Following Sean Connery’s evolution as James Bond, from Dr. No to Diamonds Are Forever

In 1965, at the height of the James Bond mania, Sean Connery said Playboy magazine that had no problem with another actor assuming his characteristic role. “Actually, I would find it interesting to see what someone else does with it,” he said. “Lots of people could play it.”

Strictly speaking, he was right. But by public reckoning, he couldn’t have been more wrong. In the popular imagination, Thomas Sean Connery, born in Scotland and died on October 31 at the age of 90, will always be the first and the best “Bond … James Bond”.

It’s hard to believe that before Eon Productions perfected their Bond formula, the secret agent’s creator, Ian Fleming, was excited about the prospect of casting Richard Burton or David Niven as 007. The former would have provided the guts, the latter the required charm.

But for an enduring, vodka and martini-soaked franchise built on a man’s toughness, womanizing charisma, tongue-in-cheek catchphrases and exquisite tastes, Connery was the Fleming word turned into cinematic flesh.

Critics and superfans incessantly debate the merits of the various Bonds. Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, and even the former George Lazenby have their respective strengths.

Inevitably, they bow to the archetypal Connery. His appeal, John Cork and Bruce Scivally wrote in James Bond: The Legacy, “It doesn’t just come from good looks, it comes from a particular confidence, a certainty within yourself.” They added that she had “a natural and authoritative grace, which was both seductive and intimidating.”

Connery wasn’t originally made of those things. He had done a solid job in Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959) and, briefly, The longest day (1962), playing a British Tommy. Yet when it came to portraying Her Majesty’s Secret Service’s ultra-sophisticated pole star, he was still “a pretty rough diamond,” as production designer Ken Adam put it. Born in the suburbs of Edinburgh, Connery was full of raw materials. Producer Albert Broccoli called him “daring”; his partner, Harry Saltzman, said the man moved “like a big jungle cat.”

Connery on Dr No | YouTube Image

Bond fans credit the director of his early films, Cambridge-educated Terence Young, for shaping Connery. Although he was neither a muscular nor an indiscriminate lover, Young (also known as the “Bond Vivant”) had a taste for the high life, big spending, kindness and directness. “He was completely ruthless in a kind of gentleman,” said specialist George Leech.

(Also read on Firstpost: Sean Connery’s James Bond portrayal is still the gold standard – no one else comes close)

Connery’s start as Bond was a bit hesitant. In the initial exit of 007, Dr. No (1962), his boss, M (Bernard Lee), asks: “Does ‘Overthrow’ mean anything to you?” Connery responds shyly: “A little bit. It’s throwing the gyro controls on a guided missile out of balance with a … radio beam or something like that, right? He even squints his eyes briefly, trying to remember what the term means. When he flirts with M’s secretary, Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), his flirtation is overly studied.

From Russia with love | Twitter Image

Connery improves on From Russia with love (1963). Taunted by undercover SPECTER agent Red Grant (Robert Shaw), he sheepishly admits that he has missed a vital clue to the identity of his enemy. “Red wine with fish,” Connery says with a sigh. “Well that should have told me something.” But within minutes, he stabs and attacks Grant in what Bond fans have called one of the most brutal family fights in movie history. Sweaty Connery adjusts his tie and retrieves some trinkets, including money stolen from the corpse. The punchline: “You won’t need this … old man.”

In Goldfinger | Twitter Image

By Gold finger (1964), Connery and the Bond persona have merged seamlessly into the huge blueprint of all future classic Bond productions. In the short teaser, our hero blows up a heroin plant with plastic explosives, removes his diving suit to reveal a white tuxedo (with red boutonniere), seduces a treacherous tarantella dancer in her bathtub, and after Wild punches, electrocute a woman. -be killed by throwing him and a space heater in said bathtub.

Connery speaks fewer than 75 words in about four and a half minutes. But the last three (“Shocking … positively shocking,” he said with mild disapproval as the killer simmered slowly), combined with Connery’s self-assured sexuality and massive confidence, unleash a loud laugh from viewers and hook them. .

So second nature is the person that when the heroin plant explodes, the man who invariably saves the world simply reacts with an expression of bored and silent amusement and takes the freshly lit cigarette out of his mouth.

In Thunderball | Twitter Image

Thus, Tom Jones, as Bondish, a titular singer, might chirp out of 1965: “Always run while others walk / Act while other men just talk / Look at this world and want it all / Then attack like Thunderball!”

Connery didn’t want to keep hitting like thunder or, for that matter, like lightning. Also, he wasn’t crazy about swimming with live sharks. The Bond movies, he said, “don’t tax anyone as an actor. All one really needs is the constitution of a rugby player to spend 18 weeks swimming, slugging and making out. “After the release of Thunderball, he complained, “What is needed now is a change of course, more attention to character and better dialogue.”

The dialogue in what he thought was his last Bond movie, You only live twice (1967), it was good. “I like sake … especially when it’s served at the right temperature, 98.4 degrees Fahrenheit, like this.” But the character fell short. Sumo wrestling filler; trap doors; an autogyro equipped with flamethrowers and missiles; a pool of piranhas; and of course a rocket base hidden inside a volcano, You only live twice It wasn’t exactly an actor’s breakthrough.

At the time, Connery’s boredom and even annoyance were obvious. And so he left the series. Except for The Molly Maguires (1970), his next films were not notable. Things were not going exactly as the released agent expected.

So for $ 1.25 million, 10 percent of the gross and financing of two films of Connery’s choice, Eon lured him back to Diamonds are forever. Grayer, wiser, and somewhat heavier, Connery nonetheless seems to relish this little silly thing from 1971, reconciled to his increasingly cartoonish legacy. Tucking a deadly cassette tape into a shocked Jill St John’s bikini bottom, he jokes, “All your troubles are behind you.” One of the writers, Tom Mankiewicz, said: “He had the grace of an old professional.”

A dozen years later, he returned once again, to non-Eon production. Never say never again. It was a pale remake of Thunderball. But Steven Jay Rubin wrote in The encyclopedia of James Bond movies, “When it’s on screen, the movie works. Fortunately, it appears a lot on screen. “

Connery once described the part that has now made him immortal as “a cross, a privilege, a joke, a challenge. And as damn intrusive as a nightmare. “But for those who can’t get enough beluga caviar or Walther PPK, it’s still a dream. Sean Connery as James Bond is forever.

Thomas Vinciguerra c.2020 The New York Times Company