90 things you need to know about Connery
ACTOR Sir Sean hits milestone today. And to mark the original Bond’s birthday, here’s 90 facts about him. By Rick Fulton
1 Sean was born on August 25, 1930, in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh.
2 His first name is Thomas. Sean is his middle name.
3 He was known as Big Tam because he’s 6ft 2in.
4 His dad’s family was from County Wexford in Ireland.
6 His parents couldn’t afford a crib, so he slept in a drawer.
7 Home was a one-bed top-floor flat with an outside toilet.
8 Sean turned down Boroughmuir High because rugby was the main sport. Instead, he attended Darroch Secondary on Upper Gilmore Street.
9 A talented footballer, he played for junior side Bonnyrigg Rose.
10 He joined the Sea Cadets Corps and learned to box.
11 He fished at the Union Canal, using Euphamia’s old stockings as a fishing line.
12 Sean was just nine when he started working, delivering milk, to help support the family.
13 He delivered milk to Edinburgh’s Fettes School – the school attended by James Bond following his expulsion from Eton.
14 Sean left school at 14 to work for St Cuthbert’s Co-operative Society.
15 He claimed he was only eight when he lost his virginity.
16 He joined the Royal Navy in 1946, at 16.
17 He was released after three years due to stomach ulcers.
18 He left with a pension and two tattoos – “Scotland forever” and “Mum and Dad”.
20 Sean began bodybuilding at 18.
21 In 1952, he worked at Portobello open air swimming pool as a lifeguard.
22 He also trained as a French polisher in Haddington.
23 The job gave him his first taste of acting as he’d regularly work on the sets at the King’s Theatre.
24 He entered Mr Universe in 1953.
25 He was dubbed “Mr Scotland” during the competition, and came third.
26 One of the other competitors mentioned auditions were being held for dancers for the chorus in South Pacific.
27 He launched his career by changing his name to Sean in the London show.
29 By the time the production reached Edinburgh, he had been given the role of Marine Cpl Hamilton Steeves.
28 When the production returned to the capital the following year, he was given the lead role of Lieutenant Buzz Adams.
30 In Manchester on tour, he took part in a game of football which led to Sir Matt Busby offering him a contract at Man United. 31 Sean turned it down, believing there was more career longevity in acting than football.
32 His film debut was as an extra in 1954 musical Lilacs in the Spring.
33 His big TV break came in 1957, in BBC play Requiem for a Heavyweight.
34 His father watched it and reportedly said: “My heavens, that was smashing.”
35 Sean’s first big film role was in 1957’s Action of the Tiger.
37 Lana Turner’s gangster boyfriend wasn’t happy and pulled a gun on Sean. The Scot grabbed the gun and punched him. 38 Producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman weren’t keen on Sean as James Bond.
39 But Broccoli’s wife Dana was. “Women – and men – will love him,” she said.
40 In 1962 film Dr No, he was the first to say: “Bond. James Bond.”
41 Sean played 007 seven times over 21 years.
42 He wore a toupee in all the Bond movies.
43 A helicopter nearly decapitated him filming the chase scene in From Russia with Love.
44 During Never Say Never Again in 1983, he had his wrist broken by his martial arts instructor, who was called Steven Seagal.
45 Sean claimed he was once pulled over for speeding – by Sergeant James Bond.
46 His portrayal of Bond landed him the third spot in the American Film Institute’s list of the Greatest Heroes in Cinema History.
47 His favourite Bond film is From Russia with Love.
48 His good friend Sir Michael Caine stopped playing golf after Sean “grabbed my club and broke it in two”.
49 He fell in love with the sport – even buying a home in Bermuda next to a course – and had a handicap of five.
50 Sean played on the first golf course in the Soviet Union in 1989 while filming John Le Carre’s The Russia House.
51 He met Moroccan artist Micheline Roquebrune, who would become his
5
His mother, Euphemia “Effie” (nee McLean), was a cleaner, his dad Joseph a factory worker.
36
Lana Turner angled to get Sean to star alongside her in 1958 drama Another Time, Another Place.
19
After the Navy, he worked as a nude model for art students.
52
Sean only took up golf to improve his performance in Goldfinger. 60Sean appeared in drag as a bride in 1974 sci-fi film Zardoz. 61 His skimpy red nappystyle costume and thigh high boots were the inspiration for Superman comic book villain Vartox. second wife, at a tournament in Casablanca in 1970.
53 He married first wife Diane Cilento in 1962 after meeting her when they were in a BBC production of Anna Christie.
54 Sean’s only child, actor Jason, was born in 1963.
56 He is a grandfather to Dashiell Connery, now 23 and an actor.
57 Sean sparked outrage in 1987 when he said in an interview that it was acceptable to “slap” women.
58 Sean has been called “the rogue with the brogue”.
59 In 1989, at almost 60, he was named People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive.”
62 He was paid $200,000 for Zardoz
55
Sean is still married to Micheline after tying the knot in 1975. and had to give director John Boorman’s wife “rent” while living at their home in Ireland.
63 His 1975 film with Michael Caine, The Man Who Would Be King, is his favourite movie role.
64 Between scenes, Sean ate sheep’s eyes to appease a local sheikh, little realising it was his friend Eric Sykes playing a prank.
65 When Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin wrote Time Bandits, they wanted Sean to play Agamemnon. They got their man.
69 He turned down reprising his Indiana Jones role in 2008’s the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, saying: “Retirement is just too damned much fun.”
68
Sean was only 12 years older than Harrison Ford when he played his dad in 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 70 He received £250,000 for two days on Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves in 1991, and gave it to charity.
71 Sean was 39 years older than Catherine Zeta Jones when he starred in Entrapment – his last leading man role.
72 In the opening sequence, the passcode on the security unit the thief uses is 1007 – a nod to Sean’s Bond days.
73 He turned down playing Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings series, saying he didn’t want to film in New Zealand for 18 months.
74 Sean lost out on a £350million pay day when he knocked the franchise back after they offered him 15 per cent of the box office profits.
75 He turned down the role of the Architect in The Matrix Reloaded.
76 He was asked to portray King Edward I in Braveheart but was too busy.
77 Sam Mendes said Sean was considered for the Kincaide role taken by Albert Finney in Skyfall.
79 He received the Freedom of Edinburgh in 1991.
81 There had been attempts to give him a knighthood in 1997 and 1998 but they were blocked because he is an SNP supporter.
82 Sean donated his £1million fee for the 1971 Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever to the The Scottish International Education Trust.
83 In America, he launched the Friends of Scotland charity.
84 He famously insists he won’t return to live in Scotland until it is independent.
85 A boyhood fan of Celtic, Sean switched to Rangers when he became pals with then chairman David Murray.
86 He had radiation treatment in 1993 for nodules on his throat.
87 In 2002, he was named Greatest Scot of the 20th century, beating John Logie Baird.
88 In 2006, he had surgery to remove a kidney tumour.
89 His 93rd and last live action film was 2003’s The League of Extraordinary Gentleman.
90 He retired in 2006 but voiced animated film Sir Billi in 2012.
78
Sean won a best supporting actor Oscar for his role as a Chicago cop on the trail of Al Capone in 1987’s The Untouchables.
66
During 1986 film Highlander, Sean was nearly decapitated by actor Clancy Brown.
67
Other than Bond, the only character he’s played more than once is Ramirez, in Highlander II: The Quickening (1991).
80
He was knighted in July 2000.