Chris Van Allsburg: Imagination that Inspires the Impossible

        If you grew up in the 1990s, like me, you probably read all kinds of different children’s books. You may have read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond in 1985, or The Rainbow Fish written and illustrated by Marcus Pfister in 1992, or even Stellaluna written and illustrated by Janell Cannon in 1993. But do you remember Chris Van Allsburg’s work? Chris Van Allsburg won two Caldecott Medals (award for Most Distinguished American Picture Book for children) for writing Jumanji in 1981 and The Polar Express in 1985. Both these and others by him have been turned into movies, and he contributed artistic talent to one of Disney’s most beloved films, as well.

Chris Van Allsburg was born in East Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 18th, 1949. His parents initially raised him and his older sister on a farmhouse, but the family moved to an actual home in Grand Rapids when he was three so that he could walk to school. After graduating High School in East Grand Rapids, he went to the College of Architecture and Design at the University of Michigan, which included an art school at the time. There, he majored in sculpture, learning all kinds of techniques including bronze casting, wood carving, and resin molding. After graduating the University of Michigan in 1972, he continued studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he earned his Master’s Degree in Sculpture in 1975. After graduating there, he built his own sculpture studio at home.

Although Van Allsburg struggled with ideas of what to sculpt at first, he began sketching some ideas that his wife, Lisa (whom he married in 1974), thought would be good in children’s books. She showed the work to an editor, who agreed to contract his first book, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi which was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1979. The book was a runner-up for the Caldecott Medal. Van Allsburg’s second children’s book, Jumanji, was published two years later. He also created illustrations for a series of books called “The Enchanted World,” which were published between 1984 and 1987 and were written by various authors.

Soon after, Chris hatched a new idea. As an adult, he always loved to reminisce about childhood visits to Herpolsheimer’s and Wurzburg’s department stores in Grand Rapids. To him, being at those stores to him, always felt like visiting Santa Claus at the North Pole. This conjured up the idea of a young boy meandering around on a cold, wintry night becoming curious when he sees a train, only to discover that the train was headed to the North Pole to visit Santa Claus. This became the story line for “Polar Express,” and Van Allsburg based the train itself off of the Pere Marquette 1225 locomotive, which is a restored train that he played on as a child. The book was officially published in ’85, and Van Allsburg won his second Caldecott medal for it the following year. 

After writing Two Bad Ants in 1988, Chris Van Allsburg was very fortunate enough to be hired by Walt Disney Animation to work as a Visual Development Artist for The Little Mermaid (1989). He published his first novel, The Widow’s Broom in 1992. Following that, Columbia/TriStar Pictures hired Van Allsburg to write the screen story for the movie version of Jumanji (1995) starring Robin Williams and Bonnie Hunt. He continued writing and illustrating books, including Bad Day at Riverbend, which was published that same year and he illustrated A City in Winter which was written by Mark Helprin in 1996. He wrote and illustrated Zathura in 2002, which was a sequel to “Jumanji,” that took place in space instead of the jungle, though the books featured different leading characters. He also served as executive producer on the romantic comedy-drama How to Deal (2003).

Around the time of working on both “Zathura,” and “How to Deal,” Van Allsburg received word that Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis were interested in making a movie of “Polar Express.” Hanks himself had optioned for the movie version as early as 1999, but at the time, the film was to be live-action. Zemeckis, however, later ruled that a live-action movie “would look awful and would be impossible” Zemeckis also felt that the book’s artistic style “was so much a part of the emotion of the story,” and would be completely lost in a live-action movie. 

That being the case, the process known as “performance-capture technology” was invented exclusively for the movie. It involved all the actors wearing camera dots on their faces used to detect all their movements and the filmmakers then connected the animation to their actions via computer. Zemeckis co-wrote, co-produced and directed the film, though he invited Chris Van Allsburg to executive produce so that the film would be true to the original vision of his book. The film received three Oscar Nominations, for Best Original Song “Believe,” Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, and Best Achievement in Sound Editing. It was recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records as the very first film produced on “Performance Capture.”

