San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Movies’ first James Bond embodied masculinity in decades of roles.
Sir Sean Connery, the Scottish actor who incarnated James Bond and was a symbol of rugged masculinity for decades, died Saturday, his family told the BBC. He was 90.
Connery’s wife and two sons said he “died peacefully in his sleep surrounded by family” in the Bahamas, where he lived. Son Jason Connery said his father had been “unwell for some time.”
Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said they were devastated by the news. They said Connery’s “gritty and witty portrayal of the sexy and charismatic secret agent” was largely responsible for the success of the film series.
“He was and shall always be remembered as the original James Bond whose indelible entrance into cinema history began when he announced those unforgettable words — ‘ The name’s Bond … James Bond,’ ” they said in a statement.
Daniel Craig, the current Bond, said Connery “defined an era and a style” and that the “wit and charm he portrayed on screen could be measured in megawatts.”
A complex figure onscreen, Connery could be simultaneously suave and yet brutish. He was impeccably attired as James Bond, and yet always seemed a bit like a gorilla in a tuxedo. Often funny and goodhumored and famous for his wry smile, he had a quality that simultaneously suggested that the familiarity could only go so far, and that lurking beneath the warm surface was a mansize temper.
Connery seemed like a tough guy, and he was. As a young actor in London’s West End, he once fought off a street gang, and later, as a young Hollywood actor, he disarmed gangster Johnny Stompanato, who threatened him with a gun. Stompanato, Lana Turner’s lover at the time, thought that Turner was having an affair with Connery during the shooting of the film “Another Time, Another Place” ( 1958). Connery was certainly a man who could make other men nervous.
Not surprisingly, women were behind Connery’s screen breakthrough as James Bond. Dana Broccoli encouraged her husband, producer Cubby Broccoli, to cast Connery in “Dr. No,” and the legend is that it was the girlfriend of Bond creator Ian Fleming who persuaded Fleming to go along with the casting. In 1989, when he was 59, People magazine named Connery the sexiest man alive. Ten years later, in 1999, the magazine named him “sexiest man of the century.”
Clearly, Connery had something women wanted and that all men wished they had, and that everyone could recognize within seconds of seeing him onscreen. Yet surprisingly — like Marilyn Monroe, whose appeal seems equally obvious — Connery had a long period of apprenticeship. Perhaps his origins had something to do with his slow rise. He was born in 1930, in a part of the world — Edinburgh, Scotland — that did not produce movie stars, and into a workingclass family that had no connections in show business or to power of any kind.
In his youth, he had a number of jobs, including driving a truck and working in a factory, but he must have been aware of his own looks, because he got interested in bodybuilding and started making money as a model. He worked in a theater and in 1953 landed a role in the chorus of “South Pacific,” then graduated to a speaking role.
But the climb was slow. His best roles came in British television. He starred in the BBC version of the Rod Serling play “Requiem for a Heavyweight” in 1957. In 1961, he starred in a TV version of “Macbeth” and played Vronsky to Claire Bloom’s “Anna Karenina.” The latter is available on DVD. During this time, Connery also made movies, usually appearing in support. By the time he was 30 or 31, Connery was assured of a steady career, with the possibility of a big break always present.
Bond was the big break, of course. “Dr. No” was released in Britain in October of 1962, then opened in New York some six months later. It was a big hit — No. 9 on the 1963 box office chart — but the two followups, “Goldfinger” ( 1964) and “Thunderball” ( 1965), were box office monsters, huge hits that put James Bond, and Connery, at the center of fashion and culture. But Connery, notoriously independent and difficult to impress, soon got tired of the Bond phenomenon and started looking for the exit.
Connery’s career took place in four phases. The first was obscurity. The second was the Bond period, which also included some other good films, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s “Marnie” ( 1964) and “The Red Tent” ( 1969), about Arctic exploration. The third, which roughly coincided with Connery’s 40s and early 50s, were his independent phase, in which he decided to make only the movies he wanted and on his terms. To the delight of bald men everywhere, Connery threw out his toupee and went bareheaded in “The Man Who Would Be King” ( 1975) and “Robin and Marian” ( 1976).
At this stage of his career, Connery was regarded as permanently famous, but no longer a big star. And then came “The Untouchables” ( 1987), which started Connery’s fourth and best phase, as an older character actor. He played an old cop, Malone, Eliot Ness’ mentor in the ways of Chicago, and won the Academy Award for best supporting actor. Connery solidified his new Hollywood standing — and his new place in the public mind — with a delightful turn as Harrison Ford’s father in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” ( 1989).
From there, Connery’s career was a succession of quality roles in a variety of pictures, some memorable, some good, some bad, but he was always a consistent and welcome presence.
Connery is survived by his wife, Micheline Roquebrune; sons, Jason and Stefan; and brother Neil. His publicist, Nancy Seltzer, said there would be a private ceremony followed by a memorial service once the coronavirus pandemic has ended.
Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicle’s movie critic. Email: mlasalle@ sfchronicle. com Twitter: @ MickLaSalle