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SEAN CONNERY: A LIFE
FROM BEGINNING TO END
(BIOGRAPHIES OF ACTORS),
by HOURLY HISTORY.
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Writing is just about ok, not great - compilation could be better. There's much that the author misses or refrains from mentioning that's interesting in filmography, such as mention of Entrapment, or worse, mentioning that Octopussy and Never Say Never Again were in theaters simultaneously with two different performers in James Bond roles at one time. This would be far more interesting than the sleazy details author does not refrain from mentioning.
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" ... It was also that year that Connery starred in the film The Man Who Would Be King. This piece had Connery acting alongside Michael Caine in the historical backdrop of Kafiristan, a region nestled between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the film, Connery and Caine play former British soldiers seeking adventure in nineteenth-century Kafiristan."
Wonder if author is aware that it's not a made-up name, but existed, the name indicating what it was - a valley with last vestiges of non-abrahmic religion and culture; less than three centuries ago, that was wiped out with an aggressive assault, massacring all non-muslims, as had been done through centuries for over a millennium and a half, from northwest Africa to India, repeatedly. Only India has survived either her ancient culture still living.
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"The Man Who Would Be King generally received rave reviews, and Connery would long look back on its production with relish. Close on the heels of all this, Connery also took part in The Wind and the Lion, as well as an epic take on Robin Hood called Robin and Marian. The latter film would prove to be a classic, with Connery and his co-star Audrey Hepburn wowing audiences with their obvious chemistry."
Wish that would be possible to see.
"In 1977, Connery then starred in a war epic called A Bridge Too Far. The movie takes place in the Netherlands during the height of World War II, and the plot revolves around the dropping of paratroopers in enemy territory to seize roads and bridges vital for the war effort. Connery is cast in the role of Major-General Urquhart, who is on the ground leading operations. The film was received with much anticipation, but the reviews were ultimately mixed. Many found certain aspects of the drama to be touching, but overall, the film came off a bit drawn-out and tedious."
This film wasn't entertainment but almost documentary, only re-enacted. It's worth seeing for sake of knowing what and how much various parties involved suffered, and partly or more than partly due to British giving more importance to Monty and his ardent need to stage and execute his grand design - which, as shown in film, experienced warriors knew would fail, for speaking which out they, the said experienced warriors, were sidelined. The action was a disaster as they feared.
And the film has over half a dozen major stars who, whether they were huge then or not, were so later. It's worth seeing even just for them.
"Connery was also non-plussed from the beginning to find out that his co-star Robert Redford had signed on for a whopping $2 million, which completely dwarfed the $250,000 that he himself was slated to receive. Connery only found out about this fact after his wife Micheline read about it in the papers. If he had known about this disparity beforehand, he just might have refused to take part in the production altogether. Upon finding out, Connery put up such a big fuss that his salary was increased to $750,000, which he felt was at least somewhat more dignified, considering his experience and stature in the film industry. Although not a blockbuster, the film’s box office returns were good enough for it to be considered a marginal success."
Young Robert Redford is superb in his almost blink-and-miss role, despite his very obvious youth, and was not merely eye-candy.
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"Thomas Sean Connery came into this world on August 25, 1930, when his mother Euphemia (otherwise known as “Effie”) gave birth to him at Royal Maternity Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland. The boy was initially called Tommy, but as he grew older, he preferred to go by his middle name, Sean ... "
"To the delight of his father Joe, little Sean wasn’t quite so little—this baby began life at a whopping ten and a half pounds (almost five kilograms). This was a bit surprising since Joe was a diminutive figure, short and of a slight build; he was most certainly not expecting such a hefty baby to be born. Sean’s parents were an unlikely union at the time. Effie hailed from a prosperous Protestant family, whereas Joe’s relatives were impoverished Catholics. Tensions over both livelihoods as well as religion frequently boiled over, and the wedding of Sean’s parents, which had occurred a couple of years prior to his birth, almost ended in a physical altercation between the fathers of the bride and groom.
" ... Joe and Effie made the best of things, and that summer day in 1930, they were both quite overjoyed at the birth of their son. In many ways, they held up this larger-than-life baby as their hope for better and brighter days. They say that children should not be born with jobs, but it’s true that Sean was tasked early on with the role of building bridges between the two warring sides of his family."
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"“I left Scotland when I was 16 because I had no qualifications for anything but the Navy, having left school at 13.”
"—Sean Connery"
Royal tradition of England, that.
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"By all accounts, Sean Connery was a lively and rambunctious child. He also wasn’t too shy when it came to getting into mischief. Worst of all, as a toddler, the often-threadbare youth began an early career of shoplifting. He even engaged in this behavior on shopping trips with his mother. To be clear, Effie didn’t know what her child was doing—Sean was stuffing the cart with stolen goods when her back was turned."
This must be before the age where children grasp such concepts as money and purchase, and the little boy was only being helpful exactly as he'd do at home?
"Sean’s grand heist typically consisted of whatever comic books or candy that his little hands could grab. It remains unclear how long he got away with these antics, but on one occasion, he must have gotten a little careless because his mother managed to catch him in the act. She didn’t hesitate to unload on Sean, whipping him with a belt right then and there. She then trotted him out in front of the store’s owner and demanded that he return all his ill-gotten loot."
So he was aware!
"This incident was apparently enough to get Connery back on the straight and narrow, and by the time he entered primary school, he was well-disciplined and proved to be a great student. From a young age, he proved to be particularly gifted in reading (perhaps reading all of those comic book captions paid off). Sean also developed a lifelong ability in math, proving particularly formidable when it came to making calculations in his head without having to write anything down."
Helped negotiate Bond, likely.
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"By the time that he was old enough to enter secondary school, he was enrolled at an institution called Darroch. Here, he indulged himself in a lifelong love of soccer. ... "
It's bad enough when authors of Hourly History series are openly racist, such as referring to natives of US as Indian, knowingfully well they have no connectionwith india whatsoeverand never had; its bad enough when the authors and publishers are antisemitic, such as in the volume on Auschwitz.
But this is universally imposed imperialistic clout when world prevalent nomenclature is replaced summarily with that limited to US, such as saying 'soccer' instead of the name used throughout the world for the game - football.
As it is what US calls football is a game where people use every possible manner of physical assault, and mostly run about clutching the ball in arms; while throughout the rest of the world, what's named football is strictly only played with feet and hands aren't allowed to be used for touching the ball.
" ... As much as he was enthused about soccer matches, however, his other studies began to take a backseat. Sean Connery quickly became disinterested in school, and at 13 years of age, in July of 1944, he decided to drop out. He instead began working jobs and was apparently a suitable enough bread earner for the family—so much so that he made his own father feel bad due to his frequent instability on the job.
"Connery was indeed growing up fast, and it’s said that it was around this time that he first became serious with women. He was reportedly only 14 years old when he first became romantically involved with an older woman. Such things are shocking today, and they were perhaps even a little shocking back then, but Sean Connery acted older than his age. At this point, he was also quite tall, so it could very well be that his partner had no idea how young he actually was."
This author has everything backwards!
Seriously? "Such things are shocking today, and they were perhaps even a little shocking back then"?????
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"Ironically, one of Sean Connery’s first steady gigs in life was as a milkman. It’s been a longstanding joke about milkmen visiting homes and having affairs with the women that reside therein. No one has quite made the connection with Connery, but it is perhaps possible that he met some of his paramours while out on the job delivering milk. ... "
One may safely bet that the "joke" existed long before Sean Connery was born.
" ... At any rate, by 16, Connery had grown tired of the milkman business and enlisted with the Royal Navy.
"The year was 1946, and World War II was safely in the rear-view mirror, so Connery no doubt expected to reap the benefits of being a peacetime soldier. ... "
Why is this author being so nasty for no reason? Is there any evidence that Sean Connery was avoiding joining navy before WWII ended? Or that he was historically unique in joining during peacetime? Or that no one ever died on ocean, whether in navy or otherwise on a pleasure cruise?
" ... He was sent on over to Portsmouth in southern England, where he would receive his training in naval gunnery. This was apparently the first time Sean Connery had even been out of Scotland, and it was an eye-opening experience for him. Connery didn’t seem to take to the strict environment too well and often had trouble following instructions. As he would later recall it, “The seafaring life wasn’t all that one had fantasised it to be. I was a boy seaman and there was an ordinary seaman above me, and if you reached his status there was a naval seaman and beyond that a leading seaman, and then a petty officer and a chief petty officer—and I was aware that I had not done enough to make this kind of progress.”"
Whereas this series rarely seems to check any nastiness from its authors.
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"In later life, Connery would admit that the main reason why he failed in the Navy was simply that he did not warm up to being ordered around. Furthermore, he most especially did not like being commanded by those whom he viewed as inept and less competent than himself, which apparently was quite often.
"Connery ended up getting out of the Navy in July of 1949, and at 19 years of age, he found himself heading back to his old job as a milkman. The official reason for his discharge was due to a stomach ulcer, but in Connery’s mind, it was a bad case of boredom and disillusionment more than anything else. All the same, once he was out, it must have been fairly embarrassing to seemingly regress in life. Family and friends seemed to offer him a mixture of pity and indifference. Either way, Connery was resilient enough not to let himself become too bothered by this turn of events. ... "
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"“Perhaps I’m not a good actor, but I would be even worse at doing anything else.”
"—Sean Connery"
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"On January 7, 1950, about six months after his return, Sean Connery put in his resignation to the dairy company where he worked. It remains unclear as to why he chose to quit, other than perhaps sheer boredom. After ditching this dairy gig, he would rather aimlessly bounce from job to job over the next few years. Most of these jobs were physically intense, such as hauling coal, construction, or working in a steel mill.
"For a while, it seemed that Connery was going nowhere fast, but in the spring of 1951, things began to look up. That year, he was able to use his former service in the military to gain an expense-paid internship. The choice of vocation was perhaps a bit unusual—he chose to work as a professional polisher—but Sean seemed to think it was a suitable profession. His internship soon led to work at a professional cabinet-making business called Jack Vinestock and Company. Connery wouldn’t be polishing cabinets here but rather caskets. Yes, this cabinet company apparently also serviced funeral supplies.
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"The job went well enough, but it wasn’t long before Connery grew bored with the monotonous tasks of a polisher. It was in the midst of his drudgery that his eyes would be opened to something better—for it was on this job that he would become acquainted with a fellow employee by the name of Peter Moran. Moran would take Connery on a trip down to London to see the much-touted Festival of Britain exhibition that summer. Here, Sean would not only see all of the dramatic displays of the exhibition but, more importantly, the dramatic display of life in London itself.
"In the big city, Sean Connery, a Scotsman by birth, began to feel that all of the categories and class distinctions he had grown up with no longer mattered. Here, in the bustling city of London, he thought that perhaps he could cut ties with his past completely and finally live life on his own terms. Even though he would still kick around in Scotland for some time, this trip to London had planted seeds in young Sean Connery’s imagination.