The following year, Columbia/Tri-Star produced the film version of Chris Van Allsburg’s other book, “Zathura.” Zathura: A Space Adventure was directed by Jon Favreau and starred Josh Hutcherson as the older brother, Walter. Hutcherson had previously shared the voice-over role of the Hero Boy in “Polar Express,” with Daryl Sabara while Tom Hanks provided the performance-capture movement for the part. He published the books Probuditi in 2006 as well as the novel Queen of the Falls in 2011. When Columbia rebooted the “Jumanji,” films with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and it’s sequel Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), they did not involve Van Allsburg, though he was given screen credit in both movies for having written both the book as well as the original film’s screenplay.

Chris Van Allsburg is a remarkable children’s book author. He will always be remembered for “Jumanji,” and “Polar Express,” as well as the films that those books inspired, but more importantly, he will be remembered for writing creative stories that inspire children to believe in the value of imagination and the impossible. And “The Little Mermaid,” certainly wouldn’t be the classic that it’s considered today had it not been for his visual development skills.

Mae Questel: Boop-Oop-Da-Bethany

    Comedy is a favorite in Holiday Movies. And while the main characters tend to get most of the laughs, there are also on occasion supporting characters that bring the house down. It’s hard to imagine Elf (2003) without Bob Newhart as the timid but lovable Papa Elf who narrates the story and raises Buddy, or Home Alone (1990) without Devin Ratray as Kevin’s older brother, Buzz McCallister, who purposefully treats his little brother as though he were beneath him. In today’s blog, I’d like to tell you about someone else who brought big laughs to the beloved holiday classic, “Christmas Vacation,” even while appearing in just a few scenes. And that wasn’t even the most interesting part of her career! 

Mae Questel was born on September 13th, 1908 in The Bronx, New York. She knew from the time she was a child that she wanted to be an actor, and studied acting at the American Theatre Wing and with The Theatre Guild. Tragically, her parents forced her to drop out and pursue another career. Despite that, young Mae Questel refused to give up on her dream and at age 17, she won a talent contest at RKO Fordham Theatre for impersonating a singer named Helen Kane (known as the “Boop-Oop-A-Doop Queen”). Mae found herself an agent and began regularly performing as a vaudevillian, impersonating celebrities like Maurice Chevalier, Marlene Dietrich, Eddie Cantor, and various others. Her impressions ultimately caught the attention of Max Fleischer, who at the time was looking for an actress who’d be willing to voice his cartoon character, Betty Boop. Questel was hired and wound up voicing Betty Boop for seven years and in more than 150 cartoon shorts.

Two years into voicing Betty Boop, Questel landed the voice-over role of Popeye the Sailorman’s girlfriend, Olive Oyl. She also made an uncredited appearance in The Great Ziegfeld, released in 1936. She retired both the characters of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl in 1938, though she returned to Olive Oyl in 1944 and continued to voice her until 1962. Questel made her Broadway debut in 1948 in Doctor Social, opposite Dean Jagger, and her first credited film appearance wasn’t until 1961 in the drama-comedy A Majority of One (1961), which starred Rosalind Russell and Sir Alec Guinness. Questel was later cast as Mrs. Strakosh in Funny Girl (1968), the biopic based on the life of Fanny Brice which starred Barbara Streisand. It is ironic that Questel would appear in this movie because when she performed as a vaudevillian, Fanny Brice happened to be one of the many celebrities that she impersonated.

She later appeared with Streisand’s former husband Elliot Gould in Move (1970). She appeared in episodes of Somerset (1970-1976) and All My Children (1970-2011) as well. 

In 1989, Mae Questel was cast in her final film role as Great Aunt Bethany in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. During the Christmas Eve Dinner scene, the Griswold’s acknowledge that it’s Bethany’s 80th birthday, despite the fact that in reality, Questel turned 81 while the film was being made. She was also 19 years older than William Hickey, who played her husband Great Uncle Lewis in the film. (Just the year prior to “Christmas Vacation,” Questel made her final voice-over appearance as Betty Boop in Disney’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).) She died due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease on January 4th, 1998 at the age of 89. 

