BBC crime series Dickson of Duke Green.
In 1957 he got his first leading role in the series “Nodad al-Dam”.
He became famous in America when Hollywood legend Jack Ballance refused to travel to London, so the director’s wife suggested the name Connori, saying, “The ladies will love him.”
A year later, he was with actress Lana Turner in the movie Another Date, Another Place.
The birth of James Bond
Then came the Bond movie setting after producers Kobe Broccoli and Harry Saltman secured the rights to transfer the novels from Ian Fleming, who created the James Bond character, and were looking for an actor to play Agent 007.
Candidates for the role were Richard Burton, Cary Grant and Rex Harrison, as well as Lord Lucan and BBC announcer Peter Snow.
And it was Broccoli’s wife, Dana, who convinced her husband that Connery had the personality and the sex appeal to play the part.
This view was not shared by author Fleming, who said, “I’m looking for Captain Bond, not a large acrobatic man.” It was later revealed that Broccoli’s decision was correct.
Connery was subsequently struck by the performances, as he starred in films Russia with Love in 1963, The Golden Finger in 1964, Thunderbolt 1965, and She Doesn’t Live Only Twice 1967.
Working on James Bond movies was cumbersome and dangerous at times as he was once thrown while filming a movie in a pool full of sharks, separated only by a thin transparent barrier and one of the sharks managed to get through the barrier and got very close Connery.
With the completion of “You Only Live Twice,” Connery has reached the boredom stage of the James Bond movies and is afraid of becoming a prisoner of the Bond role.
Saltzman and Broccoli tempted Connery to return to the 1971 film “Diamonds Forever” and he responded to their request to pay a record $ 1.25 million for his role in the film. Connery created the Scottish International Education Fund to support and nurture emerging Scottish artists.
Connery starred in the movie “The Man to Become King” alongside his friend, giant actor Michael Caine in 1975. But he spent most of the next decade playing minor roles.
Never say no
After losing a lot of money on a land deal in Spain, he accepted a tempting offer to reprise his role as Bond in Never Say Never Again, where Agent 007 has become an old but reckless, self-critical but tough man.
Connery won a BAFTA award for his role as William Baskerville in Umberto Eco’s novelist’s film adaptation, The Name of the Rose.
A year later, for his role as a tired Irish policeman who speaks with a special Scottish accent, he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for The Untouchables a year later.
He refused to play Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings in 2006, stating that he was tired of acting and tired of “the idiots who now make Hollywood movies.”
exile
He hated the Hollywood lifestyle, preferring to play golf at home in Spain, Portugal and the Caribbean with his second wife Micheline Roquebrune, an artist he met in Morocco.
His previous marriage to Australian actress Diane Cilento ended in 1975 amid allegations that he had dealt violently with her and had a series of affairs. They have a son, actor Jason Conner.
Although he lived far from Scotland, he was still a loyal Scotland enthusiast despite the fact that he once said he praised a blend of Japanese whiskey.
He attributed his fickle temperament and agility to his Celtic genes. He once said, “My point is that to achieve any goal in life you must be fierce or you will be eaten.”
After a long wait, he won the knighthood in 2000, and the delay in awarding him the title was said to have been due to opposition from the Labor government due to Connery’s support for Scottish independence.
Connery has left and has left behind a group of works that any actor can be proud of, including the fact that the title of “The World’s Greatest Scotsman” has been left empty with his departure.