SEAN CONNERY: Dead at 90

Sean Connery, the original James Bond and Academy Award-winning Scottish actor has died in the Bahamas following a long illness. He was 90.

• Portrayed James Bond in seven films.
• Won an Academy Award for his performance in The Untouchables.
• Portrayed Indy’s father in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
• Knighted in 2000 in Scotland.

Sir Thomas Sean Connery was born in Scotland to Euphemia McBain “Effie” and Joseph Connery on August 25, 1930. He has one younger brother named Neil. After working as a milkman, Connery joined the Navy but was later discharged for medical purposes. He then worked many odd jobs and began modeling and body building. He was also an avid soccer player and was even offered to work with Manchester United but declined because he felt, at 23, he was too old to have a full soccer career. Instead he focused on acting.

Over the next few years Connery would act in numerous films and stage productions, gaining a reputation as a talented and handsome actor. In these years he also established himself as a “hard” man by once single handedly taking on a gang and at another time disarming and subduing a man who walked onto a movie set with a gun. In 1962, Connery got his big break playing the British Secret Agent, James Bond, in Dr. No and six other Bond films. Every Bond film featuring Connery was a success and Bond creator Ian Fleming even added elements to Bond’s back story to better fit Connery. In between some Bond films, Connery also starred in other successful films such as Alfred Hitchcock‘s Marnie and A Bridge Too Far.

Connery’s success continued when he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in The Untouchables.He would then go on to act in multiple box office and big budget films such as The Hunt for Red October, The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, The Russia House, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in which he plays the title characters father. Despite these roles, he never won another Academy Award. He was knighted in 2000 in Scotland.

Around 2004, Connery was talking about retirement. He continued to do sporadic voice acting, lending his voice to a James Bond video game and an animated film, Sir Billi. He also wrote a book with Murray Grigor entitled Being a Scot. When rumors about coming out of retirement continued to surface, Connery put them to bed by stating “retirement is just too much damned fun.”

In 1993, reports began to surface that Connery had throat cancer after he received radiation treatment. It turns out the treatment was to remove nodules in his vocal chords. He also underwent surgery for two cataracts and in 2006 he got surgery to remove a kidney tumor. In 2009, he revealed he had been diagnosed with a heart condition.

He leaves behind his wife Micheline Roquebrune and his son from a previous marriage, Jason Connery.