Mae Questel is best-known for lending her voices to both Betty Boop and Olive Oyl, though her legacy also lives on in the role of the feeble-minded Great Aunt Bethany. Her role in “Christmas Vacation,” helped popularize the iconic film, though her distinctively high-pitched voice helped make every role she played enduring and timeless. It is truly unforgettable when Aunt Bethany is asked to say “Grace” (or the blessing) at the dinner table scene of “Christmas Vacation.” Bethany replies “Grace, she passed away 30 years ago,” then proceeds to recite the “Pledge of Allegiance.” Families all over America will laugh at that scene all week long! 

Peggy Lee: The Lady in Lady & The Tramp

        What qualities does one typically look for in a singer? A melodious voice, exceptional pitch or range, and a resonating tone are all examples, and it depends on the music genre as well. In today’s blog I want to tell you about someone who who has given us all that and more, in the style of both jazz and popular music, throughout her 60 year career. In addition to a remarkable career in the music industry, she became an Oscar-nominated actress, and of course she gave both her acting and music talents to one of the most beloved Disney films produced in the 1950s.

Peggy Lee was born Norma Deloris Egstrom on May 26th, 1920 in Jamestown, North Dakota. As a child, she worked as a milkmaid, and started getting paid for singing as a teenager. She landed her first professional singing job performing on KOVC Radio in Valley City, North Dakota. She later performed on WDAY in Fargo, where Radio Personality Ken Kennedy gave her a new stage name, Peggy Lee. As a result, she left North Dakota to try her luck as a singer in Los Angeles at age 17. However, it was while working at the Doll House in Palm Springs that she received an offer to perform regularly at a nightclub in Chicago called “The Buttery Room,” and while performing there she was noticed by Benny Goodman, who at the time was looking to replace his band’s lead singer, Helen Forrest. He gave her an offer to perform in his band in 1941, which she did for two years.

Lee’s first two number-one hit songs were “Somebody Else Is Taking My Place,” in 1942 and “Why Don’t You Do Right?” in 1943, performing with Goodman’s orchestra. She also appeared as her herself with the orchestra in both the movies Stage Door Canteen and The Powers Girl in ’43. She was fired by Goodman when she married the orchestra’s guitarist, Dave Barbour. Together, Lee and Barbour had a daughter, Nicki Lee Foster, and they wrote several songs together, including “I Don’t Know Enough About You,” “Golden Earings,” and “It’s a Good Day.” Sadly, Lee and Barbour’s marriage ended in divorce after eight years, though she later reconciled with Goodman and made record with him, Benny Goodman and Peggy Lee, released by Columbia records in 1949.

In 1948, Lee teamed up with Perry Como and Jo Stafford for the NBC Radio Program The Chesterfield Supper Club (1944-1950). She made her debut as an actress, co-starring with Danny Thomas in The Jazz Singer (1952) a remake of the Al Jolson 1927 film of the same name. That same year, she recorded the album Road to Bali: Selections From the Paramount Picture, released by Decca Records. It was in this film that she sang the song “Lover,” which was another hit single for Capitol Records. 1955 was one of the busiest years of her entire career, because in addition to receiving a Best Supporting Actress Oscar Nomination for playing an alcoholic Blues singer in Pete Kelly’s Blues , she was hired by the Walt Disney Studios as a primary contributor to the animated classic Lady and the Tramp.

Hiring Lee to work on “Lady and the Tramp,” was a groundbreaking decision. It was the very first time throughout in the studio’s history that a well-known celebrity was hired to be in one of their movies. Even more importantly, Lee wrote the lyrics to the majority of the film’s soundtrack, including the lullaby “La La Lu,” and classics “Bella Notte,” and “He’s a Tramp.” In addition to writing the lyrics, she provided the voices of Lady’s human owner, Darling, and Peg the pekingese as well as Aunt Sarah’s mischievous cats, Si and Am. The film wasn’t very well-reviewed in its initial release, but it is considered a classic today. (“Lady and the Tramp” film was remade for Disney+ in 2019.)

