The Name's Sir Connery...Sir Sean Connery

    On October 31st, 2020 we lost another legend in the entertainment industry. This Scotland-native legend was known primarily for originating the character of James Bond, otherwise known as Agent 007, in the James Bond franchise (1962-present). But in addition to his “Bond” role this legend had a wonderfully versatile career. With roles ranging from an anti-heroic submarine captain, to Indiana Jones’s disgruntled but caring father, to Eliot Ness’s crime fighting mentor, he always portrayed tough guys that could easily take care of themselves. His name? Sir Sean Connery.

Thomas Sean Connery was born on August 25th, 1930 in Fountainbridge, an area just west of Edinburgh, Scotland. His mother, Euphemia “Effie” McBain McLean worked as a cleaning woman while his father, Joseph, was a factory worker and lorry (motor truck) driver. Young Thomas was named after his grandfather, though he later started going by his middle name, Sean, because as a child he had a friend named Seamus, and others who knew both boys liked the idea of saying the names of Sean and Seamus together whenever both were present, and the name stuck with him the rest of his life. When he achieved his fully grown height of 6’2’’ at the age of 18, he also earned the nickname “Big Tam.”

In his adolescence, he worked a great deal of jobs: as a milkman, a lorry driver (just like his father), and even an artist’s model for the Edinburgh College of Art. He joined the Royal Navy at the age of 16 and trained at the naval gunnery school and an anti-aircraft crew in Portsmouth and later served as an Able Seaman on the HMS Formidable. He was discharged from the Royal Navy at age 19 due to a duodenal ulcer, and as a result decided to begin bodybuilding and playing football/Soccer as new hobbies. He excelled at both and showed a great deal of potential to even make a career as football player. When he entered a bodybuilding competition in London at 1953, he heard from another competitor that there were auditions for a production of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. He decided to audition for that and was cast a bit role as one of the Seabees chorus boys. 

The production of South Pacific toured throughout the United Kingdom, and while on tour, Connery continued to play in football matches whenever he could. He played in match where he was spotted by football scout Matt Busby, who was impressed by his “ball” skills and even offered Connery a 25-pound-a-week contract. Connery was later quoted as having said “I realized that a top-class footballer could be over the hill by the age of 30 and I was already 23, so I decided to become an actor and it turned out to be one of my more intelligent moves.” Connery ultimately worked his way up to playing the role of Lieutenant Buzz Adams in South Pacific and he had an uncredited role in the British-produced film Lilacs in the Spring released in 1954. He landed several roles as extras in plays and movies, but those didn’t pay enough so he took another job as a babysitter, which earned him 10 shillings a night. It wasn’t long though, before he befriended American actor Robert Henderson who later helped him get cast in a production of Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution at London’s Q Theatre. This also led to playing major roles in productions produced by the Oxford Theatre, including Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie.

Sean Connery made his American film debut when he was cast in Walt Disney’s Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959). Playing the role was challenging for him because it required him to talk in an Irish twang instead of his natural Scottish accent. He also wasn’t terribly fond of singing the duet “My Pretty Irish Girl,” with co-star Janet Munro. In spite of the challenges, the film was a hit, but little did Connery know that the film would catch the attention of producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli who at the time was working on a film series adaptation of Ian Fleming’s James Bond. He was searching for someone to play the suave spy, and when he saw “Darby O’Gill,” he knew his quest had ended. When he offered the role to Connery, however, Connery initially was skeptical at the idea of portraying the same character in a film series. He relented however when he realized how his career would progress if the films were successes, and made his very first appearance in Dr. No (1962).

Connery portrayed James Bond in seven films: “Dr. No,” From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and Never Say Never Again (1983), all of which were successes. In between those films, he also starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie (1964) and Sidney Lumet’s The Hill (1965) and Murder on the Orient Express (1974). He later grew tired of the Bond character and was very eager to prove his versatility, also saying “I am fed up to here with the whole Bond bit,” and “I’ve always hated that d***** James Bond. I’d like to kill him.” His close pal, Sir Michael Caine, with whom he appeared inThe Man Who Would Be King (1975) and A Bridge To Far (1977), said “If you were his friend in those early days you didn't raise the subject of Bond. He was, and is, a much better actor than just playing James Bond, but he became synonymous with Bond. He'd be walking down the street and people would say, ‘Look, there's James Bond’ That was particularly upsetting to him.”

Connery did succeeded in proving his versatility throughout the ‘80s, starring in films such as Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1984) and The Name of the Rose (1986), which garnered him a BAFTA award. And at 1988 Oscars, he was awarded the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Jim Malone in The Untouchables (1987). To this day, Connery and David Niven remain the only actors to have played James Bond ever to win an Oscar (Niven won for Separate Tables (1958)). Connery received the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe for “Untouchables,” as well. Shortly after this triumph, Steven Spielberg cast Connery as Henry Jones Sr., father of Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), the third installment in the “Indiana Jones” franchise. The film featured John Rhys-Davies and Alison Doody both of whom had roles in the “Bond,” franchise.

Connery starred in The Hunt for Red October in 1990 and 1991 he briefly reunited with “Untouchables,” co-star Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) in which Costner played Robin Hood or Robin of Locksley and Connery made a cameo as King Richard the Lionheart. In 1995, he was awarded the Cecil B. Demille Award for a lifetime of achievement in film. In 1996 he starred in Hollywood Pictures’ The Rock (1996) and also made his debut as a voice-over artist, voicing the character of Draco the Dragon in DragonHeart (1996). He made his last theatrical film appearance in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003).

Sean Connery will forever be remembered by those who watched him build the James Bond character. But an overview of his accomplished career, however, proves that he was much more than Bond…he was a gifted and versatile actor. And the legacy of that versatility and talent lives on!