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"In the meantime, he got a new job as a lifeguard in Edinburgh at a local swimming pool called the Portobello. While he was spending his days keeping watch over swimmers, he came upon an advertisement in the Edinburgh Evening News. The advertisement made mention of a need for 6-feet-plus extras in a London production of the play The Glorious Days. Connery, standing proudly at 6 feet 2 inches (188 centimeters), made his way to the Empire Theatre, where he auditioned for a part. He passed the audition and was given the walk-on part of a guards officer.
"During this period, Connery, who had been an avid weightlifter since his teens, also began to engage in bodybuilding contests. In 1953, he took part in a Mr. Universe contest and ended up getting bronze, but he left highly discouraged by the fact that most of the contestants seemed to be much bulkier than his typically lean frame allowed. Nevertheless, it was through contacts he developed in the Mr. Universe circuit that Sean Connery was recruited to try out for a part in the stage production of South Pacific.
"The play had been going the rounds at Drury Lane Theatre for several months, and there was a need for more extras to play bit parts. In particular, they needed chorus singers for the so-called Seabees chorus boys. Connery would work on this production for two years, traveling all over Britain, and would make a respectable amount of money doing so. He would soon quit his job as a polisher to look toward a full-time career as an entertainer."
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"As Sean Connery grew more serious about his acting career, he began to do more to improve his range. He studied Shakespeare and took dancing, singing, and voice lessons. The voice lessons were primarily aimed at toning down his thick Scottish accent. Although today, the film world is much more accepting of different tonal accents, back in those days, it was desired to hone in on vocal stylings that were believed to be able to appeal to the largest possible audience. As such, Connery sought to ease out some of the more noticeable aspects of his regional accent.
"Connery’s next role, in the meantime, came in a production of Witness for the Prosecution, in which he was cast as a court usher. This small part was of short duration, however, and he was subsequently introduced to what it was like to be a struggling actor desperately seeking his next gig. Slowly but surely, more roles would follow. In 1955, he would be cast in a production of Point of Departure, followed by a part in the epic A Witch in Time.
"In the fall of 1956, he then managed to get a speaking role in a film called No Road Back. In this piece, Sean Connery played the part of a crook called Spike. The character was meant to be a rough-hewn individual—a diamond thief—with a slight stutter. It was a part that Connery tried to play as realistically as possible, but he feared that it would typecast him as an actor. Nevertheless, after a little over a month of shooting, the film was completed. In later life, after he became famous for the James Bond franchise, Connery most likely wanted to put this film behind him, but it would later be resurrected in the form of a spoof film called The 007 Gangster Club.
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"At any rate, Connery’s next big break arrived in 1957 when he starred in Hell Drivers. The film followed the exploits of a bunch of underpaid, overworked truck drivers as they attempted to navigate their way both through their long-haul routes as well as their own individual lives. It was on the heels of this film that Connery starred in an action-packed movie called Time Lock.
"Time Lock is a suspense thriller in which Connery’s major scene involves him cutting open a bank vault to free a child that is stuck inside. The kid is locked in, and drama ensues as the characters become aware that it’s just a matter of time before he might run out of oxygen and expire—hence the title, Time Lock. This film did well enough, and soon Sean Connery managed to get the attention of Twentieth Century Fox for a whole new slate of productions."
Here author could have mentioned that it's based on a story about a criminal who is needed to open that safe - and knows that this action would not only reveal but establish evidence of his identity to law; Its unclear whether the author refrained from mentioning this due to ignorance. But on part of editors and publishers it's unforgivable lapse.
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"Connery had by this time become involved with a woman by the name of Diane Cilento. Diane was an actress who hailed from Australia and had begun working for Fox around the same time that Connery had signed on with the company. She first made the acquaintance of Sean when they engaged in a script reading together for a production of Anna Christie. Anna Christie was originally a theatrical production meant for the stage, but under the aegis of Fox Studios, it was being converted into a TV drama, tailormade for the masses."
" During their first encounters on set, initially, Diane wasn’t too impressed with Sean and reportedly thought that he seemed a bit too moody for her tastes. Soon enough, though, she would warm up to Connery’s tough exterior. ... "
"Nevertheless, the two began to bond over script readings, and after Connery suggested they read in private, he was regularly coming over to Diane’s home. Sean immersed himself into his role, the character of Mat Burke, which in many ways was more representative of himself than any of his previous roles. The part he played was that of a rough-and-tumble individual with a sensitive side. Connery identified with the character’s compassionate attempts to save Anna Christie ... "
" ... Diane apparently took her husband’s extramarital dalliances very hard and was found half-dead in a bathtub full of blood ... "
"At any rate, Diane was, for a time, able to put herself together enough to fulfill her contractual duties for Anna Christie. Sean Connery and Diane Cilento proved to have great chemistry together, and soon enough, that chemistry would be readily apparent off the stage, just as much as on it."
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"“Everyone talks about how they knew the Bond films were going to be a success, but it simply isn’t true.”
"—Sean Connery"
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"The year 1958 would prove to be a pivotal one for Sean Connery’s career and helped to open the door for an even larger role by way of the drama film Another Time, Another Place. In this movie, Connery plays the part of a British journalist by the name of Mark Trevor, who gets mixed up in a tumultuous affair. Interestingly enough, Connery’s co-star in this production, Lana Turner, had been caught in a few dangerous love triangles of her own.
"During filming, her jealous lover, Johnny Stompanato, created a scene, storming onto the set accusing Lana of shacking up with Sean Connery in real life. Stompanato was a two-bit thug with connections to the mob, and upon confronting Connery, he even pulled a gun on him. Sean Connery, showing the bravery that he would be known for his entire life, didn’t hesitate to fight back. He lunged at his assailant and managed to wrestle the gun away before knocking Stompanato to the floor.
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"This wouldn’t be the end of the drama with Stompanato, however, and he would continue to be a thorn in Lana Turner’s side. The drama would come to a shocking end when Lana’s then 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl, upset to witness an argument between Stompanato and Turner, attacked the man with a knife, plunging the blade deep into the gangster’s stomach. Stompanato died from the injury.
"Lana and Cheryl, of course, cited Stompanato’s abusive behavior, and the killing was ruled as defensive in nature. Stompanato’s family, however, didn’t agree and aggressively pursued charges. In the process, they managed to dig up letters that Lana Turner had written Stompanato, in which she seemed to hint that her and Connery’s relationship was perhaps a little more than professional. Whether this was true or not, these letters managed to give Sean Connery a whole lot of unwanted attention as this real-life drama played out.
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"Nevertheless, trying hard to get these sordid events out of his mind, Connery threw himself into his next role—a light-hearted piece for a change—the Disney production of Darby O’Gill and the Little People. The film used a mixture of live actors and cartoon animation to tell the story of Darby and a tribe of leprechauns. Hitting the box office in 1959, the film did well enough and helped open the door for more hits. It was also around this time that Sean Connery and Diane Cilento began to become serious as a couple. The romance was there before, but it was at this point that Cilento and her husband Volpe’s marriage truly came to an end, and her relationship with Connery seriously began.
"Sean Connery meanwhile continued his relentless attempt to get more traction in the film industry. In 1961, he starred in an action-packed drama called The Frightened City. Although this film was certainly not a blockbuster, many view it as being a sort of proto-Bond production, with all of the Sean Connery elements that made the Bond character so successful already on full display. He doesn’t play a secret agent in the film but rather a burglar. All the same, his graceful movements, cool demeanor, and a certain sense of satire in his dialogue delivery are very much in line with the approach Connery would use with James Bond.
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"Just prior to making it big with Bond, Connery’s acting career was a flurry of activity. His work on The Frightened City was followed by a campy comedy piece called On the Fiddle. That same summer, he then tried his luck doing a rendition of Alexander the Great for BBC called Adventure Story. Yet it would be toward the end of that fateful, busy year of 1961 that Connery’s ultimate fate would be sealed.
"In November, he would be cast as a secret agent named James Bond. The character was the creation of writer Ian Fleming. Initially, Ian had envisioned the actor to play Bond to be one who was entirely smooth, debonair, and refined. Sean Connery initially seemed a little too rough around the edges for what Ian had pictured, but nevertheless, producers of the film were determined to mold Connery into Bond all the same. Connery himself felt the character was a bit too dry and boring and began to inject his own sense of comedic timing into the mix. The result would be a character that wasn’t quite what Ian Fleming had in mind, but what many would later claim was a highly improved variation.
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"Although the name Bond would become the most synonymous with the franchise, this first installment of the Bond series was actually entitled Dr. No. The story revolves around the death of an MI6 (British secret intelligence) agent and James Bond’s subsequent efforts to figure out what had happened to him. During his quest, Bond runs afoul of another group of secret agents called SPECTRE, run by a nefarious figure called Dr. No.
"Bond, beyond all odds, foils the plots of SPECTRE and defeats Dr. No and his cronies. The plot is pretty cut and dry, and some might say predictable, but it’s Connery’s smooth delivery that truly makes the film so entertaining to watch. The film was well received at the time and would become a cult classic in later years. Most importantly, though, it started Sean Connery off on a trajectory that would come to dominate much of the rest of his career. It was with Dr. No that the world first got to hear Connery’s rich and sonorous voice, famously presenting himself to the world as “Bond—James Bond.”"
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"“I’m an actor—it’s not brain surgery. If I do my job right, people won’t ask for their money back.”
"—Sean Connery"
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"It was on the heels of his success with Dr. No that Sean Connery finally proposed marriage to his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Diane Cilento. Diane was hesitant at first, but the fact that she was pregnant with their child at the time had a lot to do with her coming around to the proposal. The couple was ultimately wed on November 29, 1962, and Diane gave birth to their son Jason on January 11, 1963.
"Close on the heels of Jason’s birth, Connery was back in the studio to record the second installment of the Bond series, the epic From Russia with Love. ... "
"The film was a success, but with it, Sean Connery began to increasingly feel pigeonholed and typecast into the role of James Bond. It wasn’t really much of an exaggeration to say that the public completely identified Connery with the Bond character. Just about any time anyone happened to see Sean Connery in public, it wasn’t long before the air was full of shouts of, “Bond! Bond! Bond!”
"It was therefore with some relief that Connery was able to switch gears after this latest James Bond release and work on the non-Bond film Woman of Straw. Here, we find Sean Connery in a serious drama, starring alongside the likes of Gina Lollobrigida and Ralph Richardson. This film marked Sean Connery’s first real attempt to break free from the typecasting that had begun to take hold of his acting career. He did not want to be constantly cast as either James Bond or any other similar action hero; he wanted to be able to act in all manner of productions, and this dramatic film was the perfect vehicle for him to do so.
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"In Woman of Straw, Connery plays the complicated role of a nephew attempting to play matchmaker for his affluent but ailing uncle. He hatches a plot with his uncle’s health aide, convincing her to marry his uncle so that when he dies, they will both be able to cash in on all of his money. In this film, he was most certainly not the hero, but not necessarily a dastardly villain like Dr. No either. Here, Connery played a complex, troubled persona, led by his own pure and simple greed. The plot then thickens when the nurse actually falls in love with the uncle for real, only to be entirely distraught when the old man finally passes. The nurse and Connery’s character then turn on each other, and much more intense drama ensues.
