Thou Sir Sean Connery may have defined the role of James Bond, he never let the role define him. The legendary actor played a wide variety of roles over his long career, and while he was usually the romantic lead and specialized in playing tough but cunning heroes, he was also not afraid to appear in supporting roles or to play against type.
Born Thomas Sean Connery in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, Connery worked a number of odd jobs (including truck driver, bricklayer and artist's model) and served a brief stint in the Royal Navy before he became famous. An avid athlete and body-builder, Connery chose to go into acting rather than professional football. It was a wise decision in the long run, as Connery would go on to work steadily in television and film for over four decades.
Though largely retired after 2003, Connery continued to lend his distinctive voice to various projects well into the 21st Century. His legacy went beyond his work as an actor, however, as he became one of the foremost voices for Scottish independence and served on the Board of Advisors for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Yet it will be for his movies that he's best remembered, now and forever. Here's a rundown of Sean Connery's most iconic roles.
Many are surprised to learn that Sean Connery was once in a Disney musical, much less that it was his first big role. Yet Connery broke into Hollywood in a big way playing incoming groundskeeper Michael McBride, whom retiring groundskeeper Darby O'Gill (Albert Sharpe) conspired to set up with his daughter Katie (Janet Munro) after winning a little help from the Leprechaun King Brian (Jimmy O'Dea). Legend has it that Connery and Munro lip-synched their songs and that their duet, "Pretty Irish Girl," was actualy sung by Irish singers Brendan O'Dowda and Ruby Murray. Connery denied the allegation, though he did confess that the songs were the least enjoyable part of his role. He couldn't really complain, however, as it was his role in Darby O'Gill and the Little People that earned him the attention of Dr. No producer Albert R. Broccoli.
"Bond. James Bond." No introduction in any medium is quite so iconic, and Connery reportedly improvised it on the set of Dr. No, thinking the scripted line of "I am James Bond" seemed stiff and unnatural. Still considered the quintessential James Bond over five decades after he first played the role, Connery played the master spy in six films from 1962 to 1971 and returned to the role once more for 1983's Never Say Never Again after swearing he was done with James Bond after Diamonds Are Forever. Over three decades later, Connery lent his voice to the 2005 video game adaptation of From Russia With Love, cementing his status as the longest-serving Bond actor.
Set in the post-apocalyptic time of 2293, what remains of the human race has been divided into two tribes: the Brutals and the Eternals. Sean Connery is Zed, a Brutal trained to kill other Brutals, who enters into the land of the Eternals and discovers the truth of their twisted civilization. Mostly remembered today for Zed's rather provocative outfit, Zardoz was director John Boorman’s attempt to prove he could direct a successful sci-fi/fantasy piece after the studio rejected his proposal for a live-action adaptation of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Given how Zardoz turned out, it's hard not to side with the studio, yet it cannot be denied that Connery's presence in the movie is memorable.
After 20 years fighting alongside King Richard in the Crusades, a war-weary, middle-aged Robin Hood returns to England to find the land once more in need of a hero, with Prince John now king in earnest and the Sheriff of Nottingham still up to his old tricks. Yet Robin's first priority is rekindling his romance with Maid Marian (Audrey Hepburn), who has joined a nunnery since his departure. Originally scripted as The Death of Robin Hood, Robin and Marian had its title changed because, according to Connery, "Americans don't like heroes who die." For his part, Connery loved the idea of playing a legendary hero like Robin Hood in the twilight of his career, and the role foreshadowed the sort of hero he played in many of his most famous later roles.
Casting Sean Connery in a movie about an immortal Scottish warrior sounds like a no-brainer, yet the role of Connor MacLeod went to French actor Christopher Lambert. Instead, Connery appeared in Highlander as MacLeod's mentor Ramírez, who claimed to be over 2000 years old and Egyptian, though he currently played at being Spanish, despite having a thick Scottish burr. While little about Ramírez as a character made sense, Connery cut a fine figure as the dashing swordsman and the upcoming reboot will be hard pressed to find an actor who can play Ramírez with the same sense of authority.
Connery was nominated for an Oscar only once in his career, yet that one nomination for Best Supporting Actor was all he needed to become an Oscar-winner for his performance. Connery played Jimmy Malone, a veteran police officer who famously explained "the Chicago Way" to Federal Agent Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner) as they assembled a team of honest lawmen to bring down gangster Al Capone (Robert De Niro) and his empire. Connery's performance stands out as the highlight of The Untouchables, even alongside the amazing performances of the rest of the ensemble. Connery also won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for his work in the picture.
Connery was cast in the role of Indiana Jones' father in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, despite being only 12 years older than Harrison Ford. He was also cast against type, playing a cloistered academic who couldn't believe the violent life his son lived when he wasn't teaching archeology classes at Barnett College. Despite this, Henry Jones Sr. proved far more capable than his son believed possible when pressed into action, as father and son joined forces in a race against the Axis Powers for the Holy Grail.
Originally the role of Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius in The Hunt for Red October was meant to be played by Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer. However, when Brandauer broke his leg prior to filming, he suggested Sean Connery (whom he had befriended while filming Never Say Never Again) play the part instead. Connery agreed to step into the role at the last minute and won great acclaim for playing the fatalistic yet dignified defector, despite making no effort to hide his trademark brogue.
In ancient times a cynical knight named Bowen (Dennis Quaid) joins forces with a wily dragon named Draco, who claims to be the last of his kind. The two run a long con game, with Draco attacking villages and Bowen arriving just in time to "slay" him, splitting his reward with the wyrm afterward. Yet the two are called to honest heroism to save the land from the mad king Einon (David Thewlis) who is immortal thanks to his possession of half of Draco's heart. While the CGI in the first of the Dragonheart movies has not aged well, Sean Connery's voice performance as Draco remains timeless.
When a renegade general (Ed Harris) takes control of Alcatraz Island and threatens to unleash chemical weapons on San Francisco if his demands are not met, the FBI recruits convicted spy John Patrick Mason (the one man to escape Alcatraz and live) to guide an elite team into the infamous prison. Reportedly Connery's favorite part in all his films in the 1990s, his role in The Rock would set the tone for many of his final film roles where he played old soldiers who made up in cunning what they had lost in speed. Indeed, there are some James Bond fans who believe that John Mason was meant to be the original 007 disavowed by the British government.
Connery took a rare turn as a villain in this film adaptation of the classic 1960s spy show, playing the part of Sir August de Wynter, an entrepreneur who developed a device that allowed him to control the weather. Connery played de Wynter as a delightfully mad scientist, who swore that his enemies would gladly "go to Hell just to warm up" after he used his technology to freeze the planet. Though a tremendous flop upon release, the film has developed a cult following in recent years and Shane Black is working on a reboot TV series.
Jamal Wallace is only good at two things: basketball and writing. His skills on the court win him a scholarship to a prestigious prep school, but he knows his future will be made based on his writing. A chance encounter with a reclusive writer named William Forrester leads to an unexpected friendship, in which Wallace finds his skills as an author honed and Forrester finds a reason to stop waiting for death. Another role in which Connery played against type to brilliant effect, Finding Forrester is best remembered today for a scene in which Connery declared, "You're the man now, dog!" This is unfortunate, as the movie proved that Sir Sean Connery was a true actor who had developed considerably since first playing James Bond.
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