Unseen for decades, the day Sir Sean got to grips with Bardot
IT was the moment when the world’s coolest movie spy put a sizzling sex symbol in a playful headlock.
This picture, from the set of 1968 film Shalako, shows Bond actor Sir Sean Connery and French screen legend Brigitte Bardot larking around on location in Spain.
Taken by fashion photographer Terry O’Neill, it emerged in a treasure trove of pictures from Hollywood’s golden years found in the offices of a South African film distributor after its recent take over.
In the Western, Connery plays a former Civil War cavalry officer who rescues a French countess (Bardot) after she wanders into Apache territory.
An official shot for the film shows the famous pair in character, while O’Neill’s snap captures them in a more relaxed mood.
Interestingly, producers told the Scot to shave off the moustache, which he had grown for the role.
It is thought they were worried that it would put some movie-goers off, as Gregory Peck’s moustache had done in The Gunfighter.
Shalako was the 18th most popular film of 1969, but because of its high production costs the movie actually recorded a loss of around £1million for studio ABC. It later became a cult classic, with some critics seeing it as Connery’s first attempt to distance himself from his, by then well-established, Bond role.