"With this film, Connery wanted to wow the world with his ability to perform as a dramatic actor. The plot was perhaps a bit too complicated for its own good, however, and it largely fell flat with movie-going audiences. This was a tremendous setback for Sean Connery, who would come to see his first major attempt to break out of the Bond mold as a major flop.
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"Connery also ended up highly critical of his acting during the production, later reflecting that he was a bit too distracted since the film was so close on the heels of From Russia with Love. But perhaps the biggest issue of all was simply the fact that Sean Connery—whether he liked it or not—would forever be remembered for James Bond, and all of those theater-going audiences just could not get the image of Bond out of their mind, even as they watched Connery play the part of someone’s deranged, nefarious nephew.
"Nevertheless, Sean Connery soldiered on, and that December, he made his way to Los Angeles so that he could start acting in yet another project, an Alfred Hitchcock film called Marnie. At this point, Connery was very cautious about what kind of films he would act in, and before even agreeing to take part, he insisted on thoroughly reading the script—something which Hitchcock almost took offense to, since back then, most were so trusting of Hitchcock’s expertise that they jumped at the chance to work on his films. Nevertheless, after the flop of Woman of Straw, Sean Connery wasn’t going to take any chances.
"Ultimately, Connery liked what he saw, and he was cast in the lead role to co-star with actress Tippi Hedren (as Marnie), who was famous for her work on another Hitchcock piece called The Birds. ... "
"In the end, although box office results were somewhat lackluster, Sean Connery would always appreciate the time he spent honing his craft with the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock."
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"As much as Sean Connery had attempted to break out of his typecasted role as James Bond, he found it a much harder prospect than he had realized. By 1964, he was once again back in the studio working on another Bond film—Goldfinger. This film has the Bond character looking into a gold smuggling ring, whose boss Auric Goldfinger is attempting some major shenanigans at Fort Knox."
" ... The film was a triumph at the box office as well. The film quite literally broke records, bringing in revenue from box office returns at a more rapid pace than any other production had before.
"The actual creator of James Bond—Ian Fleming—passed away shortly after Goldfinger was made, but even without the man who first fashioned the concept, the franchise would go on. The following year of 1965 would see yet another Bond film, this one called Thunderball. This film would be even more successful than the last, and it would go on to be the most successful Bond film of all, raking in an absolute bonanza in box office returns. The film also sees the return of the ultimate Bond baddies known as SPECTRE. This time, the secret agent cabal steals a couple of nuclear bombs and threatens to use them if they aren’t paid a high ransom.
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"In the afterglow of Thunderball, Connery enjoyed the success but was still struggling to come out from the shadow of this one successful character. The Bond phenomenon had become so powerful that his name was sometimes not even mentioned in magazines on the subject. Whole photospreads of Connery posing in his best Bond suit would fail even to mention the actor’s real name, instead just calling him James Bond.
"Nevertheless, Connery still tried to break the bonds of Bond, and in 1965, he starred in another non-bond film called The Hill. Here, he plays a prisoner held in North Africa during the closing days of World War II. To be clear, he’s not playing the role of a prisoner of war but rather a British soldier who has been thrown in the brig by his own army due to breaking the rules. It’s another complex drama in which Connery is able to show his flair for theatrics. The film was viewed as a well-put-together piece, but the box office returns did not translate into the triumph that everyone involved had hoped for. All the same, Sean Connery was truly proud of the work he did on this film.
"However, still plagued by confusion over Bond and his real-life identity, he began to lash out at the press. Ironically enough, it was Connery’s perceived rudeness in interviews that actually began to finally differentiate the man from the character in the mind of the public. Of course, being angry and rude is not likely the kind of persona that Connery wished to convey for his true identity but, pushed to the limit, it was the real Connery on full display nevertheless.
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"Another thing that was seemingly on display, at least as it pertains to the headlines in the press, was the increasing turbulence in Connery’s marriage to Diane Cilento. Connery had tried hard to keep his personal life private, but rumors had begun spreading of marital discord. It seems that Diane was not happy with her husband’s growing stardom, while her own star power was growing increasingly dim. When Diane first met Sean Connery, she was actually the bigger star of the couple, but since Bond had taken off, Diane had found herself unable to gain traction. After starring in a few box office bombs, she was beginning to fear that her career just might be over.
"In 1965, she put everything she had into an epic production, where she shared the screen with megastar Charlton Heston in the film The Agony and the Ecstasy. Yet this suspense-filled, historical drama, for all of its hype, barely even seemed to get noticed, and when it was noticed, it was deemed dry and boring. Due to mounting personal as well as professional pressures, Diane Cilento was increasingly frustrated with the trajectory her life was taking her on, and as such, her marriage to Sean Connery was becoming increasingly strained."
" ... Connery headed back into the film studio in late summer 1966 to begin production of the next installment in the James Bond series—You Only Live Twice. This movie, which saw its release in 1967, has the Bond character heading off to Japan to investigate strange happenings in space after both Russian and U.S. spaceships seemingly vanish during space missions. Predictably enough, Bond finds that the shadowy organization SPECTRE is behind it all, in some hair-brained attempt to instigate conflict between the United States and Russia.
"In some ways, the name of this film—You Only Live Twice—says it all. Bond had become larger than life and so audaciously successful that Bond seemed like an invincible character who could survive just about anything. Connery, however, was so frustrated he was hoping to bring an end to Bond as quickly as possible. He even began speaking openly of how this just might be the final Bond film he would agree to take part in. Other than Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, it was Sean Connery who had truly fleshed out James Bond and gave the character life. It was hard to imagine anyone else in this seminal role, but here Sean Connery was, insisting that he had had enough."
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"After the filming of You Only Live Twice had wrapped up, Sean Connery was thoroughly fed up with the Bond series. He was sick of being typecast and promised this film would be his last from the moment he stepped foot on set. His experience during filming only heightened his sense of wariness with the franchise. Much of this Bond film was produced on location in Japan, and during the process, Connery was incessantly mobbed by fans. Even with constant security, he could hardly go anywhere. As he was forced to live like a veritable prisoner, these circumstances only stiffened his resolve to cut ties with Bond for good.
"Bond’s producers—Eon Productions—in the meantime, came to believe that the Bond character was so powerful they could perhaps keep the franchise going even without Sean Connery. The search began, therefore, for a new actor to take on the role of James Bond. As Eon actively looked for a new Bond, it only seemed to reinforce within Sean Connery the feeling that he had become nothing more than an empty prop. To him, the character did indeed seem so one-dimensional with the same stunts and zingy one-liners that almost anyone could play him.
"Such a realization (whether true or not) was absolutely devastating to Sean Connery. Was that all he was—just an empty suit who did stunts? In many ways, he felt that his best years had been wasted. Sean Connery was looking for something more meaningful in which he could insert himself. It was in this mindset that he began work on not the next blockbuster or feature film but rather a documentary. The offer came to Connery in between rounds of golf with his friend, the Scottish industrial magnate, Sir Iain Maxwell Stewart.
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"The documentary, which Connery ultimately directed and narrated, focuses on the state of Scotland’s shipyards—in particular, the shipyards of Glasgow. It was named The Bowler and the Bunnet in reference to the bowler hats often sported by the management class down at the docks and the bunnets, a kind of cloth cap, which was part of the typical uniform of the lowly shipyard laborer. The documentary goes on to explore how workplace situations could be improved through unionization. This was Connery’s attempt to give a little something back to his Scottish homeland by trying to spread awareness of the plight of the average Scottish laborer. The film was not widely aired, however, and was largely relegated to local Scottish TV.
"Some in Britain, leery of regionalism, criticized Connery for using his star power to support Scottish causes, but Connery refused to back down. His unabashed support of Scotland ultimately got him the attention of the Scottish National Party, which asked him to run for office. Yet as much as he wished to support his homeland, Connery was not at all interested in going into politics, so he declined the invitation. He would, however, continue to lend his support to the SNP for much of the rest of his life.
"Connery’s former handlers for Bond came calling once again in the meantime in a last-ditch effort to bring him back. It seems that although they were certain he could be replaced, they also knew it would be much easier to keep the winning combination they had rather than make an effort to find another one. Connery thus received an offer to star in a new Bond flick called On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, for which he was to be given a sum of nearly one million dollars. He declined. Instead of Connery, Australian actor George Lazenby would be cast in the role of Bond. Although the film did not do quite as well as the previous ones, it did well enough. The box office returns were still very lucrative—a sure sign of encouragement to the producers that the show could indeed go on without Sean Connery.
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"Connery was at this point in Spain, immersing himself in his latest body of work called Shalako. This film was an old-school western that had him starring as the title character. Connery’s Shalako is a weather-beaten cowboy who goes around defeating the bad guys and rescuing the helpless. Even back in 1968, this sort of film seemed hopelessly outdated. Nevertheless, production went forward, and despite Connery’s huge payout of about a million dollars (producers must have been trying to keep up with the million-dollar offer from Bond), the film was a box office flop. In fact, it’s said that the film was such a loss that even to this day, with countless re-releases, it has never earned back more than it cost to produce it. In the end, it seemed that Sean Connery did not bode well as a cowboy, and the overall plot was just too formulaic for modern movie-going audiences."
Anybody - except perhaps blinkered US guys - would immediately know that James Bond and Sean Connery are quintessentially British, while a western requires a Clint Eastwood, not a Brit.
"Connery himself sensed that the film would flop before it was released, and as a result, his disillusionment (and perhaps regret?) upon leaving the James Bond franchise became palpable. Whether he liked it or not, he soon couldn’t help but reconsider his departure from the James Bond series. Bond was what made him great—was he wrong to leave all of that behind? Should he return? These were the questions that must have plagued Sean Connery as his attempt to stand on his own as an actor and to break free from Bond were met with what seemed to be complete and utter failure."
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" ... Connery was introduced to the screenplay of a new film slated for production—The Anderson Tapes. In this film, Connery plays a kind of anti-hero; the character is, in fact, an ex-con who stages a grand heist. The film is a mixture of drama, action, and light-hearted comedy, in which Connery really gets to show the full range of his capacity as an actor.
"The Anderson Tapes was a decisive success, so it is therefore intriguing that it was right when Connery seemed to finally find his groove outside of the Bond series that he decided to make his return. Indeed, right on the heels of The Anderson Tapes, Connery returned to the Bond series to reprise his old role in the feature Diamonds Are Forever.
"At this point, Connery had started seeing another woman, a painter by the name of Micheline Roquebrune. He had met Roquebrune in the spring of 1970 while he was participating in a golf tournament in Morocco. This tournament featured a men’s team as well as a women’s team. As it happened, Sean Connery placed first for the men’s team, and Micheline placed first for the women’s team. It was a part of tradition to have the top male and female contenders dance together at the after-party of the tournament—and dance they did. It seems that it was this innocent little dance that would lead to a lengthy affair and the final dissolution of Connery’s long deteriorating marriage to Diane Cilento.
