Sean Connery was one of the most famous Hollywood actors. He was best known for being the first James Bond. He died on October 31, 2020.
Let’s dive into some trivia and facts about his life and career.
- His full name was Sir Thomas Sean Connery
- He was born on 25 August 1930
- He died on 31 October 2020
- He was a Scottish actor and producer
- He was best known as the first actor to portray the character James Bond in film
- He was the star of seven Bond films
- Every film from Dr. No to You Only Live Twice, plus Diamonds Are Forever and Never Say Never Again
- He was James Bond between 1962 and 1983
- Connery had been in smaller theatre and television productions until he got his break with the Bond films
- He became a major actor with the success of his Bond role
- His films also included Marnie (1964), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Highlander (1986), The Untouchables (1988), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Dragonheart (1996), The Rock (1996), and Finding Forrester (2000)
- Connery retired from acting in 2006
- Among Connery’s achievements include one Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award), and three Golden Globes, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award
- He received a lifetime achievement award in the US with a Kennedy Center Honor in 1999
- Connery was knighted in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to film drama
- Connery was polled in a 2004 The Sunday Herald as “The Greatest Living Scot”
- In a 2011 EuroMillions survey as “Scotland’s Greatest Living National Treasure”
- He was voted by People magazine as both the “Sexiest Man Alive” in 1989 and the “Sexiest Man of the Century” in 1999
- Thomas Sean Connery was born in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, Scotland on 25 August 1930
- He was named Thomas after his grandfather
- His mother, Euphemia “Effie” McBain McLean, was a cleaning woman
- She was born the daughter of Neil McLean and Helen Forbes Ross, and named after her father’s mother Euphemia McBain, wife of John McLean and daughter of William McBain from Ceres in Fife
- Connery’s father, Joseph Connery, was a factory worker and lorry driver
- His paternal grandfather’s parents emigrated to Scotland from Ireland in the mid-19th century
- The remainder of his family was of Scottish descent, and his maternal great-grandparents were native Scottish Gaelic speakers from Fife and Uig on Skye
- His father was a Roman Catholic, and his mother was a Protestant
- He had a younger brother, Neil
- Connery has said that he was called Sean, his middle name, long before becoming an actor
- He was generally referred to in his youth as “Tommy”
- Although he was small in primary school, he grew rapidly around the age of 12, reaching his full adult height of 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) at 18
- He was known during his teen years as “Big Tam”
- In 1946, at the age of 16, Connery joined the Royal Navy
- Afterwards, he returned to the co-op, then worked as, among other things, a lorry driver, a lifeguard at Portobello swimming baths, a labourer, an artist’s model for the Edinburgh College of Art
- After a suggestion by former Mr. Scotland, Archie Brennan, a coffin polisher
- Connery began bodybuilding at the age of 18
- Connery was a keen footballer, having played for Bonnyrigg Rose in his younger days
- During the production of South Pacific in the mid-1950s, Connery dated a “dark-haired beauty with a ballerina’s figure”, Carol Sopel, but was warned off by her Jewish family
- He then dated Julie Hamilton, daughter of documentary filmmaker and feminist Jill Craigie
- Given Connery’s rugged appearance and rough charm, Hamilton initially thought he was an appalling person and was not attracted to him until she saw him in a kilt, declaring him to be the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen in her life
- He also shared a mutual attraction with jazz singer Maxine Daniels, whom he met at the Empire Theatre
- He made a pass at her, but she informed him that she was already happily married with a baby daughter
- Connery was married to actress Diane Cilento from 1962 to 1973, though they separated in 1971
- They had a son, actor Jason Connery. In her autobiography in 2006 she alleged that he had abused her mentally and physically during their relationship
- Connery had been quoted as saying that occasionally hitting a woman was “no big deal”
- Connery cancelled an appearance at the Scottish Parliament because of the controversy, and said he had been misquoted and that any abuse of women was unacceptable
- Connery was separated in the early 1970s when he dated Jill St. John, Lana Wood, Carole Mallory and Magda Konopka
- Connery was married to Moroccan-French painter Micheline Roquebrune (born 1929) from 1975 until his death
- The marriage survived a well-documented affair Connery had in the late 1980s with the singer and songwriter Lynsey de Paul
- A keen golfer, Connery owned the Domaine de Terre Blanche in the South of France for twenty years (from 1979) where he planned to build his dream golf course on the 266 acres (108 ha) of land
- The dream was realised when he sold it to German billionaire Dietmar Hopp in 1999
- He was awarded an honorary rank of Shodan (1st dan) in Kyokushin karate
- Connery was knighted by The Queen at an investiture ceremony at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh on 5 July 2000
- He had been nominated for a knighthood in 1997 and 1998, but these nominations were reported to have been vetoed by Donald Dewar due to Connery’s political views
- Sean Connery had a villa in Kranidi, Greece
- His neighbour was King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, with whom he shared a helicopter platform
- Michael Caine (who co-starred with Connery in The Man Who Would Be King in 1975) was among Connery’s closest friends
- Connery was a supporter of Scottish football club Rangers F.C
- Connery died peacefully in his sleep overnight on 31 October 2020 at home in Nassau in the Bahamas
- His family and EON Productions announced the death on the morning of the same day
- No immediate cause of death was given, although his son stated that the actor had been “unwell for some time”
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