Sir Sean Connery, the actor who brought James Bond to the screen and enjoyed a decades long career in film has died aged 90. It has been confirmed that the actor has passed away in his sleep at his home in Bahamas. It is understood that he had been ill for some time.

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His career in film began as an extra but he worked his way up to become one of the world’s leading men. He made his film debut in 1954 but it was 1962’s Dr No that sent his career into the stratosphere. Playing Secret agent James Bond, Connery kicked off one of the world’s most enduring film franchises. He would go on to play the character in seven more films.

In 1988 he was awarded the Best Supporting Actor award at the Oscars for his role in The Untouchables, other memorable roles included Murder on the Orient Express, The Man Who Would Be King, and A Bridge Too Dar. 

In the 1980’s he worked extensively appearing in Highlander, The Name of the Rose, The Presidio, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Hunt for Red October, The Russia House, The Rock, The Avengers, Entrapment, Finding Forrester and many others. After filming The League of Extraordinary Gentleman in 2003 he retired from the screen. In 2012 he completed some voice over work for a children’s cartoon and narrated a documentary but the final two decades of his life were spent away from Hollywood and film industry.

In 1999 he received a Kennedy Centre Honour in the USA and the following year was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the film industry.

Born in Edinburgh in 1930, he served in the Navy before being medically discharged when he was 19. He worked in a variety of jobs but his love of body building lead him to work as an artist’s model. He began working backstage in a theatre, but while he was in London attending a body building competition he heard they were auditioning performers for the musical South Pacific. 

He made his stage debut in the show, and soon began playing understudy for several roles in the show. Soon he was getting parts in stage productions and television programs.

While James Bond was his breakthrough role, Connery announced he was leaving the role at after five outings as the super spy. He was replaced by Australian actor George Lazenby. After Lazenby bowed out after just one film, Connery was persuaded to return for 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever, before the role was taken over by Roger Moore.

Connery returned to playing Bond one last time for 1983’s Never Say Never Again. The production was not made by the same producers of the other films and showed an older James Bond serving the British Secret Service.

His first wife was actress Diane Cliento, the couple wed in 1962 and separated in 1971, they divorced two years later. Their son Jason Connery has also had a successful acting career. She later claimed that he had been physically abusive during their marriage, Connery denied the claim. He was also quoted in an 1965 interview with Playboy  saying he thought it was okay to slap a woman, and made similar comments in a 1987 TV interview. In 2003 he took a different stance saying it was never acceptable to hit a woman.   

Connery is survived by his second wife artist Micheline Roquebrune, who he married in 1975.

OIP Staff

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