Lee released her very first solo Christmas album in 1960, entitled Christmas Carousel, which featured “Winter Wonderland,” “The Christmas Song,” “I Like a Sleighride,” and other classics. She was nominated for 12 Grammys throughout her career and finally won for the song “Is That All There Is?” which was released by Capitol in 1969 and also featured arrangements by Randy Newman. Lee’s final album for Capitol Records, “Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota,” was released in 1972. And in 1983 she made her Broadway debut at the age of 62 in autobiographical play that she wrote entitled “Peg,” which sadly was not a success. 

Due to an unfortunate heart attack, as well as complications from diabetes, Peggy Lee died in Los Angeles on January 21st, 2002 at the age of 81. In 2003 there was a concert tribute to her at Carnegie Hall in New York called “There’ll Be Another Spring: A Tribute to Miss Peggy Lee,” which featured performances by Petula Clark, Rita Moreno, Nancy Sinatra, and many others. She undoubtedly was a performer of many talents and will forever be remembered for having a smooth yet sophisticated singing voice and bringing it to “Lady and the Tramp.” (It’s hard to imagine the iconic “spaghetti-dining sequence” from “Lady and the Tramp” without Lee’s beautiful lyrics.)

Santa Fun for the Whole Family

        Long before Tim Burton produced Disney’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and before Nick Park and Peter Lord directed Chicken Run (2000) for Dreamworks, there was Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr. Do either of those names ring a bell? These two men founded Rankin/Bass Productions Inc. on September 14th, 1960, remaining in busyness together for 27 years. If you’re like me, and look forward every year to watching “Rudolph,” you have these two men to thank.

Rankin/Bass produced a variety of feature films and television specials, unitizing stop-motion animation. Several of the television specials they produced were holiday-themed and the very first special was the beloved Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) starring Burl Ives—a huge hit. Ten years later, they produced The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974), based on the book of the same name by Phyllis McGinley. “Year Without a Santa Claus,” was also a success, and while it didn’t quite outdo the success of “Rudolph,” it ultimately resulted in more modern versions: a live-action remake released in 2006 and a sequel, A Miser Brothers’ Christmas, released in 2008. And it’s no slouch either, rating 7.8 on IMDB’s 10-point scale.

This story is heartwarming: Santa Claus comes down with a cold at Christmas time and decides to take the year off when his doctor tells him that fewer kids are believing in Santa Claus. Mrs. Claus takes matters into her own hands by sending two elves named Jingle and Jangle down to the city to find people who still believe in Santa Claus. On their way the elves encounter a friendly boy named Iggy who says believing in Santa Claus is for little kids, but when Santa himself shows up, Iggy soon changes his mind. A fight over the town ensues between “Snow Miser” and his brother, “Heat Miser” but, Mother nature helps her sons learn to compromise, and the first snowfall in ages help Santa realize how much he means to children.

 

The “Year Without a Santa Claus,” includes a very talented voice cast, some of whom reprised their characters for other Rankin/Bass specials and who appeared together in other projects:

• The film starred Mickey Rooney as the voice of Santa Claus. Rooney had previously voiced Santa Claus in the Rankin/Bass special Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (1970) and he reprised the role for Rankin/Bass’s Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July (1979) and in A Miser Brothers’ Christmas (2008) which was produced by Warner Brothers Animation and directed by Dave Thomas.
• Dick Shawn voiced the frosty Snow Miser, and he and Mickey Rooney appeared together in the film It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963).
• George S. Irving provided the voice of the hot-headed Heat Miser and he reprised that role in “Miser Brothers’ Christmas,” as well.
• Shirley Booth, who won a Best Actress Oscar in Come Back, Little Sheba (1952) lent her voice to the spunky Mrs. Claus and this was her last acting credit before she retired from acting permanently.

Why does a film like this continue to hold up today? First of all, it’s a beautiful reminder how one is “never too old to believe.” It’s also full of amusing tidbits: Mother Nature having two sons (Makes you wonder who the father could have been too?), and the chuckles that from watching Jingle and Jangle resemble their namesake bells.

