Connery, Sean Connery - RIP at 90

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Mendalla

Mendalla

Happy headbanging ape!!
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Sir Sean Connery did not start out playing James Bond. His first acting role was in a West End production of Rogers & Hammerstein's South Pacific, and his first on-screen lead (after working as an extra and supporting player) was in Blood Money, a BBC version of Requiem for a Heavyweight. However, the British secret agent with a license to kill was the role that made him famous and he remained, often grudgingly, associated with it for the rest of his career. He starred in the first five films in the Eon Productions Bond series, then came back for one more after sitting out On Her Majesty's Secret Service. He also returned to the role in Never Say Never Again, a 1983 remake of Thunderball (his fourth Bond movie) that resulted from some legal shenanigans.

However, Connery did eventually transcend that role, memorable as his performance as Bond remained (even in the era of Daniel Craig, some still rate Connery as the best Bond). He starred with his buddy Michael Caine in a terrific version of Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King, played Robin Hood opposite Audrey Hepburn in Robin & Marian, and won awards playing the monk-detective William of Baskerville in The Name of the Rose (BAFTA) and tough-guy Chicago Irish cop Jimmy Malone in The Untouchables (his only Oscar). Connery even joined another major franchise for one memorable turn as Dr. Henry Jones, Sr., Indiana Jones' father. And his acting chops and physical presence also elevated a number of otherwise unmemorable films. like the thriller The Presidio and the fantasy Highlander.

This century, Connery pretty much retired from acting. I think he did some voicework but otherwise retired to his Greek island home. Interestingly, one of those voice roles was James Bond as Connery returned one last time to the role that made him famous by providing Bond's voice in a video game adaptation From Russia With Love, his second and, some would argue, best Bond movie.

I guess it is a measure of the longevity of the Bond series that it has now lost two of its leads, and probably the two most popular prior to current 007 Daniel Craig: Sir Sean and the late Roger Moore who played the part through the seventies and most of the eighties.

www.bbc.com

Obituary: Sir Sean Connery

Sir Sean Connery left school at 13 and delivered milk, polished coffins and laid bricks.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
I, like many of my generation, first saw Sean Connery in a Bond movie. In my case, it was a late night TV showing of Goldfinger while sleeping over at a buddy's house. It was also my first time seeing a Bond film and Connery became my favorite 007, even over the then-current Roger Moore. Over the years, though, I enjoyed many of Connery's non-Bond roles and he ranks as one of my all-time favorite actors in general. I have missed Sir Sean during his retirement, but it was a deserved retirement after all the excellent work he did in the decades when he was working.

My favorite Connery roles, in no particular order:

Henry Jones, Sr. - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Crusade is my second favorite Indiana Jones after Raiders of the Lost Ark and Connery is a big part of that. The byplay between him and series star Harrison Ford was memorable, and the character, a somewhat befuddled university professor who still had some of his son's wit and phyical ability, was a great foil for Ford.

Jimmy Malone - The Untouchables

While Malone was a supporting role, it netted Connery his only Oscar. And what a supporting role. Jimmy was the movie's hero for many of us, outshining Kevin Costner's rather bland Eliot Ness (in fact, I think Ness was the least memorable character in the film). So much so that when they did a new Untouchables series, the character was included, now played by Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies who appeared with Connery in Last Crusade. Curiously, this Irish cop has now been played by a Scot and a Welshman.

William of Baskerville - Name of the Rose

While the film has been criticized for missing much of the nuance of Umberto Eco's great novel, it has to be admitted that filming an Umberto Eco novel is probably an impossible task. It works fairly well as a medieval mystery, with Connery's performance carrying the day opposite F. Murry Abraham as the inquisitor who is more or less the villain. And he got a BAFTA for the part.

Bartholomew "Barley" Blair - The Russia House

The Russia House was one of John Le Carre's last Cold War-era novels and showed the impact of glasnost already. The story is about an English publisher who gets sucked into a British intelligence operation focussed around a manuscript showing that the Soviet Union is not as capable of waging nuclear war as believed. This is Connery in a rather different spy story, an older man without the physical prowess or professional skills of a Bond trying to make his way amidst the scheming of various intelligence agencies. And more or less wins. Well, as much as anyone can win in a Le Carre story.

