For decades, he was touted as the best of the Bonds, but there's more to Sean Connery's
life than his days as a secret agent. On October 31, 2020, the actor died in his sleep in the
Bahamas following a long illness. This is the story of his life beyond Bond.
Born to a working class family in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1930, Thomas Sean Connery had
a childhood that belied the glamorous life for which he was eventually destined, including
leaving school at the age of 9 to begin working to help his family get by.
“I used to walk to work in the dark. My mother went to work at the same time. And
I used to go straight from there at six in the morning and go straight to school."
Like many young people, Connery did not immediately gravitate to what would become his very successful
career. Instead, he joined the Royal Navy at the age of 16, about a year after World
War II ended. He spent not quite three years in the Navy, earning the title of Able Seaman
assigned to the HMS Formidable. However, he was discharged at the age of 19 because of
duodenal ulcers, an affliction which ran in his family.
Both before and after his stint in the Navy, Connery took on many odd jobs, such as delivering
milk, bricklaying, lifeguarding, and even coffin polishing.
In his spare time, Connery took up bodybuilding, competing in the 1953 Mr. Universe competition.
Though he eventually drifted away from bodybuilding, he used his physique as an artists' model
at the Edinburgh College of Art. Connery was repeatedly praised as one of the sexiest men
alive, so it stands to reason that he spent a good deal of his youth engaged in activities
that centered on his body and his beauty.
"Well, I mean, goodness. What are you supposed to reply to that?"
Sean Connery was nothing if not a very dedicated hard worker. It seems he never rested on his
laurels, even if it did take him some jumping around from job to job before he committed
to acting. He spent about eight years modeling and taking on bit roles and chorus parts in
stage plays, TV, and film before he got a foothold in starring roles.
His first major part on the silver screen was opposite Lana Turner in the 1958 film
Another Time, Another Place. Four years later, he would assume the role that went on to make
him world famous, starring in the original James Bond movie Dr. No.
It is startling, in retrospect, that a man from such humble beginnings became nearly
synonymous with the sexy, sophisticated international man of mystery. It lends credence to the idea
that anyone really can become anything if they put in the effort - and if they're very,
very lucky. Once Connery became Bond, it was all uphill for his career.
Many actors are the progeny of other actors, and Connery passed his acting genes down to
his son from his first marriage, Jason Connery. Though not as famous as his father was, Jason
has enjoyed a steady, stable career since appearing, at the age of 20, in The Lords
of Discipline in 1983. Aside from acting, he has also helmed film projects as director,
starting with the film Pandemic in 2008. In a funny link to his dad, Jason played a film
version of Bond author Ian Fleming in the TV drama Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian
Fleming.
Though Connery was known around the world as Sir Sean Connery for the last 20 years
of his life, it was a bumpy road to his eventual knighting in 2000.
It was widely rumored that he was twice denied knighthood by Donald Dewar, former Scottish
Labour Party politician, because of his political views. Connery is a member of the Scottish
National Party, a center-left party which favors Scottish independence from the United
Kingdom. Needless to say, Scottish independence is a bit of a snub to the good old Queen of
England, so it's fair to see that Britain might not want to extend the honor of knighthood
to a man so vocally opposed to its monarchy.
Incidentally, Dewar passed away in October of 2000, just a few months after Connery received
his knighthood. Despite Connery's dedication to the Scottish National Party, he seemed
to have been very proud of his knighthood. He was credited as "Sir Sean Connery" in more
recent roles.
Though Connery's rise from rags to riches makes for an incredible story, there are a
few shadier aspects of his life and career - one of those being his allegedly fraught
relationship with taxes. Connery was accused of being a tax exile, living away from Scotland
to avoid paying income taxes. He released his tax information in 2003 to dispel those
rumors, though there are claims that he would have paid more if he had lived in the country
at the time.
He again came under fire for alleged property tax fraud regarding a villa he and his wife
owned in Marbella, Spain. Though Connery was acquitted, his wife, Micheline Rocquebrune,
was investigated. Incidentally, the fraud has been referred to as "Operation Goldfinger,"
a callback to one of Connery's Bond films.
"I think you've made your point, Goldfinger. Thank you for the demonstration."
Though he reached the end of his life while living in the Bahamas, Connery is most inextricably
linked with Scotland - a place he maintained he would only move back to if and when it
gained independence from Britain.
But there is another land that has chosen to honor the famous Scot: Estonia. More specifically,
the Scottish Club of Tallinn, Estonia, funded a bronze bust of the actor through private
donations.
The Scottish Club, begun as a society to sample whiskey, is comprised of Estonians enamored
with Scottish culture as well as with a handful of Scottish expatriates.
Connery is not the first influential Scot the Club has honored with a statue. His bust
joins that of Robert Burns, the 18th century poet perhaps best known for penning "Auld
Lang Syne," and often recognized as Scotland's national poet.
Tallinn might seem like a strange location for a society honoring Scottish legends, but
it's clear that the members, who raised about $14,000 to have the statue made, is dedicated
to their cause.
Just about every celebrity has a pet cause or area of activism that they regularly support.
For Connery, his own upbringing has prompted an interest in education. He helped co-found
the Scottish International Education Trust in 1971, with his friend Sir Jackie Stewart,
to financially support promising Scots achieve a better education.
In fact, Connery donated his entire salary from his work on the Bond film Diamonds Are
Forever to the Trust, a sum which his website claims was "well over $1 million." His philanthropy
doesn't stop there, but his site declines to list the apparently myriad charities and
worthy causes the star has supported. Instead, it prompts visitors to "consider helping others
as he has," and lists his main areas of interest: "education, culture, and Scotland."
It seems he doesn't take his own big break for granted, acknowledging that the help he
received as a young man made an immeasurable difference.
Sean Connery is a sex symbol, the kind of man many wouldn't be surprised to learn has
a long list of ex-wives and jilted lovers. In fact, he only has one ex-wife, Diane Cilento,
and has been married to his second wife, Micheline Rocquebrune, since 1975.
Rocquebrune is an accomplished painter who favors portraiture in bright hues, her gallery
available to view on her husband's website.
Her long marriage to Connery, though it seemed amicable enough - even despite her taking
the fall in their tax fraud scandal - hasn't always been the perfect pairing, however.
The man best known for portraying the chauvinistic Bond has had some misogyny problems of his
own, including a very public romantic affair with pop star Lynsey de Paul, a woman 18 years
his junior. Still, Rocquebrune remained with Connery until the end of his life.
Perhaps the most distinctive thing about Connery for many filmgoers is his voice - that deep,
rolling Scottish brogue. Despite this, he hasn't done a wealth of voice work, limiting
such roles to a few special projects. One of those projects was the 2005 video game
From Russia With Love, for which he reprised his role as James Bond. Long before that,
he played Draco, the computer-generated dragon in DragonHeart.
The last dragon on Earth, Draco teams up with an erstwhile dragon hunter, a monk, and a
young woman on a quest to save England from a tyrannical king. It's a fun, sentimental
fantasy adventure and Connery's Draco holds up surprisingly well. The less said about
the franchise that followed, the better.
As recently as 2012, Connery came out of retirement to play the title role in the film Sir Billi,
an animated film about a Scottish veterinarian that Connery produced.
His tone and delivery also make him a natural choice for a narrator, a role he's filled
only once, for a TV documentary. Other than that, the best way to hear the man is to watch
him in the flesh in one of the many, many films he left behind as his legacy.