Christmas is a time for fun, and this film brings loads of it—it’s definitely a kid film first, but adults will enjoy the great animation, and the silliness of Snow Miser and Heat Miser fighting over control of the city’s weather. In any case, it’s become a family tradition for many, and is one of those movies, like “Rudolph,” that helps us usher in the wonderful Holiday season!

Elf: Oh My Gosh, we know that movie!

    Watching holiday movies throughout the yuletide season has become a tradition in many households throughout the world—some beloved because of their holiday themes, and others simply taking place during December. One that takes advantage of a full-on Christmas focus, however, is Elf (2003). An instant classic now beloved for 17 years, “Elf,” was released on November 7th, 2003, and grossed more than $220 million dollars worldwide. It played to critical and public acclaim, with hilarity, romance, and of course a story that speaks of family to all ages. 

First, a quick synopsis: “Elf,” is the tale of a baby who stowed away in Santa’s bag one Christmas Eve from the children’s home where he was given up by his mother. Adopted by Santa’s elves, and now groun up, Buddy the man has trouble fitting in (all 6 ft. 3 in. of him), and sets off to find his biological father Walter. Walter is a stressed out workaholic with no interest in a potential son he never even knew about. Among hi jinx at his father’s publishing company and a department store where he gets a job, and a new girlfriend. 

As I mentioned, this is a hilarious movie. Buddy the Elf, played by Will Ferrell has lots interactions with the New York City culture…including chaos at the department store where he gets a job as an elf, he unmasks who they hired as a Santa which leads to a chaotic mess, he rounds around a turnaround door tell he throws up, and he even accidentally walks in on Jovie in the shower singing “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” to which it becomes a duet between the two of them. Buddy also causes a dancing riot between the other coworkers when he briefly becomes drunk in the mailroom of Greenway Press, his father’s publishing business. And he unintentionally offends his father’s collaborator, Miles Finch by calling him a “south pole elf.” 

The movie is also a true family movie, demonstrating how beautiful forgiveness is. Buddy’s Christmas spirit gives him the strength to forgive his father because he knows that his father does care about him. Buddy also enjoys being in his life and having a relationship with him, along with his wife, Emily and son Michael. Buddy’s forgiveness in turn inspires Walter to be confident in himself that he is a good, hard worker and he doesn’t need to keep a job that his distracting him from his family. And at the end of the movie, he starts his own book publishing business “Walter Hobbs & Son,” a business that becomes all about family, with he and Buddy running the business together.   

“Elf,” is also an endearing romantic comedy. When Buddy first meets Jovie, he is completely blown away by her beautiful singing voice. Jovie isn’t too sure what she thinks of Buddy and thinks his holiday spirit is quite awkward. And it originally looks like they’ll be enemies because Jovie doesn’t like it when Buddy inadvertently happens into the women’s locker room. However, she learns to forgive and later accepts an invitation to go out with him. Though the date gets off to an awkward start, they really begin to connect and share their first kiss and realize that they are meant to be. (Spoiler alert: a baby elf is in their future!)

All in all, “Elf,” is a movie that shows that we can all become preoccupied with worthless things during the holidays and that we need to find valuable things that truthfully bring the true Christmas spirit. To quote the movie “The bet way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear”—we can get in the spirit from Christmas songs, but what’s an even better gift during the holidays is family and spending time with them. While it is true that families wrong one another in complicated ways, we can and should learn to forgive them, and always value time with them no matter what. 

The Snow That Saved Radio City

        Disney has a remarkable history of shows that have been produced on Broadway, including several beloved movie adaptations. The first Disney show produced on Broadway was Beauty and the Beast, which opened at the Palace Theatre on April 18th, 1994, and played a total of 5,461 performances. The most recent Disney show to hit the Great White Way was Frozen which opened at the St. James Theatre on March 22nd, 2018 and played a total of 825 performances prior to the pandemic shutdown. But did you know that long before Disney started producing shows on Broadway, they produced a live stage version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Live on Stage at Radio City Music Hall? In today’s blog, I’d like to tell you about how that production came about, and it’s success left an impactful legacy.

