Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930) is an Academy Award-winning Scottish actor and producer who is perhaps best known as the first actor to portray James Bond in a number of films.[1] He starred in seven Bond films - six EON produced films between 1962 and 1971, and a non-EON produced remake in 1983.[2]Connery is known for his trademark Scottish accent[3] and rugged good looks. He is repeatedly mentioned as one of the most attractive men alive by magazines, even though he is considerably older than most other sex symbolsConnery, best known to audiences around the world for his role as James Bond, has appeared as Bond in seven films, beginning with Dr. No in 1962, and concluding with Never Say Never Again in 1983. In all, the Connery-Bond films are:Dr No(1962), From Russia with love(1963), goldfinger(1964), Thunderball(1965), You only live twice(1967), Diamonds are forever(1961)and Never say never again(1983.Connery's favorite Bond film is From Russia With Love, one of the most acclaimed in the series.
Over 40 years after he first played the role, Connery is still widely regarded as the definitive cinematic incarnation of James Bond, despite popular interpretations by the likes of Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton, the latter often considered closer to the Bond of the novels. Connery's own feelings on Bond in interviews have run the gamut from bitter resentment to great fondness. At one point, he said that he hated the Bond character so much that he'd have killed him, but he has also stated that he never hated Bond, but merely wanted to pursue other roles. Certainly, when the James Bond series was at its peak in the mid-1960s, his association with the 007 image was so intense that different performances in his non-Bond films, such as Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie, A Fine Madness, and Sidney Lumet's The Hill, were virtually ignored. When asked if he'd ever escape the identification, he replied, "Never. It's with me 'til I go in the box."Although his most famous role was that of Bond, Sean Connery has also maintained a successful career since, much more so than any of the other actors who assumed the role. As part of the agreement to appear in Diamonds are Forever, Connery was given carte blanche to produce two films for United Artists but felt that the only film made under this deal, The Offence, was buried by the studio. Apart from The Man Who Would Be King, most of Connery's successes in the next decade were as part of ensemble casts, in films such as Murder on the Orient Express and A Bridge Too Far (in which he acted in a scene opposite Sir Laurence Olivier). His portrayal of Berber chieftain Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli in John Milius's The Wind and the Lion (1975) gained him considerable acclaim from critics and audiences and showed his range as an actor. After his experience with Never Say Never Again and the following court case, Connery became unhappy with the major studios and for two years did not make any films.Following the successful European production The Name of the Rose, for which he won a BAFTA award, Connery's interest in more credible material was revived. That same year, a supporting role in Highlander showcased his ability to play older, wise mentors to young, leading protagonists, which would become a recurring role in many of his later films. The following year, his acclaimed performance as a hard-nosed cop in The Untouchables (1987) earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.Subsequent box-office hits such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) (in which he played the father of Harrison Ford, actually only 12 years his junior), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Russia House (1990), The Rock (1996), and Entrapment (1999) re-established him as a bankable leading man. Both Last Crusade and The Rock alluded to his James Bond days. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas wanted "the father of Indy" to be Connery since Bond directly inspired the Indiana Jones series, while his character in The Rock, John Patrick Mason, was a British secret service agent imprisoned since the 1960s. In more recent years, Connery's filmography has included its fair share of box office and critical disappointments such as The Avengers (1998) and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), but he also received positive reviews for films including Finding Forrester (2000) and Soul Calibur as Cervantes. He also later received a Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema. He has sometimes received criticism for never losing his accent, even when playing Russian and Irish characters, but he says this is out of respect for his country.
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