When starting her career, actress Lana Wood struggled to break free from the shadow of
her famous sister, Natalie. Natalie Wood was one of the most prolific film stars of her era,
yet Lana's biggest claim to fame over the course of her life
has been playing the character of Plenty O'Toole in the Bond film Diamonds Are Forever.
Though Lana found herself typecast in similar roles after acting in the film,
she has since come to embrace the character. Also, she has recently come forward with some
details about an affair that she had on the set of the film with star Sean Connery! Although the two
had amazing chemistry, Lana couldn’t allow the affair to continue after the film’s production.
Join Facts Verse as we explore why Lana Wood ended her affair with Sean Connery.
Coming into Hollywood in the shadow of older sister Natalie Wood, Lana Wood was
determined to make her own mark. Natalie was already one of the most famous figures around
and has since gone on to be recognized as one of the greatest Hollywood film stars of all time!
In contrast, Lana remains best known for portraying a Bond girl.
Before taking on the role of Bond girl Plenty O’Toole in the James Bond film
Diamonds Are Forever, Lana Wood had already done some work in the entertainment industry.
She had taken on a few acting roles and had also posed for a notable spread
in Playboy magazine. It was this Playboy spread that got Lana her role in the Bond film.
In the years since, there have been rumors that there is a Bond girl curse,
where actresses that portray Bond girls go on to see diminishing returns in their future careers.
The rumors of the Bond girl curse were already starting to develop around the time that Lana
was cast in Diamonds Are Forever, and her agent advised her against it. Lana was forced to choose
between taking the role and being seen by audiences around the world thanks to it,
or passing on the role and continuing to work in smaller forms of media. If she became a Bond girl,
she knew there was a possibility that she would never be able to become known as anything else.
This is inevitably what happened when Lana made the decision to accept the role of Plenty O’Toole.
Diamonds Are Forever hit theaters in 1971 and starred Sean Connery as James Bond.
Lana had already met Sean Connery, having dated a man previously that was good friends with him.
Lana had always felt a connection to Sean and was thankful to be starring alongside
him in the film. Since the two already had a relationship before filming began,
it wasn't long before the sparks were flying during the film's production.
Unbeknownst to the film's producers, Lana and Sean became involved in an affair.
The reason for the secrecy when it came to the affair between Lana Wood and Sean Connery was
because they wanted to keep things professional. Sean had separated from his wife Diane Cilento,
and Lana certainly wasn’t the only Bond girl that Sean hooked up with during his
time playing the character. Around the time of Diamonds Are Forever’s filming, Sean was
disinterested in playing James Bond and had become preoccupied with his hobby of golf.
When he wasn’t filming or playing golf, he was spending all of his time with Lana Wood.
However, there were reasons that the relationship wasn’t going to last beyond the film’s production.
Although Lana Wood had allowed herself to become romantically involved with Sean Connery,
she had no intention of staying with him. Lana was already in love with someone, and that
person was British playwright and composer Leslie Bricusse. Lana may have been in love with Leslie,
but the love wasn’t meant to be. Though Lana broke off her fling with Sean because of her
affinity for Leslie, Leslie was married at the time and remained married to the same woman until
his recent death in 2021. He told Lana that he was going to divorce his wife, but he never did.
In the years since breaking off her fling with Sean Connery, Lana Wood has felt foolish for
making the assumption that Sean had been seeking a long-term relationship in the first place.
The actor had been known to engage in flings with his coworkers on the set of his James Bond films,
and Lana had no reason to believe she was an exception. However, she still felt the need to
tell him because she has always been an honest person. If you're enjoying this video so far,
be sure to hit the like button to show your support! Also, subscribe to the channel if
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Lana Wood had been warned that her appearance as Bond girl Plenty O’Toole in the 1971 James Bond
film Diamonds Are Forever might result in her being typecast as an overly sexual characters,
and this proved relatively true. However,
she was able to secure a role on ABC’s The Wonderful World of Disney the following year,
in 1972. She appeared in the two-part episode “Justin Morgan Had a Horse”.
