The First, the Original

As a kid growing up in the little country town of Malden, Missouri, I was expected to work for my privileges.  At the minimum I had to mow our lawn and my granny’s lawn with a push-mower.  For that I earned an allowance of 50¢ a week.

That half-dollar often found a new home at the Liberty Theater on Saturday morning.  For 25¢ I gained admission to the air-conditioned auditorium where they showed two cartoons and a double-feature.  The other quarter bought me a carton of popcorn, a box of Jujubees, and a large cup of Jungle Juice.

It was on one of those Saturday mornings that I discovered Sean Connery.

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One of my most vivid memories of those early days was seeing James Bond tied spread-eagle to an industrial table as Goldfinger’s laser burned its way ever closer to his…uh, you know.

How could a little boy forget such a thing?

But even at that young age, I was struck by the charisma of the man playing the amazing, “Bond, James Bond.”

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He was born Thomas Sean Connery on August 25, 1930, in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, Scotland.  His mother was a cleaning woman and his father a factory worker.  He spoke of spending his infancy sleeping in a dresser drawer because his parents could not afford a baby bed.

As he grew up, Connery took several different jobs, such as painting coffins, delivering milk, driving a truck, and as a lifeguard.

Young Sean reached 6’2” by the age of 18 and was quite athletic.  He started weightlifting and began bodybuilding.  He got good enough that, at the age of 23, he competed in the 1953 Mr. Universe contest.  Although it has been reported that he placed third in the Junior Class, it is unclear how well he actually placed in the contest, which was won by the massive Bill Pearl. 

One of the other competitors in another contest mentioned that auditions were being held nearby for the play South Pacific. Sean tried out and won a role in the chorus, eventually moving up to more challenging parts in the play.

He liked acting but still loved sports.  In particular, he loved playing football (soccer).  It was while touring with South Pacific that Connery was offered a contract with Manchester United by manager Matt Busby.  By this time, Sean was touring with South Pacific.  He saw the potential for a longer career as an actor and wisely chose that over professional sports.

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Acting in South Pacific was an important part of Connery’s life for several reason.  He met and became friends with another up-and-coming actor named Michael Caine.  The two remained life-long friends.

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Connery’s acting career grew at what must have seemed a snail’s pace.  He took parts in plays and television.  After about ten years pursuing the craft, he tried out for a role playing a character created by writer Ian Fleming in the movie adaptation of Fleming’s novel, Dr. No.

Interestingly, neither producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli or writer Fleming thought Connery was right for the role.  Fleming said, “He’s not what I envisioned of James Bond looks,” and, “I’m looking for Commander Bond and not an overgrown stunt-man,” adding that Connery (muscular, 6′ 2″, and a Scot) was unrefined.

Broccoli’s wife, Dana, convinced “Cubby” that Connery was the right man.  The writer’s girlfriend, Blanche Blackwell, assured Fleming that Connery had the required sexual charisma.

Connery would go on to play, “Bond, James Bond,” in seven movies and, to many people, like me, remains the standard by which all Bonds are judged.  Some come close, but all fall short.

Just saying.

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While Sean Connery may not have been an international secret agent in real life, he definitely fit the role as a man of action.  When he was in Edinburgh, Connery ran afoul of the notorious Valdor gang, one of the most violent in the city.  He angered some of them in a billiard hall where he prevented them from stealing his jacket.  Six of the toughs later followed him when he left.  Connery made his way to a 15-foot-high balcony at the Palais de Danse.  There, knowing he couldn’t avoid further confrontation, he attacked the gang members singlehandedly, grabbing one by the throat and another by the arm, swinging them around and cracking their heads together.  From then on, he was treated with great respect by the gang and gained a reputation as a “hard man”.

He won a fight against six men?  Yeah, I’d say “hard man” was an apt description.

Another time, Connery had a part in the melodrama Another Time, Another Place (1958) as a British reporter named Mark Trevor, with Lana Turner.  Turner had been seeing gangster Johnny Stompanato, who was the jealous type, and became convinced that the lovely actress was having an affair with Connery.  Connery and Turner did attend West End shows and go to London restaurants together.  Stompanato stormed onto the movie set and threatened Connery with a gun, only to have Connery disarm him and knock him flat on his back.  Scotland Yard detectives advised Stompanato to leave and escorted him to the airport, where he boarded a plane back to the U.S.  

He took on a pistol-wielding man barehanded?  Sounds like a man of action to me.

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Over his more than 50 years in acting, Connery appeared in scores of movies, including too many great ones to enumerate. Besides the Bond Films, he had memorable roles in The Untouchables (1987), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990),  and my personal favorite, Finding Forrester (2000).

Connery has earned his share of accolades over the years. 

In 1996, he was honored with the Cecile B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes, joking to the audience in his acceptance speech: “I’ve traveled to scores of exotic places, met many interesting people, kissed dozens of beautiful women, and have actually been very well paid for it, and I am most grateful. But, of course, that doesn’t mean that I won’t sue you.”

His achievements in film were recognized with an Academy Award, two BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards (including the BAFTA Fellowship), and three Golden Globes, including the above-mentioned Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award.  In 1987 he was made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in France, and he received the US Kennedy Center Honors lifetime achievement award in 1999.  Connery was knighted in the 2000 New Year Honors for services to film drama. He told reporters that the moment was “one of the proudest days of my life.”

In 2004, Connery was polled in the Sunday Herald as “The Greatest Living Scot” and 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.

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Despite all his honors, Connery never took himself too seriously. In 2009, he recalled a conversation with a cabbie, “When I took a taxi during a recent Edinburgh Film Festival, the driver was amazed that I could put a name to every street we passed. ‘How come?’ he asked.

“‘As a boy I used to deliver milk round here,’ I said.

“The cabbie asked, ‘So what do you do now?’

“That was rather harder to answer.”

On November 31, 2020, the 90-year-old Connery was visiting the Bahamas with his family.  He lay down for the night and slipped quietly away in his sleep.

So long, Sir Sean.  You will be missed.

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