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"Connery ultimately split with Cilento in 1971, right around the time he began work on the latest Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever. Connery was handsomely rewarded with a whopping $1.25 million dollars for his participation, but the real icing on the cake for Connery was the fact that he was able to convince United Artists to agree to back him up on two non-Bond features immediately thereafter. Regardless of the big payout and other generous terms, in many ways, the production team and Connery were able to meet a middle ground in this production.
"Connery himself, chastised by previous failures, had grown more receptive to his handlers, and likewise, the producers, just happy to have their old star back, were more willing to give Connery the artistic space he had long craved. This would result in a Bond film that was markedly different from the rest. A familiar plot formula is in place, with Bond on the tail of a nefarious organization’s clandestine activities, but the overall feel is different. We see a wiser, more relaxed Bond sailing through a whole host of baddies in an almost poetic fashion. He was an older, more mature Bond, and the situation had changed, yet Connery was able to make it work, and the audience enjoyed what they saw—as the $116 million dollar box office returns would bear testament to.
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"Even so, Connery considered this his final Bond movie at the time. He wanted to leave the franchise with one last great work and then retire as 007 forever. Soon thereafter, he began work on his next major production. As mentioned, prior to beginning work on Diamonds Are Forever, he had gotten United Artists to agree to work with him on a couple of non-Bond productions. One of these post-Bond productions was the 1973 film The Offence. This was another complicated drama with just the kind of intense emotional storyline that Connery was typically drawn to. In it, he plays a police sergeant who finds himself on the hook for murder after losing control during a police interrogation of a suspected child abuser.
"It was indeed a complicated script, so much so that even once production was finished, distributors lost confidence in the whole thing, and it failed to receive wide circulation. The Offence was ultimately such a flop that it would take nine years before proceeds would allow producers to break even with the cost they incurred in making it. Connery seemed to be on yet another downward spiral. Adding to his sadness, his father Joe had passed away from cancer during filming. It was also around this time that he finalized the terms of his divorce from Diane Cilento.
"Ironically enough, The Offence turned more and more into an offensive memory for Connery—a period of his life that he would just as soon forget."
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"After the failure of The Offence, much of the rest of Connery’s work in the 1970s would become rather obscure. In 1974, for example, he starred in a film called Zardoz ... "
"The Bond franchise, in the meantime, had once again moved on without Connery at the helm. In 1973, the Bond production team had recruited British actor Roger Moore and hammered out the epic Live and Let Die. This latest Bond film was a box office smash hit, and more would follow. The disenchanted Connery must have looked back at his old Bond character with a mixture of disdain and jealousy. The next Bond film, however—1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun—did not do nearly as well. It’s hard telling if this was any solace to Connery since, at this point, his own career continued to present itself as an uphill climb.
"Nevertheless, there was some happiness to be had. In May of 1975, he wed his new bride Micheline Roquebrune in a quiet wedding overseas, in the pleasant trappings of Gibraltar. It was also that year that Connery starred in the film The Man Who Would Be King. This piece had Connery acting alongside Michael Caine in the historical backdrop of Kafiristan, a region nestled between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the film, Connery and Caine play former British soldiers seeking adventure in nineteenth-century Kafiristan."
Wonder if author is aware that it's not a made-up name, but existed, the name indicating what it was - a valley with last vestiges of non-abrahmic religion and culture; less than three centuries ago, that was wiped out with an aggressive assault, massacring all non-muslims, as had been done through centuries for over a millennium and a half, from northwest Africa to India, repeatedly. Only India has survived either her ancient culture still living.
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"The Man Who Would Be King generally received rave reviews, and Connery would long look back on its production with relish. Close on the heels of all this, Connery also took part in The Wind and the Lion, as well as an epic take on Robin Hood called Robin and Marian. The latter film would prove to be a classic, with Connery and his co-star Audrey Hepburn wowing audiences with their obvious chemistry."
Wish that would be possible to see.
"In 1977, Connery then starred in a war epic called A Bridge Too Far. The movie takes place in the Netherlands during the height of World War II, and the plot revolves around the dropping of paratroopers in enemy territory to seize roads and bridges vital for the war effort. Connery is cast in the role of Major-General Urquhart, who is on the ground leading operations. The film was received with much anticipation, but the reviews were ultimately mixed. Many found certain aspects of the drama to be touching, but overall, the film came off a bit drawn-out and tedious."
This film wasn't entertainment but almost documentary, only re-enacted. It's worth seeing for sake of knowing what and how much various parties involved suffered, and partly or more than partly due to British giving more importance to Monty and his ardent need to stage and execute his grand design - which, as shown in film, experienced warriors knew would fail, for speaking which out they, the said experienced warriors, were sidelined. The action was a disaster as they feared.
And the film has over half a dozen major stars who, whether they were huge then or not, were so later. It's worth seeing even just for them.
"Connery was also non-plussed from the beginning to find out that his co-star Robert Redford had signed on for a whopping $2 million, which completely dwarfed the $250,000 that he himself was slated to receive. Connery only found out about this fact after his wife Micheline read about it in the papers. If he had known about this disparity beforehand, he just might have refused to take part in the production altogether. Upon finding out, Connery put up such a big fuss that his salary was increased to $750,000, which he felt was at least somewhat more dignified, considering his experience and stature in the film industry. Although not a blockbuster, the film’s box office returns were good enough for it to be considered a marginal success."
Young Robert Redford is superb in his almost blink-and-miss role, despite his very obvious youth, and was not merely eye-candy.
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"At any rate, starting in 1979 with the film Meteor, Connery would begin a trial run of several science fiction and action-adventure flicks. Meteor had Connery starring in a sci-fi-themed disaster film alongside the rising star of Natalie Wood. Then in 1981, Sean Connery embarked on time travel by having a role in the epic film Time Bandits. The film centers around a young boy named Kevin, whose obsession with history leads him to be transported to the past. He eventually meets the ancient King Agamemnon, who is played by Connery."
"Right on the heels of this movie, Sean Connery starred in a classic science fiction flick called Outland. Here, he plays the part of William O’Niel, a federal marshal stationed on Io, one of Jupiter’s moons. In this story, the volcanic moon of Io serves as the backdrop for a major mining operation. Connery’s character finds himself faced with all manner of corruption and intrigue in the mining colony and faces off against all manner of threats. The makers of the film had conceived of the whole thing as basically being a space-based western. Just like in a western, Sean Connery’s character was essentially the tough sheriff tasked with keeping the peace.
"The film has been recognized as being generally good in scope, but for a variety of reasons, it simply failed to catch on with the public. In the end, it just barely managed to break even at the box office. Dabbling in fantasy, sci-fi, and adventure features was an interesting twist for Connery, but it wasn’t long before a certain secret agent named James Bond once again came calling."
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"“I haven’t found anywhere in the world where I want to be all the time. The best of my life is the moving. I look forward to going.”
"—Sean Connery"
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"Back in the early 1970s, Sean Connery had told the world that he was done with James Bond. Yet, by the early 1980s, talks were once again underway for him to have one final homecoming to the franchise. It was these talks that would bear the fruit of the 1983 James Bond epic Never Say Never Again. The title itself was, of course, a bit of a tongue-in-cheek joke on the part of the producers since Connery had so adamantly insisted that he would never play Bond again."
Was it here that there were two separate James Bond films in theaters across the world, with two separate performers, Sean Connery and Roger Moore?
"Just prior to throwing in his lot with Indiana Jones, Connery took on a big role in 1987 in the action-packed thriller The Untouchables. This film is a crime drama and historical number, which involves a team of enforcement agents during the Prohibition era tasked with nabbing booze kingpin Al Capone (played by Robert De Niro). The main star of the film is Kevin Costner, who plays treasury agent Eliot Ness. Sean Connery, in the meantime, has the secondary role of agent Jim Malone. Connery’s character Malone is killed off in the middle of the movie, with Costner’s Eliot Ness taking the lead from there."
"Many were impressed with Sean Connery’s performance—among them, film producer Steven Spielberg. It was, in fact, his viewing of The Untouchables that convinced Spielberg that Sean Connery would be great for his next Indiana Jones flick, not as a secret agent—but as the father of Indiana Jones himself. ...
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"The year 1990 saw the next major Connery film, The Hunt for Red October, and it too would be a smash hit. This one would have Connery in a much larger role, cast as Captain Marko Ramius. This film was relevant to the times in which it was made since it was produced while the former Soviet Union was in the process of disintegrating. In the movie, Connery’s character Ramius is in charge of a powerful submarine called the Red October when he goes rogue and begins giving unauthorized orders to the crew. Intentions are unclear, and several parties become involved in trying to sort the situation out. This is just the kind of psychological thriller that Sean Connery absolutely thrives in.
"Connery would follow The Hunt For Red October with another Russia-themed picture called The Russia House. In this film, he stars alongside a young Michelle Pfeiffer, who plays the Russian beauty Katya Orlova. Connery, meanwhile, plays a visiting publisher named Barley Blair whom Orlova hands—of all things—a manuscript of Russian war secrets. Some have argued that this film was one of Connery’s better productions, while others contend it was a poorly understood flop.
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"Connery wouldn’t get the chance to prove himself again until 1996 when he starred in The Rock. With Connery sharing the screen with Nicholas Cage, The Rock is an action-packed thriller in which Connery and his comrades are tasked with stopping a terrible terrorist attack from being launched by a group of renegades holed up in Alcatraz (also known as “The Rock”). ... "
"This film would go down as one of Connery’s highest-grossing ones and would be a cult favorite of his fans. It would also be one of the last successful films he would make. One film that could have been lucrative for Connery was 2001’s Lord of the Rings. Connery had initially been invited for the part of Gandalf but ended up rejecting the offer. Since this film, along with its two sequels, was incredibly popular in the early 2000s, one can only wonder how different the rest of his life might have been had he accepted the part. He also turned down an offer to play Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series around that same time.
"Although playing a wizard was not in the cards for Connery, he did accept a real-life knighthood in the year 2000. It was on July 5 at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh that the actor became Sir Sean Connery in a ceremony hosted by Queen Elizabeth II. Over the next few years, Connery began to slow down. Ultimately, in 2006, he announced that he was retiring from the movie business completely."
But - what about Entrapment? With Catherine Zeta-Jones?
It wasn't exactly a minor film, much less a minor role!
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"Sean Connery lived his last few years in relative quiet and solitude. His main goal in life at this point seems to have been simply to play golf and stay out of the limelight. This feat he very much achieved. Very little is known about his personal life in his later years, and besides a few cameos here and a few rare interviews there, Sean Connery largely became a non-entity in the minds of many.