James Bond - Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds are Forever, Never Say Never Again

What can I say, there's a reason this role made the man famous. While he was quite different from Ian Fleming's conception of James Bond (Scottish working class tough guy rather than an English Eton-dropout smooth operator), Sean Connery made the role his own and even Fleming (who was still alive for Connery's first couple appearances in the role) ended up endorsing him, even making Bond half Scottish in the obituary he wrote for the character in the novel You Only Live Twice. While the quality of the movies was a bit dubious by the end (Diamonds are Forever is probably one of the worst Bond movies), Connery kept the part memorable. And his early Bonds, from Dr. No to Thunderball, still hold up among the best of the series. His return in Never Say Never Again was surprisingly good, pitting Connery against Klaus Maria Brandauer and Barbara Carrera as a memorable pair of villains (and saddling him with Kim Basinger as a very unmemorable Bond girl). There's no moment in the series, though, quite like Sir Sean's first scene in Dr. No. He makes an immediate impact and when he says his name in that distinctive voice, there's no doubt of who he is.


Incidentally, Eunice Gayson's character in that scene, Sylvia Trench, was originally going to be a recurring character, a conceit that was dropped after, IIRC, From Russia With Love.
 
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Damn, people keep reminding me of memorable Connery roles I forgot when I did that list

The Hunt for Red October - Captain Marko Ramius, a Soviet submarine commander who basically hijacks his own sub to defect, was an amazing performance in this classic Cold War thriller.

Outland - Marshal William O'Neil. How can you go wrong with High Noon IN SPAAACE? With Sean Connery as the Will Kane counterpart?

Even his cameos could be memorable as when he appeared as Richard I at the end of Robin Hood : Prince of Thieves.
 
Kind of a cool local connection. The owner of Redtail, a well-known private golf club near London, befriended Connery and Sean slipped in for visits to play Redtail several times in the nineties.

beta.ctvnews.ca

A London, Ont. man and his long-time friendship with Sean Connery

The news of Sean Connery's death was tough to take for his long-time friend Chris Goodwin of London, Ont.
beta.ctvnews.ca beta.ctvnews.ca

Not a golfer myself, but my employer has often hosted or sponsored events at Redtail so I am quite aware of the place.
 
Mendalla said:
Kind of a cool local connection. The owner of Redtail, a well-known private golf club near London, befriended Connery and Sean slipped in for visits to play Redtail several times in the nineties.

beta.ctvnews.ca

A London, Ont. man and his long-time friendship with Sean Connery

The news of Sean Connery's death was tough to take for his long-time friend Chris Goodwin of London, Ont.
beta.ctvnews.ca beta.ctvnews.ca

Not a golfer myself, but my employer has often hosted or sponsored events at Redtail so I am quite aware of the place.
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I've heard they have a very low membership (80) and is one of the most exclusive golf courses in North America.......if your employer is one of them that's quite the coup.
 
Waterfall said:
if your employer is one of them that's quite the coup.
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I think we are more a corporate partner. The events we sponsor are usually healthcare related. Tournaments for doctors and charity events, that sort of thing. I know our VP knows Goodwin but I assume that's just from doing events with them over the years. Also, keep in mind we are part of a larger corporate group owned by a fairly prominent local business and philanthropic family.
 
W watched never say never again last night

we rewatch a lot of Bond movies but oddly not that one. I think when it came out I thought he was too old

But to watch it again was fun. He is as sexy as ever. Great villains and big stars

and his sly wink at the end

i read his wife gave him the title, as he had said he will NEVER do another bond film

it was campy and fun
 
Lastpointe said:
W watched never say never again last night

we rewatch a lot of Bond movies but oddly not that one. I think when it came out I thought he was too old

But to watch it again was fun. He is as sexy as ever. Great villains and big stars

and his sly wink at the end

i read his wife gave him the title, as he had said he will NEVER do another bond film

it was campy and fun
Click to expand...
There's a wild story behind that one. All kinds of legal shenanigans between the filmmaker Kevin McClory and Eon Productions, the makers of the official Bond movies. The reason it is a remake of Thunderball is that's the only Bond novel McClory had rights to. Original planned title was Warhead IIRC (referring to the stolen nukes). The mess only got sorted out when McClory died and his estate and Sony, who owned the distribution rights, finally settled with Eon, which is why SPECTRE and its leader Blofeld reappeared in the official movies in 2015 after being absent since Diamonds Are Forever in 1971 (save for a silly scene in For Your Eyes Only where Bond apparently kills an unnamed Blofeld, a pretty obvious jab at McClory).

I saw Never... in the theatre when it came out and quite enjoyed it. Connery had some fun with it, the villains were terrific, and all in all it was a decent Bond movie even if it there was a bit too much "nudge nudge wink wink" humour about Connery's return. Have not watched it since, though, to confirm that opinion.
 
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