SEAN CONNERY DIES AGED 90

 Filenews 31 October 2020

The Scotsman, actor Sean Connery, the first, and by many, the best "James Bond", passed away.

Sir Thomas Sean Connery was born on 25 August 1930 in Scotland. He was an award-winning actor and film producer. He was best known as the first official actor to play James Bond. He starred in a total of seven Bond films

He received numerous awards and distinctions, among them Oscars from the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Golden Globe and BAFTA. In 1987 he won an Oscar for a second male role in the film The Untouchables. In July 2000 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

Born: 25 August, 1930, in Edinburgh. His father worked in a factory and drove trucks, his mother was a cleaner. To contribute to the finances of the house, he dropped out of school at 13 and distributed milk in the neighbourhood. There are many and quite amusing stories from his years of adulthood, such as that during his time in the British Navy, immediately after the war, he got two tattoos that one said "Mum and Dad" and the other "Scotland Forever", or that sometime a little later he worked a while as a babysitter. It's hard to imagine. He almost became a footballer (legend has it that Manchester United's Matt Busby saw him in an amateur match and offered him a contract), while in the early 1950s he started bodybilding and competed for the title of Mr. Universe. He did dozens more jobs until he found a spot backstage at Edinburgh's Royal Theatre. It was only a matter of time before he took the stage.

LEARNING GRAMMES

His first small, auxiliary roles in the theatre allowed him to experience a different culture – he met people he had never met in the alleys of the city's slums (then he met Michael Caine a lifelong friend) and found people around him who helped him cultivate his spirit, such as the actor Robert Henderson, who lent him books by Ibsen and Proust and brought him into contact with the world of literature. Many years later he commented in his autobiography ("Being a Scot", 2008) the following: "The first great opportunity presented to me when I was five years old. It took me more than seventy years to realize it. Because when I was five, I learned to read. It's so simple and so decisive.'

This autobiography must have disappointed the tabloid editors enough, who in vain browsed it looking for some hint of gossip about his love affairs or even some omission from the James Bond films. No, Connery did them no favours and wrote a book that was (according to the Times review) "his personal contribution to awakening the national consciousness of Scots and their cultural pride." A mixture of Edinburgh memories of his childhood, Scotland's myths and literature and the experience and importance of being Scottish.

THE SCOTSEZOS AND THE KINGDOM

Connery, as he is known, identified to the greatest extent with James Bond, being the first to play him on the big screen and the generally more successful in this role, something Ian Fleming, author of the 007 novels, admitted, despite his initial objections to the choice of a Working Class Scot who could not support the elegance of his movements and the cosmopolitan charm of his hero. There is indeed something paradoxical. Connery played an agent who put himself in the service of the Queen of England, being a proud Scot, and even a fanatical supporter (and sometimes financier) of the SNP (Scottish National Party) fighting for the independence of the country. Hence there were some reactions when Elizabeth knighted him in 2000 for his contribution to acting art – he not only accepted, wearing his classic kilt, but stated that this moment was "one of the proudest of my life".

The status of "tax exile" he enjoyed did not allow him to be in Scotland more than 90 days a year, which is why (and due to climate, perhaps) he lived for years in Spain and now in a paradise in the Bahamas. His absence from the country, however, did not stop him from being remotely involved in the 2014 referendum, when his compatriots were called to the polls to choose whether they wanted independence. "More than anything, what defines a country is its culture. It offers international visibility and raises global interest more than the politics, businesses or economy of the nation concerned," he wrote at the time in The New Statesman, arguing that Scotland has exactly what it needs, from its history and traditions, to even landscapes, that would allow it to stand independent and able to "compete with the best."

The Scots ultimately preferred to remain in the UK (55-45%) – Connery may be the country's most famous citizen for the rest of the world, and a great unofficial ambassador to Scotland, but for all the middle classes invited to make the big decision he is mainly a millionaire who (legitimately, but with a significant moral objection) does not pay his taxes to his beloved homeland. , of course, but not influential.

THE IMPORTATION OF TRANSFORMATION

Connery played Bond in six films, from 1962 to 1971 and in another in 1983, but never loved this role, thanks to which, however, he established himself in world cinema and made a lot of money. It was fortunate for him that growing up (maturing, at least) his appearance changed so much that he could support a new public image and take on roles without people seeing Bond in his face. Thus, in 1987 he played in de Palma's "Incorruptibles", Winning an Oscar (Second Man), he starred in the transfer of Umberto Echo's classic novel, "The Name of Rhodes,", played Indiana Jones's father in "The Last Crusade" and found himself in the cast of major commercial hits of the 1990s, from "The Rock" and "Hunt for Red October" to "Lancelot: The First Knight."

His performances never led him to the top shelf of acting, but he gained universal acceptance from a global audience and was an intimate and beloved figure. And then, in 2003, after playing in "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" (based on Alan Moore's comic universe) and after clashing with the director, Stephen Norrington, saying he "should be hospitalized for paranoia," he decided to retire from the cinema, as he did, preferring to play golf in the Bahamas and discuss Scotland's future. "Retirement is a lot of fun," he said at one point.

THE MEN'S STANDARD

Connery was also a successful male role model, first through the image of the classic beauty with dynamism and self-confidence, and then as the charming and suppressed white-haired man who hid in his eyes the experiences of a lifetime. He always gave the image of the man who knew what he was asking for and knew how to survive and find his way. It was a consistent course, no doubt, in which now, on the occasion of his 90th birthday, we can add an asterisk.

He and the painter Micheline Rockbrine married in 1975. 

His ex-wife, Diane Silento (1932-2011), said in her autobiography (2006) that during their marriage (1962-1973) Connery abused her mentally and physically – this statement did not particularly affect the actor's reputation, possibly because it was expressed at a time, unlike today, when there was still not much sensitivity to such issues. We cannot, of course, know exactly what happened and what did not. But Connery, as much as he doesn't fit the gentleman's profile with a warm smile, had a long history: In an interview with Playboy in 1965, he said that "I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with hitting a woman... but I do not recommend that anyone do it in the same way that one would hit a man." A few years later, in another interview with Vanity Fair, he said that burdening a woman psychologically is much worse than hitting her. She concluded: "There are women who take situations to extremes. What they're looking for is the ultimate conflict – they want a slap."

Source: skai.gr