"Perhaps it’s for this reason that it came as such a surprise to hear of his passing on October 31, 2020. Even to this day, many are surprised to learn that Sean Connery is no longer with us. Nevertheless, Sean Connery, who was 90 years old upon his expiration, apparently died quite peacefully as he slept. Shortly thereafter, his wife Micheline Roquebrune disclosed that Connery had been suffering from terrible bouts of dementia in his last years, a debilitating condition that strikes at the very core of who a person is. Such a situation was no doubt quite difficult both for Connery as well as his loved ones."
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Table of Contents
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Introduction
Early Days in Edinburgh
Connery, the Bodybuilder and Casket Polisher
Connery Meets Cilento
Becoming James Bond
Work with Hitchcock
Goldfinger and Thunderball
Breaking Free from Bond
Back to Bond: Diamonds Are Forever
Sci-Fi Era
Successful Later Career
Conclusion
Bibliography
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REVIEW
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Introduction
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"Thomas Sean Connery came into this world on August 25, 1930, when his mother Euphemia (otherwise known as “Effie”) gave birth to him at Royal Maternity Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland. The boy was initially called Tommy, but as he grew older, he preferred to go by his middle name, Sean ... "
"To the delight of his father Joe, little Sean wasn’t quite so little—this baby began life at a whopping ten and a half pounds (almost five kilograms). This was a bit surprising since Joe was a diminutive figure, short and of a slight build; he was most certainly not expecting such a hefty baby to be born. Sean’s parents were an unlikely union at the time. Effie hailed from a prosperous Protestant family, whereas Joe’s relatives were impoverished Catholics. Tensions over both livelihoods as well as religion frequently boiled over, and the wedding of Sean’s parents, which had occurred a couple of years prior to his birth, almost ended in a physical altercation between the fathers of the bride and groom.
" ... Joe and Effie made the best of things, and that summer day in 1930, they were both quite overjoyed at the birth of their son. In many ways, they held up this larger-than-life baby as their hope for better and brighter days. They say that children should not be born with jobs, but it’s true that Sean was tasked early on with the role of building bridges between the two warring sides of his family."
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December 19, 2022 - December 19, 2022.
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Chapter 1. Early Days in Edinburgh
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"“I left Scotland when I was 16 because I had no qualifications for anything but the Navy, having left school at 13.”
"—Sean Connery"
Royal tradition of England, that.
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"By all accounts, Sean Connery was a lively and rambunctious child. He also wasn’t too shy when it came to getting into mischief. Worst of all, as a toddler, the often-threadbare youth began an early career of shoplifting. He even engaged in this behavior on shopping trips with his mother. To be clear, Effie didn’t know what her child was doing—Sean was stuffing the cart with stolen goods when her back was turned."
This must be before the age where children grasp such concepts as money and purchase, and the little boy was only being helpful exactly as he'd do at home?
"Sean’s grand heist typically consisted of whatever comic books or candy that his little hands could grab. It remains unclear how long he got away with these antics, but on one occasion, he must have gotten a little careless because his mother managed to catch him in the act. She didn’t hesitate to unload on Sean, whipping him with a belt right then and there. She then trotted him out in front of the store’s owner and demanded that he return all his ill-gotten loot."
So he was aware!
"This incident was apparently enough to get Connery back on the straight and narrow, and by the time he entered primary school, he was well-disciplined and proved to be a great student. From a young age, he proved to be particularly gifted in reading (perhaps reading all of those comic book captions paid off). Sean also developed a lifelong ability in math, proving particularly formidable when it came to making calculations in his head without having to write anything down."
Helped negotiate Bond, likely.
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"By the time that he was old enough to enter secondary school, he was enrolled at an institution called Darroch. Here, he indulged himself in a lifelong love of soccer. ... "
It's bad enough when authors of Hourly History series are openly racist, such as referring to natives of US as Indian, knowingfully well they have no connectionwith india whatsoeverand never had; its bad enough when the authors and publishers are antisemitic, such as in the volume on Auschwitz.
But this is universally imposed imperialistic clout when world prevalent nomenclature is replaced summarily with that limited to US, such as saying 'soccer' instead of the name used throughout the world for the game - football.
As it is what US calls football is a game where people use every possible manner of physical assault, and mostly run about clutching the ball in arms; while throughout the rest of the world, what's named football is strictly only played with feet and hands aren't allowed to be used for touching the ball.
" ... As much as he was enthused about soccer matches, however, his other studies began to take a backseat. Sean Connery quickly became disinterested in school, and at 13 years of age, in July of 1944, he decided to drop out. He instead began working jobs and was apparently a suitable enough bread earner for the family—so much so that he made his own father feel bad due to his frequent instability on the job.
"Connery was indeed growing up fast, and it’s said that it was around this time that he first became serious with women. He was reportedly only 14 years old when he first became romantically involved with an older woman. Such things are shocking today, and they were perhaps even a little shocking back then, but Sean Connery acted older than his age. At this point, he was also quite tall, so it could very well be that his partner had no idea how young he actually was."
This author has everything backwards!
Seriously? "Such things are shocking today, and they were perhaps even a little shocking back then"?????
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"Ironically, one of Sean Connery’s first steady gigs in life was as a milkman. It’s been a longstanding joke about milkmen visiting homes and having affairs with the women that reside therein. No one has quite made the connection with Connery, but it is perhaps possible that he met some of his paramours while out on the job delivering milk. ... "
One may safely bet that the "joke" existed long before Sean Connery was born.
" ... At any rate, by 16, Connery had grown tired of the milkman business and enlisted with the Royal Navy.
"The year was 1946, and World War II was safely in the rear-view mirror, so Connery no doubt expected to reap the benefits of being a peacetime soldier. ... "
Why is this author being so nasty for no reason? Is there any evidence that Sean Connery was avoiding joining navy before WWII ended? Or that he was historically unique in joining during peacetime? Or that no one ever died on ocean, whether in navy or otherwise on a pleasure cruise?
" ... He was sent on over to Portsmouth in southern England, where he would receive his training in naval gunnery. This was apparently the first time Sean Connery had even been out of Scotland, and it was an eye-opening experience for him. Connery didn’t seem to take to the strict environment too well and often had trouble following instructions. As he would later recall it, “The seafaring life wasn’t all that one had fantasised it to be. I was a boy seaman and there was an ordinary seaman above me, and if you reached his status there was a naval seaman and beyond that a leading seaman, and then a petty officer and a chief petty officer—and I was aware that I had not done enough to make this kind of progress.”"
Whereas this series rarely seems to check any nastiness from its authors.
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"In later life, Connery would admit that the main reason why he failed in the Navy was simply that he did not warm up to being ordered around. Furthermore, he most especially did not like being commanded by those whom he viewed as inept and less competent than himself, which apparently was quite often.
"Connery ended up getting out of the Navy in July of 1949, and at 19 years of age, he found himself heading back to his old job as a milkman. The official reason for his discharge was due to a stomach ulcer, but in Connery’s mind, it was a bad case of boredom and disillusionment more than anything else. All the same, once he was out, it must have been fairly embarrassing to seemingly regress in life. Family and friends seemed to offer him a mixture of pity and indifference. Either way, Connery was resilient enough not to let himself become too bothered by this turn of events. ... "
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December 19, 2022 - December 19, 2022.
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Chapter 2. Connery, the Bodybuilder and Casket Polisher
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"“Perhaps I’m not a good actor, but I would be even worse at doing anything else.”
"—Sean Connery"
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"On January 7, 1950, about six months after his return, Sean Connery put in his resignation to the dairy company where he worked. It remains unclear as to why he chose to quit, other than perhaps sheer boredom. After ditching this dairy gig, he would rather aimlessly bounce from job to job over the next few years. Most of these jobs were physically intense, such as hauling coal, construction, or working in a steel mill.
"For a while, it seemed that Connery was going nowhere fast, but in the spring of 1951, things began to look up. That year, he was able to use his former service in the military to gain an expense-paid internship. The choice of vocation was perhaps a bit unusual—he chose to work as a professional polisher—but Sean seemed to think it was a suitable profession. His internship soon led to work at a professional cabinet-making business called Jack Vinestock and Company. Connery wouldn’t be polishing cabinets here but rather caskets. Yes, this cabinet company apparently also serviced funeral supplies.
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"The job went well enough, but it wasn’t long before Connery grew bored with the monotonous tasks of a polisher. It was in the midst of his drudgery that his eyes would be opened to something better—for it was on this job that he would become acquainted with a fellow employee by the name of Peter Moran. Moran would take Connery on a trip down to London to see the much-touted Festival of Britain exhibition that summer. Here, Sean would not only see all of the dramatic displays of the exhibition but, more importantly, the dramatic display of life in London itself.
"In the big city, Sean Connery, a Scotsman by birth, began to feel that all of the categories and class distinctions he had grown up with no longer mattered. Here, in the bustling city of London, he thought that perhaps he could cut ties with his past completely and finally live life on his own terms. Even though he would still kick around in Scotland for some time, this trip to London had planted seeds in young Sean Connery’s imagination.
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"In the meantime, he got a new job as a lifeguard in Edinburgh at a local swimming pool called the Portobello. While he was spending his days keeping watch over swimmers, he came upon an advertisement in the Edinburgh Evening News. The advertisement made mention of a need for 6-feet-plus extras in a London production of the play The Glorious Days. Connery, standing proudly at 6 feet 2 inches (188 centimeters), made his way to the Empire Theatre, where he auditioned for a part. He passed the audition and was given the walk-on part of a guards officer.
"During this period, Connery, who had been an avid weightlifter since his teens, also began to engage in bodybuilding contests. In 1953, he took part in a Mr. Universe contest and ended up getting bronze, but he left highly discouraged by the fact that most of the contestants seemed to be much bulkier than his typically lean frame allowed. Nevertheless, it was through contacts he developed in the Mr. Universe circuit that Sean Connery was recruited to try out for a part in the stage production of South Pacific.
"The play had been going the rounds at Drury Lane Theatre for several months, and there was a need for more extras to play bit parts. In particular, they needed chorus singers for the so-called Seabees chorus boys. Connery would work on this production for two years, traveling all over Britain, and would make a respectable amount of money doing so. He would soon quit his job as a polisher to look toward a full-time career as an entertainer."
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December 19, 2022 - December 19, 2022.
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Chapter 3. Connery Meets Cilento
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"As Sean Connery grew more serious about his acting career, he began to do more to improve his range. He studied Shakespeare and took dancing, singing, and voice lessons. The voice lessons were primarily aimed at toning down his thick Scottish accent. Although today, the film world is much more accepting of different tonal accents, back in those days, it was desired to hone in on vocal stylings that were believed to be able to appeal to the largest possible audience. As such, Connery sought to ease out some of the more noticeable aspects of his regional accent.
"Connery’s next role, in the meantime, came in a production of Witness for the Prosecution, in which he was cast as a court usher. This small part was of short duration, however, and he was subsequently introduced to what it was like to be a struggling actor desperately seeking his next gig. Slowly but surely, more roles would follow. In 1955, he would be cast in a production of Point of Departure, followed by a part in the epic A Witch in Time.
