Great Scottish actor, translator of 007 and films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie, Sidney Lumet’s Murder on the Orient Express, Jean-Jacques Annaud’s The Name of the Rose, Brian’s The Untouchables. De Palma, John McTiernan’s Mato Grosso, Gus Van Sant’s The Forrester Discovery, and many others would have been ninety-three years old.
PHOTO BY SEAN CONNERY ON ARCHIVIORICCARDI.IT
Born in Edinburgh in 1930 – he died in Nassau in October 2020 – he made his film debut in a small role (in which he’s not even credited) in royal arms (1954) by Herbert Wilcox with Errol Flynn.
After numerous minor roles – Bandit from Epirus (1957) Terence Young gangster club (1957) Montgomery Tully big gray door (1957) Gerald Thomas Hell Pilots (1958) by Cy Endfield, in which he co-stars with Patrick McGoohan, Titanic, 41 degrees north latitude. (1958) Roy Ward Baker, Disneyman Darby O’Gill and the Leprechaun King (1959) Robert Stevenson, Terror runs down the river (1959) by John Guillermin with Gordon Scott and Anthony Quayle and the famous The longest day (1962) by Ken Annakin and Andrew Marton – gets his first starring role in Scotland Yard Homicide Squad (1961) by John Lemont and established himself as a James Bond agent in six films: Agent 007 – License to Kill (1962) Terence Young with Ursula Andress Agent 007 – From Russia with Love (1963), also directed by T. Young, in which he plays alongside the great Austrian theater actress Lotte Lenya (widow of Kurt Weill and ex-Jenny de Threepenny Opera – 1929 – Bertolt Brecht), Agent 007 – Goldfinger’s Mission (1964) Guy Hamilton with Honor Blackman and Gert Fröbe, Agent 007 – Thunderball (Operation Thunder) (1965) T. Young with Adolfo Cheli, Agent 007: You only live twice. (1967) Lewis Gilbert Agent 007 – Cascade of Diamonds (1971) G. Hamilton.
All films that, albeit interspersed with films of a high level – Marnie (1964) Alfred Hitchcock with Tippi Hedren and Diane Baker, straw woman (1964) Basil Dearden with Gina Lollobrigida, hill of shame (1965) Sidney Lumet with Michael Redgrave comedy A gorgeous scammer (1966) Irvin Kershner Western Shalako (1968) Edward Dmytryk with Brigitte Bardot, red curtain (1969) with Claudia Cardinale – make him an outstanding James Bond.
In the 1970s, he appeared in films such as conspirators (1970) by Martin Ritt, in which he co-starred with Richard Harris – in an excellent “competition of skill” in which determining the “winner” would be, to put it mildly, a difficult task – Record robbery in New York (1971) Sidney Lumet with Martin Balsam and a young Christopher Walken (in his film debut), unsettling Reflections in dark mirror (1973), also directed by S. Lumet and considered one of the best performances of his entire career (and, unfortunately, also one of the least known to the general public), Zardoz (1973) John Boorman, whose appearance is still remembered (completely bald and with a mustache), Murder on the Orient Express (1974) by S. Lumet based on the book of the same name (1934) by Agatha Christie and interpreted by Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Vanessa Redgrave, Martin Balsama, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Colin Blakely, Jean-Pierre Cassel, George Coulouris, John Gielgud , Rachel Roberts, Richard Widmark and Michael York, Ramsom, state of emergency due to kidnapping (1974) Nils Taivik with Ian McShane, The man, who he wanted to be king (1975) John Huston with Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer, wind and lion (1975) John Milius with Candice Bergen and Brian Keith Robin and Marian (1976) by Richard Lester with Audrey Hepburn, Richard Harris, Robert Shaw and Nicol Williamson, next person (1976) by Richard K. Sarafian with Cornelia Sharp, This last bridge (1977) Richard Attenborough, Cuba (1979) R. Lester with Brooke Adams, 1855 – First major train robbery. (1979) by Michael Crichton with Donald Sutherland and Humble Meteor (1979) Ronald Nim.
