Savour International

A sex symbol with an unlimited shelf life, Sean Connery once said in an interview that his greatest wish was to be an old man with a good face. Well, apparently Connery has got his wish. In 1989, People magazine named the then 59-year-old actor the "Sexiest Man alive”. And a decade later, the U.S. magazine New Woman went so far as to dub him "Sexiest Man of the Century”.

Bond’s top secrets

Martinis, gangsters, gorgeous women: as secret agent James Bond, Sean Connery became a world-class star and sex symbol. In honour of Connery’s 80th birthday, Savour takes a look back at this Scottish-born actor’s turbulent youth – a youth devoid of any sign that Connery was destined to become an actor, much less a famous one.

The film began, at its premiere at the London Pavilion movie theatre on 5 October 1962, with a black screen. Then, suddenly, points of light, followed by a metallic looking tunnel, with a man at the far end of it wearing an elegant suit, shooting a revolver pointed right at the audience and straight into the tunnel. And then the bullet hits its target and the screen turns blood red, as we hear the title theme to Dr. No, starring James Bond as Agent 007.

To the great surprise of the film’s producer, United Artists, Dr. No was a huge box office success, although it was a very low budget affair. What’s more, the UA executives who attended the premiere so disliked what they saw that all they hoped for was to recoup the 900,000 dollars they’d spent producing the movie. And as for the lead actor, an unknown Scottsman named Sean Connery, he earned a piddling 6,000 pounds for his efforts.

As Adolf Heinzlmeier recounts in his 2001 biography Sean Connery: Lizenz zum Filmen, even Connery himself told a friend that he was doubtful the film would do well: “It’ll just be a movie like any other.” But Connery was wrong big time: Dr. No went on to gross millions at the box office and created one of the biggest heroes in the history of cinema.

For Connery, the film was the role of his life. With his striking good looks, he lent the British gentleman James Bond from Ian Fleming’s novel an animal-like charisma that made the Bond franchise world-famous. And playing the role of a worldly, mysterious, secret agent into whose arms the most beautiful women in the world willingly melt transformed Connery into the male answer to Marilyn Monroe.

But Connery never really liked playing Bond. Immediately after shooting a scene, he would fling aside the hated toupee that concealed his receding hairline, and complained that the role of Agent 007 pursued him “like a curse”. And although Connery became the most famous spy of all times, he never felt as though he was born to be (or play) one.

 

01 | A sex symbol with an unlimited shelf life, Sean Connery once said in an interview that his greatest wish was to be an old man with a good face. And apparently Connery has got his wish. In 1989, People magazine named the then 59-year-old actor the "Sexiest Man alive”. And a decade later, the U.S. magazine New Woman went so far as to dub him the "Sexiest Man of the Century”.

02 | In his youth, before he became an actor, Sean Connery held a number of odd jobs, working as a truck driver, nude model, coffin polisher and – with some success – as a bodybuilder. In 1950, Connery won the Scottish bodybuilding championship and came in third in the Mr. Universe contest in London. In the photo, Connery (centre) is shown at this event in 1952.

03 | In 1962, Connery married the Australian-born actress Diane Cilento. The couple separated after eleven turbulent years of marriage. The picture shows Connery and Cilento at Heathrow airport in May 1963 after arriving home from Turkey where Connery had been shooting From Russia with Love. Cilento’s 2006 autobiography caused a stir owing to her allegations that Connery had beaten her repeatedly.
04 | In 1975, Connery married the French artist Micheline Roquebrune, who he is still with. Connery, whose first marriage apparently suffered from his overweening passion for golf, met Roquebrune (likewise a passionate golfer) at a golf tournament. The photo shows the couple at the 2003 Oscars, where Connery presented the Best Supporting Actress award to fellow actor …