"In the fall of 1956, he then managed to get a speaking role in a film called No Road Back. In this piece, Sean Connery played the part of a crook called Spike. The character was meant to be a rough-hewn individual—a diamond thief—with a slight stutter. It was a part that Connery tried to play as realistically as possible, but he feared that it would typecast him as an actor. Nevertheless, after a little over a month of shooting, the film was completed. In later life, after he became famous for the James Bond franchise, Connery most likely wanted to put this film behind him, but it would later be resurrected in the form of a spoof film called The 007 Gangster Club.
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"At any rate, Connery’s next big break arrived in 1957 when he starred in Hell Drivers. The film followed the exploits of a bunch of underpaid, overworked truck drivers as they attempted to navigate their way both through their long-haul routes as well as their own individual lives. It was on the heels of this film that Connery starred in an action-packed movie called Time Lock.
"Time Lock is a suspense thriller in which Connery’s major scene involves him cutting open a bank vault to free a child that is stuck inside. The kid is locked in, and drama ensues as the characters become aware that it’s just a matter of time before he might run out of oxygen and expire—hence the title, Time Lock. This film did well enough, and soon Sean Connery managed to get the attention of Twentieth Century Fox for a whole new slate of productions."
Here author could have mentioned that it's based on a story about a criminal who is needed to open that safe - and knows that this action would not only reveal but establish evidence of his identity to law; Its unclear whether the author refrained from mentioning this due to ignorance. But on part of editors and publishers it's unforgivable lapse.
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"Connery had by this time become involved with a woman by the name of Diane Cilento. Diane was an actress who hailed from Australia and had begun working for Fox around the same time that Connery had signed on with the company. She first made the acquaintance of Sean when they engaged in a script reading together for a production of Anna Christie. Anna Christie was originally a theatrical production meant for the stage, but under the aegis of Fox Studios, it was being converted into a TV drama, tailormade for the masses."
" During their first encounters on set, initially, Diane wasn’t too impressed with Sean and reportedly thought that he seemed a bit too moody for her tastes. Soon enough, though, she would warm up to Connery’s tough exterior. ... "
"Nevertheless, the two began to bond over script readings, and after Connery suggested they read in private, he was regularly coming over to Diane’s home. Sean immersed himself into his role, the character of Mat Burke, which in many ways was more representative of himself than any of his previous roles. The part he played was that of a rough-and-tumble individual with a sensitive side. Connery identified with the character’s compassionate attempts to save Anna Christie ... "
" ... Diane apparently took her husband’s extramarital dalliances very hard and was found half-dead in a bathtub full of blood ... "
"At any rate, Diane was, for a time, able to put herself together enough to fulfill her contractual duties for Anna Christie. Sean Connery and Diane Cilento proved to have great chemistry together, and soon enough, that chemistry would be readily apparent off the stage, just as much as on it."
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December 19, 2022 - December 19, 2022.
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Chapter 4. Becoming James Bond
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"“Everyone talks about how they knew the Bond films were going to be a success, but it simply isn’t true.”
"—Sean Connery"
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"The year 1958 would prove to be a pivotal one for Sean Connery’s career and helped to open the door for an even larger role by way of the drama film Another Time, Another Place. In this movie, Connery plays the part of a British journalist by the name of Mark Trevor, who gets mixed up in a tumultuous affair. Interestingly enough, Connery’s co-star in this production, Lana Turner, had been caught in a few dangerous love triangles of her own.
"During filming, her jealous lover, Johnny Stompanato, created a scene, storming onto the set accusing Lana of shacking up with Sean Connery in real life. Stompanato was a two-bit thug with connections to the mob, and upon confronting Connery, he even pulled a gun on him. Sean Connery, showing the bravery that he would be known for his entire life, didn’t hesitate to fight back. He lunged at his assailant and managed to wrestle the gun away before knocking Stompanato to the floor.
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"This wouldn’t be the end of the drama with Stompanato, however, and he would continue to be a thorn in Lana Turner’s side. The drama would come to a shocking end when Lana’s then 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl, upset to witness an argument between Stompanato and Turner, attacked the man with a knife, plunging the blade deep into the gangster’s stomach. Stompanato died from the injury.
"Lana and Cheryl, of course, cited Stompanato’s abusive behavior, and the killing was ruled as defensive in nature. Stompanato’s family, however, didn’t agree and aggressively pursued charges. In the process, they managed to dig up letters that Lana Turner had written Stompanato, in which she seemed to hint that her and Connery’s relationship was perhaps a little more than professional. Whether this was true or not, these letters managed to give Sean Connery a whole lot of unwanted attention as this real-life drama played out.
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"Nevertheless, trying hard to get these sordid events out of his mind, Connery threw himself into his next role—a light-hearted piece for a change—the Disney production of Darby O’Gill and the Little People. The film used a mixture of live actors and cartoon animation to tell the story of Darby and a tribe of leprechauns. Hitting the box office in 1959, the film did well enough and helped open the door for more hits. It was also around this time that Sean Connery and Diane Cilento began to become serious as a couple. The romance was there before, but it was at this point that Cilento and her husband Volpe’s marriage truly came to an end, and her relationship with Connery seriously began.
"Sean Connery meanwhile continued his relentless attempt to get more traction in the film industry. In 1961, he starred in an action-packed drama called The Frightened City. Although this film was certainly not a blockbuster, many view it as being a sort of proto-Bond production, with all of the Sean Connery elements that made the Bond character so successful already on full display. He doesn’t play a secret agent in the film but rather a burglar. All the same, his graceful movements, cool demeanor, and a certain sense of satire in his dialogue delivery are very much in line with the approach Connery would use with James Bond.
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"Just prior to making it big with Bond, Connery’s acting career was a flurry of activity. His work on The Frightened City was followed by a campy comedy piece called On the Fiddle. That same summer, he then tried his luck doing a rendition of Alexander the Great for BBC called Adventure Story. Yet it would be toward the end of that fateful, busy year of 1961 that Connery’s ultimate fate would be sealed.
"In November, he would be cast as a secret agent named James Bond. The character was the creation of writer Ian Fleming. Initially, Ian had envisioned the actor to play Bond to be one who was entirely smooth, debonair, and refined. Sean Connery initially seemed a little too rough around the edges for what Ian had pictured, but nevertheless, producers of the film were determined to mold Connery into Bond all the same. Connery himself felt the character was a bit too dry and boring and began to inject his own sense of comedic timing into the mix. The result would be a character that wasn’t quite what Ian Fleming had in mind, but what many would later claim was a highly improved variation.
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"Although the name Bond would become the most synonymous with the franchise, this first installment of the Bond series was actually entitled Dr. No. The story revolves around the death of an MI6 (British secret intelligence) agent and James Bond’s subsequent efforts to figure out what had happened to him. During his quest, Bond runs afoul of another group of secret agents called SPECTRE, run by a nefarious figure called Dr. No.
"Bond, beyond all odds, foils the plots of SPECTRE and defeats Dr. No and his cronies. The plot is pretty cut and dry, and some might say predictable, but it’s Connery’s smooth delivery that truly makes the film so entertaining to watch. The film was well received at the time and would become a cult classic in later years. Most importantly, though, it started Sean Connery off on a trajectory that would come to dominate much of the rest of his career. It was with Dr. No that the world first got to hear Connery’s rich and sonorous voice, famously presenting himself to the world as “Bond—James Bond.”"
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December 19, 2022 - December 19, 2022.
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Chapter 5. Work with Hitchcock
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"“I’m an actor—it’s not brain surgery. If I do my job right, people won’t ask for their money back.”
"—Sean Connery"
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"It was on the heels of his success with Dr. No that Sean Connery finally proposed marriage to his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Diane Cilento. Diane was hesitant at first, but the fact that she was pregnant with their child at the time had a lot to do with her coming around to the proposal. The couple was ultimately wed on November 29, 1962, and Diane gave birth to their son Jason on January 11, 1963.
"Close on the heels of Jason’s birth, Connery was back in the studio to record the second installment of the Bond series, the epic From Russia with Love. ... "
"The film was a success, but with it, Sean Connery began to increasingly feel pigeonholed and typecast into the role of James Bond. It wasn’t really much of an exaggeration to say that the public completely identified Connery with the Bond character. Just about any time anyone happened to see Sean Connery in public, it wasn’t long before the air was full of shouts of, “Bond! Bond! Bond!”
"It was therefore with some relief that Connery was able to switch gears after this latest James Bond release and work on the non-Bond film Woman of Straw. Here, we find Sean Connery in a serious drama, starring alongside the likes of Gina Lollobrigida and Ralph Richardson. This film marked Sean Connery’s first real attempt to break free from the typecasting that had begun to take hold of his acting career. He did not want to be constantly cast as either James Bond or any other similar action hero; he wanted to be able to act in all manner of productions, and this dramatic film was the perfect vehicle for him to do so.
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"In Woman of Straw, Connery plays the complicated role of a nephew attempting to play matchmaker for his affluent but ailing uncle. He hatches a plot with his uncle’s health aide, convincing her to marry his uncle so that when he dies, they will both be able to cash in on all of his money. In this film, he was most certainly not the hero, but not necessarily a dastardly villain like Dr. No either. Here, Connery played a complex, troubled persona, led by his own pure and simple greed. The plot then thickens when the nurse actually falls in love with the uncle for real, only to be entirely distraught when the old man finally passes. The nurse and Connery’s character then turn on each other, and much more intense drama ensues.
"With this film, Connery wanted to wow the world with his ability to perform as a dramatic actor. The plot was perhaps a bit too complicated for its own good, however, and it largely fell flat with movie-going audiences. This was a tremendous setback for Sean Connery, who would come to see his first major attempt to break out of the Bond mold as a major flop.
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"Connery also ended up highly critical of his acting during the production, later reflecting that he was a bit too distracted since the film was so close on the heels of From Russia with Love. But perhaps the biggest issue of all was simply the fact that Sean Connery—whether he liked it or not—would forever be remembered for James Bond, and all of those theater-going audiences just could not get the image of Bond out of their mind, even as they watched Connery play the part of someone’s deranged, nefarious nephew.
"Nevertheless, Sean Connery soldiered on, and that December, he made his way to Los Angeles so that he could start acting in yet another project, an Alfred Hitchcock film called Marnie. At this point, Connery was very cautious about what kind of films he would act in, and before even agreeing to take part, he insisted on thoroughly reading the script—something which Hitchcock almost took offense to, since back then, most were so trusting of Hitchcock’s expertise that they jumped at the chance to work on his films. Nevertheless, after the flop of Woman of Straw, Sean Connery wasn’t going to take any chances.
"Ultimately, Connery liked what he saw, and he was cast in the lead role to co-star with actress Tippi Hedren (as Marnie), who was famous for her work on another Hitchcock piece called The Birds. ... "
"In the end, although box office results were somewhat lackluster, Sean Connery would always appreciate the time he spent honing his craft with the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock."
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December 19, 2022 - December 19, 2022.