In the 1980s, the third stage of his career began again with James Bond (“non-serial” Agent 007 – Never Say Never – 1983 – Irvin Kershner, remake of the above Agent 007 – Thunderball), but films like Five days, one summer (1982) Fred Zinnemann, Highlander – The Last Immortal (1984) Russell Mulcahy e Name Rose (1986) by Jean-Jacques Annaud, taken from the book of the same name (Premio Strega 1981) by Umberto Eco and in which he reads with F. Murray Abraham, will mark a further ascent that will end Untouchables (1987) Brian De Palma with Kevin Costner, Andy Garcia and Robert De Niro, with whom he received a well-deserved “Oscar” for Best Supporting Actor, Garrison – Crime scene (1988) Peter Hyams Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Steven Spielberg with Harrison Ford, e This is a family business (1989) S. Lumet with Dustin Hoffman.
The success continued into the nineties with a variety of roles, which was another confirmation and demonstration of his great versatility. We remember Hunt for Red October (1990) by John McTiernan based on the book of the same name by Tom Clancy, Russian house (1990) Fred Schepisi Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves (1991) Kevin Reynolds in which he starred again with Kevin Costner playing King Richard the Lionheart, Mato Grosso (1992) J. McTiernan with Lorraine Bracco, Rising Sun (1993) by Philip Kaufman in which he plays a smart cop, dramatic The right reason (1994) Arne Glimcher In search of a sorcerer (1994) Bruce Beresford First knight (1995) Jerry Zucker with Julia Ormond, Richard Gere and Ben Cross in which he plays King Arthur of Camelot, Rock (1996) Michael Bay jokes of the heart (1998) Willard Carroll with Gena Rowlands, Avengers – Special Agents (1998) Jeremiah S. Chechik, capture (1998) Jon Amiel with a young Catherine Zeta-Jones (fresh from the success Zorro mask Martin Campbell).
In 2000, his last big performance took place. Forrester’s discovery Gus Van Sant, in which he again stars with F. Murray Abraham.
Among other films, we note Zero Atmosphere (1981) Peter Hyams Bandits of time (1981) Terry Gilliam, deadly target (1982) Richard Brooks Sword of the Valiant – Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1984) Stephen Wicks Highlander II – Return (1991) Russell Mulcahy.
After a modest The Legend of Extraordinary People (2003) by Stephen Norrington and a couple of failed projects, in 2005 Sean Connery officially announced his decision to abandon cinema and retire to private life. Three years later, he refuses to return to acting in order to reprise his role as Indiana Jones’ father in the fourth film of the saga (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Steven Spielberg).
He is also active in television, especially in the first seven to eight years of his career, appearing in various television films. Convicted (1956) Patrick Alexander blood money (1957) Ralph Nelson, Anna Christie (1957) Woman in love (1958) by Julian Ames and Joan Kemp-Welch, Without Grail (1960) Macbeth (1961) Paul Almond Anna Karenina (1961) Rudolph Cartier, adventure story (1961) Basil Dearden, Evil kind (1969) by Charles Jarrot), and in some episodes of TV series and mini-series – Dixon from Dock Green (1956) Fortune sailor (1956) Jack Benny Program (1957) Disneyland (1959) Age of Kings (1960) Freedom: History of us (2003).
He played in the theater sixty glorious years (1953) Robert Nesbitt South Pacific (1953) Joshua Logan Prosecution Witness (1955) Robert Henderson based on the story by Agatha Christie, which will be shown in cinema two years later along with the famous Prosecution Witness Billy Wilder Point of departure (1955) Frederic Farley, good sailor (1956) Frita Bunbury, Bucky (1959) Minos Volanakis, Sea shell (1959) Henry Kaplan Anna Christie (1960) Douglas Seal Naked (1960) M. Volanakis, Judith (1962) Christopher Fry.