Robert Jani (Yan-e) was first employed by the Walt Disney Company when he was 21 years old, working as the head of the Guest Relations Department at Disneyland. His many responsibilities included coordinating the staging of Disneyland’s Grand Opening in July of 1955. In 1967, he was promoted to Director of Entertainment and not long after, to Creative Director of Walt Disney Productions. Throughout his time at Disney, he was the brains behind the “Main Street Electrical Parade,” which continues to run at both Disneyland and Disney World. While at Disney, his unique skills earned him the nickname “P.T. Barnum for the Modern Age,” and in 1978, Jani left Disney to form his own company, Robert Jani Productions, in New York City. 

Throughout the 1970s, regular theater-goers had chosen to either stay home and watch television or attend multiplex movie houses for entertainment, so in New York, Radio City Music Hall experiences a major recession. Business was so poor that the Rockefeller Center Board of Directors even chose to permanently close the doors of Radio City and fired the Rockettes. There was consideration of turning the hall into a shopping center, tennis courts or even a new location for the American Stock Exchange. There were some loyal Radio City patrons who were infuriated by this, they didn’t want to see it happen. Since Robert Jani had his own production company, he became in charge of all of Radio City’s live stage productions, determined to revitalize the historical New York landmark. At this point, the country was preoccupied with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and even a lewd oil crisis, but Bob wanted to make the country believe that no matter how much trouble there is in the world, there is always some good in it somewhere. He decided to do so by convincing Disney to let him adapt Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as a stage production to be performed at Radio City.

After Disney agreed to green-light Snow White Live! (1979), Frank Wagner was hired to direct the show. Wagner was known for directing shows on Broadway such as “Ziegfeld Follies of 1957,” and “New of Faces of 1968,” though he also was best known for founding the International School of Dance at Carnegie Hall. The creative team knew that the most important casting choice for the show would be Snow White, and after a very strenuous search, in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, they found Mary Jo Salerno, who at the time was working as a singing cocktail waitress at Chicago’s The Gaslight Club. Salerno auditioned for the part in both Chicago and New York. She, herself, thought the idea that she would be cast was very far-fetched, but was ecstatic when she learned she got the part. The rest of the cast featured Richard Bowne as Prince Charming and Anne Francine as the Evil Queen. While the show included all of the original film’s beloved characters, it also included new characters created exclusively for the show, including Snow White’s father, The King (played by Thomas Ruisinger) and the Evil Queen’s right-hand-lady, Luna (played by Yolande Bavan). Charles Hall doubled the roles of the Magic Mirror’s voice and the Evil Queen’s “old hag” alter-ego.

Robert Jani was determined to see that the show was as faithful to the film as possible. Although stressful for the rest of the crew, they were granted unlimited access to the Walt Disney Archives in Burbank and made sure no detail was overlooked. In addition to using the original film’s music by Composer Frank Churchill and Lyricist Larry Morey, Jay Blackton and Joe Cook collaborated together on new music for the stage version. Rehearsals were stressful for the actors as well because they required a lot of physical moving around the stage and most of the actors weren’t regular exercisers. Despite these challenges, the show opened at Radio City on October 18th, 1979, and the performance was a smash. The audience applauded Snow White and the Dwarfs, hissed at the evil queen, and even sang along with the songs throughout the show. The kids in the audience even shouted out to Snow White, warning her not to eat the apple given to her by the witch at the very end. The show became a sell-out hit, and closed on November 18th, 1979 after a total of 38 performances. It was thanks to the success of this show that the Radio City Christmas Spectacular was finally able to come back on November 25th.

“Snow White,” however, embarked on a national tour, performing in Chicago and Washington D.C. The tour ended in New York City, with the Radio City Christmas Spectacular closing on January 6th, 1980, and due to popular demand, “Snow White,” returned. It reopened on January 11th, 1980 and played a total of 68 additional performances, closing on March 9th. When Walt Disney released his film version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in December of 1937, the film made over $400 million dollars and paved the way for to Disney to produce Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940) and all the other films that followed. Who would have thought that more than 40 years later, a stage production of Snow White would have saved Radio City Music Hall in New York City?

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!