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Chapter 6. Goldfinger and Thunderball
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"As much as Sean Connery had attempted to break out of his typecasted role as James Bond, he found it a much harder prospect than he had realized. By 1964, he was once again back in the studio working on another Bond film—Goldfinger. This film has the Bond character looking into a gold smuggling ring, whose boss Auric Goldfinger is attempting some major shenanigans at Fort Knox."
" ... The film was a triumph at the box office as well. The film quite literally broke records, bringing in revenue from box office returns at a more rapid pace than any other production had before.
"The actual creator of James Bond—Ian Fleming—passed away shortly after Goldfinger was made, but even without the man who first fashioned the concept, the franchise would go on. The following year of 1965 would see yet another Bond film, this one called Thunderball. This film would be even more successful than the last, and it would go on to be the most successful Bond film of all, raking in an absolute bonanza in box office returns. The film also sees the return of the ultimate Bond baddies known as SPECTRE. This time, the secret agent cabal steals a couple of nuclear bombs and threatens to use them if they aren’t paid a high ransom.
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"In the afterglow of Thunderball, Connery enjoyed the success but was still struggling to come out from the shadow of this one successful character. The Bond phenomenon had become so powerful that his name was sometimes not even mentioned in magazines on the subject. Whole photospreads of Connery posing in his best Bond suit would fail even to mention the actor’s real name, instead just calling him James Bond.
"Nevertheless, Connery still tried to break the bonds of Bond, and in 1965, he starred in another non-bond film called The Hill. Here, he plays a prisoner held in North Africa during the closing days of World War II. To be clear, he’s not playing the role of a prisoner of war but rather a British soldier who has been thrown in the brig by his own army due to breaking the rules. It’s another complex drama in which Connery is able to show his flair for theatrics. The film was viewed as a well-put-together piece, but the box office returns did not translate into the triumph that everyone involved had hoped for. All the same, Sean Connery was truly proud of the work he did on this film.
"However, still plagued by confusion over Bond and his real-life identity, he began to lash out at the press. Ironically enough, it was Connery’s perceived rudeness in interviews that actually began to finally differentiate the man from the character in the mind of the public. Of course, being angry and rude is not likely the kind of persona that Connery wished to convey for his true identity but, pushed to the limit, it was the real Connery on full display nevertheless.
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"Another thing that was seemingly on display, at least as it pertains to the headlines in the press, was the increasing turbulence in Connery’s marriage to Diane Cilento. Connery had tried hard to keep his personal life private, but rumors had begun spreading of marital discord. It seems that Diane was not happy with her husband’s growing stardom, while her own star power was growing increasingly dim. When Diane first met Sean Connery, she was actually the bigger star of the couple, but since Bond had taken off, Diane had found herself unable to gain traction. After starring in a few box office bombs, she was beginning to fear that her career just might be over.
"In 1965, she put everything she had into an epic production, where she shared the screen with megastar Charlton Heston in the film The Agony and the Ecstasy. Yet this suspense-filled, historical drama, for all of its hype, barely even seemed to get noticed, and when it was noticed, it was deemed dry and boring. Due to mounting personal as well as professional pressures, Diane Cilento was increasingly frustrated with the trajectory her life was taking her on, and as such, her marriage to Sean Connery was becoming increasingly strained."
" ... Connery headed back into the film studio in late summer 1966 to begin production of the next installment in the James Bond series—You Only Live Twice. This movie, which saw its release in 1967, has the Bond character heading off to Japan to investigate strange happenings in space after both Russian and U.S. spaceships seemingly vanish during space missions. Predictably enough, Bond finds that the shadowy organization SPECTRE is behind it all, in some hair-brained attempt to instigate conflict between the United States and Russia.
"In some ways, the name of this film—You Only Live Twice—says it all. Bond had become larger than life and so audaciously successful that Bond seemed like an invincible character who could survive just about anything. Connery, however, was so frustrated he was hoping to bring an end to Bond as quickly as possible. He even began speaking openly of how this just might be the final Bond film he would agree to take part in. Other than Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, it was Sean Connery who had truly fleshed out James Bond and gave the character life. It was hard to imagine anyone else in this seminal role, but here Sean Connery was, insisting that he had had enough."
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December 19, 2022 - December 19, 2022.
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Chapter 7. Breaking Free from Bond
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"After the filming of You Only Live Twice had wrapped up, Sean Connery was thoroughly fed up with the Bond series. He was sick of being typecast and promised this film would be his last from the moment he stepped foot on set. His experience during filming only heightened his sense of wariness with the franchise. Much of this Bond film was produced on location in Japan, and during the process, Connery was incessantly mobbed by fans. Even with constant security, he could hardly go anywhere. As he was forced to live like a veritable prisoner, these circumstances only stiffened his resolve to cut ties with Bond for good.
"Bond’s producers—Eon Productions—in the meantime, came to believe that the Bond character was so powerful they could perhaps keep the franchise going even without Sean Connery. The search began, therefore, for a new actor to take on the role of James Bond. As Eon actively looked for a new Bond, it only seemed to reinforce within Sean Connery the feeling that he had become nothing more than an empty prop. To him, the character did indeed seem so one-dimensional with the same stunts and zingy one-liners that almost anyone could play him.
"Such a realization (whether true or not) was absolutely devastating to Sean Connery. Was that all he was—just an empty suit who did stunts? In many ways, he felt that his best years had been wasted. Sean Connery was looking for something more meaningful in which he could insert himself. It was in this mindset that he began work on not the next blockbuster or feature film but rather a documentary. The offer came to Connery in between rounds of golf with his friend, the Scottish industrial magnate, Sir Iain Maxwell Stewart.
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"The documentary, which Connery ultimately directed and narrated, focuses on the state of Scotland’s shipyards—in particular, the shipyards of Glasgow. It was named The Bowler and the Bunnet in reference to the bowler hats often sported by the management class down at the docks and the bunnets, a kind of cloth cap, which was part of the typical uniform of the lowly shipyard laborer. The documentary goes on to explore how workplace situations could be improved through unionization. This was Connery’s attempt to give a little something back to his Scottish homeland by trying to spread awareness of the plight of the average Scottish laborer. The film was not widely aired, however, and was largely relegated to local Scottish TV.
"Some in Britain, leery of regionalism, criticized Connery for using his star power to support Scottish causes, but Connery refused to back down. His unabashed support of Scotland ultimately got him the attention of the Scottish National Party, which asked him to run for office. Yet as much as he wished to support his homeland, Connery was not at all interested in going into politics, so he declined the invitation. He would, however, continue to lend his support to the SNP for much of the rest of his life.
"Connery’s former handlers for Bond came calling once again in the meantime in a last-ditch effort to bring him back. It seems that although they were certain he could be replaced, they also knew it would be much easier to keep the winning combination they had rather than make an effort to find another one. Connery thus received an offer to star in a new Bond flick called On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, for which he was to be given a sum of nearly one million dollars. He declined. Instead of Connery, Australian actor George Lazenby would be cast in the role of Bond. Although the film did not do quite as well as the previous ones, it did well enough. The box office returns were still very lucrative—a sure sign of encouragement to the producers that the show could indeed go on without Sean Connery.
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"Connery was at this point in Spain, immersing himself in his latest body of work called Shalako. This film was an old-school western that had him starring as the title character. Connery’s Shalako is a weather-beaten cowboy who goes around defeating the bad guys and rescuing the helpless. Even back in 1968, this sort of film seemed hopelessly outdated. Nevertheless, production went forward, and despite Connery’s huge payout of about a million dollars (producers must have been trying to keep up with the million-dollar offer from Bond), the film was a box office flop. In fact, it’s said that the film was such a loss that even to this day, with countless re-releases, it has never earned back more than it cost to produce it. In the end, it seemed that Sean Connery did not bode well as a cowboy, and the overall plot was just too formulaic for modern movie-going audiences."
Anybody - except perhaps blinkered US guys - would immediately know that James Bond and Sean Connery are quintessentially British, while a western requires a Clint Eastwood, not a Brit.
"Connery himself sensed that the film would flop before it was released, and as a result, his disillusionment (and perhaps regret?) upon leaving the James Bond franchise became palpable. Whether he liked it or not, he soon couldn’t help but reconsider his departure from the James Bond series. Bond was what made him great—was he wrong to leave all of that behind? Should he return? These were the questions that must have plagued Sean Connery as his attempt to stand on his own as an actor and to break free from Bond were met with what seemed to be complete and utter failure."
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December 19, 2022 - December 19, 2022.
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Chapter 8. Back to Bond: Diamonds Are Forever
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" ... Connery was introduced to the screenplay of a new film slated for production—The Anderson Tapes. In this film, Connery plays a kind of anti-hero; the character is, in fact, an ex-con who stages a grand heist. The film is a mixture of drama, action, and light-hearted comedy, in which Connery really gets to show the full range of his capacity as an actor.
"The Anderson Tapes was a decisive success, so it is therefore intriguing that it was right when Connery seemed to finally find his groove outside of the Bond series that he decided to make his return. Indeed, right on the heels of The Anderson Tapes, Connery returned to the Bond series to reprise his old role in the feature Diamonds Are Forever.
"At this point, Connery had started seeing another woman, a painter by the name of Micheline Roquebrune. He had met Roquebrune in the spring of 1970 while he was participating in a golf tournament in Morocco. This tournament featured a men’s team as well as a women’s team. As it happened, Sean Connery placed first for the men’s team, and Micheline placed first for the women’s team. It was a part of tradition to have the top male and female contenders dance together at the after-party of the tournament—and dance they did. It seems that it was this innocent little dance that would lead to a lengthy affair and the final dissolution of Connery’s long deteriorating marriage to Diane Cilento.
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"Connery ultimately split with Cilento in 1971, right around the time he began work on the latest Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever. Connery was handsomely rewarded with a whopping $1.25 million dollars for his participation, but the real icing on the cake for Connery was the fact that he was able to convince United Artists to agree to back him up on two non-Bond features immediately thereafter. Regardless of the big payout and other generous terms, in many ways, the production team and Connery were able to meet a middle ground in this production.
"Connery himself, chastised by previous failures, had grown more receptive to his handlers, and likewise, the producers, just happy to have their old star back, were more willing to give Connery the artistic space he had long craved. This would result in a Bond film that was markedly different from the rest. A familiar plot formula is in place, with Bond on the tail of a nefarious organization’s clandestine activities, but the overall feel is different. We see a wiser, more relaxed Bond sailing through a whole host of baddies in an almost poetic fashion. He was an older, more mature Bond, and the situation had changed, yet Connery was able to make it work, and the audience enjoyed what they saw—as the $116 million dollar box office returns would bear testament to.
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"Even so, Connery considered this his final Bond movie at the time. He wanted to leave the franchise with one last great work and then retire as 007 forever. Soon thereafter, he began work on his next major production. As mentioned, prior to beginning work on Diamonds Are Forever, he had gotten United Artists to agree to work with him on a couple of non-Bond productions. One of these post-Bond productions was the 1973 film The Offence. This was another complicated drama with just the kind of intense emotional storyline that Connery was typically drawn to. In it, he plays a police sergeant who finds himself on the hook for murder after losing control during a police interrogation of a suspected child abuser.