While filming "Justin Morgan Had a Horse", Lana overheard a conversation amongst her coworkers
talking about her past as both a Bond girl and an erotic model. At one point, she was even
confronted by someone asking if the executives at Disney knew about her past. Although insecurity
weighed down on Lana, she enjoyed the fact that she was able to perform in a role that didn’t
focus on her cleavage. Sadly, Lana’s role in the two-part episode of the popular series didn’t do
much for her career, and she remains best known as the character of Plenty O’Toole to this day.
Although many actresses may come to resent the role that causes them to be typecast,
Lana has embraced her turn as Plenty O’Toole in recent years.
She says that she’ll take pretty much any invitation to an event that’s related to
the James Bond franchise. She also still likes talking about her time on
the set of the film Diamonds Are Forever, as well as her short-lived affair with star Sean Connery.
Nowadays, Lana isn’t living a life of luxury. In recent years, she has fallen on hard times.
In 2017, she was staying in a Los Angeles motel room with her daughter, Evan, as well as Evan’s
husband and kids. Part of the reason that Lana was down on her luck was medical expenses
as a result of Evan’s failing health. The family started a donation campaign and ended up
receiving nearly $30,000 from fans. Sadly, Evan passed away soon after the money was received.
After the passing of her daughter, Lana Wood still has her animals to keep her company.
She lives with her cats and dogs and likes reminiscing about the past. Lana’s older sister,
Natalie, passed away in 1981, though Lana still largely lives in the star’s shadow.
Although Natalie was far more successful during her lifetime than Lana has ever been,
Lana has always had a hard time being jealous of her sister’s fame and fortune. Whenever Lana got
together with Natalie, the latter was always in a constant state of stress due to worrying about
her image and her career. According to Lana, this wasn’t the lifestyle that she wanted.
Although Lana Wood was never quite comfortable aspiring to live the fast-paced Hollywood
lifestyle of her sister, she still enjoyed her time in the spotlight. Also, she likes to remember
the days that she spent with Sean Connery on the set of Diamonds Are Forever! Like Natalie Wood,
Sean Connery is no longer with us. Sean passed away just recently, in 2020. Sean was
married two times over the course of his life but had many, many affairs. Some of these affairs were
with Bond girls, like Lana Wood. In fact, there was another Bond girl on the set of Diamonds Are
Forever that Sean Connery became involved in an affair with, and that was Jill St. John.
Sean Connery, Lana Wood, and Jill St. John all spent a while traveling the world together
and promoting Diamonds Are Forever, though it remains unknown if either of these female stars
knew that the other had also been romantically involved with Sean. Sean had recently split
from his wife of many years, Diane Cilento, though their divorce was not yet finalized.
Sean and Diane had married in 1962, and their divorce wouldn’t be finalized until 1973.
According to Lana Wood, the first time she ever saw the final cut of Diamonds Are Forever was at
the film’s premiere. After all the work that Lana had put into both filming the movie and
promoting it, she was shocked to see how few of her scenes had actually ended up on the screen. As
is typical with movies of the caliber, many of the scenes that were filmed for Diamonds Are Forever
didn’t make it past the editing stage of the film. As she watched the film premiere before its first
big audience, she wondered whether or not she had made the right decision in taking the part!
Lana certainly had some regrets about playing Plenty O’Toole in Diamonds
Are Forever in the years after the film’s release, but she has since come to accept
that she remains best known for the role. If the actress could do it all over again,
she would probably have listened to her agent when he tried to warn her about
the growing James Bond curse. However, then she wouldn’t have gotten to be with Sean!
Although Lana Wood believes she was typecast after portraying the character of Plenty O’Toole in the
James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, she has since come to terms with the role. Now it’s time
to hear from you: did you know that Lana Wood ended her affair with Sean Connery,
or did you think that Sean had been the one to put the brakes on the relationship? As always,
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