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Updated: October 31, 2020 11:39:55 pm
Sean Connery passed away on Saturday at the age of 90 (Photo: James Bond 007 / Facebook)
He passed away in his sleep. But to repeat a cliché, Sean Connery is destined to live forever. The man who first rehearsed the role of secret agent James Bond on the big screen, remained for many people (especially the older generation), the best to obtain a License to kill on screen. But while he was best known for his portrayal of James Bond, there was much more to Sir Sean Connery (oh yes, he was a gentleman) than simply portraying a charismatic, cynical, and eyebrow-raising secret agent with a penchant for getting in trouble. And we don’t just mean in terms of movies (he got an Oscar for a non-Bond role!).
Sean Connery was a multi-layered person. A person full of life. And it’s no wonder his life was fulfilling. And there are many things that many people, even his most ardent fans, don’t know about him. So when the first Bond goes down in human history and perhaps prepares to meet his creator, here are a dozen facts about him that not many know:
He started out as a milkman …
He might have looked classy, but Connery wasn’t exactly born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He came from a humble family and his first job was actually as a milkman in Edinburgh with the St Cuthbert Cooperative Society. Later he would surprise taxi drivers by revealing his knowledge of almost every street in the city.
… And took on various jobs
Connery was anything but established in professional terms before he came to Hollywood. He worked in the navy (he was discharged due to health problems), worked as a lifeguard, as a day laborer, and at one stage even polished coffins! He also worked as a model artist at the Edinburgh College of Art, earning fifteen shillings an hour.
Before Mr Bond was Mr Universe
Sean Connery is believed to have gotten into bodybuilding in his late teens. And he got so good at it that he actually entered the Mr Universe competition. However, it is not very clear when this happened and how well it did. Some sources say he was third in the competition in 1950, others say he was third in the junior class of the competition in 1953 … in the best of Bond tradition, there is some mystery surrounding this.
It almost ends in Man U
Well, if you’ve heard about things so far, Connery was a very talented person. And evidently he was also a skilled (or rather a foot) in soccer. He was offered a trial with East Fife. But the best offer of all came from legendary Manchester United manager Sir Matt Busby, who offered him a contract with the club, which some say was worth £ 25 a week, a good chunk of money in the 1950s. Connery is believed to have been tempted but turned down the offer because a soccer player’s life as a player was short. But imagine … with a bit of luck in an alternate universe, Manchester United could have had George Best and Sean Connery on the same team. They would have been the best at good looking stakes anywhere!
Hit members of a notorious gang
He could have been super slim like James Bond, but Connery was also a handful in a fight. In the 1950s, he had a violent clash with one of Edinburgh’s most notorious gangs, the Valdor gang. A member of the gang tried to steal Connery’s jacket, and although Connery tried to avoid a confrontation, one thing led to another, and before you knew it, punches and kicks were thrown at each other. It was Connery against six of the gang members. And at the end of it all, Connery was the one left standing. The gang is believed to have respected him as a “tough man” ever since and, according to some, even made him an offer to join their ranks.
She got into the theater … and raised Caine!
Connery’s interest in acting is believed to have stemmed from helping out backstage at the King’s Theater in the early 1950s. He landed a small role on South Pacific in 1954, and did so well that he was promoted to the cast. It was during the production of South Pacific that Connery met one of his best friends, Michael Caine, who would become a movie star in his own right. However, many credit Robert Henderson, another actor, for Connery’s interest in acting and theater. Henderson is believed to have introduced Connery to several interesting works, and the rest is history.
Didn’t impress Ian Fleming, the man who created James Bond
Irony of Ironies: The man considered by many to be the best James Bond of all was not deemed suitable for the role by the man who created the character. Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, was not very impressed by Connery and thought he was not very refined for the role. It is even believed that he said he was looking for Commander Bond and not a “stunt double.” Oh! Dana Broccoli, the wife of Albert R. Broccoli, the producer of the Bond films, however, was confident that Connery was the right man for the job and convinced her husband to choose him, according to many sources. And of course, once the movies turned out well, Fleming changed his mind.
He always wore a hairpiece when he was Mr. Bond!
He was blessed with charisma, good looks, muscle, and athleticism, but one thing Connery was missing from an early age (some even say in his teens) was hair. Obviously it was a genetic problem. He never let that stop him and was very comfortably donning wigs and hairpieces for roles. In fact, many claim that he always wore a wig or hairpiece while he was Agent 007 on screen.
And he hated James Bond …
I’ve always hated that damn James Bond. I’d like to kill him. ”No, that statement was not made by a Bond villain, but by Connery himself, who was reportedly fed up with the character, who felt he was restricting him. Michael Caine used to warn people that he won’t talk about Bond with him Shadows of Conan Doyle hating Sherlock Holmes!
… not just because another action legend broke his wrist!
While filming Never Say Never Again in 1983, a film in which he returned as James Bond, Connery broke his wrist during the choreography of a fight sequence. The name of the fight choreographer? A certain Steven Seagal!
Read also | Sean Connery passes away | Sean Connery: the actor who played James Bond | Celebrities mourn the disappearance of Sean Connery
Rejected LOTR and The Matrix
As he grew in stature, Sean Connery’s fame spread beyond James Bond and he even won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in The Untouchables in 1987. However, he remained very demanding when it came to roles. Among the celebrities he became was The Architect in The Matrix trilogy, and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings.
It appeared in Asterix!
In 1981, when Albert Uderzo was working on a new Asterix comic, he needed a character who was a druid but also a secret agent with a variety of gadgets and mastery of disguise. He created a character named Doubleosix. And he looked like Sean Connery. It was 1981 and the man hadn’t acted in a Bond movie in a while, but that was the extent to which he identified with the role. We’re not sure if Roger Moore, the then current Bond, was having fun.
… and one more thing, Mr. Bond
On October 26, 1967, Sean Connery was pulled over for speeding in London. The name of the policeman who fined him fifteen real pounds? Link. James Bond. (Sergeant James Bond, actually).
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