"It was indeed a complicated script, so much so that even once production was finished, distributors lost confidence in the whole thing, and it failed to receive wide circulation. The Offence was ultimately such a flop that it would take nine years before proceeds would allow producers to break even with the cost they incurred in making it. Connery seemed to be on yet another downward spiral. Adding to his sadness, his father Joe had passed away from cancer during filming. It was also around this time that he finalized the terms of his divorce from Diane Cilento.
"Ironically enough, The Offence turned more and more into an offensive memory for Connery—a period of his life that he would just as soon forget."
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December 19, 2022 - December 19, 2022.
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Chapter 9. Sci-Fi Era
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"After the failure of The Offence, much of the rest of Connery’s work in the 1970s would become rather obscure. In 1974, for example, he starred in a film called Zardoz ... "
"The Bond franchise, in the meantime, had once again moved on without Connery at the helm. In 1973, the Bond production team had recruited British actor Roger Moore and hammered out the epic Live and Let Die. This latest Bond film was a box office smash hit, and more would follow. The disenchanted Connery must have looked back at his old Bond character with a mixture of disdain and jealousy. The next Bond film, however—1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun—did not do nearly as well. It’s hard telling if this was any solace to Connery since, at this point, his own career continued to present itself as an uphill climb.
"Nevertheless, there was some happiness to be had. In May of 1975, he wed his new bride Micheline Roquebrune in a quiet wedding overseas, in the pleasant trappings of Gibraltar. It was also that year that Connery starred in the film The Man Who Would Be King. This piece had Connery acting alongside Michael Caine in the historical backdrop of Kafiristan, a region nestled between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the film, Connery and Caine play former British soldiers seeking adventure in nineteenth-century Kafiristan."
Wonder if author is aware that it's not a made-up name, but existed, the name indicating what it was - a valley with last vestiges of non-abrahmic religion and culture; less than three centuries ago, that was wiped out with an aggressive assault, massacring all non-muslims, as had been done through centuries for over a millennium and a half, from northwest Africa to India, repeatedly. Only India has survived either her ancient culture still living.
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"The Man Who Would Be King generally received rave reviews, and Connery would long look back on its production with relish. Close on the heels of all this, Connery also took part in The Wind and the Lion, as well as an epic take on Robin Hood called Robin and Marian. The latter film would prove to be a classic, with Connery and his co-star Audrey Hepburn wowing audiences with their obvious chemistry."
Wish that would be possible to see.
"In 1977, Connery then starred in a war epic called A Bridge Too Far. The movie takes place in the Netherlands during the height of World War II, and the plot revolves around the dropping of paratroopers in enemy territory to seize roads and bridges vital for the war effort. Connery is cast in the role of Major-General Urquhart, who is on the ground leading operations. The film was received with much anticipation, but the reviews were ultimately mixed. Many found certain aspects of the drama to be touching, but overall, the film came off a bit drawn-out and tedious."
This film wasn't entertainment but almost documentary, only re-enacted. It's worth seeing for sake of knowing what and how much various parties involved suffered, and partly or more than partly due to British giving more importance to Monty and his ardent need to stage and execute his grand design - which, as shown in film, experienced warriors knew would fail, for speaking which out they, the said experienced warriors, were sidelined. The action was a disaster as they feared.
And the film has over half a dozen major stars who, whether they were huge then or not, were so later. It's worth seeing even just for them.
"Connery was also non-plussed from the beginning to find out that his co-star Robert Redford had signed on for a whopping $2 million, which completely dwarfed the $250,000 that he himself was slated to receive. Connery only found out about this fact after his wife Micheline read about it in the papers. If he had known about this disparity beforehand, he just might have refused to take part in the production altogether. Upon finding out, Connery put up such a big fuss that his salary was increased to $750,000, which he felt was at least somewhat more dignified, considering his experience and stature in the film industry. Although not a blockbuster, the film’s box office returns were good enough for it to be considered a marginal success."
Young Robert Redford is superb in his almost blink-and-miss role, despite his very obvious youth, and was not merely eye-candy.
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"At any rate, starting in 1979 with the film Meteor, Connery would begin a trial run of several science fiction and action-adventure flicks. Meteor had Connery starring in a sci-fi-themed disaster film alongside the rising star of Natalie Wood. Then in 1981, Sean Connery embarked on time travel by having a role in the epic film Time Bandits. The film centers around a young boy named Kevin, whose obsession with history leads him to be transported to the past. He eventually meets the ancient King Agamemnon, who is played by Connery."
"Right on the heels of this movie, Sean Connery starred in a classic science fiction flick called Outland. Here, he plays the part of William O’Niel, a federal marshal stationed on Io, one of Jupiter’s moons. In this story, the volcanic moon of Io serves as the backdrop for a major mining operation. Connery’s character finds himself faced with all manner of corruption and intrigue in the mining colony and faces off against all manner of threats. The makers of the film had conceived of the whole thing as basically being a space-based western. Just like in a western, Sean Connery’s character was essentially the tough sheriff tasked with keeping the peace.
"The film has been recognized as being generally good in scope, but for a variety of reasons, it simply failed to catch on with the public. In the end, it just barely managed to break even at the box office. Dabbling in fantasy, sci-fi, and adventure features was an interesting twist for Connery, but it wasn’t long before a certain secret agent named James Bond once again came calling."
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December 19, 2022 - December 19, 2022.
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Chapter 10. Successful Later Career
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"“I haven’t found anywhere in the world where I want to be all the time. The best of my life is the moving. I look forward to going.”
"—Sean Connery"
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"Back in the early 1970s, Sean Connery had told the world that he was done with James Bond. Yet, by the early 1980s, talks were once again underway for him to have one final homecoming to the franchise. It was these talks that would bear the fruit of the 1983 James Bond epic Never Say Never Again. The title itself was, of course, a bit of a tongue-in-cheek joke on the part of the producers since Connery had so adamantly insisted that he would never play Bond again."
Was it here that there were two separate James Bond films in theaters across the world, with two separate performers, Sean Connery and Roger Moore?
"Just prior to throwing in his lot with Indiana Jones, Connery took on a big role in 1987 in the action-packed thriller The Untouchables. This film is a crime drama and historical number, which involves a team of enforcement agents during the Prohibition era tasked with nabbing booze kingpin Al Capone (played by Robert De Niro). The main star of the film is Kevin Costner, who plays treasury agent Eliot Ness. Sean Connery, in the meantime, has the secondary role of agent Jim Malone. Connery’s character Malone is killed off in the middle of the movie, with Costner’s Eliot Ness taking the lead from there."
"Many were impressed with Sean Connery’s performance—among them, film producer Steven Spielberg. It was, in fact, his viewing of The Untouchables that convinced Spielberg that Sean Connery would be great for his next Indiana Jones flick, not as a secret agent—but as the father of Indiana Jones himself. ...
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"The year 1990 saw the next major Connery film, The Hunt for Red October, and it too would be a smash hit. This one would have Connery in a much larger role, cast as Captain Marko Ramius. This film was relevant to the times in which it was made since it was produced while the former Soviet Union was in the process of disintegrating. In the movie, Connery’s character Ramius is in charge of a powerful submarine called the Red October when he goes rogue and begins giving unauthorized orders to the crew. Intentions are unclear, and several parties become involved in trying to sort the situation out. This is just the kind of psychological thriller that Sean Connery absolutely thrives in.
"Connery would follow The Hunt For Red October with another Russia-themed picture called The Russia House. In this film, he stars alongside a young Michelle Pfeiffer, who plays the Russian beauty Katya Orlova. Connery, meanwhile, plays a visiting publisher named Barley Blair whom Orlova hands—of all things—a manuscript of Russian war secrets. Some have argued that this film was one of Connery’s better productions, while others contend it was a poorly understood flop.
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"Connery wouldn’t get the chance to prove himself again until 1996 when he starred in The Rock. With Connery sharing the screen with Nicholas Cage, The Rock is an action-packed thriller in which Connery and his comrades are tasked with stopping a terrible terrorist attack from being launched by a group of renegades holed up in Alcatraz (also known as “The Rock”). ... "
"This film would go down as one of Connery’s highest-grossing ones and would be a cult favorite of his fans. It would also be one of the last successful films he would make. One film that could have been lucrative for Connery was 2001’s Lord of the Rings. Connery had initially been invited for the part of Gandalf but ended up rejecting the offer. Since this film, along with its two sequels, was incredibly popular in the early 2000s, one can only wonder how different the rest of his life might have been had he accepted the part. He also turned down an offer to play Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series around that same time.
"Although playing a wizard was not in the cards for Connery, he did accept a real-life knighthood in the year 2000. It was on July 5 at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh that the actor became Sir Sean Connery in a ceremony hosted by Queen Elizabeth II. Over the next few years, Connery began to slow down. Ultimately, in 2006, he announced that he was retiring from the movie business completely."
But - what about Entrapment? With Catherine Zeta-Jones?
It wasn't exactly a minor film, much less a minor role!
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December 19, 2022 - December 19, 2022.
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Conclusion
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"Sean Connery lived his last few years in relative quiet and solitude. His main goal in life at this point seems to have been simply to play golf and stay out of the limelight. This feat he very much achieved. Very little is known about his personal life in his later years, and besides a few cameos here and a few rare interviews there, Sean Connery largely became a non-entity in the minds of many.
"Perhaps it’s for this reason that it came as such a surprise to hear of his passing on October 31, 2020. Even to this day, many are surprised to learn that Sean Connery is no longer with us. Nevertheless, Sean Connery, who was 90 years old upon his expiration, apparently died quite peacefully as he slept. Shortly thereafter, his wife Micheline Roquebrune disclosed that Connery had been suffering from terrible bouts of dementia in his last years, a debilitating condition that strikes at the very core of who a person is. Such a situation was no doubt quite difficult both for Connery as well as his loved ones."
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December 19, 2022 - December 19, 2022.
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Bibliography
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"Bray, Christopher (2011). Sean Connery: A Biography.
"Cilento, Diane (2006). My Nine Lives.
"Connery, Sean & Grigor, Murray (2008). Being a Scot.
"Parker, John (1993). Sean Connery.
"Sellers, Robert (1999). Sean Connery: A Celebration.
"Yule, Andrew (1992). Sean Connery: Neither Shaken Nor Stirred.
"Playboy Interview: Sean Connery 1965. https://web.archive.org/web/20181011133335/http://www.the007dossier.com/007dossier/post/2013/05/04/Playboy-Interview-Sean-Connery-1965"
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December 19, 2022 - December 19, 2022.
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SEAN CONNERY: A LIFE
From BEGINNING TO END
(BIOGRAPHIES OF ACTORS),
by HOURLY HISTORY.
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December 14, 2022 -
December 19, 2022 - December 19, 2022.
Purchased December 14, 2022.
ASIN:- B0BJDYQQF8
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5163609977
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